ALIVE AND RECONCILED
Today’s blog is ideal reading for anyone who has ever screwed up. For those who have made a mess of things, there is hope here. For those who have been a disappointment to themselves and to others, there is hope here. For those who have betrayed those they love and are mourning broken relationships, there is hope here. For those who’ve turned their back on their relationship with God, there is hope here.
After Jesus conquers death, is brought back to life and appears to his followers to demonstrate that new life and resurrection are possible and within their grasp, Jesus has one more important task to do as recorded in John 21. He is not going to leave his relationship with Peter as it is. Peter who vowed to never deny Jesus and then did – this Peter needed the opportunity to be reconciled to this man who’d meant the world to him.
Jesus comes to his followers when they are fishing but catching nothing. Nothing is going right for them. Nothing is working as it should. Their world has been rocked. They’ve gone back to doing what they were doing before Jesus showed up and changed everything, but nothing will ever be the same again.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus.
He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. John 21:4-6
Jesus is saying ‘Do it my way’. His way is best. His way is always best. It always comes back to this.
The disciples trust and they do what Jesus says. Trust and obedience: it always comes back to this.
When Peter hears that it is Jesus, he cannot contain himself. he cannot get to Jesus fast enough. Jesus shares bread and fish with his followers. It is over food that they reconnect.
And then there is this gentle, intimate exchange between the living Jesus and the man who denied him three times.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, 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 where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” John 21: 15-19
Three times Peter denied Jesus: now he is being given three opportunities to affirm his love for Jesus.
If there’s a way back for Peter, there’s a way back for us.
There is always a way back. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He will always provide a way back.
Jesus reinstates Peter. He forgives him and gives him a role to play in his kingdom. He is to provide for and care for others, just as Jesus has provided for and cared for him.
It never ends with the individual, but with that individual going out and sharing the love and light and forgiveness and truth and life with others.
Through his death and resurrection, Jesus reconciled all human beings with God. He provided a way back to truth and life, a path to follow, the best path for each of us to follow.
Whatever we have done and however spectacularly we have screwed up, Jesus is ready to look us in the eye and say ‘I’ll take it from here. Just take my hand and follow me.’
Nothing we do can separate us from the love of God. Not permanently. It may get in the way and cloud our relationship with him for a while, but there is always a way back, always reconnection and reconciliation available to us.
That’s the whole point of the Easter story.
