Jesus and His Restoration of Peter - Sermon for April 30
We have been looking at some of the events surrounding the immediate aftermath of the resurrection. Of course we know that the resurrection has had a massive impact on the entire world over the last 2000 years.
It is the central event in history that divides time itself. History itself is marked by this event, so much so that we count time leading up to this event as BC, "before Christ" and we count time after this event as Anno Domini, or AD, the Year of the Lord”
So yes, the resurrection has had a massive impact on the world. But of course that impact…started…quite… locally.
It started in the lives of the people that were most directly impacted at the earliest moments of the resurrection, the earliest moments following the resurrection.
Last week, if you recall, Leah Katerberg talked about Thomas and the unfair place that he holds in history as a person who was racked with doubts.
But what’s interesting is that right after the passage on Thomas in John 20, we get the last verses, that feel very much like the end of the book.
John 20:30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
And we might even, as we’re reading through the gospel, be tempted to stop right there, because it sounds like the end of the gospel. But the gospel of John continues into the next chapter with a lovely scene on the beach that will look at in a moment.
Right after that the disciples encounter Jesus on the beach, John 21:15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
And so, listening to this, you might wonder about this tension between Peter and Jesus.
We see that Peter was hurt because of Jesus repeatedly asking him the same question. Peter responds, after the third time Jesus asked him the same question: "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you".
Why is Jesus doing this? What is going on in his mind? Is he trying to be hurtful? Is it just a strange and unpleasant moment for Peter that we can never know the meaning of?
We need to go back to John chapter 13 to better understand. John records there that in the upper room, after Jesus has washed his disciples feet, Jesus predicts two things.
He predicts that Judas will betray him, and this actually happens quite rapidly, in the same setting, when Judas immediately goes out and betrays Jesus.
Jesus then predicts Peter's denial. We should hear this in context: Jesus says:
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” 37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
We can only imagine Peter's response to what Jesus says here. But it would've included a certain amount of shock, a certain amount of disbelief, most definitely this was a huge challenge to the way Peter saw himself and his relationship to Jesus.
After all, Peter had just said "I will lay down my life for you". That’s chapter 13.
Five chapters later, in chapter 18, a lot has happened, Including Jesus' deep travail in the garden where he was filled with such dread over what he knew was coming that he sweated, as it were, drops of blood.
In John chapter 18 Jesus, who has just been arrested, is now standing in the courtyard of Annas. Annas had been the High Priest, but was now the father-in-law of the current high priest, Caiaphas.
We pick up in John 18
John 18:15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
This is interesting. So we have Peter, here as he is often called, Simon Peter, coming in with another disciple, a disciple who is actually unnamed.
This unnamed disciple, who is known to the high priest, goes in with Jesus into the courtyard, but Peter is stuck for the moment waiting outside at the door. Then the other Disciple comes back, and Peter is allowed in.
17 “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” (the servant girl) asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.” 18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.
So this is the first time that Peter denies Jesus. It's likely that Peter feels vulnerable because the small courtyard also has officers and other servants there.
Maybe some of them remember that he attacked Malchus - another slave, and cut off his ear; Malchus whom this woman might know.
So at the gate, in order to gain entry, Peter denies any connection to Jesus. It's night time, we know because lanterns were used when Jesus was arrested.
And it's spring time, we know because it is the time of the Passover.
But it's really chilly, like it is here sometimes in the spring, so Peter and the other disciple, stand with others around a fire warming themselves against the cold.
So Peter's first denial, this lie, you could say, was out of expediency, almost out of necessity someone might argue.
This denial of knowing Jesus would enable Peter, he hoped, to be allowed to be kind of nearby, but not to be too closely associated with Jesus, in case, as it was appearing, things were to go quite badly forJesus, and possibly for anyone associated with him.
Then Jesus is questioned by Annas and then sent to the current high priest, Caiaphas.
We pick up in verse 18:25: Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.”
26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.
So while Jesus is with Caiaphas, John reports Peter's ongoing failings as a witness in the courtyard. Peter is still hanging around, so those there ask him "You aren't one of the disciples too, are you?”
And here we have Peter’s second denial. “I am not!” Then as we just read, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had just cut off intensifies the challenge. “Didn't I just see you with him in the garden?" And again Peter, for the third and final time, denies Jesus.
It's noticeable that in his Gospel John weaves or intersperses Peter's denials back and forth the various interrogations of Jesus.
And what's interesting here is the contrast between Jesus and Peter. When Jesus is interrogated he stands up to his questioners and denies nothing. Completely holds his ground.
Peter on the other hand, cowers before his questioners and denies everything. He denies any association, any connection, any friendship, even any knowledge of Jesus. That’s a pretty clear and complete denial.
So back in your mind to Jesus and the disciples in the Upper room in chapter 13. Maybe we can imagine Peter's response to Jesus earlier telling him that he would deny him three times before the cock crow:
A bit of shock, a bit of feeling offended, a bit of feeling misunderstood and unappreciated by Jesus.
Which would've been weird, because Jesus was not known to cause unnecessary offense, he was not known for misunderstanding things, and he was not known for taking his friends, his disciples for granted. Not in the slightest.
So maybe we can guess at how Peter felt when Jesus told him that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed.
But here, if you've been following along, you can probably FEEL how Peter felt when he hears that rooster starting to crow.
He hears the rooster and he remembers what Jesus said. Imagine how you would feel.
A number of years ago I did a dramatic message where I played Peter, dressed up in ancient robes and all.
At this point in the narrative, I got extremely choked up and I had to stop for a moment to gather myself together. It was brutal.
Even though I was just acting, I could feel the overwhelming shame, the shock, the embarrassment, the incredible sense of personal failure.
And then of course the scene moves to Jesus standing before Pilate, Jesus being mocked by the soldiers, Pilate offering to release Jesus, as was his custom, but the crowd preferring instead that Barabbas would be released.
And then Jesus is sentenced to be crucified. And then he is crucified.
Jesus dies and is buried. The disciples scatter except for his closest friend John and a number of the women who followed Jesus.
And then of course Jesus is resurrected, and he appears to the disciples, including eventually to Thomas as we discussed earlier.
Then there is a lovely scene at the start of chapter where Jesus appears again to his disciples by the sea of Galilee.
His disciples are fishing, or they're trying to fish, with no success whatsoever.
Then Jesus stands on the shore,
unrecognized so far by the disciples, likely due to the distance, or maybe the early morning fog.
Jesus tells them to throw the net out on the right side of the boat, which they hadn't done, they do it and now end up in a pretty awkward situation where there are so many fish, that they can't even haul in the net from the water.
Then Jesus tells them to grab a few fish and come to the barbeque and have breakfast.
At this point they’ve all figured out that it is in fact Jesus there on the shore.
Jesus took the bread that was there and the fish that were cooked and he gave it to them. This was the third time the Jesus had appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
So they are sitting around having breakfast with Jesus. But Peter’s restoration has already started. Jesus meets Peter here in the identical way that he first met Peter three years earlier.
Luke 5:1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
So now, here on the beach with Jesus and the other disciples, Jesus has just repeated, acted out, the very scene of Peter’s first calling where Jesus had said to Peter: Matthew 4:19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people”, or as the King James Version says, “I will make you fishers of men”
At the very least, this must have been a déjà vu moment for Peter. And although he clearly would have felt the shame and embarrassment of his own denial of Jesus before this moment, I think here we begin to see Hope being restored to Peter.
Not just hope in a general sense, but some deeper hope found in the mystery of what is happening in the moment with Jesus.
And then John 20:15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
It's worth noting HOW Jesus addresses Peter here, Peter who was also called Simon but to whom Jesus gave the name Peter, which meant "the rock"; Jesus addresses Peter as Simon son of John, the way he was known before he encountered Jesus, and he does so three times.
Jesus knows exactly how Peter feels. And he meets Peter exactly where he is in the moment, Peter having lost all faith in himself, he is, in his mind, no longer what he was when he was with Jesus. Now he's just Simon son of John.
Peter feels, I think, that although Jesus once called him to be among his disciples, and then among his disciples Jesus gave him the special responsibility or title of "the rock", now, because of his denials of Jesus, because of his failings, all that is in the past.
“I am simply Simon, son of my father John”, Peter thinks to himself. And Jesus starts by connecting with Peter exactly where he is just then.
There is a little bit of strangeness in the dialogue here between Jesus and Peter that unfortunately we miss due to the translation. Jesus repeatedly is asking Simon "Do you agape – love me?”. Agapao (Aga Pa O).
That is the deepest love, the most profound kind of love, it is the love of God, it is the type of love that it's full of hope and joy and potential and eternity and connection and commitment and depth of meaning.
But Peter keeps answering, you know that I phileo – love you. Phileo means brotherly love, friend-love. General affection, sentimentality.
Agape love is chiefly of the heart. Phileo love is chiefly of the head.
So you have this back-and-forth, where Jesus is asking one thing, and Peter is answering another thing.
That is perhaps one reason why this conversation goes on as long as it does, why Peter is asked three times rather than once.The sting of that moment when that rooster crowed was very much in his mind.
Of course, Peter had denied Jesus three times after vowing that he would lay down his life for him.
So these three opportunities for Peter to affirm his love for Jesus are emotionally intense and very tangible ways for Peter to overwrite his previous failings.
So strong are his feelings of failure, so imprinted on his mind and heart is the moment when he realizes that he denies Jesus, Peter needs this from Jesus.
Peter needs this awkward, uncomfortable conversation in order to leave behind the deep shame he feels.
And also, very importantly, Jesus is giving Peter a chance to step up and deny his previous his previous denials of Jesus.
Jesus is giving him the choice and the opportunity to replace his three times uttered "no!" with fresh and new yeses to Jesus, fresh and new affirmations that despite all that has happened up to this point, despite his denial of Jesus, his heart is truly for Jesus.
And of course Jesus is saying to Peter that he needs to take care of the sheep of the great Shepherd.
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
So there you have it. Peter is restored. Peter's denials of Jesus are overwritten and replaced by his affirmations of his love for Jesus.
And Jesus is also here repeatedly calling Peter to a deeper love for God that he has ever known.
It's not enough to love God sentimentally, it's not enough to be a fan of Jesus. Brotherly affection that goes no deeper than brotherly affection is no longer enough.
Jesus is calling Peter to serve Him with his whole heart, to love him with heart, soul, mind and strength.
And then in another, very sobering act of restoring Peter, Jesus says these words to him, anticipating what will happen to Peter because he will indeed faithfully live out his calling by the grace of God:
18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
So Peter has been through a deep, spiritual, emotional grinder of an experience. It’s tiring just thinking about it.
But for Peter, this is a moment of transformation that alters his whole world and changes the direction of his life.
He wouldn’t spend his life trying to fish, which as we saw in this scene was a very hit or miss occupation. Instead his whole earthly existence would have a different purpose, a different meaning, a different outcome.
His experience of being humbled so deeply, plus his experience of Jesus’ resurrection plus the fact that he had been witness to Jesus’ 3 years of teaching and miraculous healings, this would make Peter an incredibly bold witness for the gospel.
It’s a fascinating study to go right from reading to the end of John to the very next part of the Bible, the Book of Acts, which is properly titled the Book of the Acts of the Apostle.
There we see Peter in a very different light, having fully and completely embraced the forgiveness of Jesus.
He becomes a key church leader and evangelist who boldly proclaims the truth he has experienced in Jesus.
So in Peter we have a very dramatic, pretty extreme transformation. And in Peter we also have an example of a deeply flawed, sometimes overbearing, sometimes foot-in-mouth fellow who is really in the process of sorting himself out.
We see Peter in a raw state and as a deeply imperfect person.
That’s why I like Peter. He was so incredibly human, so deeply flawed, his rough spots so transparently visible, so far from perfect.
He was just like I am. He was just like we are. I’ve often thought that our motto as a church should be: “Come And Be Flawed”.
Because we are all, in truth, far more like Peter getting everything wrong, than we are like Jesus who got everything right. I think it’s good to aspire to be like Peter. Transparent; human; real; flawed. That last quality I don’t have to work at much. It comes quite naturally.
But how are we supposed to ever become more like Jesus if we’re forever putting our energies into trying in vain to cover up our humanness, our flaws?
Far better that we be a church where we can invite each other to “Come and Be Flawed!”
Let’s put our energies into seeking God and loving God and being real with each other even as we’re sorting ourselves out and figuring out this messy, confusing life that we are living.
God calls us, THROUGH the Epistle of letter of the very, deeply imperfect Peter, to a very high thing - 1 Peter 1:15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Peter wrote that. Peter was never perfect. In the early years of the church, it’s recorded in the book of Acts that he made some pretty bad calls, big mistakes that he had to get called on and corrected about by the Apostle Paul.
So may we see ourselves not only in Peter, but also in the many diverse imperfect people that make up the Story of God and His people that we find in the Bible. Because God is still writing His story.
The Bible is complete and whole and is the final authority in all matters of faith and life.
The Bible is complete, but God is still writing the story of your life. And there are many twists and turns ahead for all of us. And through whatever may come, God will be present in and through us.
He will be with us and will be in us by the Holy Spirit when things are going good, when things are going, great, when things are going, poorly, when things are going terribly.
He will never leave us, nor for sake us. We are his because we believe the gospel, because we follow Jesus.
Will you bring your imperfect self to God, knowing that because He is good He has made a way for you to approach Him through the cross, through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus by which He has made us holy in his eyes?
I mentioned at the beginning of this message that the resurrection has had a massive impact on the world. And that that impact started quite locally.
And we’ve zoomed in even more than the local impact of the resurrection and the resurrected Christ into a very important part of Simon Peter’s experience of Jesus and we’ve hd a good line of sight into his process – a difficult and deep and humbling and transformative journey.
And everyone here who has placed their trust in Jesus Christ and has believed that He gave his life for us on the cross, has experienced AND continues to experience,
whether or not we’re even aware, the impact of the resurrection and of the hand of Jesus Christ on our lives.
If you have not yet placed your faith in Jesus Christ, I would strongly encourage you to do so.
That decision will impact the course of your life for good and that decision will blossom into a relationship with God that will bring you blessing, and make you a blessing more than you can imagine.
My life changed slowly and gradually and became something that I had never imagined possible before then.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
There might be someone here today who is ready to make a decision to follow Jesus. If that is you, please, please come and talk to myself or Pastor Jan or Pastor Jonathan or to our Elder Breda.
Let’s pray. God, we thank you that in Jesus we see such mercy and kindness toward Peter. We can relate to Peter, because all of us fall short. And even as you restored Peter, you restore us to you when we come to you and confess our faults.
Not only do you forgive us, but you cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We see your love in this, as we see your love for us proven on the cross where Jesus died.
We see your power over sin, over darkness, over hopelessness as we learn of the resurrection.
And as we embrace all these truths, we say thank you Jesus. Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. Thank you for fixing all that was broken in our relationship with God the Father.
May we honour you, may we love you, may we follow you all the days of our lives in gratitude and worship. In Jesus matchless name, Amen.
