On Maundy Thursday, we reflected on rooms that were important to us as we grew up. We thought about the rooms we had as children, the first apartment we called our own, and even the nursery we decorated for the arrival of our first child. Sometimes we redecorated a room and realized as we gave form to a room, it then helped form us. These memories led us to think about the challenges Jesus had finding a room to call his own. There was no place—no room–for him at his birth. Later in life, as he faced his own death, he had to send his disciples out to find a place for their final meal together. Jesus, himself, reflected on this reality with a touch of sadness when he said, “Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). Even Jesus’ final resting place was in a borrowed “room”—a tomb owned by another.
Sunday’s Scripture will find the resurrected Jesus standing outside another room not his own. In this case, the disciples are cowering in fear behind a locked door. Jesus miraculously enters the room and gives the frightened disciples Peace, Power and Purpose. To prepare for Sunday, read John 20:19-23.