WHEN GOD RESTORES THE BROKEN HEART
The highly watched television show “Lost” is presented in the same manner as the character Peter in the Gospel of John. The show “Lost” portrays a story surrounding the events of the island that the people are lost on. As the show unfolds, there are flashbacks to the character’s life before the airplane crash. These flash backs provide insight into the reasons why the character on the island is reacting to the events at the present time. These flashbacks inform the viewer of the character’s complex background. Throughout the show, one complete story unfolds. This story meshes together the present narrative with the background information.
John portrays Peter through the same light. John tells the story about Jesus restoring Peter to his commission of working in the church of God. But this story could not be understood unless one flashes back to the historical events that lead to this interaction.
Jesus appears to the disciple while they were fishing. Jesus lovely prepares breakfast for the disciple. After the breakfast was completed Jesus offers Peter a time of restoration. It is amazing detail of breakfast. Breakfast is typically taken at the beginning of the day. Peter through this process is a renewed man. Peter gets a fresh start to his service to Christ. Jesus asks Peter a simple question of where his loyalty lies. Jesus asks, “Do you love me more than these.”
As soon as Jesus asks this to Peter his mind must have flashed back to the first time calling by the Lord. John 1:42 “He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter). Peter had just finished fishing all night. Jesus first appeared to him when he was a fisherman. When Jesus fist met Peter he called him Simon son of John. This might have caught his attention. Everyone knows what is in a name. Everyone knows the feeling of being called by their full name by a parent who is upset. Simon son of John must have rung in his mind. Jesus is starting over again. He goes back to the beginning of his call to follow Christ. Literally, Jesus is saying, “Let’s try this one more time.”
This one couple I know started again. This couple dated all through graduate school. Just before they graduated as a doctor and a lawyer, the couple broke up. A few months passed and each of them moved to different locations. The relationship seemed to be over. But one day a call was placed to see each other again. During that time they realized the mistake. In a matter of weeks the couple eloped and was married to the shock of the family. They were miserable away from each other. They got back together and are happily married to this day.
Jesus and Peter were better off together than apart. Peter declares that he truly loved Christ and wants to be involved in the mission of God. So Jesus recalls him into the ministry. He tells him to feed his sleep. Peter is to work with the people of God. Peter is going to develop into a great leader in the future.
But another flashback jumps into Peter’s head. He remembers the time he was promising to never leave Christ. John 13:36-38 “Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later." Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You." Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times.” Peter was full of pride and confidence. Peter was making promises that he could never keep. This was the nature of Peter. He was the one to jump first, he was the one to speak up first, and he was the one to promise the most.
Jesus once again asks him the same question. Do you love me? Peter wanting to please his master answers yes. What was Peter thinking? Did Jesus not hear me the first time? Peter truly loved the Lord. He was willing to follow him from the beginning of his ministry. He ran to Jesus when he saw him from the shore. If there was one person who desired relationship with Christ, it was Peter. Jesus once again tells Peter to feed his sleep. Jesus is commissioning Peter again for the work of the ministry. The church is going to need his leadership and talents to have success. He tells Peter he is going to have a leadership role in the future kingdom of God. He must be about feeding and tending to the sheep of God. After Peter affirmed his loyalty to Jesus, Jesus asks another question.
Jesus for the third time asks Peter if he loves him. Now Peter’s heart is pricked. Craddock tells this story. My mother took us to church and Sunday school; my father didn’t go. He complained about Sunday dinner being late when she came home. Sometimes the preacher would call, and my father would say, “I know what the church wants. Church doesn’t care about me. Church wants another name, another pledge, another name, another pledge, right? Isn’t that the name of it? Another name, another pledge.” That’s what he always said. Sometimes we’d have a revival. The minister would bring the evangelist and say to the evangelist, “There’s one now sic him, get him, get him,” and my father would say the same thing. Every time, my mother in the kitchen, always my father said, “The church doesn’t care about me. The church wants another name and another pledge.” I guess I heard it a thousand times. One time he didn’t say it. He was in the veteran’s hospital, and he was down to seventy-three pounds. They’d taken out his throat, and said, “its too late.” They put in a metal tube, and X ray burned him to pieces. I flew in to see him. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t eat. I looked around the room, potted plants and cut flowers on all the windowsills, a stack of cards twenty inches deep beside his bed. And even that tray where they put food, if you can eat, on that was a flower. And all the flowers beside the bed, every card, every blossom, were from persons or groups from the church. He saw me read a card. He could not speak, so he took a Kleenex box and wrote on the side of it a line from Shakespeare. If he had not written this line, I would not tell you this story. He wrote: “In this harsh world, draw your breath in pain to tell my story.” I said, “What is your story, Daddy?” And he wrote, “I was wrong.”
Peter wants to pull out the Kleenex box but Jesus tells him to put it away. He realizes what Jesus is doing. Jesus is restoring him to the kingdom. Peter’s mind flashes back once again. John 18:15-17, 25-27 “And Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought in Peter. The slave-girl therefore who kept the door said to Peter, "You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?" He denied it, and said, "I am not." One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" Peter therefore denied it again; and immediately a cock crowed.”
Peter at last knows the intent of the three questions. It was not for Jesus’ hearing, it was not for his ego, but it was for Peter’s heart. Jesus wisely restored the broken heart of his friend Peter. Peter knows that he is wrong in denying Jesus.
Peter is literally begging for forgiveness. Peter might be quick on the bragging trigger, but his heart is in the right place. The Lord knows that he can use a man with such a big heart. Jesus once again commissions him to feed his sheep. In fact in this discourse he uses the terms that connote a sense of feeding and a sense of shepherding. Peter is to help develop Christians in the future. God is planning on using Peter for a powerful role in the kingdom of God.
But ultimately Peter is going to have to give his life for the cause of Christ. Peter is receiving a second chance to proof himself faithful to the Lord. The first time he was intimidated by strangers and a little girl but now Peter will make the sacrifice for faithfulness. Jesus mentions that Peter has always been a strong individual. He led his life in whatever direction he desired. He relied on his strength to carry himself through life. But a time is coming when others will choice his future. He will be taken to be punished. In fact in John 21:18-19 Jesus is predicting Peter’s death. “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself, and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!” Jesus gives Peter now just a look into his past but into his future. Peter is going to die for his faith. But Peter will not deny Jesus again. In fact he will remain strong unto the end and in his death he will bring glory to God.
Now instead of a flashback to the past there is a fast forward to the future. Tradition states that when Peter was old Nero planned to put him to death. When the disciples heard of this, they begged Peter to flee the city, which he did after much pleading by the disciples. But when he got to the city gate, he saw Christ walking toward him. Peter fell to his knees and said, “Lord, where are you going?” Christ answered, “I’ve come to be crucified again.” By this, Peter understood that it was his time to suffer the death by which Jesus had told him he would glorify God, so he went back into the city. After being captured and taken to his place of martyrdom, he requested that he be crucified in an upside down position because he did not consider himself worthy to be crucified in the same position as his Lord.
After this futuristic image, Jesus provides the single solitary instruction for Peter. This instruction is simple and basic. Jesus does not detail all the works that he desires Peter to engage in. Jesus opened up time for Peter to look into. He was going to die for Christ. But in the mean time, there is just one simply command because this command effects all men and women in all times. This command is given to Peter and this command is given to us. Follow Jesus.
