Reflection on John 14:23-29

 

John 14:23-29

23 Jesus answered [Judas (not Iscariot)], “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

  25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe.”

Reflection

A couple of years ago, I did the funeral of a man who clearly instructed his children throughout the years that John 14:2-3 would be read at his funeral.  Even though you may not know the Biblical reference off the tops of your heads, you definitely know the words:

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

He wanted this to be the focus of his funeral, because he had always imagined that his heavenly “home” would be a place similar to his own where the family always gathered around the warmth of the fire, snuggled close, telling each other stories.  In fact, after the funeral, the children and grandchildren did just that, gathered around the fireplace in his home and told the stories of the man’s life to one another.  And, as they gathered around that fire, they felt eternally connected with him.  The warmth of familiarity made them feel better.  They felt at “home.”

Home.

That is one way to translate the word that we read as “dwelling places.”  “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places” (John 14:2).  It could read, “In my Father’s house there are many homes.”  And, the man imagined that he would be sitting in his heavenly Father’s home, relaxing by the fire of God’s warmth, sharing divine stories and reviving his soul.

The whole scene reminded me of the poem called “The Hearth’s Warmth.”

    In the heart of the home, the hearth glows bright,

    Warming souls through the coldest night.

    Embers dance, a tender sight,

    In its warmth, hearts unite.

 

    Around the fire, stories are spun,

    Laughter echoes, merging into one.

    In its light, fears come undone,

    Under its spell, worries are none.

 

    The hearth, a symbol of love’s embrace,

    A sanctuary, our peaceful place.

    In its arms, we find our grace,

    Home – where we always have a space.

 

As Jesus prepared his disciples to face the day that he would leave, the day he was hung on the cross, he wanted them to be reassured that they would not be separated from him forever; that they would always have a space…a home…with him.  “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).

And, sometimes that is enough.  Sometimes, looking forward to the day that you will be reunited is enough, and that hope for the day keeps you going and keeps you motivated.  That hope to finally arrive at home with the one you love can encourage you to strive all the way to the end. 

But, sometimes that is not enough.

I recall this girl who was not taking her new life at college very well at all.  She would sob every night, and her brand new roommate would try to comfort her, try to give her something to eat and drink, and try to give her words of encouragement while rubbing her back.  She was a beautiful soul, but she was a new, unfamiliar, beautiful soul.  She was not mom.  She was not from the  girl’s home.

And, I have known plenty of people who have felt the same way about God.  They remember a time when God was close, almost like a constant friend, and then seemingly God was not.  It might have been a tragedy that caused them to feel like they were separated.  It might have been a divorce or some other life altering circumstance that caused them to feel like they were separated.  No matter the exact cause, I think most of us understand all too well what if feels like when we are convinced that God has left us and lost us.

Mary Magdalene found herself weeping in the garden where Jesus’ tomb could be found, convinced that the holy one had left her as an orphan.  The disciples found themselves locked away in a small room, fearfully convinced that the one they loved had left them orphaned.  And, sometimes we find ourselves sobbing, locked away in our rooms, fearful that we have been abandoned and orphaned.  Sometimes we feel as if we have lost all attachment to our heavenly home.

One day, dragging her feet as she returned to her dorm room after class, the college girl was once again drowning in homesickness.  When she got out her key to unlock the door to her room, she looked up to see that the door was already opened just a crack.  As she slowly pushed open the door, she was shocked to see that her half of the dorm room had been transformed.  

On the walls she saw the pictures and posters from her room at home.  The tattered teddy bear from her room at home lay on top of the quilt which had been sewn by her mother years ago and was always on her bed at home.  And, over in the corner of the room was her mother, rocking in the same chair that had rocked her to sleep so many times before.  

Her mother smiled and said, “Your lovely roommate called me and told me that you missed home.  Since you can’t come home right now, I decided to bring home to you.”  The college girl found that age 18 is not too old to curl up on your mother’s lap.  The girl was home.

Did you know that this word for “home” is only used two times in the New Testament?  The first, of course, is when Jesus promises to make us a home in his Father’s house, but the second is just a number of verses later.  It comes after Jesus gives a promise to the disciples: “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you” (John 14:18).  The word for “home” is found in verse 23 where Jesus adds to his promise: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23).  Jesus promises that God the Father and he will come back to those who love him, bringing his heavenly home to them.

It is a home of love.  It is a home of peace.  It is a home of encouragement.  It is a home of comfort in troubled times.  It is a home of teaching and divine stories.  God is a mother who brings the comfort of home, and is present for a homesick daughter.  Home is Jesus himself, coming through the Holy Spirit to love, teach, and give peace.

“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you’” (John 14:26-28).

“I am coming to you.”

“I am coming to you.”

“I am coming to you.”

When Mary Magdalene heard her name echo through the garden, and she looked up to see her risen savior who had returned to be with her, she experienced the promise that rings true throughout all of time: ‘I am coming to you.”

When the disciples looked up and saw Jesus join them through their locked doors, showing his hands and his side, they rejoiced as they experienced the promise that rings true in all places: “I am coming to you.”

And, when you cry out, unable to be comforted, feeling abandoned and orphaned, look up!  See that your true home follows you wherever you go.  The paintings of Jesus’ love are hung on every wall.  The posters of Jesus teachings are there to guide you wherever you step.  And, the embrace that finally brings you peace is always waiting with arms outstretched from the rocking chair.  “I am coming to you” Jesus promises.  And, if you look up, you will see that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has returned to be with you wherever you go.

The song writer, Paul Zach puts it this way in his song, “Wherever I Find Myself”:

Wherever I find myself,

I want to feel at home,

No matter where, your angels are there,

Touching down on every stone.

When I’m running from becoming

All the wrong that I’ve done,

Won’t you follow me

wherever I run?

When I wrestle with the shadows

In the depths of my soul

Come and bless me here

And don’t let me go

When I’m passing through the waters

Or I’m going through hell,

Let your arms be the place where I dwell.

When I’m walking in the valley

of the shadow of death,

You will set your table filed with wine and bread.

Every stone beneath my feet,

Is where earth and heaven meet.

Every place I lay my head,

I where your mercy descends.

Surely, you are in this place.

Surely, you are in this place.

Wherever I find myself

You will be my home

https://open.spotify.com/track/2kz4xdvvX7mj53EU9tqgF9?si=58ab52f2632c442c

Reflection on John 13:31-35

 

John 13:31-35

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Reflection

Love is not easy. 

Sure, it seems pretty easy when you rip Jesus’ instruction to love right out of John and paste it on a wall hanging.  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  So, you read the words as they hang on the wall of the waiting room and you think, “Gee, that nice.  We should all go out and love each other.  Wouldn’t that make for a great world?  How hard can that be?”

Well, the truth is that it is actually really hard.  Loving others has never been a piece of cake and, seemingly, it was not necessarily easy for Jesus either.

If you take this sentiment of love off of the wall and put it back into its place in the Bible, you will see that this command to love others comes right between Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and the prediction of Peter’s denial of following Jesus.  This demand to love falls right in the middle of hurt and abandonment by two of Jesus’ closest friends. 

I cannot image that it was easy for Jesus to bend down to the ground and wash these two betrayer’s feet, like a lowly servant, knowing that they are both just going to kick him in the face.  These two are not deserving of such an act of love.  These two are in no way worthy of such sacrificial treatment.  Judas and Peter will soon be the ones who will cause pain and heartache for Jesus.  And, Jesus knows it.  He knows what is about to happen.  Yet, Jesus bends down and serves them anyway.  Jesus loves them anyway.

You see what I mean?  Love is not easy.

At least it was not easy for an acquaintance of mine.  For years the woman’s sister was nothing but trouble.  She rebelled against her parents and refused to heed her own sister’s suggestions.  The woman tried to help her sister get on the right path in life, over and over and over again she tried.  It was no good.  Her sister spiraled downward anyway, destroying her own life and slicing the woman’s life on her way down.  The stolen car was the last straw.  The woman needed her car to get to work, and her sister stole it.  She sold it in exchange for a measly amount of intoxicants, and the woman finally said, “Enough is enough.”  She said “goodbye” to her sister for what she thought would be the last time. 

But, two years later, her sister showed up on her front step wearing hole-ridden clothes, tears streaming down her dark, dying eyes, as she said, “Please don’t shut the door.  I am so, so alone.  I just need someone to love me.  Forgive me, sister.  I just need someone to love me.”

You see what I mean?  It is not easy to love. 

Love is not some fairytale lifted out from the reality of life.  Love is always in the trenches.  Love is always dirty.  It is not easy to love. 

Yet, Jesus still loved and served the one who betrayed him, Judas, and loved and served the one who would deny following him, Peter, and Jesus demands that we, his followers, do the same.

“I give you a new commandment,” Jesus says, “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

It is almost as if love is this sort of glue that holds the world together.  In the least, it is the glue that holds his people together in him.

Another acquaintance loved dearly their teenage girl’s boyfriend.  She loved seeing the two together.  She loved how happy they were when they went to the amusement park.  She loved how in love they were as they snuggled on the porch swing at night.  She loved how the boy made her daughter feel happy about herself.

She got to know the boyfriend very well, and would pack him some food before he went back home because home life was rough and there were no guarantees that he would be fed.  She invested in the boy, hoping that he could rise above the loveless, cracked nature of his family.  She dearly loved the boy.

Then came the night that her daughter broke up with the boy.  That was the same night that he took out his pocketknife and murdered her.

Love is not easy.  Two years after the trial and conviction, she received a letter from the prison.  It was the boyfriend.  He wanted to talk to her.

She stayed up countless nights, stressing over the potential of going to the prison.  She stressed about going to see the one who took her little girl away from her.  She could not imagine looking into his eyes once again and listening to anything that this betrayer of her family had to say.

It is not easy to love.  Love is not some fairytale lifted out from the reality of life.  Love is always in the trenches.  Love is always dirty. 

It is not easy to love.  Yet, Jesus still loved and served the one who betrayed him and the one who denied following him, and he demands that his followers to do the same.

Both of the stories you just heard are absolutely true, and they are absolutely heavy and heart breaking.  So, why not take just a little breather to take a closer look at the Bible.  I want to show you something. 

In the Greek language, the language in which the New Testament was written, the order of the words can convey meaning to the reader…not just what the words say.  And in this passage about love, you can see how that works right in the English.  In Jesus’ teaching we read, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  Notice how that part about loving one another is actually written twice.  The command to love one another are like two pieces of bread that sandwich the phrase, “Just as I have loved you.” 

The love that Jesus has given us is the meat of the sandwich.  It is the part that gives flavor to the bread.  Jesus’ love, gives our love for others its flavor.

Or, you can look at it another way.  Jesus’ love for us is the sun just coming up from behind the horizon, and once it is up, it spills light on everything is on either side of it.  Jesus’ love rises, spills in all directions, and because we have all been touched by it, we go out and love in the exact same way.

You heard me right; we love in the exact same way.  If Jesus serves those who would betray and deny, then we also serve those who would betray and deny.  If Jesus would go to the cross for a sinner, then we too go to the cross for a sinner. 

As Jesus is trying to teach us, love is not easy.  Love is not limited to the heartwarming moments spent snuggled by summer fires under a canvas of stars.  It is not just the first glances at the precious face of the newborn child.  It is not just the first kiss of two young ones in love.  Love is all of those things, but love is also so much more.

Love is not easy.  Jesus’ love looks a lot like going to the prison, facing your child’s murderer, listening to his tear-filled plea of forgiveness, and then over the course of a few agonizing months choosing to visit him and advocate for him in the years to come.  After-all, if you recall, his own family gave him no love, even before things went terribly wrong.  Who else in this world can possibly give him any ounce of love?  Love is not easy, but it is life-changing.

Love is not easy.  Jesus’ love looks a lot like stepping out the door, giving your broken and wretched sister an embrace, and leading her to the bathroom to start the long process of cleaning her up. 

If you recall, Jesus loved and served the one who betrayed him, Judas, and loved and served the one who denied following him, Peter.  Jesus loved both of them anyway.  To be a follower of Jesus is to do the same.  Following the one who went to the cross out of love for the world, means that we do the same.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Love is not easy, but Jesus never promised that loving others would be easy.  There is nothing life-changing about an easy sort of love that says the words but does not take action.  Jesus’ love costs something.  It cost Jesus his life.  Love costs something.  It costs our pride.  It costs our hurt feelings.  It costs our time.  

But, it is worth the cost because lives are changed with that messy sort of divine love.  There are lives to be changed when we share Jesus’ love with those God has placed in our lives. 

There are lives to be changed when love shows up even in the messiest and toughest of situations.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34).

It was once said that “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”  Have courage.  Love deeply, just as you are deeply loved by Jesus Christ, your Lord.

Reflection on Acts 9:36-43 and John 10:22-30

 

Maybe it is because of the amount of funerals I have done lately, but this story of Tabitha, or Dorcas in Greek, has truly, and deeply penetrated my soul.  When Peter is summoned because Tabitha had died, the Bible mentions that in life Tabitha was “devoted to good works and acts of charity” (NRSVue, Acts 9:36).  And, that might sound a little like a cliché, like you would read in a newspaper obituary, but when you read about how those who are devastated by her loss come up to Peter, “weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas [or Tabitha] had made while she was with them,” I cannot help but allow my heart to be devastated with them (Acts 9:39).

I remember, how after my grandmother Helen had died (while I was just getting my footing in college), I arrived home from the funeral, ran sobbing into my room, and wrapped myself in the crocheted blanket that she had spent hours making just for me.  I wanted to be close to her once again.  I wanted to be wrapped in something that she had touched.  I wanted to be near something that she poured love into.

And, these people, who had been touched by Tabitha’s life, clutched tight the beautiful creations of fabric, sewed with threads of love.  They showed Peter so that he might understand.  They wanted Peter to understand just how important Tabitha was to so many people.  They wanted Peter to understand just how generous she was to clothe so many of them, especially the poor and lonely widows who could not afford such items.  They wanted Peter to understand that if anyone in the world deserved another go at life, it was Tabitha who not only loved and helped her own people, but also was known widely as Dorcas in Greek, because she helped and loved those outside the Hebrew people just as much.  In her fabric was sown love.

There is something so intimate about clothing that is tailored to fit you.  I can still remember getting that warm fuzzy feeling that I would get whenever my mother would run the cloth tape measure down my arm and hold fabric around me, holding me tight as she did so.  The one who sews for you, knows you.  They know your every inch, they know your every desire and need for that clothing, and you know them just as well in the process.  Tabitha truly knew those she cared about and for whom she made these tailored gifts.

Tabitha was the reflection of the one who made her every part and knew her by name.

Jesus taught: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).  Jesus knows us.  Jesus, the very breathe of life, the very word that spoke each part of us into existence, never forgets even a single inch of us.  “I know them,” Jesus says without even the slightest of hesitations. 

We know this.  For a long time God has been reminding us that we are fully known. In Jeremiah 1:5 we hear God say to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  God knows us.  Jesus never forgets us.

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). 

“And they follow me.”  Jesus knew Tabitha, she heard his voice, and she followed him.  She did not have to.  She did not have to create clothing and blankets for the lowly.  She could have followed the voice of the wealthy and sold all of those beautiful pieces to them.  She could have followed the voice of money and climbed economic ladders.  She could have become wealthy herself.  She could have left the lowly down where they were and risen to the top.  She could have listened to someone else.

But, it was Jesus’ voice that she heard.  It was Jesus who knew her best.  So, it was Jesus, who she followed.  “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). 

The Apostle Paul understood this so well.  He taught, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness” (2 Timothy 2:19).  When you are known by the Lord and you know the Lord, you cannot help but want to walk in the Lord’s ways.

Again in Galatians he says, “Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental principles?” (Galatians 4:9).  Being grasped by the one who loves you, being called by the one who not only knows your name, but truly knows you through and through, has an effect.  We simply want to be the same.  Like a little child wants to be like his or her mother or father, we simply want to be the same.  We want to follow.

And, Tabitha did.  Tabitha followed.  Christ led her to use her gift, the gift of sewing, and led her to create intimate bonds of love with people.  And, those bonds that were created were so strong that after her death, these people who had been touched by her could not imagine life without her.  That sort of love; that sort of life is worth preserving.

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand” Jesus promises (John 10:27).  Tabitha was not snatched out from Jesus’ hand.  Peter agreed that that sort of love; that sort of life was worth preserving.

“Peter put all of [the saints of that place and the widows] outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.  He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive” (Acts 9:40-41).

Jesus once declared, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one” (John 10:28-30).  And, it was true for Tabitha.  And it is true for you as well.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has called you by name and you have heard his voice.  It is a voice that promises guidance through dark valleys.  It is a voice that promises to lead to green pastures and still waters.  It is a voice that leads us to eternal life, where we will never perish, where death cannot ever snatch us away.  It is a voice that imprints these words on your hearts and heads, “I know you.  No one will snatch you out of my hand.”

There was a woman in India headed toward the end of her life, and she was reflecting on that life.  She talked about how, after going to school and gaining a doctorate, and beginning to gain a name for herself in the political realm, she shocked her family when she chose to move to a remote, rural village and help the struggling people there.

She was asked, “You had the whole world ahead of you.  You could have done great things.  You could have been so strong of a leader in our nation.  Why did you choose something so unremarkable and weak?

She replied, “Compassion is not a weakness.  Going to where someone is down and helping to pull that someone up takes great strength; so much so that many people do not ever choose to do it.  But, walking with people in dark valleys and leading them to green pastures is what followers of the Lord do, because the Lord has done it for them.  That is true strength.  That is compassion.”

And today, Jesus declares to you, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). “No one will snatch you out of my hand.”

Reflection on for John 21:1-19

John 21:1-19

1 After [he appeared to his followers in Jerusalem,] Jesus showed himself again to the disciples

by the Sea of Tiberias, and he showed himself in this way.

2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee,

the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”

They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat,

but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”

6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”

So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.

7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard

that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the sea.

8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish,

for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”

11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish,

a hundred fifty-three of them, and though there were so many, the net was not torn.

12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him,

“Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread

and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus

appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John,

do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John,

do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time,

“Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time,

“Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger,

you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old,

you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you

and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death

by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Reflection

“You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” (John 18:17). 

The question echoes around the charcoal fire.  All gathered at the fire, warming themselves, turned and looked at Peter.  They stared at the man who arrived at the same time Jesus arrived to be questioned.  They stared at the man who had cut off the ear of one of their relatives.  They stared at Peter, naming him as a disciple, and Peter looked them square in the eye and stated:  “I am not” (John 18:17).  Three times he denied being a disciple.

You might be forgiven for thinking that Peter actually denied “knowing” Jesus three times.  That is the way that things went down in the other gospels, but, in the gospel of John, Peter does not require forgiveness from Jesus for not believing in him, rather he requires forgiveness from himself for refusing to be seen as a disciple; for not seeking to be who God created him to be.  In the charcoal fire scene, Peter refuses to be a disciple.  And, I think that a lot of us can relate.

I was once pulled aside by someone at a community event who shamefully confessed

to me that they did not do the things that disciples usually do.  They did not go to worship.  They did not pray as others pray.  They did not talk about Jesus at all.  What they did go out and do is take a hike into the woods and enjoy nature.  “That is how I worship the Lord,” they said. 

Do not get me wrong, I too love heading into the forests of God’s creation and I too find great joy in seeing the flowers, waterfalls, and gorgeous views that God has made.  I want to be clear that there is nothing wrong with doing that.  It is a type of meditation that is good for the soul. 

But, please do not confuse that meditative practice with following Jesus.  No one is being touched with love as you meditate in the woods.  No one will crucify you, as they did Jesus, for taking a nice walk in the woods. 

However, they may crucify you for protecting people in an illegal homeless encampment out in the woods.  The later looks a little more like discipleship than the former.  Risking your life for the sake of people who have nothing, and have nowhere to go, looks a lot more like Jesus’ love on the cross than a simple stroll in the woods.

Loving others actually looks like something.  Discipleship is cross shaped.  Discipleship can look like putting your life on the line the same way that Jesus did for you on the cross. 

Given that, it is easy to deny our discipleship.  Golf rather than worship; sentiments of spirituality rather than fighting for the lowly; not disrupting the family gathering rather than sharing your faith with those you love; and labeling the poor as lazy rather than offering some bread to eat; all of these are examples in one way or another of staring people in the eye as you stand around the charcoal fire and stating “I am not one of his disciples.”

But, today’s scripture reading is not about those three denials of Peter.  Nor, is it about our failure to follow Jesus.  Today is about something much better.  Today is about the abundance that Jesus gives us even while we are in the middle of our denial. 

Today is about Jesus showing up, when it seems we have given up on following him and gone back to our old ways of life.  After Jesus’ death, Peter said, “I am going fishing.”  And the other disciples said, “We will go with you.”  The disciples had given up on following the ways of Jesus.  But, today is not about that.  Today is about how Jesus did not give up on them.  Today is about how Jesus filled their nets with fish anyway as we heard in John 21:6.  Today is about how Jesus comes to us and fills our net out of love anyway; even when we have given up on following him.  Today is about the abundance of grace God gives those disciples who may not have figured out how to follow Jesus the first or second or ninth times around.  I have been trying to follow Jesus well for about the thousandth time now.  I too fail regularly, but it does not matter because today is not about keeping track of our failures.  Today is about the new opportunity that God is providing you this very day to follow Jesus, just as Peter was given a new opportunity to follow him.

After the three refusals to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, Peter is given three opportunities to recommit to following Jesus. 

“Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’  A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’  He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep’” (John 21:15-17).

Three times Peter is given the chance to declare his love of Jesus, and three times Peter is encouraged to be who God created him to be.  “Feed my lambs,” Jesus encourages (John 21:15).  “Tend my sheep” (John 21:16).  “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17).

I have often been asked, “Why don’t people follow Jesus these days?” I do not think that the answer is all that complicated actually.  It seems that many people simply do not know how to follow Jesus, or were never told about the love of Jesus and his ways.  In the past, the church has been very good about telling people that they need to believe.  “Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”  But, the church has not necessarily been as good about telling people what trusting in the Lord actually looks like. 

It looks like feeding tender lambs.  It looks like caring for the lowly and giving holy attention to little ones. 

It also looks a lot like tending the sheep.  It looks a lot like guiding others in the ways of Jesus Christ. 

It also looks a lot like feeding sheep.  It looks a lot like offering an abundant meal of fish and an abundant meal of trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  In other words, it looks a lot like having a relationship with Jesus and having a relationship with those whom Jesus loves.

The twelve year old girl seemingly had no one.  When I saw her, she was in the children’s behavioral science unit in the hospital.  She was officially there for suicidal behavior and for cutting, but as she talked in the therapy group that I led at the time, the real reason she was there was because her parents had forgotten her. 

The girl actually came from a very wealthy family, just up the hill where all of the big houses were, and that was part of the problem.  The parents had all the money in the world to travel to exotic destinations together, and they did…a lot.  The twelve year old was left home alone…a lot.  She was literally alone, with no one to watch her or love her much of the time. 

Even that day, as she spoke to the others in the group, her parents were using her hospitalization as an opportunity to take a trip to Spain.  They called the hospital periodically to get an update on her progress, but that was it. 

She needed someone, anyone, to be there for her.  That group setting was the first time that I saw her, but it was not the last.

The next time that I saw her, she was at the mall.  Remember malls, those big places that people used to go to together to shop and have fun together?  Yeah, I saw her in one of those once thriving malls.  I saw her through the crowd in the food court.  She was smiling as she talked with someone.  Shopping bags were at her feet and a laugh was coming from her lips.  The bandages were no longer on her wrists. 

I walked up and waved a hello.  She smiled at me and introduced me to her “big sister.”  I remind you that the girl was an only child, so this was not her biological sister.  Actually, this was her sister through the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program. 

Amazingly, I also recognized her Big Sister.  That teen (a senior in High School actually) was a follower of Jesus Christ, and she loved children.  She loved helping with the Sunday School and the church youth group, and here she was, out feeding one of her lambs.  She had taken the girl to church earlier in the day (allowing her to help teach Sunday School), and now they were celebrating by eating at the mall.  It was not a net full of fish, but it was a grace-filled feeding none-the-less for a girl who was once lost and alone but now had been found.  And, it was all because her Big Sister decided she wanted to be, not just a believer, but a disciple.

What I love about Peter’s story is that Jesus refuses to give up on the man.  Jesus continues to abundantly provide for the guy, even though he denied being a follower.  Jesus continues to work on the guy, showing him the empty tomb and his wounds.  Then Jesus encourages one last time to love and serve.  “Feed my lambs.”  “Tend my sheep.”  “Feed my sheep.”  And, Peter does. 

It gives me hope that the 1001st time around, I might get right this thing that we call following Jesus.  What a beautiful thing it is to be a follower of Christ.  What a beautiful thing it is to live in love.