Renewed Focus

Introduction- John 20:19-22

In this passage of the scriptures we find Jesus appearing among His disciples to the intent that they would have a renewed focus upon what was to be their mission for the remainder of their days upon earth.

The disciples had walked and talked with Jesus for a period of nearly three years and just prior to the events described here they had watched His betrayal by Judas Iscariot.

They had witnessed Him being arrested and were aware of His mock trial and condemnation.

They had likely seen Him presented to the people after being brutally scourged.

Finally they watched at a distance as He was cruelly nailed to the cross and hung there to die before the crowds.

Is it any wonder that they were fearful and anxious about what was to come.

Jesus had made clear to them that He would be departing but surely none of them expected it to be in such a terrible manner.

While Jesus was with them bodily the disciples were filled with courage and boldness but now that He has been crucified we find them assembled together in a locked room fearing for their lives.

There is much for you and I to learn from their example as Jesus appears unto them.

First let us consider...

The Disciples Retreat

In the beginning of this passage we find the disciples who were once courageously following Christ, now cowering in fear.

They had witnessed what the religious leaders and the Jewish people had done to Jesus and now were fearful that they would be subjected to the same treatment.

This led them to assemble together in a place with the doors shut to the outside world in order that they might find some protection and relief from their fears.

It should not go unrecognized that this is not what Jesus had planned for the disciples. At this point it seems clear that the disciples have no intention on going out into the world but are quite content to assemble together in a place of safety.

It would seem that this is often the case for the disciples of Christ today as well. So many enjoy assembling together and the comfort and safety they find inside the four walls of the church building.

Yet we must also recognize God has not called us merely to gather ourselves together but that He has called us to reach the world beginning with our own community.

Far too often local churches have a tendency to retreat inward when persecution, difficulty, and opposition arise.

We begin to focus on the inner workings of the church and we lose sight of the people outside the church who still need to be reached.

This is an all too natural development because of our desire for self-preservation and consumer mindset that now permeates every area of our society.

We begin to think of the church as something built to meet our needs when in reality the church is here to reach the lost and to make disciples.

Next let us consider...

Jesus’s Response

When Jesus first appears, He is not angry or frustrated for we can be certain that He sympathized with the disciples position.

Jesus came to RELIEVE their fears.

He was not surprised that they were fearful and initially He simply offers a word of comfort to them.

He then proceeds to show them the wounds that He had received from the Roman soldiers as they crucified Him.

This must have been to provide confirmation and assurance that He had risen from the dead and that He was the same Jesus they had known before.

Immediately the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. His mere presence brought comfort to their fearful and anxious hearts.

This is true also today, when we fix our eyes upon Jesus we will find comfort in the midst of our circumstances.

Jesus came to REMIND them of their mission

Yet Jesus did not appear in their midst merely to comfort them but it was also to remind them of their mission.

He spake to them of the fact that they were to sent just as the Father had sent Jesus.

They were to carry on the mission which Jesus had begun. This did not involve cowering together in a room together but going out and engaging with the lost world for the sake of the furtherance of the gospel.

Luke 4:18–19 KJV 1900

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Luke 19:10 KJV 1900

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

These verses describe the work that Jesus was sent to accomplish and the work that the disciples were now to carry on and that you and I are called to continue today.

Jesus came finally to REASSURE them of divine enablement

Surely in these moments the disciples must have realized their own weakness and inability to accomplish the task that Jesus had given them.

Jesus thus reassured them that the Holy Spirit, the diving comforter/helper would enable and empower them to do what He was instructing them to do.

Acts 1:8 KJV 1900

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The power to take on such an important and significant mission was to rely completely upon the Holy Spirit’s enablement.

The disciples did not in this moment receive the Holy Spirit for this would happen a short time later on the day of Pentecost but this was a confirmation to them that they would indeed receive what had been promised to them.

We must also remember that no matter how unqualified and unable we may feel ourselves to be yet the Holy Spirit will enable us and empower us to carry out the work that God has called us to do in reaching others with the gospel.

Conclusion

This entire passage serves as a valuable reminder that we must not slip into a mode of inward focus for this will hinder us from carrying out the mission that God has called us to carry out.

We must be reminded that we have a mission and it is to reach the world with the gospel beginning personally here in our own community.

We must maintain an outward focus whatever the difficulties and dangers and we must resist the temptation to turn inward to the point that we are merely gathering together behind these four walls with little concern for what goes on outside of them.

We need to be reminded from time to time that Jesus has given us a mission and that He will enable us by His Spirit to carry it out.

We need to recognize that our gathering together is in order that we might be strengthened and equipped to go out and carry on the mission that Jesus has left in our hands.