Jesus says "Follow Me"

Introduction

Good morning church,

Today we are continuing in our series looking at Who is Jesus?

So far we have been looking at the different times that Jesus appears to his followers after his resurrection, and we’ve been looking at what this tells us about who Jesus is. First we looked at Jesus is prophet and teacher, then we looked at Jesus is Messiah. We then looked at Jesus is Lord last week, and today we are looking at Jesus says ‘follow me’ … couldn’t think of a ‘Jesus is’ for this one!

In this passage what we see is Jesus ‘reinstating’ Peter - and I think there’s two important things here, first he is forgiving Peter and second he is recommissioning him.

Forgiving Peter

Firstly, Jesus is forgiving Peter because he denied knowing Jesus three times.

The scene is set on the beach … and the writer mentions specifically that it is a ‘charcoal fire’. The only other mention of a ‘charcoal fire’ is the one in the high priest’s courtyard where Peter denied he knew Jesus three times. So the smell wafting through the air would have reminded them both of that night.

It was a night of great pain for both of them. Jesus was being questioned about his disciples and his teaching - in many ways it was a short trial where it had already been decided that he was guilty although he had nothing to hide. And he left bound up and was taken to the high priest and then to the Roman governor.

And Peter was there watching, he’d been able to get into the courtyard and was watching what was going on but trying to not be noticed. It was here that he was challenged about being one of Jesus’ disciples and he denied this for a third time, and at that moment the rooster crowed.

Back at the Last Supper, Jesus was explaining that he was going to be taken away, and Peter said that he would not abandon Jesus, he even said he would lay down his life for Jesus. But Jesus predicted then that before the rooster crowed Peter would disown him three times.

And as the rooster crowed, Peter would have remembered Jesus words. He would have been so ashamed. In Luke’s account it says that when he remembered Jesus’ words, ‘he went outside and wept bitterly.’

It was a night of great pain for both of them … Jesus being arrested, wrongly accused, hit, beated, mocked and handed over the Roman authorities. And on top of that, all of his followers, his trusted friends who he has confided in and who have been with him for years, leave him or disown him.

And Peter, who so passionately wanted to follow Jesus and ‘lay down his life for him’ couldn’t handle it and disowned Jesus. It was a painful night.

But here on the beach, by the second charcoal fire, Jesus is giving Peter a second chance. And when Jesus asks the question ‘do you love me’ three times, it is a clear reminder of the three times that Peter disowned Jesus. It’s like that evening is a pretty raw wound that has a bandage on and Jesus is pulling back the bandage and healing what is underneath.

With each of the three questions ‘Simon son of John, do you love me’ … Simon Peter replies … ‘Yes Lord, you know that I love you’

There are a couple of different words being used for love in this passage, but I’m not sure whether that is really significant. The key thing is that John states that there were three times that Jesus asked, and he notes that Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him a third time, and I think at that point the pain of that night would have been right at the forefront of Peter’s mind.

And as Peter is saying that he loves Jesus, this back and forth is undoing what was done that night. Peter is being forgiven for disowning Jesus.

We make mistakes all the time, some of them big, some of them small. We hurt people, and we hurt God. Sometimes we do things by mistake, sometimes we do things deliberately, sometimes our wrong is more calculated, other times it happens in the heat of the moment. But for every wrong, for every sin, forgiveness is on offer to us. Jesus offers each and every one of us forgiveness for all the wrong that we have done. Whether we know him closely like Peter did or whether we don’t feel like we know him at all, or whether we feel somewhere in between, forgiveness is on offer for us.

I find that I need to ask for forgiveness pretty often … and I probably need to do it more than I currently do.

Milk story ?!

We know our need of forgiveness, just like Peter would have done. And I imagine when Jesus asked him that third time and Peter was hurt, somewhere at that point Peter was very aware of his need of forgiveness. And Jesus receives him back.

But Jesus does more than forgive Peter, he ‘reinstates’ or ‘recommissions’ him.

Reinstating Peter

I would imagine that after Peter disowned Jesus, he would have felt so unworthy to be counted as one of the disciples. He was part of Jesus’ inner circle, Jesus’ closest three friends, who had been with Jesus from the beginning, and faithfully wanting to follow him, and then he completely disowns Jesus when everyone else abandons him. He must have questioned whether he should even be there with the others.

But it’s interesting and quite lovely that Jesus takes this moment with Peter. It seems that they are walking away from the other disciples, because we see in v.20 that John is following them, so they are walking along the beach away from the others and it is an intimate moment where Jesus not only forgives but he brings healing.

Each time that Peter is questioned and he says ‘Yes Lord you know I love you,’ Jesus commissions him to ‘feed my lambs’ … ‘take care of my sheep’ … ‘feed my sheep’ … and then he says ‘follow me’, those same words he used to call the disciples at the very beginning.

He’s not just forgiving Peter, but he’s calling him again to the work that he previously asked him to do. He’s not just saying ‘I forgive you’ but he’s saying ‘I haven’t given up on you, I still want you to keep doing what I have called you to do - in spite of everything that has happened’

I can imagine that was quite a raw moment for Peter … (I think I might have been a little bit annoyed that John was following and almost trying to listen in on the conversation)

But Jesus uncovers the wound of that night and he heals it, and he calls Peter to be a shepherd of Jesus’ people.

I think it’s amazing that Jesus takes the person that completely disowned him, forgives him, and then gives him this job to do that is a leadership role over all of Jesus’ followers. The guy who is so close to Jesus and makes this huge mistake, he’s the one who Jesus asks to be the pastoral leader of his people. He’s charged with teaching and nurturing the ‘flock’ … the people … the lambs and the sheep.

Jesus doesn’t give him a job that he’s worthy of, he doesn’t give him a job that he deserves, he gives him a job that he’s completely unworthy of and he’s not shown himself to always be the best leader over the last while.

But Jesus sees in Peter not just who he is but who he is going to be.

God does this with us. We often don’t feel worthy as people - I think many of us struggle with self worth. We struggle to see our own value - it’s easy to compare ourselves with others and think that they look or dress better than us, or are more accomplished than us. I think many of us have a sense of ‘imposter syndrome’ where we have a particular role and we feel like we have no idea what we’re doing, and we sometimes feel it a lot when people come up to us expecting that we know what to do, and inside we’re feeling like we have no clue! And that’s just part of it, when we think about the wrong that we have done in many different ways we can anywhere between a bit rubbish and utterly broken. And then there are any number of different things that we go through in life that can throw us or deeply impact us. And we can be left thinking why on earth would God want me, why would God want to use me, he should really choose someone else. Although I think we would love to serve God and be used by him to love and bless and serve others.

But one thing I love about the disciples, is that they are a pretty broken bunch of misfits, and Jesus words to them are ‘follow me’. After Peter’s spectacular mess up, after Jesus has undone everything that happened, his words to Peter are ‘follow me’.

You see God has done this amazing thing of choosing to only work with broken people. He chooses you and me.

He is able to forgive our sins and all of the rubbish that gets in the way of our relationship with him.

And then he says to us ‘follow me’.

He doesn’t just say ‘I forgive you’ and ‘now crack on with it, see you later.’

But he invites us into a relationship with him where we always walk with him. It’s quite a mysterious thing in some ways, but it’s the reason why he sent his Holy Spirit. After Jesus ascended into heaven, he sent his Holy Spirit, his very presence to be with us, so that we know that he is with us all the time. He doesn’t tell us to get on with things without his help, rather he says come on a journey with me, follow me, and let’s see what happens. He gives us jobs to do that are uniquely suited to us and where he has placed us, and the people he has put around us. And he says ‘follow me’, ‘follow me’ into your everyday life and see what I am asking you to do.

This invitation is for all of us.

Pray … sorry for where we go wrong / receive forgiveness / invite us into relationship - invite us to follow you