In the 2000 years of Christianity, there are only two recorded occasions where the church was officially closed around the world. The first was during the Spanish Flu which occurred in 1918 and ended in 1920. This year 2020 will be the second time this has happened due to the COVID -19, exactly a hundred years after the first one. Wars and persecution did not close the church in the past, swords and battles did not stop worship in history. Today the church is closed like those who lived 100 years ago during the Spanish Flu. We are asked to worship from home because of an invisible enemy that threatens our health and life. The gatherings and the rituals we cherish have become public danger and if we must survive, life as we know it must be put on hold or we need to adapt. Pope Francis lamented the present predicament when he noted that “a thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void”. The church has taken a reset so that it can start another fresh era in a changing environment. But God's love remains the same no matter what the environment looks like.
In John Chapter 21, we see Jesus coming to a discouraged and distracted Peter and resets his life with a fresh start. Peter was a disciple who took on a risk of his life when he left his fishing and followed Jesus. He was extraordinary among the disciples, that he jumped into the water and went walking on the water. Peter went up on the mountain and experienced the incredible event of Jesus’ transfiguration. Peter also had a big mouth that worked for Jesus, but also worked against him. Peter said that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, and the One that they had been waiting for. Then almost in the same breath, Peter steps in front of Jesus and tells Him that Hecan’t die. Then Jesus calls him Satan and says, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God.” (Matthew 16:23). Then on the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Peter’s mouth opened again to deny knowing Jesus. Not once, not twice, but three times! In all these fumblings and failures of Peter, there was one thing that remained constant. It was Jesus’s love toward him.
Jesus loves us regardless of our condition. He comes and helps us in spite of us straying from Him and denying Him. After Peter’s denial something changed. Something died in him. It was a conversion-like moment for Peter, a turning point. Peter’s own bold confidence and strength were killed. He knew he was just clay still being moulded, not “the unmovable rock” that Jesus called him to be. That’s why he went outside to weep after his denial. (Luke 22:62). Peter realized that he was a sinner in need of forgiveness! At that moment everything about Peter changed, his entire being surrendered to His Lord and Savior. His self-reliance left him. Peter ran to the tomb on Easter morning. He wanted to meet the risen Lord. He knew Jesus will forgive and restore him. But he did not meet him there. But the women who went to the tomb delivered Jesus’ message to the disciples that they should go to Galilee and wait for him there. So Peter and the other disciples went. But, it seems that Jesus wasn’t there to meet them the moment they arrived. They had to wait, and wait. Peter gets tired of waiting says, “I’m going out to fish”, to return to his old ways, the job he knows and trusts. His failures still loom over him. The denial of Jesus plagues to him.
Jesus then appeared on the shore waiting for them with a breakfast already prepared. After the breakfast, Jesus took Peter aside and asked three times if he loved Him. Why would Jesus ask his question three times? It’s hard to say. Jesus was not asking if he loved the sheep more than anything. Jesus has renewed in him the assurance of His love toward him. This is good news for us as well. Restoration is possible. When Jesus asked him about his love, He was referring to the statement Peter had made before His death, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will." (Matt 26:33). The three questions might relate to the three denial, thus undoing all of them. Or, they might refer to the making of a contract. At that time in history a threefold of questions and answers was done to make a contract. Maybe it’s both. We dont know exactly why Jesus asked him three times the same questions. What we do know is that Christ came to restore Peter. He blots out and destroys Peter’s three denials.
Jesus then appeared on the shore waiting for them with a breakfast already prepared. After the breakfast, Jesus took Peter aside and asked three times if he loved Him. Why would Jesus ask his question three times? It’s hard to say. Jesus was not asking if he loved the sheep more than anything. Jesus has renewed in him the assurance of His love toward him. This is good news for us as well. Restoration is possible. When Jesus asked him about his love, He was referring to the statement Peter had made before His death, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will." (Matt 26:33). The three questions might relate to the three denial, thus undoing all of them. Or, they might refer to the making of a contract. At that time in history a threefold of questions and answers was done to make a contract. Maybe it’s both. We dont know exactly why Jesus asked him three times the same questions. What we do know is that Christ came to restore Peter. He blots out and destroys Peter’s three denials.
The words here in John's gospel indicate that Peter will walk the same road that Jesus did. History says that Peter also died on a cross, some say he was crucified upside down. Luke 5 tells about how Peter followed Jesus when He showed up on Peter boat, where they caught nothing all night. Jesus told them to cast their nets into deeper waters and they caught a big catch. Peter at that time was very vocal in telling Jesus that He may be wrong, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Peter must have remembered that now he does not talk back. No questions from Peter! He picks up the nets and tosses them on the other side, and what a catch. So much that they can’t haul the net in. Peter probably remembered the first time when Jesus did this and told him about fishing for people. The old Peter is coming back, irrational, erratic, spontaneous Peter who jumps into the water. But when Peter gets to Jesus he doesn’t say anything. No conversation is recorded in John. The rest of them arrive and they eat breakfast in silence. When we are gloomy and lonely, frustrated and disappointed, don't know what to do, and become silent, Jesus will come to break the silence. He wants us to talk to Him because He wants us to talk to the world as well. We are not meant to be silent.
The story is more about Jesus than Peter. Jesus was not asking if he loved the sheep more than these? The Power of Easter breaks the silence of shame and guilt. Peter couldn’t talk. Jesus made him talk. Peter needed to speak. Jesus made him speak. Jesus does not confront or rebuke him. Jesus was there to restore him, to forgive him, to make him new again…, and again…, and again. Jesus turns to Peter and asks him, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” More than anyone or anything? The last question hits hard. It digs deep. Peter is hurt. “Lord You know all things.”
Jesus tenderly reaches out to this wounded, hurt, afraid child of God. Peter was unable to go to Jesus due to his shameful past. But Jesus came to him. We are no different. When life’s biggest mistakes occur, we find it almost impossible to go to the person we offended. We are more likely to hide it. Tuck it away deep down where no one else can find it. However, Jesus taught his disciples something different in Matthew 18. He said, “If your brother or sister sins against you… go to them. If they listen to you, you have won them over.” Jesus is practising what He preached. Jesus came to Peter, to forgive him, to win him over. This is what Jesus is doing today. He goes to the one who offends Him.
Peter got stronger and stronger in Christ after he was restored. Peter takes up his cross, follows Christ, and becomes the 'rock' Jesus spoke of. Peter leaves his fishing boats and tackle and gear behind, for good. He goes to Jerusalem. He goes to preach and to lead and feed and nurture the tender flock of Christ's followers. Peter has changed and become the rock that speaks firmly and loudly. If you look at Acts 2, the silent Peter is turned into an eloquent preacher, where 3000 people were converted in one preaching. In Acts 4, the number became 5000, counting just the men alone who believed. According to tradition, Peter was crucified for his faith under the rule of the wicked Roman emperor Nero, in A.D. 64. He was crucified upside down at his request because he did not feel worthy of dying as Jesus did. 1 Corinthians 9:5 tells us that Peter's wife accompanied him on some of his missions. According to some history, Peter and his wife were led to the crucifixion together, and she was the first to be martyred. Peter comforted her in her sufferings by urging her to remember the example of her Lord.
We all deny the Lord in our own way. God’s grace flows abundantly to each of us. Christ came into this world, emptied himself and became nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. He humbled himself and became obedient to deat; even the death on a cross. Each of us has stumbled and fallen. Maybe we have gotten stuck in a hole and we can’t get out of. Or maybe we don’t even want to get out. Jesus is reaching out to us to pick us up, to clean us, to empower us, and then he says, “follow me!”
Peter endured persecution following his restoration. He was the strength of the early church and was used by God’s Spirit to reach the gentiles. Later, after the Council of Jerusalem, Peter leaves town and leaves leaves Jerusalem to continue leading the church. He wrote letters, from which we gain insight into his development and his understanding of the Christian faith. Peter’s letters reveal his warmth and sincerity, his faith in times of testing, his reliance upon Christ in suffering and his unfading hope of glory. More and more, day-by-day he became the 'rock'. Amid all the stumbles and falls, which continued throughout his life, the name the Master had given him, “rock” came into reality. His humility, his devotion, his shattered self-assurance, his experience of the Lord’s forgiveness, kept bringing him back, not by his own doing, but through the love of Jesus Christ.
It is similar to restoring our computers when they get corrupted. We can restore from a “restore point,” which is a technique to go back to old settings at a prior time. W sometimes wish for a “restore point” in our personal lives. Relationships that once were good can go sour with a single negative encounter that leads to bitterness, resentment, and division and we long to go back to when that relationship was positive and good and satisfying. God does that for us. Through his death and resurrection, Christ reconciled us, bringing us into communion with God. When we foul things up with a negative word or act or thought, ugliness builds like a darkening sky on a stormy day. But God’s grace is always there, able to restore our spirits to a place of peace, hope and love. We can choose to confess my wrongdoings to the other person and to God, then ask for forgiveness and for God’s help to see the good in the person at odds with. Restoraion is a daily process because we fail others and God daily. Thanks to God’s grace, each of us can choose to be restored.
It is similar to restoring our computers when they get corrupted. We can restore from a “restore point,” which is a technique to go back to old settings at a prior time. W sometimes wish for a “restore point” in our personal lives. Relationships that once were good can go sour with a single negative encounter that leads to bitterness, resentment, and division and we long to go back to when that relationship was positive and good and satisfying. God does that for us. Through his death and resurrection, Christ reconciled us, bringing us into communion with God. When we foul things up with a negative word or act or thought, ugliness builds like a darkening sky on a stormy day. But God’s grace is always there, able to restore our spirits to a place of peace, hope and love. We can choose to confess my wrongdoings to the other person and to God, then ask for forgiveness and for God’s help to see the good in the person at odds with. Restoraion is a daily process because we fail others and God daily. Thanks to God’s grace, each of us can choose to be restored.
Comments
Post a Comment