In 1841, Edgar Allen Poe published one of the first locked-room murder mysteries, and since then many authors have offered variations on the theme. A single door stands locked from the inside, and must be forced open. The room has no chimney for escape to the roof,  no false walls to a secret passage, no trap door. The only window remains bolted from the inside. Yet the poor man or woman lies dead on the floor, obviously the victim of foul play. In print, on stage and screen, a locked-room mystery centers on who did it, and how.

Our scripture reading for today presents another kind of locked-room mystery, although it predates the modern mystery novel by many centuries. The single door remains locked from the inside. The room has no false walls to a secret passage, no trap door. But inste…