He is Risen
Alice Edge • April 22, 2020
He is Risen - Indeed!
Luke 22:54-62
Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
Mark 16:1-8
Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.
When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell the disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”
The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.
John 21:7
Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore.
After reading the passages above, let’s take a minute to stop and think about Peter in this all for a minute.
It’s resurrection Sunday – although Peter doesn’t know that. He had followed Jesus for years, seen countless miracles, and they had such a close relationship. And in the past few days, he had seen it all; been a part of it all. He had shared Passover with Jesus and the other disciples, fallen asleep in the garden while Jesus was asking them to pray, woke up to the Jesus being taken by guards.
As he followed Jesus around, keeping an eye on things from a distance, people began to recognise him, asking him if he was one of Jesus’ followers. And he denied knowing him, just as Jesus had said he would. He had been given a warning about that, and still did it.
And now Jesus was dead. He was buried. And there was nothing more he could do. He had contributed to the death of Jesus. The death of his best friend. And nothing he could do could take that back.
Peter had to sit in that feeling. It was all over. All done. I wonder how Peter was feeling at that point. I would imagine he’d be feeling pretty rubbish.
Then, as he sits there feeling awful, he hears a commotion outside. The women are racing to him, telling him the tomb is empty. They’ve seen an angel, and Jesus’ body is gone, and he’s risen back to life.
Peter can hardly contain himself. Maybe there’s a tiny glimmer of hope. But he pushes that feeling back down as quickly as it rises within him. It’s impossible. He races to the tomb, and sees it empty, just as the women described. What could this possibly mean? Is Jesus actually alive? And if he is, what next? How could he face Jesus after all that he’d done? After he’d denied knowing him? The guilt and shame Peter carried swept over his body. A little hope, but a LOT of guilt and shame.
I start to think about what I tend to do when that shame hits. And it’s usually retreating back into myself. I don’t want to face what I’ve done, but on top of that, I don’t really even want to face the world. When I get into my shame spiral, and I’m so sure there are other people that will really relate to this, all I want to do is crawl into bed, pull the doona over my face, and wallow in it all.
Yet, that’s not what Peter did. Peter recognises that the best way to move forward, even with the shame he’s feeling (not only if he met Jesus, but probably around the other disciples who I’m sure would know what he did), was to get back out there. To face the world. and so he goes fishing. He goes back to work. He surrounds himself with people he knows care about him, regardless of what he’s done.
This is so important. Facing the world, and the people in it, when we’re in the middle of a shame spiral, is the best antidote.
But, as luck would have it, Peter had a terrible fishing day. He’d put on his big-boy pants, faced his shame head-on, and had the worst fishing day ever. He didn’t catch anything.
All of a sudden, he hears this voice from the shore saying to cast his net out to the other side of the boat. At first, I think he probably would have rolled his eyes. Surely it wouldn’t make much difference what side of the boat the net was on, seeing as fish swim around anyway. But then it’s the lightbulb moment. The “I know that voice” moment.
John turns to him and says, “It’s the Lord!”
That was it for Peter. He strips off his tunic – no way was he going to be slowed down swimming back to meet Jesus. And there he stood, face-to-face with the man he loved, the man he betrayed, the man he thought was gone forever, with his second chance. Jesus, filled with love and grace, removed whatever shame was left within Peter. In fact, he saw so much in him that he sent him out to be a foundational person in the Christian church. Through this, we can see so clearly that it isn’t out mistakes that define us in the eyes of God. And we see that only our shame is what holds us back in restoring our relationship with God.
I wonder how many times we think to ourselves, “We’re too far gone? God couldn’t forgive that. Or he could, but I don’t deserve it.” Maybe sometimes we try to hide that stuff from God. We continue to carry it around, and our guilt becomes a shame that is so deeply rooted that we can’t even face it anymore.
But when I look at this encounter that peter had with Jesus, I see a shining example that tells me I don’t need to carry this stuff around anymore. I begin to see that if Peter, who’s actions had a huge influence on Jesus being executed, could find restoration in his relationship with Jesus, then maybe I can to.
This was a discovery I made pretty early on in my relationship with God, and maybe even before I would have said I had any sort of relationship there at all. I felt so broken and so weighed down by shame that I felt irredeemable, unforgiveable, too far gone. But this story says to me, to each one of us, that it doesn’t matter if it’s the first time we stuff up or the hundredth, that our God is a God of second chances. That we are not irredeemable. That nothing we do is unforgiveable. That it doesn’t matter how long we’ve journeyed with Jesus, or how close our relationship is with him. We’re going to stuff up, we’re going to feel shame around it, and yet, Jesus is still there, waiting for us and loving us. Peter had been following Jesus for years. He had seen everything, heard everything, and was a pretty committed disciple. And he slipped up. He made a choice, three times, that he thought was unforgiveable. And yet, Jesus forgave him.
And he does that for us, too. The resurrected Jesus gave Peter hope in a restored relationship with his Lord. This resurrection Sunday, and every other day, we have the same hope.
May this day be a day free of shame in your relationship with God, and instead, a day of restoration for you.
Sermons For The Moment
New Year - Matthew 2:13-23
Do not be afraid - Matthew 1:18-21
Luke 2: 4- 15
Luke 1: 26-33
This is a subtitle for your new post
Ruth Chapter 4
Ruth 3
Ruth 2
Commitment from Love, Ruth 1: 1-18
This is an interesting Psalm – another psalm of ascent. We spoke about these Psalms of Ascent a few weeks ago. They were songs the Jewish people sang as they made their way to Jerusalem to go to the temple, through the forest, along the tracks, camping by the roads. And I believe songs like this kept them focussed and kept their spirits up. I can imagine days of walking together, tiring, boring, hot and dusty. And singing some of these Psalms keep them focussed on the faithfulness of God. Much better then eye spy for the kids. Journeys are not all their cracked up to be even if the destination is worth it. As you know, when I was growing up we always holidayed at Bawley Point past Ulladulla, and in those days it was about a 4 hour drive from Sydney. We always left later than we meant to…and the last 20 mins was on a dirt road. One year when I was probably about 4 years old it was dark by the time we got to the dirt road, and half way along the dirt road, was a dodgy wooden bridge over a river. I think part of the bridge had been damaged and we had to wait a bit in the pitch black darkness before we could proceed. Dad was out with a torch ensuring the bridge was safe to drive on and mum and us 4 kids were sitting in the darkness – no street lights, no moonlight. Of course, you might be able to guess what I said to mum in that car, with fearful crying…you’ve probably heard it from kids before. I said ‘I want to go home’. Mum said to me, ‘we can’t go home Robyn, we’re almost there’. In truth, after the bridge we had the last 10 minutes of a 4 hours journey left. We safely crossed the bridge and we were OK. But I remember it. I remember the feeling of being scarred in the darkness. I remember not liking this journey at all. Even though I always loved the destination. Well this psalm celebrates the end of the journey and the arrival at the destination. Psalm 126:1-3, “When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.” Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!” Before we can understand the laughter and joy of the Israelites, we have to understand their journey. This Psalm looks back to when they arrived back in Jerusalem after 70 long years in Babylon. The captives had experienced great sorrow and mourning in exile. We read these heartbreaking words in Psalm 137: “Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land?” (Psalm 137:1-4). Their tormentors demanded they sing joyfully, but they were like – that’s impossible, it doesn’t come from our heart. So they just sat by the waters of Babylon and wept. But now by an amazing work of God they were suddenly back in Jerusalem. And so their joy came from their heart. The wait was over, the journey was complete. “We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.” The journey is the hard bit though isn’t it? I was reminded of this, this week. An Officer couple I was speaking to, said that their teenager said some very hurtful things to them. Stuff like, ‘you make my life worse’. As they spoke to me, I did very little but listen and pray with them. They do have other supports in their life as well, already seeing a psychologist. But what I was thinking in my head as they were speaking was ‘oh the teenage years, I’d forgotten them’. Though we have 2 wonderful young adults in P and K, they were times when it was more than tense. K wears her heart on her sleeve, and to this day apologises for some of the things she said to me. And P, you wouldn’t know what he was thinking, and then all of a sudden all his thoughts and feelings for the last 3 years would come out like molten lava everywhere. A few days later I checked in to see how the couple and their teenager were going. I mentioned in passing about teenage years and very briefly about our experiences. I didn’t want to make it all about me. But I said teenage years can be painful and those years can really hurt everyone in the family. Teenager included. They know that we have a good relationship with P and K and they said to me, you know, this is helpful. It gives us hope. I was like, yep, this too shall pass. Because when you’re in the midst of the journey of pain and sorrow, you sometimes wonder if there’s light at the end of the tunnel. If you’ll laugh again or experience joy again. You begin to wonder, “Is this all that God has for me? Will I ever be happy again?” And here’s the promise in Psalm 126:4-6, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” When you are going through a time of deep sorrow, Psalm 126 is strong medicine for your soul. It carries a powerful message of hope. It tells you that times of trouble and sorrow do not last. It tells you that God will turn your sorrow to joy and your tears to laughter. If you are going through a challenging time right now, I pray that this psalm will speak to your heart this morning. Let me tell you right up front, whatever you’re going through, it will get better. God will change your tears to joy. This week I found something I wrote about 10 years ago. I had written it on a piece of paper and there was a whole reflection about my life. At the time we had my mum living with us, she had dementia, and mostly I remember the good times and the fun times with her. I was also the Corps Officer at Glebe and Bob was the manager at William Booth House. After a page of writing I had written something like this “I’m often anxious, I’m usually stressed, I have eczema on my eyelids and ulcers in my mouth. I always feel pressed.” I went out to Bob in the lounge room and I’m like, ‘oh my goodness, eczema on my eyelids and ulcers in my mouth’, often anxious, usually stressed. The thing is, my life feels a long way from that now, and I’d forgotten what that part of my journey felt like. I’m sure when I was there I couldn’t look ahead and see a time of joy…but the truth is that “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” This too shall pass. ‘Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!’ says verse 3. God is faithful – he does the healing, the restoring, he brings the streams in the desert that renews and brings fruitfulness. I don’t need to tell you – it takes time. Today, I’m praying for a work of healing in your life, a gradual restoration of joy, of laughter. Like me as a kid, sometimes we don’t like parts of this journey at all. Even though we know our destination is good. And ultimately, we have a destination like no other and that’s the promise of God. A home in heaven made possible through Jesus. May God bless you this week as you look to Him, listen to Him, find your hope in Him and find courage and healing in your journey.