The Doors

  Josep Maria Subirachs, doors of the Gospel of St John at Sagrada Familia in Barcelon

John 20:19-31

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled

 

My marriage opened in the magical city of Barcelona,Spain. We met in New Orleans and married in Los Angeles but due to a last minute internet sale we honeymooned in Barcelona. In the city that Gaudi made grandiose lies his masterpiece. The masterpiece is a church: the Basilica Sagrada Família (named after and dedicated to the Holy Family of Jesus). The masterpiece is yet unfinished. Antoni Gaudi made the original design and started the building project but over the century artists, parishioners and the citizens of Barcelona have labored together to complete the church. So after waiting through a line of tourists that snaked several blocks we finally encountered the overwhelming facade if the building. The theme of the face of the building, created by the Spanish sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs, is the Passion of Jesus Christ as seen through the narrative of John's Gospel. Suburichs compositionally weaves the thread of the narrative into the doors if the building. He takes the text of the Gospel and literally types out the text of Scripture onto the portals of the building. The multi-lingual, tactile presentation of the Word God is the entrance point to encountering this house of worship. So my post today is not about Gaudi's unparalleled, dreamlike architectural feat but rather Josep Maria Subirachs' presentation of Scripture on the building's entrance. Today we will discuss the doors to this assembly of the Lord's contemporary disciples. It ties in perfectly to today's scripture reading. John 20:19-31 focuses on an ancient set of doors to the assembly of the Lord's original Disciples. The author of this gospel uses these doors as a repetitive, visual theme to frame the episodes of this passage. Now there are a few differences between the doors of Sagrada Familia and the Disciple's Upper Room. One is only a couple decades old (placed on a century old construction project), while the other is a couple thousand years old. One of the buildings that the doors lead to was artfully designed as a basilica style church, while the other was functionally designed as a meeting space and dining hall. Yet with all of these stark differences the greatest has to be that one of these doors was found open while the other was shut closed. In reading through today's reading from the Gospel of John and viewing the art of Josep Maria Subirachs we will discover where doors to these two unfinished assemblies lead us. 

Closed Doors

  Josep Maria Subirachs, doors of the Gospel of St John at Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained”...
The text opens with closed doors. That is true if we are speaking of Sagrada Familia or John 20:19-31. Before we can experience the worship rituals of Christians or abide in their fellowship we must first go through the doors of the text of Scripture. That is how any modern day or ancient disciple has ever discovered him. For in the stories encased within this text we discover the Word of God incarnate... the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily. It is in those stories committed to text that God reveals His story. Even before Jesus was born in Bethlehem God had been revealing Himself throughout Scripture and preparing a prenatal biography of Christ. There is a reason that we refer to both the Bible and Jesus Christ as the "Word of God." It is because Jesus taught the Apostles that they were one and the same: the Scriptures testified of Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus us the fullest revelation of God. There is also a reason that we refer to the preaching act as the "Word of God." It is because preaching is supposed to be the exposition of God's revealed Word. We are supposed to expose the Jesus that is revealed in Scripture to others through speech (with the option of music, visual aids, etc.). That is what a sermon is supposed to be. Now there are many different homiletic styles and hermeneutical approaches but if the sermon doesn't expose the Jesus revealed in Scripture then it is not the "Word of God." It leaves the contemporary assembly of disciples in a building with closed doors and Jesus on the outside. John 20:19-31 tells us how Jesus deals with closed doors. When Jesus miraculously entered the Upper Room where the Disciples gathered he did so as the Word of God to reveal to them the Word of God so that they might spread the Word of God. This was the beginning of the 40 day period where Jesus taught them how all (Old Testament) Scripture spoke of him. This was the beginning of the 40 day period that prepared for the Holy Spirit empowered preaching on Pentecost where Peter told how all (Old Testament) Scripture spoke of Jesus. This was the 40 day period where Jesus forgave his Disciples (like Peter) and commissioned them to forgive others. This 40 day period opened the doors of the Church. Yet at the point of this initial appearance in the Upper Room it was just like Sagrada Familia: an unfinished church. 

Closed Minds

Josep Maria Subirachs, doors of the Gospel of St John detail



Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”



Josep Maria Subirachs, 

doors of the Gospel of St John 

at Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain 

The second episode of this narrative begins just like the first: with closed doors. They are shut, locked and seemingly impenetrable to outside influence. And with those closed doors comes a closed mind. It is shut, locked and seemingly impenetrable to outside influence. But we must remember that in episode one, we were introduced to a resurrected Messiah who specializes in breaking and entering locked enclosures. Even earlier in this chapter we are told of a tomb bearing Jesus' dead body that had been locked and sealed with a large stone and two guards but Jesus found a way to remove those barriers. But in this second, two-part episode we encounter the especially difficult closed door of Thomas' closed mind. Due to this episode he is forever known to history as "Doubting Thomas." But didn't they all doubt before they saw Jesus in person? Didn't Peter doubt Mary Magdalene's testimony? Didn't Mary Magdalene doubt the angel's testimony? Don't we all doubt at points? We all doubt because Christ's resurrection conflicts with a truth that we have known all throughout history: dead men don't get up. Life does not just decide to begin by itself. Life is a door that once one closes they cannot open it again. Whether it is initiated by a parent or resuscitated by a doctor, life is something that is facilitated by another. Thomas knew that and we know it. However Thomas was privy to something that we are not privy to. Thomas had seen with his own eyes as Jesus reanimated the lives of those who had passed on. He witnessed how Lazarus had been buried for three days and Jesus raised him to life. Jesus did all of this without a doctor or paramedic's license. He did this because a parent gives life. Though he was not married nor bore any children of his own, the Spirit of God our Father dwelt within him. This was the Spirit of God who resurrected Christ. This was the Spirit of God who created humanity with clay. This was the Spirit of God who was recreating humanity with the Church. Yet without this one Thomas, it would be like Sagrada Familia: an unfinished church. 

Open Wounds

  Josep Maria Subirachs, Gethsemane doors at Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put itinto My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”



  Josep Maria Subirachs, doors of the Gospel of St John
at Sagrada Familia in Barcelon

The doors of Sagrada Familia are not just one pair of doors but several panels of doors. They are primarily the text of the Gospel of John but occasionally relief images are used to illustrate the narrative of the text. This is the case of the Gethsemane doors that illustrate Jesus' hour of prayer and anguish as he anticipated his travail on the cross. Then there are sections where the text is interrupted by a block grid with numbers on it. It is a recreational mathematic device called a Magic Square. The "magic" fun of this tool is that any way you read a row, column or diagonal line of the numbers, all of the numbers add up to the same sum. In the case of the doors of the Sagrada Familia the digits add up to 33 (the age that Jesus was crucified). The message is that any way you add it up, every year Christ lived was intentionally leading to his sacrifice on the cross. Even as he struggled with his human will in the Garden of Gethsemane he knew that all of his life were ordered to lead him to this point if suffering on the cross. Every relationship, every sermon and every miracle were leading to his wounds on the cross. And in the end it was the viewing of those wounds that brought Thomas from unbelief to belief. In looking into those wounds Thomas remembered Christ's substitution for our sins. In looking into those wounds God forgets our past iniquities. In looking into those wounds we find the faith to finish the Church.

Open Hearts

The artist Josep Maria Subirachs creating the doors to the Sagrada Familia

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

It has been over three years since that honeymoon in Barcelona. My wife and I returned to our home in Los Angeles. In 3 months (God willing) we will have our first child: a son. Our family is growing and over in Barcelona, the church of the Holy Family, the Sagrada Familia is still unfinished. Maybe my son will live to see its completion. Maybe he will take his son or grandson to Barcelona and teach him that this church is more than a basilica dedicated to Jesus, Mary and Joseph but an illustration of the faith of all of God's sons and daughters. Because that's what God's people are: an unfinished Church that will one day be completed...a growing family that will one day be perfected. The stories of Scripture were not given to a faithful people but to those who begin as a faithless people and daily grow into a people of steadily maturing belief, trust and obedience. These stories have been given to us so that we, like Thomas, will dare to open the doors of our heart to the Spirit of God that resurrected Christ. And in doing so He will open the doors of eternal life to us. 


The author at the Sagrada Familia doors in 2011