Obedience Overflows Outwards

Homily

Repentance Doesn’t End With Relief

SLIDE - Rhythm of Repentance

Lent has taught us repentance as a rhythm:

noticing the gap

naming it

turning toward Jesus

receiving His help

“If repentance only makes us feel better, it isn’t finished yet.”

[To Kids] Sometimes saying ‘I’m sorry’ feels good. But Jesus doesn’t stop with making us feel better—He helps us love better.

SCRIPTURE: John 21:15-19

John 21: Breakfast, Not an exam

Peter’s Gap

Peter had just been through it

Peter denied Jesus three times

Now Jesus is risen

And Jesus re-creates the day he first called Simon to follow him

after eating together (Jesus always starts with relationship and connection)

What do you think Simon Peter’s gap was here?

“This is not a test. This is a restoration.”

Jesus asks one question, three times: “Do you love me?”

Not: “Why did you fail?”

Instead: “Do you see what I am calling you to?”

“Jesus does not ask Peter to prove his remorse. He invites Peter to step forward in trust.”

And stepping forward in trust isn’t just about Peter and Jesus, is it?

[To Kids] “Jesus already knows Peter made a mistake, but he doesn’t make him feel bad for it. Instead he gives him something to do.

Repentance Leads to Responsibility

“Peter isn’t restored so he can feel better. He’s restored so he can love better.”

Every time Peter says, “Yes, Lord—you know I love you”

Jesus responds with action: Feed my lambs, Tend my sheep, Feed my sheep

Sheep = people

Love for Jesus always moves outward

“Jesus doesn’t restore Peter back to comfort. He restores him back to calling.”

[To Kids] “Loving Jesus means feeding the people Jesus loves.”

“That’s something kids can do too.”

When Jesus says “follow me” he means to love him and trust him enough that it flows out to the way we care for others.

To feed Jesus’ sheep is to lead them to Jesus.

Obedience Is the Overflow of Repentance

When we repent, we encounter Christ, confess the gap we see, move toward him ourselves, and recieve his instruction.

And the final stage before repeating the rhythm is to actually do what he tells us to.

“Obedience is not how Peter earns his place back. Obedience is how his repentance becomes real.”

And Jesus loves the people around us. He sees their burdens and their gaps, and he wants to be close with them.

To love Jesus and be close to Jesus is to love those Jesus loves BY feeding them.

“Repentance that stays private stays incomplete.”

“If repentance is real, it will overflow.”

SLIDE - Title

Instructions

Today we are going to practice this prayerfully and in community

Next Sunday, we start our annual celebration of Holy Week

Holy Week is an opportunity for love to overflow

Invitation is an act of care, a way of helping people find nourishment in Christ.

We will be getting into groups and creating holy week invitations

The goal today is to ask, as an act of obedience, WHO is a sheep that Jesus wants me to feed?

Let your group help you pray and plan.

Pray