Radical Grace
Year C - 2021-2022 • Sermon • Submitted
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15 When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 He asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
18 I assure you that when you were younger you tied your own belt and walked around wherever you wanted. When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and another will tie your belt and lead you where you don’t want to go.”
19 He said this to show the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. After saying this, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”
20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. This was the one who had leaned against Jesus at the meal and asked him, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”
21 When Peter saw this disciple, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain until I come, what difference does that make to you? You must follow me.”
23 Therefore, the word spread among the brothers and sisters that this disciple wouldn’t die. However, Jesus didn’t say he wouldn’t die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what difference does that make to you?”
24 This is the disciple who testifies concerning these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
25 Jesus did many other things as well. If all of them were recorded, I imagine the world itself wouldn’t have enough room for the scrolls that would be written.
Where: New Life Church of the Nazarene
When: 17 April 2016
When tragedy or serious illness happens in a family it sometimes brings out the worst in people. One thing that I learned personally as a hospice chaplain is that everyone responds to the prospects of death differently. There isn’t one normal way of responding there are a multitude of ways. Some people get really angry and they lash out at others. Some people withdraw and isolate themselves.
Coming from a large family it was interesting to observe the different reactions of my siblings when my father was diagnosed with cancer and we knew that he didn’t have long to live. One brother got really angry and he decided that smashing things would solve the problem. One sister was the heroin and she came to take care of everything. Another brother was the white knight and he came riding in to save the day.
During the course of his decline some things were said by one of my siblings that made its way to my parents and I was accused of saying some negative things. I wasn’t anywhere near my parents or siblings when all this occurred and the comments that were made were from another family member but I was the one who the blame was laid. When I traveled to visit with my family before my father’s death my dad called me into his bedroom and as I sat and talked with him he did something that I had never heard him do before. He apologized. My dad apologized to me for thinking that I had said some things that I hadn’t said. It was a moment of grace for both of us as he apologized and I extended forgiveness to him.
Extending forgiveness and grace to someone who has wronged or hurt us is a very freeing experience for the person who is extending the forgiveness and grace. That doesn’t negate the damage that someone may have done to us, but it shows that we are no longer going to hold onto the hurt and pain that we experienced because of what someone else did.
I almost skipped over this passage of scripture that was a part of our Gospel reading from last week. As I was praying about a message for today this portion of last week’s passage kept coming back to me because it is a very vivid example of grace and forgiveness on the part of Jesus towards the Apostle Peter.
As I was studying this past week something that Jesus said to the disciples when he first came to them after his resurrection came to my mind. Back in chapter 20 John writes:
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:21-23)
Do you see what Jesus is talking about there? He’s talking about forgiveness.
You’ve heard the old saying about practicing what you preach. It means that we need to live out what we say. We can’t just talk about in the example forgiving someone, we have to put it into practice.
Jesus in our scripture this morning demonstrates a really practical example of living out what he has said when he forgives Peter.
To help us understand the importance of this passage we need to look back and see why forgiveness was needed in the first place. In Matthew’s Gospel we read what leads up to this extending of forgiveness and grace to Peter. In Matthew chapter 26 we read:
Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same. (Matthew 26:31-35)
Peter boasts proudly that if everyone else falls away he never would. He said that even if he had to die with Jesus he would never disown him. That word “disown” has several meanings. It means:
· to refuse to acknowledge as one's own
· to repudiate any connection or identification with
· to deny the validity or authority of
That last definition really stood out to me because Peter wasn’t just saying that he would never disown Jesus in the sense of acknowledging him but as you’ll see he was saying that he’d never deny the authority of Jesus.
Look at verse 69 in Matthew chapter 26. Jesus has been arrested. He is on trial before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme court. Peter is outside in the courtyard trying to find out what is going on and we read this:
Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.” Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
The very thing that Peter said he wouldn’t do he did. If that wasn’t bad enough, he violated Jesus teachings. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said:
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matthew 5:33-37)
Peter not only lied and said that he didn’t know Jesus. Peter made an oath there in verse 72. When he made an oath it would be like someone today telling you something and then add on “I swear to God.” That is what Peter was doing. He was in the Jewish custom swearing before God that he didn’t know Jesus.
That oath culminated in verse 74 where Mathew wrote:
Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
When we read those words “curses” and “swore” we might think in our culture of someone spouting off a list of four letter words. That really wasn’t what Peter was doing. Do you remember as a child when you made a promise and then said “cross my heart hope to die, stick a needle in my eye if I lie”? That is sort of what Peter was doing. He was calling down curses on himself if he wasn’t telling the truth. He was saying in effect “cross my heart hope to die, stick a needle in my eye if I lie.” Peter wasn’t just making an oath by saying that he didn’t know Jesus, he was calling curses down on himself if he was lying about it.
Everything that Peter said he wouldn’t do he did. He denied Jesus three times. He violated Jesus teaching concerning oaths. He had screwed up royally and here was Jesus fixing him breakfast and now talking to him. I think if Peter could have crawled under a rock and hidden he would have.
Sometimes in life we screw up and everyone knows about but it’s never spoken about. Everyone knew that Peter had screwed up, that even though he said he’d never deny Jesus he did just what he said he’d never do and everyone knew it. Peter knew that Jesus was going to talk to him about his denial; it was just a matter of time. I wonder if Peter kept hoping that Jesus would just forget about it and not say anything.
Jesus recognized the struggle that was going in Peter’s life. He knew there was tension in the air. He knew that Peter needed forgiveness. Forgiveness is an awesome thing. People can live in agony over un-forgiveness whether it is they that need to offer forgiveness to someone else or that they need to forgive them for something.
I’ve witnessed Christians who have lived in virtual torment because they haven’t realized that they have been forgiven. Satan does that to us. He keeps tossing our past sins into our faces. If you have confessed your sin, repented of your sin you are forgiven.
In the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene is the liturgy for the Lord’s Supper, it’s that little black book you see me reading from when we celebrate communion. In that liturgy just after the opening invitation to the Lord’s Table there is a note for the pastor that says “The minister may offer a prayer of confession and supplication.”
Most of the time, that little note is skipped over. We think that just because we’re Christians, holiness people that we don’t need to confess anything. Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount
If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
To be reconciled requires confession and forgiveness. Paul in writing about the Lord’s Supper to the Corinthian church wrote:
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
What he’s implying here in the examination is that if the Holy Spirit points out something that we need to confess it and receive forgiveness for it. Every once in a while during the service when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper I’ll include a prayer of confession. Maybe it’s something that should become a more regular part of the service. The great thing about confession is to hear the words that we are forgiven. On Easter Sunday we prayed a prayer of confession together and you received words that remind us that we are indeed forgiven when I said:
Hear the good news. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10: 42b,43) Hear, believe, and live the good news. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!
Peter needed to hear that he was forgiven. By Jesus actions here Peter knows that he has been forgiven and he’s been reinstated. This is where we see Jesus radical example of grace towards Peter. Peter, the one who said that he would be with Jesus even if everyone else ran away denied Jesus, not only denied him but made and oath and called down curses on himself that he didn’t know Jesus. This Peter, the object lesson in failure was receiving grace, he was receiving forgiveness.
Jesus does something strange next.
Jesus asks Peter if he loved him more than these. Jesus is asking Peter if he loves him more than fishing, more than he loves the other disciples. One writer wrote:
This is the most important question. Does Peter love Jesus unselfishly and unconditionally more than he cares for fishing with all of its trappings, or anything else?[1]
Remember Peter was the one who said that even if everyone else left Jesus that he would be with him to the end. Of course failed. Jesus is in essence asking Peter if Peter thinks that Jesus is worthy of his love and respect. Jesus asks if Peter agape’s him a word that implies this worth and respect.
Peter replies “Yes Lord you know that I love you.” He says that he phileo’s him a word that implies that he likes him very much or loves him dearly.
Jesus tells him to “feed my lambs.” When Jesus first called Peter to follow him he said he would make him a fisher of men. Here Jesus is calling Peter to be a shepherd. He starts with the lambs, the most vulnerable, the youngest. Jesus here in essence is calling Peter to disciple new believers. That is our calling as well.
A second time Jesus asks Peter if he loves him and Peter replies “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” The same word combination is used. Jesus asks if Peter agape’s him and Peter replies that he pheleo’s him. He loves him dearly.
Jesus says “Take care of my sheep.” Again this is a calling to be a shepherd, to disciple believers.
A third time Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Jesus changes the words here. He asks Peter if he pheloe’s him, he asks Peter do you love me dearly?
Have you ever had a kid just keep pestering you with the same question over and over again? It’s annoying and it gets aggravating. John says that Peter was hurt because Jesus asks the same question a third time.
Peter replies “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Peter uses the same word, he says to Jesus “you know that I pheleo you, I love you dearly.”
Jesus tells him to “feed my sheep.”
Three times Peter was confronted while Jesus was on trial and three times Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. Three times Jesus confronts Peter and asks him if Peter loves him.
Jesus is not asking Peter if he loves him on some emotional scale. He’s asking Peter if he loves him enough to be faithful and obedient to the calling that Jesus has placed on his life. Remember it was Jesus that if anyone wanted to be his disciple that they had to “take up their cross daily and follow him.” John writes here beginning in verse 18:
Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
There is a cost to follow Jesus. For Peter it meant his life. For us it involves dying to our own will and saying yes to Jesus. It involves taking up our cross daily and following him.
Jesus has forgiven Peter; he’s displayed radical grace to him. Jesus his giving him that mission to not only to feed the sheep, the people, but to also shepherd them. Being forgiven is liberating, being forgiven by God sets us free to serve Him.
What about you today? Do you need some of God’s radical grace today? Is there something that you need to be forgiven for? Take a moment today to come to the altar and bring that to God, confess it, turn it over to Him and allow His forgiveness to flow into your life setting you free. Don’t carry it any longer. Jesus is here today; He’s just waiting on you.
[1] Fredrikson, Roger L., and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. John. Vol. 27. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1985. Print. The Preacher’s Commentary Series.