Sermon John 21:1-19 February 22, 2015 Lent 1
Along the Way…Peter
There are times in life where we find ourselves at a loss
for direction. There are times when the situations around us call into question
our purpose for life and how we should go forward. We find ourselves looking at
our past and wondering if we have made the right decisions or if we should or
could have done things differently. We look to the future and wonder what do we
do next? How then shall we live? What or who will be our guide?
Perhaps that’s why I attach myself to this story of Peter in
the 21st chapter of John.
It is after the resurrection.
Jesus has appeared to the disciples twice already.
And Peter, clearly, along with the disciples finds himself without
direction, and wondering about the ‘what next?’
They are struggling with the concept of this raised Jesus.
What does it mean?
Their lives as disciples seem to have taken a new direction.
Things don’t look the same as when Jesus first called them
to follow him.
And in this struggle,
Peter announces
that he is going fishing.
He returns to the one thing he
knows best.
He returns to the job he had before
he was ever involved with this fella Jesus.
When the future is a cloud of
mystery isn’t that what we all do,
we go back to what we know?
We return to our comfort zones.
As the church of the 21st century finds itself in
a cloud of mystery about the future,
it too wonders about the choices and wonders if there is a
future for followers of Jesus. Many people say,
“It will take a miracle to turn things around.”
Many people have
gone back to what they know-
which is doing
things other than being part of church.
Churches have gone haywire trying to find the right
connection to bring young families and the next generation into the church.
There are contemporary services
with screens , there are Saturday services and meetings in bars and at
racetracks, there are all kinds of new ways of seeking to bring the church to
the people of God.
There are amazing imaginative ways out there all trying to
do what is right and all trying to answer this mystery of what next?
Which one of these ways is the miracle that will turn things
around?
How do we as disciples today respond?
Perhaps the
story of Peter can guide us.
Peter is the disciple we read about the most in Scripture. Peter
and John are mentioned over 150 times compared to Thomas whose name is only mentioned
11 times.
We like Peter.
He seems human to us.
John is the beloved disciple and he doesn’t appear to have
any flaws and so we struggle to relate to him.
But, Peter on the other hand is full of humanness.
He is reactive. He is loving. He is
passionate. He is committed. He is jealous.
He is courageous. He is fearful. He
is a risk taker. He is a betrayer.
He is faithful. He is confused.
He
is a disciple.
It was Peter’s brother Andrew who introduced him to Jesus in
the first place. Jesus saw something in Peter that he didn’t see in himself.
Jesus called him the rock and it wasn’t until the second chapter of Acts that we
see him rise to the occasion of his name.
There he stood boldly and gave the speech to the people of
Jerusalem that the Spirit of God had descended on the crowd and that Jesus
was and is both Lord and Messiah.
In that moment of Pentecost Peter
was able to proclaim his faith like never before. In that moment, it became
clear who Jesus was and how his life would take shape for the future. The
mystery of the future unfolded in the midst of the present.
I think of the young woman Kayla Mueller who lost her life
as a hostage by ISIS. She was an aid worker and crossed paths with the
Presbyterian Church USA and shared her story. She knew the risks. She knew she
could do other things. Yet, she chose to be an aid worker and peacemaker. “I
find God, in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. If this is how you (God) is
revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you.”
She was sure about her faith and
her desire to be a disciple of Christ.
For her the future of serving God
unfolded in the midst of her present ministries. She learned within the
moment of her doing how God would use her. Even as she faced her captors
and as she faced in the uncertainty of her future she witnessed God in the
present of her circumstances. She even wrote a letter to her captors about her
assurance of God’s presence even in prison.
The loss of her life saddens
us all yet,
the power of her witness and
her faith
live on into the future with
us all.
For us as 21st century Christians the challenge
is before us to wonder how we can articulate our faith. Are we able to
hang on to the foundation given to us in Scripture?
I believe now
more than ever we can and will
have the courage
to declare
that we are
followers of Jesus.
Jesus told his disciples that they would do greater things
than he could do. Jesus told his disciples that what they agreed on in
prayer, God would do.
We are those disciples today!
Peter is our example of the ordinary becoming extraordinary
for the sake of Christ. He proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah before others did.
He got out of the boat and walked on the water and in the same moment sank.
He like us could focus on Jesus and then in the same instant
lose sight of him.
Each time he stepped out on faith and then faltered,
Jesus was there
lifting him up,
holding him
close,
restoring him to
wholeness.
In his story we discover how God took this ordinary man and
molded and shaped him, so that God would shine through.
The story of his life gives us hope. If God can take a
fisherman with all of his quirks and use him to turn the world upside down and
build the church, then God can do the same miracle with us today.
There on the seashore while Peter and the disciples are out
fishing trying to make sense of this new direction, Jesus shows up.
He always does!
And when Peter recognizes him he goes passionately running to
the seashore to be with him. Jesus restores Peter to himself and sends him out
with words to love.
We may wonder if miracles still
happen and we may have set out to go fishing because this thing about the
future of the church is confusing. Yet, even as we face a new direction and a
new way, Jesus shows up. He is standing on the seashore and we like Peter will
go running passionately to be with him.
We don’t know exactly what the miracle is that God will do
for the church to carry it into the future. We do know that we can and will
be faithful disciples. We can like Peter become grounded in what we
believe about God and learn from the Master the stories of Scripture.
I believe when those are solid in
our lives, the rest will follow, the church will grow! Because in the
midst of our doing in the present, the mystery of the future will unfold!
(Because when people see love,
when people see joy, and when people experience God’s presence in the midst of
God’s people they too become part of the fellowship and so it goes and so it
grows.)
As we enter into this season of Lent
we will meet the people that Jesus encountered along
the way to the cross.
We will be amazed to discover his love for them all
and his joy in them.
We will seek Jesus and know him.
We will fall in love all over again or for the very
first time.
We will discover that as disciples of Christ we have
the power to affect great things.
And Jesus is there guiding us on our way and sending
us out to love. Amen.
Unbinding the Gospel series-Martha Grace
Reese.
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