Maundy Thursday 2025

Text: Revelation 3:14-22

Title: Open the Door

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Dear Church,

These are the words of the Amen and the Beginning.

I am not just the first and the last.

I am the last and the first.

When you think that everything is at an end, I make a new beginning, a new start for my people.

Dear Church,

With me, there are only two options.
You are either in or you’re out.

If you’re in, you’re all in.  If you’re out, you’re completely out.

There’s no kinda in or kinda out.  You’re either in or you’re out.

Likewise, you are either hot or you’re cold.

If you’re hot, you’re hot.  If you’re cold, you’re cold.

There’s no halfway.  There’s no lukewarm with me.

That’s the way that the folks in Laodicea tried to play it.

They wanted to be sorta kinda in.  They wanted to be sorta kinda hot.  They wanted to be lukewarm.

That doesn’t work for me.  If you’re lukewarm, you get spit out of my mouth.

The folks in Laodicea thought they could enjoy all the wealth and pleasures of this life, and still follow me.

But being my disciple means being in all the way. All the way to the garden.  All the way to arrest and trial.  All the way to suffering.  All the way to the cross.  All the way to the grave.

So many others have bailed out along the way. They fell asleep.  They ran away.  They denied me to save their own skin.

But I went all in for you.  I went all the way to the cross and grave for you.  And so you must go all the way to death and the grave for me.

Being a disciple is not easy.  It’s not for the faint of heart.  It’s not for those who give up when the going gets tough.

The good news is that you do not go this way on your own.

Dear Church,

I stand at the door and knock.

I want to have fellowship with you.

I want to share a meal with you.

I want to come in, not as your master, but as your servant.

I come to wash your feet, to give you refreshment after a dusty, sweaty day.

I come to pray with you and for you, to lead you in giving thanks for all God’s blessings to you.

I come to feed you with my body, to unite you with me and with my whole church, giving you strength for what lies ahead.

I come to refresh you with my blood, to purify you inside and out, to wash you clean, to forgive your sins and to clothe you in white.

I come to lead you to the garden, to the place of trial, to the cross and to the grave.

And even beyond the grave.

I am the Amen and the beginning.

The Amen was the cross.  It was finished.  Done.  Accomplished. Amen.

But then there was a beginning at the tomb. New life.  Resurrection.  Alpha all over again.

If you walk with me to the cross, to your cross, I will walk with you to the empty tomb, to your empty tomb, when I call you forth from the grave for the new beginning, the new heavens, the new earth, alpha all over again.

Dear Church, 
I stand at the door and knock.

But I will not force my way in.

I will not break down your door.

That is why I stand and knock.

Do you want me in your life or not?

Do you want a heart that is warmed by my Spirit, that is fervent, on fire, and passionate with love, or do you want a heart that is cold as death?

Lukewarm is not an option.

It’s either one or the other.

In or out.

Hot or cold.

Which will it be?

Dear Church,

Open the door.

Love,
Jesus

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