(prayer)
It is nice to be back after some study
leave time last weekend. I am sure that
Pastor Phyllis Greenslade and those of you here last Sunday were able to feel
the Spirit of God among you.
Did you-all focus on Doubting Thomas (the suggested gospel reading for the Sunday
after Easter)?
//
Two weeks ago, on Easter Sunday, I talked
about something that may seem strange to those of us looking back on the New
Testament post-easter stories: even when angels appeared proclaiming
resurrection - even when Jesus (himself) appeared to his followers spoke to
them, touched them, ate with them - there was still a lingering doubt that
their Christ Was Risen.
²
Matthew
28:17 "When they saw [Jesus], they worshipped him; but some doubted."
²
Mark
16:8 "So [the women] went out and
fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said
nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."
²
Luke
24:40-41 "[Jesus] showed them his hands and his feet... in their joy, they
were disbelieving and still wondering."
²
John
20:29 sums up a real problem for the church moving forward. If it was such a challenge for the first
witnesses to believe, how hard will it be for others to believe. "Blessed
are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
Today, we take that challenge one step
further. Even if you are able to
convince yourself that the resurrection is real... now what?
Even if Jesus is raised, he did not
simply rejoin the group as if nothing had happened. He did not reposition himself as their
physical mentor and teacher. The
resurrection appearances were fleeting - at best, Jesus came and went.
Easter did not turn the clock back to a
time before the crucifixion. The time
ahead would be different for the Jesus-Movement. So, what were Jesus' followers to do next?
//
Each of the gospels address this, but
none so down-to-earth as John.
As we heard, back in Galilee, Peter
reverts back to his identity before he ever knew Jesus. Peter-Caphas-Petros - the Rock - becomes Simon the
fisherman again.
"I'm going fishing", he
says.
The seven other disciples with him go
out on the lake with Simon for a night of fishing.
//
Let's review Peter's pre- and
post-crucifixion narrative as it is told in the gospel of John:
·
When
Jesus was being questioned in Governor Pilate's headquarters, Peter hid from a
connection to Jesus. "Three
times" people asked if Peter was a disciple of Jesus; three times he said I don't know him.
·
Three
days later, when Mary Magdalene came rushing into the room screaming that
Jesus' body had been removed from the tomb, Peter ran to the garden as fast as
he could. He may have found it curious
that the tomb robbers took the time to neatly fold the grave clothes, but he
seems to have left the easter garden with no hope of resurrection.
·
When
Mary burst in again a bit later - this time claiming to have actually seen (and talked to) the Lord - Peter
(like the others) responded by huddling behind locked doors: still finding
little evidence of any hope in resurrection.
·
That
evening, Peter didn't need to hope any longer, because the Risen Jesus appeared
to the disciples behind those locked doors.
‘Peace be with you. As [God] has sent me, so I send you.’
Peter was there again for Jesus' repeat performance a week later - but
the new message was clear: believing won't always
be directly tied to seeing.
Moving forward, new followers would emerge because of the disciples' words and actions.
·
And
yet, (as we heard this morning) Peter felt more of a calling to the sea than to
the mission field.
//
You have heard the saying: you can't go back again.
At least three of Jesus' fisherman
disciples were aboard the boat that evening, but they could not find the fish.
How demoralizing that must have been
for Peter. His new life as a follower of
Jesus was in disarray, AND... Peter seems to have lost his touch with the nets
of his old life. He had experience doing
both fishing for fish and for people, but now he was left with empty nets.
//
John's gospel places this story of a
miraculous catch of fish (coming after specific advice from Jesus) in the
post-resurrection section of the book (John 21).
This is different from the gospel of
Luke which tells virtually the same story as happening during Jesus' life time
(Luke 5). For Luke, this is the
encounter that convinced Simon to leave his nets and follow Jesus.
Metaphorically, the message is the same
- Jesus is able to guide his disciples towards a bountiful result in the work
they do.
I think that John re-told the Luke
story of Simon Peter first becoming a disciple on purpose. Luke's gospel had been around for almost two
decades and was likely known well by John's audience.
Regardless of whether we read it in
Luke or John, Simon Peter is deeply impacted by what happened. He is humbled in Jesus' presence.
In Luke, Simon questioned whether he
was adequately gifted to do Jesus' work - "go away from me - I am too
sinful to be with you!"
In John, Peter did believe that God had
sent Jesus to preach a renewed faith, but he couldn't shake the notion that
although (on easter eve) Jesus had declared that the disciples were being sent
to continue sharing this good news, [that] Jesus was making a mistake to send
Peter the same way.
Peter just did not believe that he was not the foundation rock that Jesus had
hoped for. His actions after Jesus'
arrest had proved that. His future was
not Peter, the rock - but Simon, the fisherman.
//
//
Simon, son of John,
do you love me more than these?
Simon Peter may have been questioning
his own abilities - but he still loved Jesus.
It was Peter's lack of confidence in living out that love that bothered
him, not his love for Jesus. Peter knew
in his heart that it was not possible to love anyone deeper. So, he said...
Yes, I love you. You know
that.
Feed my lambs.
//
Simon, son of John,
do you love me?
Yes, you know that I love you.
Tend my sheep.
//
Simon, son of John,
do you love me?
Hurt, Peter said...
You know everything.
You know that I love you.
Feed my sheep.
//
//
There are so many layers to this story
and I won't be able to do them all justice this morning. But here is an overview:
1. Most biblical scholars draw a direct
parallel to the three-fold affirmations that Peter gave Jesus to... the
three-fold denials he had expressed the night of Jesus' arrest. Three for three. On one level, this was a conversation of
confession, forgiveness and absolution.
Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to transform 'I don't know you' into 'I
love you'.
2. Jesus' advice to Peter's three
responses vary slightly: feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep -- lambs
and sheep; tending and feeding. There
seems to be some intentionality to these turns of phrase - perhaps Peter is
invited to nurture the current group of followers (sheep) and those who will be
new to the faith (lambs - young sheep); and is he being asked to provide more
that the basic nourishment for faith (feed) but also to help that faith grow
and mature (tend)?
3. Harder to see in our English
translation bibles, is the variation in the questions of love themselves. (a) The first two times, the Greek verb used
in the text is agape - do you love me [love wholely, fully, without any
reservation]?
(b) The last time the verb philia - do you love
me [love like family]?
Two times: do you love like God loves... and then, the intensity of love
changes: do you love like humans love. Was the hurt that Peter experienced more
about this pull-back-in-expectation
than the fact that Jesus' kept asking the question over and over?
//
Each one of these 'levels' of the story
are enough for sermons on their own, but the part I want to emphasize today is
how Jesus winds up the conversation.
//
John 21:19 ends with a familiar
invitation. An invitation Simon (the
fisherman) had heard years earlier.
Follow me.
//
Follow me.
Three years ago, it was a challenge to
move beyond what was known and comfortable and expected. When Simon left his boat on the shoreline, he
began his journey in becoming the Rock
Jesus believed he could be.
In retrospect, looking back on those
years with Jesus, Peter did not feel very solid.
He felt inadequate for the task. He certainly felt he was an inadequate
disciple... and must less qualified to be the foundation of a new movement in
Jesus' name - to be the rock on which the church will be built.
//
Simon - who had become Peter for a
while - wanted to slip back into Simon' life again: I'm going fishing.
//
Then... the healer on the shore called
Simon again - follow
me.
More than "follow me,
again",
it is "follow me,
anew".
//
This is not a do-over or a
re-boot or a re-writing of history.
//
It is a fresh call - a fresh invitation - to who Peter had
become, not who he once was.
//
//
That is the hope and
promise before us all.
God is inviting the one who
we are now.
We may not think that we
are our best self.
Like, Peter, we may be
looking back to a better time that we no longer feel that we can sustain.
We may not yet be who we hope to become.
As the psalmist wrote,
God's favour is life-long. In God...
- joy supplants weeping,
- dancing replaces the
despair of loss.
//
//
It is not just John: each
of the Biblical gospels report that Jesus commissioned his disciples to not
focus on their past, but to move the good news forward.
//
Mark: proclaim the good news
to the whole creation (baptize);
Matthew: make disciples of all
nations (baptize);
Luke/Acts: be my witnesses to the
ends of the earth;
John: feed/tend my flock and
follow me.
//
We are included in these invitations.
We can follow Jesus today by promoting
the best of Jesus' Way.
¨
A
way of welcome and renewal.
¨
A
way for second chances and empowering the best potential in all we meet.
¨
A
way of peace, reconcilliation and equality.
//
It starts with us accepting that our
God sees all of this potential in us.
Like imperfect Peter, we are welcomed
and renewed; we are empowered in our powerlessness; we are reconciled in the
equality of God's loving peace.
//
//
Let us step forward and go out to live
the love of God that embraces us today.
//
//
Let us pray:
Holy One, you are the God of second
chances. You never give up on us. We will hold fast to the faith that you love
us. Amen.
#365VU
"Jesus Loves Me"
Interesting.
ReplyDelete