BEHOLD I STAND AT THE

DOOR AND KNOCK

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 33^rd  Tuesday in  Ordinary Time is, “Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock.”

TODAY’S FIRST READING

In today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation we have a very well-known Biblical text, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” [Rev. 3:20]

I would think we have heard that text and sermons on that text enough that it has become a part of our spiritual life.

It knocks on our door!

And every time we have a sermon or a homily on this text from Revelation the preacher always brings in the story of Holman Hunt’s famous painting, “The Light of the World.”

We know the story - we’ve heard it in a hundred sermons. We know the key message,  “The knob is on the inside.”

The message of that painting and that text is that it’s our move.

Christ wants in - but do we want him in?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

And it doesn’t always happen on weekday readings that the first reading fits in perfectly with the gospel, but today it does. [Cf. Luke 19: 1-10.]

Jesus invites himself into Zacchaeus’ house and Zacchaeus invites Jesus into his life.

We know these stories and we know them well.

What a great way to begin personal prayer  - whether here in church or in our  Eucharistic chapel down below - or while sitting on our back porch  - or in a special prayer chair - that we have in some quiet part of our house.  To just pause, breathe, be, and before doing anything else, to hear Jesus knocking on our door - on our mind - on our heart.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Behold I stand at the door and knock.”

What a great opening prayer to a time of prayer, “Come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus.  Come on in, Lord Jesus.  Come on in.”

BACK TO THE PAINTING

The painting is entitled, “The Light of the World.”

In the painting we only see Jesus. He is standing there with lantern in hand and it’s well lit. And his face and his garments radiate light.

In the painting we see the weeds and ivy all over the door area - as if the door hasn’t been open for years.

Holman started the painting when he was 22 and didn’t finish it till he was 29. It wasn’t till 50 years later that he explained the painting. The door is the closed mind. I thought the meaning was very obvious - because maybe I heard sermons on this many, many times. However,  maybe not everybody gets it - if their minds are closed to Jesus and closed to hearing an explanation.

The painting was started at night. Somewhere along the line, Holman Hunt said he went to Bethlehem to see the light there - to make sure he had it right.

There are 3 versions of this painting. The first and best is in Keble Chapel in Oxford. He wasn’t happy with how they had it set up, so he did a larger and second version - and this hangs in St Paul’s church London - where Hunt is buried.  It’s not as good. A third smaller version is in Manchester.

I would think, unless you saw the painting in person, it doesn’t make much difference because there are so many copies of this painting all around the world - on many walls, in many books and movies and what have you.

Last night as I was doing some research on the painting, I noticed that it went on a worldwide tour between 1905 to 1907. It’s said that 4/5 of the population of Australia saw it.

We get that. We’ve all seen the painting somewhere along the line.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock.

Surprise! Even if we keep the door locked, even if the knob is on the inside, Jesus comes through walls. [Cf. John 20: 19-23]