Monsters

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and His only Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

        Ask any child and they will tell you that the monsters that live in the bedroom closet or under the bed are scary. Any kid will tell you that leaving the hallway door open so that light can seep through or having a flashlight is a good defense, but the best defense is pulling the covers over, making sure one is completely covered from toes to the top of the head.

        You see, the blankets of the bed are impenetrable. No claws, teeth or tendrils can tear through the blanket. One must make sure that the blanket is so secure that even the smallest gap is tucked in or rolled under.

        In any experience in the long dark night, one can always be assured that dawn will come and with it, light, warmth, and the banishment of all shadowy creatures back to their domain. Eventually, the immature fears graduate to greater fears. Most fears are outgrown while some stay for life.

        Our fears change as we grow older because the monsters change as well. As we grow and learn, we become ever so smart. The monsters still lurk in the dark and behind almost completely closed doors, but they also become smarter and they too grow and mature.

        Yet these new, better and smarter monsters cannot use the same old tricks of their youth. They know jumping out of a dark closet and saying, ‘Boo!’ does not have the weight it once had. No, these beings of the darkness have become much more subtle in their presence and in their execution of fear.

        These creatures of ill intent know six eyes, green fur and sharp teeth may frighten a young child, but are laughable to the adult. As the Apostle Paul said,

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. [1 Corinthians 13:11]

We put away our childish fears… or so we think.

        We may laugh at the monster under the bed, but we wonder about Big Foot, Giant Squids, and Aliens from outer space or the Loch Ness Monster. We may be very skeptical, but we do not rule out the possibility completely.

        We may even boldly deny the existence of the most powerful and vicious fiend, Satan, hoping if we do not admit his presence, he will be powerless. We dismiss the evil that is the Devil, while fearing the monsters he creates and looses on the people.

        Murders, hate, pornography, drugs, child abuse, witchcraft – all are embodiments of evil. And what does the enlightened society tell us? ‘If we were truly civilized, we would eradicate such deviant behavior from our culture. It is up to us to save humankind from these false conceptions.’

        Well, such statements are half right; if we were a perfect society, this evil would not exist. Without evil, no one would wish to kill, hate, or become a true monster. Yet where we fail is in the belief that our salvation comes from within us. Like children, we pull the blankets up over our heads and wish away the demons of our own making.

        When I was a child, the sure-fire way of getting rid of all the monsters in the room was for my father to come in, turn on the light, and frighten the monsters back into the closet where he sealed them in. Then, in all confidence, he would say to me, ‘Do not be afraid. They’re not going to bother you anymore.’

        Even though I trusted my father implicitly and regarded him as all-powerful and all knowing, I still had my doubts about monsters returning as soon as he left the room. He would then say to me, ‘Remember, I am always just outside that door. If you call me, I will come.’

        One would think, in this day and age, that adults would not be afraid of childish things such as ghosts, aliens, and zombies. If this were true, Hollywood would not make such a profit from such silly films. It is in this light, as it were, I wish you to consider the fear and anxiety that the disciples felt while self imprisoned in a room hours after the crucifixion, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

        In the words of St. John,

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” [John 20:19-20]

Sounds simple, the disciples saw Jesus, a man they knew was dead and buried, suddenly appear within a locked and sealed room and they were happy. Yet Luke, who was not present, by the way, relates it in this way:

“Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’” [Luke 24:36-39]

        We see the disciples with fear of the people and powers of this world; expand that fear to true fear of God. This is the fear of what is beyond their comprehension. It is not merely supernatural it is divine. Jesus says to them, ‘Peace be with you!’

        If I were to see a close friend crucified, dead and buried, standing before me talking, I would be very afraid. If I had not experienced this while close friends of mine had, I would probably think they were playing a joke on me, a poor one to be sure, and I would certainly have my doubts.

        In any case, fear would outweigh the doubt. This is why the second appearance of Jesus to the disciples with Thomas, caused Thomas to exclaim, ‘My Lord and my God!’ People rising from the dead are not supposed to be real. After all, we are civilized and enlightened. Such fears are childish and only creations of our own minds.

        The truth is, the power of God is not a fairytale. The work and the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, is not the fanciful imagination of a child. God does exist and He sent His Only Son into our dark night of sin and monsters.

        The Father of all things opened the door to our lives and brought in the light of the world, which banished the creatures of the shadows and the creations of our every sin. That very light, Jesus Christ, pushed the devil and all the evil of this world, back into the pit of darkness. With his resurrection from the grave, the light of the world sealed the door to that dark place of eternal death with his victory over death. “Fear not,” he tells us, “I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” [Revelation 1:17b-18]

        Just as the disciples in a dark room huddled in fear, just as you and I sit in the dark room of our lives fearing the monsters of this world, we can do nothing to save ourselves. The only thing we can do is pray. All we can do is to cry out to our Father in heaven, pleading with him to save us from the monsters we have created in our sin.

        Fear not. God always answers His children. He answered us with the sacrifice of His Son. His Son answers us with the Holy Spirit. Jesus has come to us and has said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Jesus tells us not to be afraid. He tells us to ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ The same Holy Spirit we received at our baptism, which is our light in the darkness.

        We can try to barricade the room to keep our sin from entering, but it lurks in the shadows waiting for us to fall asleep and be caught off guard. Thankfully, Jesus Christ passes through the locked doors of our hearts bringing us peace and salvation. He tells us, ‘Do not be afraid. Because of me, your sins are not going to bother you anymore.’

        This is the promise of our Lord and our God. In this promise, we have hope. In this hope, we cover ourselves until the light of dawn. We wrap ourselves in the promise of Christ making sure he is tucked in all around us. Until the final day, where the Son of God will shine forever in the new heaven and new earth, we must trust in the Lord. We must confess Jesus Christ as God.

        Until the final day, we are to take the light of the Holy Spirit to all those in the darkness. They are frightened in the shadows. They whimper and cry but they do not call on God to save them because they do not know He is waiting to enter their hearts.

        This is where we, as Christians and true disciples of Jesus, are to share the light of Christ to those who doubt the truth. To the sick, the lonely, the lost and the dying, we are to pass the light over them through the proclamation of Christ resurrected. In the sharing of the Gospel, in the telling of the work of Jesus Christ, he restores them to life. When we stand and speak to the people all the words of the life in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit adds increasing multitudes to the body of our Lord. [Acts 5:14]

        Any child of God can tell you that the monsters of sin that live in our hearts are scary. Having the light of the Holy Spirit is a good defense, and the best defense is covering yourself with Christ, making sure you are completely covered from your toes to the top of your head.

        You see, the blanket of Jesus Christ is impenetrable. No claws, teeth or tendrils of the evil one can tear through him. This long dark night will soon be over and what awaits for all in the body of Christ is light, love, and life forever in our Father’s kingdom.

Amen.