3rd Sunday of Easter

 

John 21:1-19

I know we like to spend a lot of time talking about women leaders in the church, but this week we are going to take some time instead to talk about the men who Jesus chooses to be leaders in his church.  Specifically, two very important men, Peter and Paul. The first great public leaders of the church.  Between them they really were the two most authoritative voices in the early church.  Peter with his work in Jerusalem and the surrounding regions and Paul with his groundbreaking ministry to the gentile peoples across the empire in Turkey, Greece and eventually as far as Rome.  They both converted thousands, founded dozens of churches, wrote letters so instructive and important we still read them today and laid the foundations that allowed he church of Jesus Christ to survive, grow and thrive into a community of faith that has sustained billions of people for more than 2000 years.  These were undeniably great leaders who accomplished amazing things.

But when we read our bible stories today, we are reminded that they were also terribly flawed.  That though we revere them as canonized saints, they also had problems.  These were deeply flawed human beings who made horrible often repeated mistakes.  Decisions which in Paul’s case cost people their lives.  For don’t forget, Paul (still named Saul at the time) began his career persecuting Christians.  And he never even met Jesus in the flesh but only encountered the risen Christ in visions well after his death, resurrection and ascension.  Yet even these things which may have appeared to disqualify him from ministry actually formed cornerstones of the way he conducted his mission.

And then there is Peter.  Good old Peter.  The only person I know who puts on their clothes on in order to jump in a lake.  Anyway, Peter’s story is a bit more complex, but still requires powerful redemption.  Peter is not a bad guy.  He truly loves Jesus.  He truly wants to follow him.  He is just not always very good at it.  Let’s face it, Peter throughout the whole gospel narrative tends to have a hard time.  He makes a lot of mistakes.  Puts his foot in his mouth at least a half a dozen times and most strikingly, most recently, Peter denied even knowing Jesus 3 times during his arrest and trial.  Yet despite all this, Jesus invites Peter back again and again and calls him to serve. 

 

In this beautiful scene by the lake shore, Jesus offers Peter the chance to take those denials back, Jesus allows Peter to say what he wishes he would have said on the night of his death, to confess his love for Jesus and to be welcomed back into Jesus’s unconditional love.  3 times Jesus asks, Peter do you love me?  And three times Peter gets the chance to say yes.  And then to try to live out that love in service to others.  No matter how many times Peter messes up, Jesus always finds a way to welcome him back to let him try again.  Jesus always creates space for redemption. 

 

And we often think that maybe after this last time, seeing the risen Jesus in the flesh, maybe Peter finally gets it.  I mean he goes on to do great things, so maybe this the moment that turns it all around.  But no, there is this great story in Acts 10, actually right after the story about Paul we heard today.  It is finally time to start spreading the good news to the gentiles.  So an angel comes to Peter in a dream and tells him to set aside the Kosher rules to be willing to eat with gentiles.  And this happens 3 times and every time Peter refuses.  Until finally some gentile believers show up in the flesh at his door and the Holy Spirit has to literally tell him “Look these are the men I told you about, go with them, I have sent them.”  And then finally he goes, and he baptizes the first non-Jewish believers and right then completely changes the trajectory of the church and how what would become Christianity works for the next 2000 years. But it still took him 3 tries, an angel and the direct action of the Holy Spirit to catch on.  But Jesus even the heavenly Jesus never gives up on him.  He never stops loving him, never stops calling on Peter to keep trying, to turn back and follow him.   

 

And I kind of like this about Peter.  That there is no major turn around here.  There is no glorious moment where Peter has a sudden revelation, turns his life around and does everything right from now on.  Peter is who he is.  And this is exactly who Jesus chose.  Flawed, broken, resistant, sinful and an immensely powerful witness to Christ’s love in the world. 

 

So if Jesus can take possibly the densest and most stubborn person on the planet, place him alongside a vicious murderer and enemy of the church and then use them to build the whole of the church on Earth.  Imagine what he can do with 65 people in Milford, imagine what he can do with just you.  Because this is what Jesus does with each and every one of us too.  He loves us, forgives us and calls us forth just as we are to serve his mission in the world.

 

Jesus calls us because of who we are and what we have done, not in spite of it.  Every time we fail, every time we fall short or make mistakes, Jesus picks us right back up and invites us to try again.  Every life experience, good or bad, every learning opportunity, every triumph, every challenge, forms part of our calling.  There is nothing no matter how hard, that Jesus cannot redeem.  There is only his love.  You are exactly who Jesus called, good and bad, broken and healing to be the leaders of his church.  The ones called forth to love and serve our neighbor. 

 

Because just like Peter and Paul, we are called to do great things in the world.  We are called by Jesus’s gracious love to step out of the hardest, darkest deepest parts of our lives into a world where we can share that abundant love with all who are in need.  Steve told us a couple of weeks ago that no one can argue with your own story.  Our real lived experience, good and bad are what make us powerful witnesses to the love of Christ to the world.  Our deeply held values, our moments of struggle and redemption, our personal experience with encountering Christ in our neighbor is what makes us qualified. If we can learn any thing from Peter and Paul it is this: To be the kind of leader Jesus is looking for in the church, you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be willing to keep trying, to keep learning, to accept the love of Jesus in your life and to use his grace to be willing to start again.  And with that in mind we too can surely do great things in the name of the Lord.  Amen.