A Good Friday service took place yesterday near UPPC, at St
Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Every year, the Pastor invites the neighborhood
churches of all denominations to be part of the service. I got to be one of the
three pastors who shared a 5-minute message. The theme was “A Witness in Dark
Times”. We chose texts from the Gospel of John. Mine was Peter meeting Jesus on
the beach after the resurrection. (John 21:15-19)
As I was gathering my thoughts about this message during my
commute time, the song “Rock me Tender” came on… A love song. And the text I
was working on was also about love.
Anyway, here it is.
At the Beach with Peter
– a Good Friday 5-Minute Sermon
“Don’t you know? I have never been
loved like this before”.
I heard this
line from a song, an oldie “rock me gently” by Andy Kim, and those words[1]
made me think of Jesus, Jesus dealing with Peter, dealing with us.
It is true
for each of us. Don’t we know ? We have
never been loved like this before.
We receive
forgiveness and grace, and because we love the one that loves us so much, the
one that loved us first, we become disciples and we become shepherds.
Feed my
lambs. Take care of my sheep, said Jesus to Peter. May your care, may your food
comes from the place where the love you have for me dwells.
Peter was a
sort of spoke-person for the disciples, the first to speak up for better or
worse. The first to identify Jesus as the Messiah, which led to those famous
words “You are Peter and on that rock, I will build my church.”[2]
Yet the next moment, Peter shushed Jesus. “No, Jesus, stop talking about you
dying soon, it will not happen”. Jesus had to tell him to move away from him
and called him Satan[3].
It is so
like us. We will boldly proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah, and in the same
breath, we are so very ready to know better than Jesus.
In the worse
night of his life, Peter promised he would die rather than let anything happen
to Jesus[4].
He meant it! When Jesus was arrested, he took a sword and was ready to fight[5].
If Jesus had let him fight, Peter would probably have been the first to die.
Those soldiers were numerous and had come with heavy weapons[6].
Peter had
the courage to follow those who arrested Jesus. Only two, Peter and the unnamed
disciple made their way to the high priest court. All the others had run away
in the night. It was dark and cold. This is where Peter tried to stay warm by a
fire, was asked questions and denied being a disciple and even knowing Jesus[7].
Did Peter go
to fish that morning, after Jesus’ death, because he felt he was not worthy
anymore of being a disciple? We don’t know. But we read about Peter overjoyed
to see Jesus and jumping off the boat to meet him faster.
Jesus built a fire,
like the one in the high-priest courtyard where Peter had stood.
Just like
Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus asked him “Do you love me?” three
times. Each time Peter declared “You know that I love you” and Jesus then
commanded him to take care of his sheep.
During this
Holy Week, UPPC has opened a prayer where all can come in and spend some time
in meditation and prayer. There is a notebook where anyone is welcome to write
comments.
Someone
wrote “God, my heart is heavy. I feel
like Peter as the rooster crooked. Help me to become more committed and
faithful to my Lord and Savior!”
The comment
is anonymous and I wanted to tell the person who wrote it “The story does not
end with the rooster, remember! Remember that you are loved, right now, like
you have never been loved before – just as you are.
This is what
we learn here. Peter is our witness.
From the
cold and dark place where the denial happened, Jesus took Peter to the bright
morning of a breakfast on the beach. He showed him – and us – that the care
Jesus wants us to demonstrate comes from the place where our love and gratitude
dwell. Not our sense of duty. Not our need to please. Not our belief we should
earn God’s favor. No. Our love and gratitude - that’s it.
Being a
shepherd is hard work. Jesus told us so in the Gospel of John[8].
The shepherd cares for the sheep, he is known by them, he is ready to give his
life for them. He takes them to lie in green pastures[9].
He can do all this because he knows he was never loved like this before.
From this
love that came first, we can love, minister and witness through the darkness.
For each
hour in the dark and cold, there is a warm time in the morning light of our
Lord. We are delivered and the horizon is open. We are free to love and be
loved. Free to serve.
Amen
[1]
Song and Lyrics can be viewed on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIVX1_J_87s
[2]
Matthew 16:18
[3]
Matthew 16:23
[4]
John 13:37
[5]
John 18:10
[6]
John 18:3
[7]
John 18:18
[8]
John 10
[9]
Psalm 23
Picture by Jeroen Van Der Biezen http://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=52407&language=en
