The story did not make headline news. It was something that occurred between two people. Noone else knew. One failed Jesus and felt totally inadequate in serving him, let alone being a leader. I am referring, of course to the Apostle Peter.
Jesus had told Peter that before the crack of dawn, he would deny knowing Jesus three times. (John 13:38). Jesus had told his disciples to serve one another and love each other as he had loved them. "It is by your love for one another that others will know you are my disciples." That sounded so easy!
The events that Thursday night occurred just as Jesus had predicted. Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas. Jesus was arrested by Temple Guards and taken to the home of the High Priest. John and Peter followed behind. John went inside, while Peter waited in the courtyard by a charcoal fire. A maid said to Peter: "You were with him." "I was not!" said Peter, trying to sneak away, when someone said: "Were you not with the Galilean?" "I did not know the man!," responded Peter. Trapped, Peter moved back towards the fire, when someone said: "You were with the Galilean!" Peter responded: "I swear I don't know the man!" At that moment the rooster crowed. Peter's heart broke. He was crushed. He remembered what Jesus had said just a few hours earlier, "You will deny me three times before the rooster crows." We don't know what Peter did or whether he ever told the other disciples what he had done. He did weep bitterly. (Luke 22:62)
The story of Jesus' resurrection does not end with Easter. Jesus appeared to some of his followers and disciples. Mary Magdalane and other Women, went to the tomb on the First Day of the Week, and were surprised by finding an empty tomb and an Angel saying: "Jesus is not dead. He is Risen, just as he said!" Jesus appeared to the women and said: "Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, there they will see me." (Matthew 28:1-10)
Two followers of Jesus were returning to their home in Emmaus, despondent, when Jesus started walking with them asking: "what were you discussing?" (Read Luke 24:13-35). For more of Jesus' Resurrection appearances to multiple people in different locations read (I Corinthians 15:1-11).
Jesus met with the disciples, behind locked doors, twice, including Thomas (John 20:24-29) This is why we Christians use the 40 days after Easter, Eastertide, to reflect on Jesus' various appearances.
The disciples went to Galilee, as they had been instructed, It was the same location where Jesus first Called them. Andrew, who had been a disciple of John the Baptist and witnessed Jesus' baptism (John 1:35-42) said to his brother, Simon: "We have found the Messiah! Come and see! Jesus said: You are Simon. You shall be called Peter. I will make you Fishers of Men.
Peter felt unworthy of Serving Jesus, after he denied knowing Jesus, and said to the disciples he was going fishing. (The infinitive verb means a continuous activity, not just once.) He was saying: "I am going back to a career of fishing." He felt guilty, a failure and unworthy of following Jesus.
The first part of John 21 sets the stage for Jesus' conversation with Peter. Instead of Judgement and retribution, Jesus meets Peter at his point of despair and vulnerability with "Forgiving Love."
Love's Healing Power intersects with Peter and the other disciples when they discover their skills as fishermen had become rusty. Peter may have thought: "even the fish have turned against me."
Jesus met them, early in the morning as they returned from a night of fishing, without catching anything.
Jesus guides the disciple to the fish. He asks: "Caught anything?" Disciples respond: "No!" Jesus guides them to where there are fish. "Cast your net on the right side of the boat." They did and because of the large number of fish, were unable to haul in the net. John recognized the voice and may have recalled a similar event three years before when Jesus had called him to follow him, responding: It is the Lord! Impetuous Peter dressed and swam to shore. Jesus had started a charcoal fire and was warming some bread and roasting some fish.
Jesus nourished the disciples with fish and bread. 153 different varieties of fish were gathered in the nets by the disciples. "Come and have some breakfast" Jesus said: One wonders if the disciples remembered Jesus feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves. Jesus wanted his disciples to know he was not a spirit or a ghost. He had a body that was recognizable and could eat. This was Jesus' third, recorded, appearance since his resurrection.
Lessons Jesus was teaching: There will always be enough resources for the Commission the disciples would receive. They were nourished spiritually and physically. Those who would follow Jesus, as a result of the disciples' testimonies, would become Ecclesia (The Called our Ones), The Church and it would be made of a variety of people. Ezekiel 47:9 says: There will be a Large number of fish. Matthew 13:47-48 records Jesus' Parable of a Net Full of Fish.
Read John 21:15-25. Jesus led Peter through his disowning Jesus by BURNING COALS. Jesus asks Peter: Do you love me more than these boats, this life of fishing or these disciples? Peter responded: "Yes, Lord, you know I Love You." (There are multiple words for LOVE in Greek.) In this conversation two are used: Agape and Phileo. Jesus uses Agape, which is God's Unconditional Love, love that is demonstrated with no expectation in return. It is the Love Jesus showed his disciples and all of us when he died on the cross taking upon himself all sin. John 3:16 says it clearly: For God so loved the word that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal love. Peter responds with Phileo, which is "brotherly and sisterly love." Philadelphia, "City of brotherly love" comes from Phileo. Jesus says to Peter: Tend my lambs.
Jesus asks a second time: Do you Agape me? Peter responds: Yes Lord, you know I Phileo you. Jesus: Shepherd my sheep. Jesus asks a third time: Do you Phileo me? Peter was grieved: Lord you know all things, you know I Phileo you. Jesus: Tend mu sheep.
Imagery and association lead Peter through the painful experience of denial. Some suggest it was penitence. I believe Jesus used the charcoal fire to lead Peter through his painful (healing of memories). Peter was forgiven, even though he denied knowing Jesus. Peter was unable to forgive himself. Jesus was saying: I have a task for you: "Feed my Sheep."
Jesus was Calling Peter for a Second Time to Follow him. He was reinstating and commissioning Peter and the other disciples to take the Good News to all Nations: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Make them my disciples. Proclaim what you have seen and heard so they may have Fellowship with one another as you have fellowship with me. "Our Fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ." (I John 1:3)
Jesus' commissions for Peter would not be easy. The commission was repeated two ways. Shepherd the flock and Tend my lambs. Leadership and Teaching are based on what was heard from Jesus. Peter and the other disciples lead the Church along the path prepared by Jesus. Early Christians were called People of The Way. They were following the One who had said: I AM The Way, The Truth and The Life. (John 14:6) Peter experienced and then taught of LOVE'S HEALING POWER.
Jesus saw Peter as the one whom he would become. Jesus sees in us what we will become. He asks us: "Do you love me more than your material security? Do you love me more than your job or your friends? Life will not be easy. You will pay a price for following me. Speaking to Peter, Jesus said: 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 to where you do not want to go. "Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Jesus said: "Follow Me!" (John 21:18-19)
Peter asked: "What about John?" Jesus responded: If it is my will that he remains and abides until I come, what is that to you? YOU Must Follow Me! (Repeated Twice) (John 21:21:22)
We tend to compare ourselves to others, whether in rationalizing our own level of devotion to Christ or their talents and Spiritual Gifts. We are Easter People. "Every morning is Easter."
Jesus Christ is Lord of the Church and Lord of our lives. The Christian Life is one lived in the presence and power of the One who crucified and rose from the dead!
N.T. Wright: Bishop of Duran, England, author of many books writes: "Easter was a pilot project. What God did for Jesus that explosive morning is what God is intending to do for the whole creation. We who live in the interval between Easter and that eventual hope CALLED as the new-creation people here and now. That is the hidden meaning of the greatest festival Christians have...
The real meaning of Easter...is about new creation which has already begun. The creator God is remaking the world challenging all other powers that think that's their job... Christianity's critics, then and now, have always sneered that nothing has changed. But in fact, everything has. The world is a different place...
It is up those who follow Jesus to show that this is so. Easter gives Christians a double vocation. They are themselves are part of the new creation, plunged into Jesus' death and finding new life in His resurrection.
Secondly, they are agents of justice and beauty planting signposts in the Easter soil which points to the renewal of all things."
We are Called as New-Creation People. We are Called to invite others to Come and See.
"That You May Believe "
Jesus' approach with Peter is effective in facing our own grievous failures, anger or self-pity. Love's Healing Power will work for us.
Close your eyes and reflect, Are there any "hidden secrets" in your life that would make headlines if a reporter discovered it? (Open your eyes and continue reflecting.) Few of us will find ourselves in the public eye, but even if no one knows, God knows. We may think "I'm not worthy of serving God because of this."
It may be something others know about. It may be something we have sought God's forgiveness but have been unable to forgive ourselves.
It may be something no one knows about. It may be a "skeleton in the closet," hidden. It may be an abusive word or act. It may be unfaithfulness to a spouse. It may be guilt we try covering with drugs. It may be stealing... It may be holding a "grudge." It may anger towards parents... It may be abuse we have suffered... It may be the lack of self-worth.
When we are unable to receive God's forgiveness or feel unworthy of serving God, let's think about this story and how Jesus met Peter and the other disciples at their point of despair. Jesus lead Peter with Love through steps leading to Healing and being Reinstated as a Follower of Jesus and Leader of His Community, which is called the "Body of Christ."
If Jesus forgave Peter and empowered Peter to serve Him, Jesus will forgive us. We are called as witnesses of what we have Seen and Heard. What has Jesus meant in our lives.
LOVE"S HEALING POWER is forgiving and wants to remove our shame and restore us ... LOVE'S HEALING POWER suspends judgement and punishment.
Peter was CALLED TWICE... Maybe more than twice. "He Did Follow Jesus." Jesus said: Follow Me." Are you Following Jesus?
(Peter faithfully followed Jesus and served Jesus' Church. As Jesus said: Peter was dressed and taken to the cross by another person, under Emperor Nero's Order. Peter asked to be crucified upside down, because he couldn't imagine dying in the same way as Jesus, who forgave and restored Peter to full responsibility and fellowship.
* Times On Line, April 2009
