Lent Day 18: What's with all the knocking? : the Letter to the Church at Laodicea

I used to be involved with a ministry at Park Place Church of God while in college. It was a ministry for college students run by mainly college students. A friend of mine started it, so I had a good in. I mainly helped out with drama but also sang worship a couple of times. The ministry was called 'The Open Door' and it took it scriptural reference from Revelation 3:20.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

If you are a visual person you may have seen the following painting by Warner Sallman, that is also based on this scripture.

Whenever I have been reminded of this scripture I always think of it in terms that I have a door and Jesus is knocking and I need to let him in.

But...

If you have been following this blog for the last 6 days you know that I preached on the seven letters to the churches in Asia found in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation. If you read my previous blog on the letter to the Church at Philadelphia you may remember that I touched on the fact that Jesus said that he had opened a door that could not be closed for the people of that church.

Which leads us to the letter to the Church at Laodicea (3:14-22). You may remember this church because it is the church that is called lukewarm, and is about to be spit out. In case you did not know [I didn't until I researched it] Laodicea did not have its own water supply, so it was borrowed from another town and by the time it got to Laodicea it was....wait for it...lukewarm. So Jesus first gives them a mental picture that they would know intimately well. They dealt with their water day in and day out, and they themselves probably considered spitting it out from time to time.

Jesus goes on to complain about the church a little more, talking about their wealth and pride. And then telling them that in reality they are, "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." (3:17). Then Jesus goes on to say that he is standing at a door and knocking. 

Do you see it yet? 

Philadelphia has a door that is open and will never close, whereas Laodicea has a door that is closed, and who knows if it will ever open. Jesus statement about the knocking is not a gentle invitation, it is a last ditch effort to wake up a slumbering church. Philadelphia was poor yet rich, and Laodicea is rich yet poor. And Jesus is attempting with all he has to let them know that the only thing standing in the way of repentance is Laodicea's need to act. AND IT IS A SIMPLE ACT.

Isn't that the way it is for most of us? We wander from Jesus in a multitude of ways, some large some small, and no matter how we have we think that there is no way back. We convince ourselves that the distance is too great, that the sin is too large, that the pain is too overwhelming. 

Jesus may have started out whispering our name, hoping that we would hear and turn. But that didn't work. 

Next he might have spoken our name out loud, in normal tones and volume. Again it didn't work, maybe we heard it, but we didn't think Jesus could be speaking to us, no, that wouldn't happen. 

Jesus may have shouted at us next, did something drastic to get our attention, something to wake us from our slumber. Again it didn't work, the calamity just made us bitter, the left turn just frustrated us, the hand out just pissed us off.

And now, now Jesus is knocking, and knocking, and knocking, holding on to any glimmer of hope that we might but pay attention to the noise and go see who it is.

We didn't hear the whisper of love, nor the sound of our name from the saviors mouth. We didn't bow to the drastic, and so Jesus moves to the mundane. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

We have a door and Jesus is knocking, but only because we have kept it closed for so long. Do yourself a favor, open the dang door.

Peace and Love,

Pastor K