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Loving a Heavyweight Savior
by The Very Rev. Frank F. Limehouse, III
Year C, 3 Easter, John 21:1-19
April 18, 2010
unedited
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
There has always been a very natural human tendency to please those whom we love, to “stand by your man” to quote Tammy Wynette. And when people fail to stand by you; when they hurt you, disregard you, trash you, then we question their love for us. Am I right? And so we are not surprised that in the aftermath of the events of the last days of Jesus' life on earth, Jesus questioned Peter about his love for him- not once, not twice, but three times Jesus asked him if he loved him. It's a powerful story of brokenness and restoration. Through the centuries God has used these verses in the 21st chapter of John to touch many hearts, and I pray that he will touch our hearts today.
I'll begin by looking at Peter's spiritual condition before the Lord began to question him. Bottom line, guilt was sinking Peter “lower than the grave” to quote John Bunyan. He was not like the little Roman Catholic girl years ago I heard about. It's supposed to be a true story, of course. It was time for her to prepare for her first confession before the parish priest. Problem was she couldn't think of anything in her life she would call sin. She was one of those sweet little girls that played by all of the rules, never cheated in class, never told little white lies, never said bad words. As hard as she tried, she simply couldn't think of one thing she needed to confess. The priest suggested she study a pamphlet which listed literally hundreds of categories of potential sins to help her determine what to confess. So the big day came. She entered the confessional booth and said to the priest, “Father I have sinned.” “Yes, my child” the priest said, “what is it that you have done?” Quoting directly form the pamphlet she had been given, she said, “I have condoned heresy and dissension in my diocese.”
I tell you that story because Peter was not like this little girl. Peter did not need a pamphlet. Peter knew good and well he was a sinner. He had betrayed the Lord big time, three times, in front of many people. Yes, after Jesus' resurrection, Peter had heard Jesus say, “Peace be with you.” But would Peter ever really know peace again? Would he ever get over the awful things he had done? He had been told he would be a fisher of men's souls, but that now seemed impossible. To deny with oaths that he ever even knew the Lord was a most heinous sin. How could the earliest church use such a man as a leader and witness?
And so there the guilt-ridden man was by the sea fishing again with some of his friends, who weren't too much better off spiritually than Peter; they all fled when the heat was on, but none denied Jesus more boldly and blatantly than Peter. Enter Jesus Christ! Instead of rebuking them or refusing them, Jesus bids them to have breakfast, “Children, have you any fish.” Not, “You sleazy cowards, I have a bone to pick with you”, but, “Children, have you any fish… come let us have breakfast.”
It was after breakfast that Jesus said to Peter, “Simon Peter, do you love me more than these?” Peter had already compared his devotion with the others a few days earlier, when he vowed, “These others may deny you, but I will never deny you”. We know the rest of that story. He wasn't about to compare his devotion with the others again. Imagine the shame in Peter's heart. He had not “stood by his man”. He had not behaved liked he loved Jesus. Three times Peter had denied Jesus; three times Jesus asked if he loved him.
John doesn't tell us what was going through Peter's mind with each cutting question, but I think we can imagine. It was certainly painful to Peter, but the cruel thing would have been let the matter go on festering. The questions, though motivated by love, were calculated to cut to the heart and they did. Each time Peter was asked the cutting question, he answered in all humility and sincerity, “Lord, you know that I love you” and the Lord each time responded with a commission to service, “Then feed my sheep.”
Now, brothers and sisters, let us bring this around to you and me. Let us put ourselves through a little heart-searching, as the Bible invites us to do. Like Peter we have not always behaved like we loved Jesus, in thought, word and deed, every one of us, to the point that Jesus could well ask us, “Do you love me?”
Do you love Jesus? It's an honest and sincere question that I ask you as I have been asking myself all week. Do you love Jesus? And let us not evade the question by saying, “Well, I respect him… I admire him as no other person who ever lived.” But Jesus didn't ask Peter if he respected him or admired him. Jesus asked Peter if he loved him.
I once asked a girlfriend if she loved me. I remember her answer. She said, “Well, I think you're a really nice guy.” I wasn't comforted by her answer. I knew I wasn't a really nice guy; I wanted to know if she loved me. This passage invites us to ask ourselves how we honestly feel about Jesus.
This is a short sermon, so I will cut to the chase. From where does love for God come? There's a revealing verse of scripture, words that come from the Lord in Luke's gospel, when he said, “Truly I tell you, he who is forgiven little, loves little” (Lk. 7:47). That's it in a nutshell. The love of Christ comes from seeing our sins, feeling our sins, and then feeling the power of forgiveness that comes through Jesus' death and resurrection.
I know people, and you do too, fine people, likeable people, respected people who believe they may have some imperfections and Christ helps make up for them and compensates for their deficiencies. In that case, Jesus is what Surgeon used to call a “lightweight” Savior. If you have a “lightweight Savior” then you're not going to love much. Peter knew a heavyweight Savior, a sinner's Savior, therefore Peter loved the Lord very much and Peter knew the Lord knew he loved him.
Unlike the little girl preparing for confession, I doubt you need a pamphlet on potential sins to recognize your sins. At least I hope not. I hope your sins are ever before you. It's sign of spiritual health. To quote the Apostle, “If we say we have no sins we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” We could go around each pew. It's just a biblical insight that the man or woman who most loves the Lord today has most felt the power of his forgiveness. May God be pleased to reveal himself to all of us that a sense of “blood-purchased pardon”- a sense of pardon that comes through his death on the cross, may melt away hearts of apathy and indifference.
I want to close with one last thing. The whole point of this story is Peter's restoration. As Peter had arrogantly boasted of his reliability in the presence of his fellow disciples and totally blown it, so his forgiveness and total restoration was done in the presence of his fellow disciples. Three times Peter was told, “feed my sheep.” Jesus didn't say, “Look, I forgive you, but unfortunately I'm not going to be able to use you as a leader any longer.” He said plainly, “Simon Peter, feed my sheep.” It's the work of the devil himself to convince us that because we have sinned, even though we've been forgiven, we cannot serve the Lord as full-pledged Christians. The true prerequisite for serving the Lord is love of God. And love comes from where? It comes from being forgiven by One who so loved us that he stretched out his loving arms on the hard wood of the cross.
Do you love the Lord? This is the first question for every preacher, teacher, pastor, missionary, youth minister, Sunday School teacher, choir member, altar guilt member, usher, Christian mother and father, friend in Christ, every Christian with a heart-beat. Do you love the Lord?
Prayer: May God draw reluctant hearts to a heavyweight Savior, that we might love, even as we have been loved, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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