The house I grew up in as a boy had two doors.
The front door faced the street we lived on as a family.
The back door faced the neighbours.
The front door had a shiny brass doorstep.
I can never remember walking on the brass doorstep. I have countless memories of walking over it!
The back door was where we lived!
The verandah at the back door housed a well-used cricket bat and ball, a muddy rugby ball and other sporting paraphernalia.
The verandah was home to a pair of my father’s old shoes. Examining those shoes revealed the number of colours the house had been painted with over the years. There were liberal paint splatters.
The verandah was also home to a wooden clothes horse.
The verandah of the backdoor housed a sarcophagus type wooden container that had a menagerie of items that were important, however not worthy of entrance into the house (buckets and spades that still held seaside sand etc).
Visitors would knock on the front door and await entry.
Family and friends would walk around the side of the house (while avoiding being run over by a red tricycle travelling well beyond the speed limit); they would then negotiate the oddments at the back door, and walk inside.
Today’s Gospel, (John 14: 23 – 29) I suggest is a backdoor Gospel. Hear again the words from verse 23, “if anyone love me they will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we shall come to them and make our home with them.”
Love invites people to the backdoor.
There is no need of a shiny brass doorstep, your God is walking round the side of the house.
Your God uses the backdoor!