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Where the Risen Christ Meets Us

JOHN 21:15-19

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." 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. 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." (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."

On display in the magnificent Louvre Museum in Paris, France, is that dramatic painting of Goethe's Faust. Faust is seated at a table engaged in a competitive game of chess. And at first glance, it looks as if Faust is losing. His opponent is Mephistopheles, the devil of medieval legend. The devil sits there grinning smugly. He thinks he has the victory in hand. He is pointing at the chessboard gloating with an evil leer.

As you look at the painting, you can almost hear the devil shouting, "Checkmate! Game's over! I win!" However, one with a keen eye who knows the game of chess can see that the match is not over at all. As a matter of fact, just a few years ago, an internationally famous chess player was admiring the painting, when suddenly he lunged forward and exclaimed, "Wait a minute! Look! Faust has another move, and that move will give him the victory!"

That painting is something of a parable for us Christians, because there we see symbolized the good news of our faith.

Think of it. When we look at the cross on Good Friday, it looks (at first glance) as if evil has won. It looks like the defeat of righteousness. It looks as if goodness is dead and buried forever. It looks as if Christ has been silenced and conquered.

But then, on Easter morning, God's move is revealed, the greatest checkmate move of all time. Christ comes out of the grave and into our lives with power and victory.

Sometimes it does feel that evil is winning, but then along comes Easter to remind us that there is no grave deep enough, no seal imposing enough, no stone heavy enough, no wickedness strong enough to keep Christ in the grave. He will win. God and goodness will win. God and truth will win. God and love will win. And with amazing grace, God wants to share that victory with you and me. What a promise to stand on!

That is precisely what this touching passage in John 21 is about. Christ is resurrected and comes looking for Simon Peter. At crunch time, Simon Peter had failed; he had denied his Lord. Not once, not twice, but three times, he had denied his Lord! He needs forgiveness, reassurance. He needs new life. So the Risen Christ comes to meet him and give him what he needs. That's the good news of the Christian faith for us. Christ not only conquers evil and death, but he also resurrects us. That's what John 21 teaches us.

Remember the story with me. Some months earlier, Simon had left his fishing nets at the seashore to become a follower of Jesus. Jesus liked Simon. He included him in his closest circle of friends. He changed Simon's name to Peter (Petros, the Rock) because Jesus felt that he was strong, stable, and solid, like a rock.

But suddenly, things turned sour. Jesus was arrested, and Peter the Rock got scared. Under pressure, he crumbled, and on that fateful night, he denied his Lord three times. The next day, Good Friday, Jesus was nailed to a cross, and Simon Peter was devastated—shattered, defeated, brokenhearted.

But then came Easter, and Simon Peter was thrilled beyond belief, excited, gratified about Christ's resurrection. But he was still confused and perplexed about his own future and also ashamed of his past failure. So Peter returns to Galilee with his friends; several days pass and nothing happens.

Finally, in typical fashion, Simon Peter gets impatient. He can't take it anymore, and with a tone of agitation, he announces, "I'm going fishing!" Now, what Simon means is this: "I can't handle this any longer. This waiting around is driving me up a wall. I'm worn out with the indecision, the waiting, the risk involved. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going fishing. I'm going back to the old secure life, the old life of being a fisherman."

The others go along with him. They fish all night but have no luck. But then as dawn breaks, they see someone standing on the shore. It's the Risen Lord, but they don't recognize him at this point. He tells them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. They do—and bring in a huge catch, 153 large fish.

The lightbulb comes on for the disciple called John, and he turns and says to Peter, "It's the Lord!" And Simon Peter, always excitable and impulsive, dives in and swims urgently to shore. The others come in on the boat, and as they come ashore, they see the Risen Christ cooking breakfast for them (another Holy Communion). He takes Simon Peter off to the side, and three times, he asks him the same question, "Simon, do you love me?" And when Simon Peter answers, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you," the Risen Lord says to him, "Feed my sheep!"

Of course, it's obvious here that Christ is forgiving Peter and giving him a chance to profess his love three times, to make up for his earlier threefold denial.

Then the story ends exactly the way it started months before, with Christ saying to Simon at the seashore these powerful words: "Follow me."

Isn't that a great story—jam-packed with the stuff of life: powerful symbols, strong emotions, dramatic lessons. See how the Risen Christ seeks out Simon Peter and meets his need, and he does that for us too. He seeks us out and meets our needs. In Simon Peter's experience with him back then, we get a practical glimpse at the powerful ways the Risen Christ meets and helps us today. Let's look together at this great promise—the promise of God's presence with us.

When We Need Encouragement, He Is There

If ever anybody needed encouragement, it was Simon Peter in that moment. He was down. He felt like a failure. He was defeated and ashamed. In the crisis of Holy Week, on that Thursday night when Jesus was arrested, Peter had denied his Master. His failure was magnified, because only moments before, he had bragged loudly about his unswerving loyalty.

When Jesus and the disciples had completed their last supper in the upper room, they had gone out to the Mount of Olives, and there Jesus had said to them, "The time is near, and you will all fall away. You will all desert me."

"Oh no!" cried Simon Peter. "Not I! Even though all the others may fall away, I will not. I will never desert you. I will stand with you to the end. You can count on me."

But Jesus said to him, "This day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times" (Mark 14:30).

"No! No!" Simon Peter insisted vehemently. "I will never deny you. I will never forsake you. I would die with you first!"

Well, we know the rest of the story, don't we? Under intense pressure, Simon Peter caved in and denied his Lord. And being the bold personality he was, that failure crushed him. He was down for the count. And now, even though he had witnessed the resurrection, deep down inside, Simon still was feeling the anguish and agony of his own personal failure.

In that fateful moment, on that Thursday night before Good Friday, he had lost his courage, lost his nerve, lost his strength and bravado. Peter, the Rock, had crumbled, and now he felt like dirt! But then along came the Risen Christ to give him the encouragement he needed so much.

It's important to remember that the word encourage literally means "to put the heart in." The word discourage means "to tear the heart out." In John 21, we see Christ graciously putting the heart back into Simon Peter, giving him encouragement. No stern lectures here. No blame placing or finger pointing here—just words of encouragement.

The Risen Christ is saying, "I still love you. I still believe in you. I still trust you, and I want you to take up the torch of my ministry. I want you to take care of my sheep." These words of encouragement were the wakeup call Simon Peter needed, and as we read on in the Scriptures, we see that he became one of the courageous leaders and martyrs of the early church.

The Risen Christ came to Simon Peter that morning with words of encouragement, and when we need encouragement, he will be there for us as well. If we would hear those words and respond to them in faith, as Peter did, we could turn this world upside down.

When We Need Forgiveness, He Is There

Simon Peter needed forgiveness, and that is precisely what Christ came to give him.

A minister friend of mine recently shared with me a true story which underscores the power of forgiveness. It happened some years ago. A young man we will call Eli, a member of his church, pulled into a service station, and while there, he became involved in an altercation with an older man, a fellow church member. The older man had been drinking and tried to pick a fight with Eli.

Later the young man said, "I don't know why I didn't just get in my car and drive away. I had been fussed at and cussed before. But he just kept on and on, and I lost control and I pushed him."

The older man, in his drunken state, fell over a curb when he was pushed, hit his head on a concrete bench, and fell dead. Well, as you can imagine, it traumatized the whole town. Everybody knew everybody in that little village, and as the word spread, people began to choose up sides. Tension was crackling in the air.

My minister friend received a call from Eli, who said, "Reverend, I've got to go see his wife. Will you go with me? If you don't want to be seen with me, I understand. But I have to go and tell her how sorry I am."

The minister and Eli went to the home of the older man to see his widow. As they walked up, people were everywhere—in the yard, on the porch, in the living room and the kitchen, and no one spoke to them. When the recently widowed woman heard they were there, she called them into the back room. Eli was scared to death, but he was ready to tell her how sorry he was. He never got to make his speech.

As soon as she saw him, she ran to him, took his hands in hers, and said, "Eli, I have known you all your life. I remember the night you were born. I know you didn't do it on purpose." Then she hugged him and healed him— and with that hug, she healed the whole town!

Now, where did she learn the kind of compassion and forgiveness? You know, don't you? She learned it at church. She learned it from Jesus Christ! That's what Christ was doing for Simon Peter on the seashore that morning long ago. He was giving him the healing hug of forgiveness. And he has a hug like that for you and me. When we need encouragement and when we need forgiveness, he is there.

When We Need Direction, He Is There

Simon Peter and the other disciples had been waiting around, wondering, "What next? What are we supposed to do now?" Then the Risen Christ came to give them a new direction.

He said, "If you love me, feed my sheep." What he meant was, "Take up the torch of my ministry! Go! Be the church for this needy world!" The world is starving for Jesus Christ, and we have him. Our task is to feed his sheep, share him with others.

I have a good friend who is one of the finest Christians I have ever known. Dedicated, capable, effective, one of the most respected churchmen in America today. He grew up in a Methodist parsonage, but he tells us that at one point, when he was a young man, he drifted away from the church.

During that period, he fell in love with a beautiful young woman. He asked her to go on a Sunday morning picnic with him.

I love her response: "If you want to be with me on Sunday morning, we will be together in church!" Well, he wanted to be with her, so he went with her to church that Sunday morning, and they have hardly missed a Sunday since.

She brought him back to God and to the church. She knew how to take up the torch, how to share Christ, how to feed his sheep. And God's church has been blessed by this great couple ever since—all because she had a sense of God's direction and the courage to go in God's direction.

The Risen Christ is here with us right now. He has some incredible promises and some special gifts for us. Won't you receive them? Won't you accept them? He promises to be with us in every circumstance of life, and he promises to give us encouragement, forgiveness, and direction.