I was reminded this week of the challenge we often feel coming to celebrate such profound events…the challenge to really ‘get it’ in terms of the meaning of what we come to…in the midst of all the activity that can surround such holidays.
Thursday… 3 year old son…His Preschool nemesis told him the Easter bunny was HER friend. He said, “The Easter Bunny isn’t your friend… He’s my friend.” > She bit him.
Later that night…5 year old son tried to explain who the Easter Bunny was. Came to hide all the eggs, then he goes back to the “North pool” where Santa is.
If we really grasp these events we’ve come to celebrate today …we realize they sum up the grand story of our lives…the divine drama which we are a part of. It’s a drama that is manifest in specific historical and human events… yet becomes a timeless encounter for us all.
One of the most extended encounters with the risen Christ comes in….
John 21:1-19
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I’m going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We’ll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
He called out to them, "Friends, haven’t you any fish?"
"No," they answered.
He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."
Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."
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. I tell you the truth, 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." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"
Peter… is a picture of the highest hopes / enthusiasm… now the disciples had gone to Jerusalem and had experienced a tumultuous series of events: the Triumphal Entry, the expectation of a new kingdom, a betrayal by a trusted friend, near arrest, denial of Jesus by their leader Peter, the agonizing crucifixion of Jesus, the Resurrection, and the manifestations of the risen Lord. Their leader was gone. They had watched Him be crucified on a cross. And they had all run away in fear. Yes, they had witness that He had risen from the dead. He had appeared to friends and family. But they still felt very alone. Understandably they were confused and unsure of the future.
> The place they begin reflects a part of each of us, when we feel at a total loss when the experience isn’t what we expected.
Especially true of the central figure…Peter.
He had been called… used… had great pride in his loyalty… stating a love more than others…would never abandon… raised his sword when the Roman guards came to the garden to take Jesus away.
Then he denied him.
Now he’s confused and disappointed… in God… in himself. He’s left again wondering what God has for him. Is this it? Perhaps you’ve wondered.
Faced with trying to manage life as usual … goes fishing. No doubt never the same… but he simply couldn’t yet grasp what was happening…. beyond any paradigm he had.
Sometimes we think if you just drift away, go off and pretend it never happened. We could then forget what we have done and what we have become.
“When a Christian man starts looking back, it’s only a question of time until he goes back.” (Billy Sunday)
So all night you have labored at a task you know so well.
> Good News - God isn’t limited by our senses and uncertainties.
Suddenly he’s there. He had come before… and they knew he was alive… but this time things become clearer.
The experience is both unexpected and undeniable… surprising and settling. The picture we get isn’t that of everything being perfectly clear… of every answer being given.
> This encounter changed them forever. Why? Because it answered the questions that really matter. The resurrection is transforming … it has the power to transform us because….
In Easter we discover in the risen Christ an encounter with the grand questions of life…
1. Am I acceptable?
TEEN CLAIMS NEED TO BE DIFFERENT BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE IS
A teenage girl left for school wearing one yellow and one orange sock. Her mother, noticing this, headed her daughter off at the front door and asked why she was wearing two different colored socks. The teenager responded, "I have a right to be different if I want to." And she added, "Besides, all the kids at school are doing it!"+
> We all want to be accepted and do a few weird things to receive it.
Peter’s own failure… He was suffering from the hangover of denial. When a slave-girl confronted him, Peter defended himself violently. Matthew tells us at this third denial that in 26:74,
“Then he began to call down curses on himself {he talked ugly} and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” That is when he heard an unusual sound. Remember now, it was midnight. Two men heard the rooster crow: Peter and Jesus. And Luke 22:61 says that, “The Lord turned and looked at Peter.”
Jesus had last spoken to him with His eyes. Peter would never forget that look. Verse 62 says,
“And he went outside and wept bitterly.”
Peter had all the memories of failure plaguing and harassing him.
“Spiritual Failure Made the Memory of His Calling Painful Instead of Joyous. Now it Seemed like a Reminder of What He Could Have Been Instead of a Promise of What He Shall Be.”
> Peter was faced with the reality of not being the person he wanted to be.
It’s the question that rises from the shame that lurks within our being… when we face the depths of our darker side… the thoughts that run through us… of deception and disregard…of hatred and harm… sexual pleasure misdirected… indifference where we know we should feel love.
> We wonder ‘Am I fatally and forever flawed? Have my failures disqualified me?’
Perhaps we have to fail …to really fail …in order to face the fundamental nature of this question.
Here we find a reminder of the most striking elements of the Divine drama we call the Bible … that nearly every leader whom God uses is shown not just to have faced failure… but to have failed miserably….in devastating proportions. Particularly in Peter’s case, it’s as if we have to experience failure in proportion to our self-confidence.
Like few who have ever lived on this earth, our current western culture has worked hard to remove our sense of shame. … to answer and alleviate the question of being acceptable.
> Best-selling book of the 1970’s “I’m OK, You’re OK”… begged the question, “Then what’s wrong.”
If we’re honest we sense something good within us… but it’s like an echo wanting to hear the original voice.
> That is what the risen Christ speaks. The power of the resurrection is that there is a God who stands on the other side of Peter’s failure and says “come”….on the other side of our shame… … and now says ‘Come.’ For He took our shame… bore it… bled and died it… and now says… ‘Come’. There is no other god who calls us to come but the one who was crucified.
> The power of the resurrection begins with the power of forgiveness… knowing that all of our shame has been born upon our creator.
He comes uniquely to Peter… personally. Just as he spoke Mary’s name that first morning at the tomb… so He will speak each of our names.
…Some of you may remember the story of the Whisper Test.
THE WHISPER TEST (-"Leadership" winter 1995)
In "The Whisper Test," Mary Ann Bird writes:
I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.
When schoolmates asked, "What happened to your lip?" I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.
There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored--Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy--a sparkling lady.
Annually we had a hearing test...Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back--things like "The sky is blue" or "Do you have new shoes?" I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, "I wish you were my little girl."
> God says to every person deformed by sin, "I wish you were my son" or "I wish you were my daughter."
2. Am I alone in this life?
We don’t want to be utterly alone in this world.
Some years ago in the city of Atlanta there was a news report circulated about two lonely women. One of them had spent $35,000 on dancing lessons just so she could be close to someone. The other, though perfectly healthy, went around town in a wheelchair with hope that someone would come along and offer to push her.
> We all have a deep need to know we’re not alone… that someone’s there to push us.
No doubt Peter had friends… probably some good friends…. but as we face the challenges of life, along with fellow companions, we desire a connection to One who transcends our common place and position.
Like a child who naturally needs a parent’s presence as a source to all that is beyond the child to understand, so every one of us can desire deep down not be left alone to face life.
Peter had experienced what it was to walk alongside such a guiding presence … and power. No doubt that as such a presence was taken from him, he may have felt more alone than ever… like the day after a couple breaks up…or a parent passes away.
> But suddenly he discovers that he’s not alone. Peter discovers that God is now loose in this world… alive… and wants to do breakfast.
MORE THAN PROOF OF GOD’S EXISTENCE, WE WANT TO EXPERIENCE HIS PRESENCE
In his book, "The Magnificent Defeat", Frederick Buechner writes: "For what we need to know, of course, is not just that God exists, not just that beyond the steely brightness of the stars there is a cosmic intelligence of some kind that keeps the whole show going, but that there is a God right here in the thick of our day-by-day lives who may not be writing messages about himself in the stars but in one way or another is trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around down here knee-deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world. It is not objective proof of God’s existence that we want but the experience of God’s presence. That is the miracle we are really after, and that is also, I think, the miracle that we really get."
- Brennan Manning, "The Ragamuffin Gospel," p93+
It was the very reality of life with God which Jesus lived in and came to impart to us.
John 16:32 (NLT)
But the time is coming—in fact, it is already here—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.
Now such a reality is ours…
Jesus says, "Make your home in me, as I make mine in you" (John 15:4). "If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him" John 14:23).
Such knowledge empowers us to really live…
Some years ago Columbia University had a great football coach
by the name of Lou Little. One day Lou had a boy try out for the varsity team
who wasn’t really very good. But Lou noticed that there was something unique
about him -- while he wasn’t nearly good enough to make the team he had such
irrepresible spirit and contagious enthusiasm that Lou thought, "This boy would
be a great inspiration on the bench. He’ll never be able to play, but I’ll
leave him on the team to encourage the others." As the season went on Lou
began to develop a tremendous admiration and love for this boy. One of the
things that especially impressed him was the manner with which the boy obviously
cared for his father. Whenever the father would come for a visit to the campus
the boy and his father would always be seen walking together, arm in arm, an
obvious indication of an exceptional bond of love between them. They could
always be seen on Sunday going to and from the university chapel. It was
obvious that theirs was a deep and mutually shared Christian faith. Then, one
day, a telephone call came to Coach Little. He was informed that the boy’s
father had just died -- would he be the one to tell the boy? With a heavy
heart Lou informed the boy of his father’s death, and he immediately left to
go home for the funeral. A few days later the boy returned to the campus, only
two days before the biggest game of the season. Lou went to him and said, "Is
there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?" And to the coach’s
astonishment the boy said, "Let me start the game on Saturday!" Lou was taken
aback. He thought, "I can’t let him start -- he’s not good enough." But he
remembered his promise to help and said, "All right -- you can start the game,"
and he thought to himself, "I’ll leave him in for a few plays and then take him
out." The day of the big game arrived. To everyone’s surprise the coach
started this boy who had never palyed in a game all season. But imagine even
the coach’s surprise when, on the very first play from scrimmage, that boy was
the one who single-handedly made a tackle that threw the opposing team for a
loss. The boy went on to play inspired football play after play. In fact, he
played so exceptionally that Lou left him in for the entire game; the boy led
his team to victory and he was voted the outstanding player of the game. When
the game was finally over Lou approached the boy and said, "Son, what got into
you today?" And the boy replied, "You remember when my father would visit me
here at school and we would spend a lot of time together walking arm in arm
around the campus? My father and I shared a secret that nobody around here
knew anything about. You see, my father was blind -- and today was the first
time he ever saw me play!"
> So too Peter discovered God was with him… watching him… as he realized that Jesus could be anywhere and by His Spirit would be everywhere… and he went on to play inspired. Peter would never wonder again if he was alone.. ultimately alone.
It is because of reality of the resurrection that we too can be transformed … that we are able to "play above our heads" in the game of life. ( Claude Ponting, Pastor of Opportunity Presbyterian Church in Spokane, Washington)
3. Will death be my end?
No matter how much meaning is given to us in this life…there still lies what the Bible refers to as “the final enemy”… death. Ernest Becker in his prize winning book The Denial of Death, notes how we as a culture try to deny death by turning from the reality of our aging and physical death and focusing on every possible means to live bigger than life… whether through the heroes of our movies, or thrills and pleasures… or vicariously by paying individuals millions of dollars to be our celebrities and sports heroes.
> If death is final… then a certain futility hangs over life.
Naturally Peter wanted to know “Will death be my end?”… the very question was at the heart of debate between the religious leaders… perhaps it was the one subject which God had not elaborated on before. So Jesus came speaking about eternity… of course Peter wanted to hold on to such truth…
> But now on this first Easter morning…as he ate his breakfast (if he ate at all)… he sat before the other side of death. He saw the reality of another realm which transcends time and the temporal nature of his current existence.
“Until one is prepared to die…we are never prepared to really live.”
> The power of the resurrection is the power of discovering eternity in our hearts.
William Jennings Bryan, the well-known American political figure, was once quoted as saying, " If the Heavenly Father deigns to touch with divine power the buried acorn to make it burst from its prison walls, will He leave neglected in the earth man who is made in the image of his Creator? If He stoops to give to the rosebush whose withered blossoms float upon the autumn breeze the sweet assurance of another springtime, will He refuse the word of hope to the sons of men when the frosts of life’s winter come? No! I am as sure that there is another life as I am that I am alive today!"
Such a reality changes our perspective.
There was a woman who had been diagnosed with cancer and had been given three month to live. Her doctor told her to start making preparations to die -- something we all should be doing all of the time.
So she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what she wanted to be wearing.
The woman also told her pastor that she wanted to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. "There’s one more thing," she said excitedly.
"What’s that?" came the pastor’s reply.
"This is very important." The woman continued, "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The pastor stood looking at the woman not knowing quite what to say.
"That shocks you, doesn’t it?" the woman asked.
Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request," said the pastor.
The woman explained. "In all my years of attending socials and functions where food was involved, my favorite part was when whoever was clearing away the dishes of the main course would lean over and say ’you can keep your fork.’ It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming. When they told me to keep my fork, I knew that something great was about to be given to me. It wasn’t Jell-O or pudding. It was cake or pie - something with substance. So I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, ’What’s with the fork?’ Then I want you to tell them, ’Something better is coming, so keep your fork too."
> Peter discovered the reality of the fork… and held it in his heart.
Through the events of Easter we can discover God’s response to some of the deepest questions we face…We discover that there is One who has the power to accept us despite our failures…that we are not alone… His presence will even flow within us and among us… and that death will not be our end.
Bt there is one more question that is fundamental to this story… and to our stories.
Only this one is not one which Peter is asking… nor that we may be asking. It’s the question God asks… and it is this, “Do you love me?”
This question has the power to sort out and sum up so much. Suddenly the whole relationship comes into focus…whole reality.
4. Do I love God?
Question of response. Jesus asks this fundamental question three times…likely to help Peter fully reconcile with the 3 times he was asked whether he was with Christ… and he denied it.
But now Peter is different… Peter thought he understood his love… had been quick to express his devotion… certain of what should happen to Jesus… and there was no need for suffering.
All that changed. Peter wasn’t the same. Peter had stepped out with pride before. Now he would step out in grace.
Jesus was making this a moment for Peter to renew his loyalties and reaffirm his responsibilities.
And so he reissues the original call, “Follow Me”
Jesus’ words echo across the centuries.
And today he makes this a moment to renew our love… our loyalties.
(From, A Church for the 21st Century by Leith Anderson. Bethany House Publishers, 1992. Page 216.) The story is told of Abraham Lincoln going to a slave auction one day. He was appalled to see how the traders and their customers mistreated the human beings they were buying and selling. One young woman who was put on the block especially captured his attention.
He could see in her eyes how years of oppression had shriveled her soul. She regarded everyone around her with hatred and contempt. This moment of cruel humiliation was one more incident in a life filled with nothing but abuse.
When the bidding began, Lincoln offered a price. Someone else bid higher. Lincoln continued to raise his bid until finally he had won. As he gave the auctioneer the cash and took title to the slave woman, she glared at him with bitterness in her eyes and asked what he was going to do with her.
"I’m going to set you free," replied Lincoln.
The young woman was skeptical. "Free? Free for what?"
"Just free," Lincoln explained. "Completely free."
"Free to do whatever I want?"
"Yes," he said. "Free to do whatever you want."
"Free to say whatever I want to say?"
"That’s right."
"Free to go wherever I want to go?"
Lincoln answered, "Yes, you may go wherever you want to go."
With a sudden smile she said, "Then I’m going with you!"
Will you follow him this morning?
