Sermon for May 4th

Sermon for May 4th

As far as disciples go, the ones that Jesus calls out to follow him are not exactly paragons of discipleship. They don’t understand a lot of what Jesus tells them. They sometimes argue about who is the greatest amongst them. They don’t trust, even when they see their master perform miracles. And perhaps, worst of all, when Jesus needs them the most during his trial and subsequent crucifixion, they are no where to be found, except Peter, who denies Jesus three times when he is questioned about his allegiance.

Even now, after Jesus appears to them in the locked room, they have done nothing more than retreat to the sea and go fishing. They have returned to the life they knew, and this is after encountering Jesus, risen from the grave. We might scratch our heads and wonder, why does Jesus put up with these guys?

But then, we could ask the same about ourselves. We are asked to follow Jesus. We are asked to share God’s love with the world. Can we honestly say that we do that, consistently? If we are honest with ourselves, then the answer we come to is no. We aren’t consistent. Actually, we might strive to be inconsistent. The likelihood is that we are negligent in our life as Christians. Inconsistent might actually be an upgrade.

So, if we are so willing to write the disciples off, should we not also write ourselves off? We have had two thousand years to get this right. Two thousand years!! And we are still more willing to engage in violence than peace, hate than love, exclusion to inclusion, exploitation of the natural world to proper stewardship, and a strange ability to justify our actions in the name of commerce, or nationalism, or even in the name of our faith, which requires a real stretch of logic. We complain about the disciples, and we aren’t doing any better.

The irony of our history as a people of faith is that often, this truth has been named, time and time again, with the idea that it is our shame that will change our behaviour and make us into better Christians. We may have, in our lives, been browbeaten by preachers or “superior” Christians surrounding our behaviour as lacklustre Christians.

I remember an unfortunate dinner party my parents attended that included a pastor and his wife. I was too young to remember this incident, but I remember that when we left, my parents were quiet, and kind of sad. They later explained to me that the pastor and his wife stared down their nose at them the whole night, even asking the hosts at one point as to where they met my parents. (Imagine the snootiest tone you can when you hear that.) Apparently, my parents were not the right kind of Christian and this pastor and his wife were very clear in how they felt about these lesser believers.

Do we fall short of God’s calling in our life? Absolutely. Is shame or guilt or despondency the way we change that reality? No. In fact, no strategy is going to work. We are imperfect beings. Its not up to us to change that fact. We can’t. What allows us to live into our life as a Christian, is Christ.

I know that sounds like saying the only we eat is by eating or the only way we breathe is to breathe, but we can sometimes get stuck on this idea that this is all up to us. We have to be better Christians. We have to atone for the wrong we have done. Us. Its up to us.

If that was the case, then Jesus came for no reason. If we always had the power to change our actions and make that change stick, then Jesus would not have needed to come. The horror of the cross would have been unnecessary. We would just have had to pull up our proverbial socks and get down to work.

But that’s not the case. It’s never been the case. The disciples were imperfect because they were human. We are imperfect for the same reason. Our ability to transcend this does not rely on us. God has made that possible and it is not done through shame or condemnation. It is done through love.

Peter, as I mentioned before and which we hear about every Good Friday, denied Jesus three times and then ran off into the night. He wasn’t even present at the foot of the cross. But here he is, being asked by Jesus three times if he loves Jesus and then he is being told to feed Christ’s sheep. It is noted that Peter is hurt by the question. Why does Jesus need to ask him this three times? Does he not believe Peter?

That has often stumped me as well. Why the repeated question. But someone recently pointed out to me that in their bible study, it was remarked that the three questions of Jesus mirrored the three times Peter denied Jesus. But where the first three questions acted to condemn Peter, Christ’s three questions gave Peter an opportunity to redeem himself and to demonstrate his love for Jesus. In this short exchange, Peter is being forgiven. He is also able to declare his love for Jesus, which he so easily denied just a short time earlier and he is given a task. Feed Christ’s sheep. If you are Catholic, this is the point where Peter is given charge of the earthly church and becomes the first Pope.

Whether you believe in the veracity of that statement or not, the rest of the exchange is hard to deny. Peter is being given a chance to repent, and his feet are being set back on the path of servanthood. It is not done with shame, but with an opportunity for Peter to restate his love for Jesus and hear again that he is not condemned but needed. He needs to go out into the world to live the life Jesus has given him.

It would be easy for us to condemn ourselves and others. It would be easy to try and shame ourselves into right action or into a better relationship with God. I need to pray more or read more scripture or volunteer more. I need to give more and go to church more. While none of these actions are wrong, they should never be undertaken because of shame. Rather, we need to realize that Christ does not look on us with eyes filled with disappointment, but with love. Like Peter, we are not condemned. We are needed and it is not through bearing guilt and shame that we will ever be set free. Rather, it is Christ who will set us free. Like Peter, we might be asked if we love God. But like with Peter, it is not done to shame us. It is done to reorient us back to our relationship with God and to see again how much we are loved. This, and only this, sets us free. It is not accomplished through our actions or through our righteousness. It is accomplished through God.

We are not good enough. The disciples were not good enough. And thanks be to God, we are loved not for what we do but for who we are and that is children of our heavenly parent. It is that truth, and only that truth, that sets us free.

Amen.