Text: John 14:27

Apparently there is an element of truth in this story. A plane landed after a long flight. The flight attendant explained that there was enough time for everyone to get off the aircraft and then reboard in 50 minutes.

Everybody got off the plane except one gentleman. The pilot had noticed him as he walked by. He could tell that the man was blind because his guide dog lay quietly underneath the seat next to him. “Sir”, the pilot said to the blind man, “we will be here for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?”

The blind man replied, “No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs.”

Picture this: All the people in the gate area came to a complete stand still when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a guide dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses.

Fear took control. People scattered and queued at the airline desk trying to change planes!

Fear is a normal human response. It is a part of every person’s life – perhaps more so in some people than others – but still everyone has to deal with fear at some time. There are many things that can cause unexpected fear to grip our hearts.
The latest wave of flu strains makes us worry for our health.
The fear of terrorist attacks permeates public events.
The nuclear build up in North Korea has caused nations to fear the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons.
Mothers, fathers and children in Israel and Palestine live in constant fear of another bomb blast or being caught in crossfire.
Parents fear for the safety of their children with so many reports in the news of people who would want to harm them.
We are afraid to leave our homes unlocked, or to walk in the dark at night.
We fear failure so we scramble to meet our tight schedules, duties and obligations.

And where there is fear, there is no peace. Fear brings with it anxiety, worry, apprehension, dread, restlessness, panic and tension – none of which lead us to feel calm, peaceful, relaxed and stress-free.

One of the best newspaper cartoons is Calvin and Hobbes. One day Calvin comes marching into the living room early one morning. His mother is seated there in her favourite chair. She is sipping her morning coffee. She looks up at young Calvin. She is amused and amazed at how he is dressed. Calvin’s head is encased in a large space helmet. A cape is draped around his neck, across his shoulders, down his back and is dragging on the floor. One hand is holding a flashlight and the other a baseball bat.
“What’s up today?” asks his mum.
“Nothing, so far,” answers Calvin.
“So far?” she questions.
“Well, you never know,” Calvin says, “Something could happen today.” Then Calvin marches off, “And if anything does, by golly, I’m going to be ready for it!”

Calvin’s mum looks out at the reading audience and she says, “I need a suit like that!”

That’s the way many of us feel as we see the news and deal with life. Sometimes this world seems too violent and people seem to be at each other’s throats. A suit like that would help, so we can say along with Calvin, “Whatever may come my way, I’m going to be ready for it! Bring it on!”

Well, I don’t have a suit like Calvin’s to give you this morning, but I do have some important words from Jesus this morning to enable us to say, “Whatever may come my way, I’m going to be ready for it! Bring it on!”

It is the night of the Last Supper. Jesus has just spoken of his impending death. He tells the disciples that one of them will betray him and urges Judas to go and do quickly what he has planned to do.
Peter boldly claims that he would rather die than deny his Lord, but Jesus knows that before the rooster crows he will say three times that he does not know the man they are talking about.
Jesus talks about going where they cannot follow and they are confused about this. Haven’t they followed Jesus for the past 3 years? They have watched him heal the sick, they have seen him bring comfort to the afflicted and laughter to the faces of children. Not a day has past where Jesus has not been with them. Their sole thought and attention has been him since the day they were called. And now they are faced with the thought of life without him. Where is he going that they can’t continue to follow him in the future?
Jesus knows that what will happen – his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, his trial and tortuous death the next day – will upset them.

Like a child lost in a department store, these disciples are afraid, uncertain, confused and nervous. And so he continues saying, “Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me …. Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid” (John 14:1, 27).

In the New Testament, the peace Jesus gives is an unconditional, eternal gift to his followers in every time and place. That’s why he does not give peace to us as the world does – for the world, peace is often very conditional, fragile, temporary, and, is frequently reduced to mean only the absence of war and strife.

Worldly peace always has some kind of strings attached, some kind of conditions, and worldly peace lasts only as long as the conditions are kept. Two feuding neighbours can’t agree over the type of fence to be constructed between their properties. They come to an agreement about the cost, type of fence, what kind of materials are to be used and how high it should be but immediately one reneges on what was agreed, the feud starts again.

However, with Christ’s peace there are no strings attached; there is the wonderful promise that it will last forever. Peace, in the New Testament sense means: salvation, forgiveness and reconciliation between God and humanity. The sin that stands between God and us has been done away by the death of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection. We no longer fear God’s anger because of our rebelliousness. Jesus reconciles us with God – he restores the friendship between God and us.

Peace is also the Holy Spirit in our lives as friend, comforter, counsellor, teacher and healer.
Peace is knowing that no matter what troubles may come our way, God, our heavenly Father, has promised to never forget us and to always be our helper and strength. He sent his Son to go all the way and die for us in order to reclaim us as his own. He won’t give up on us now. We are his special and most loved children.
Peace is the flow on of God’s peace into the rest of our lives as we live and work with the people in our day to day relationships and activities.
This peace has a positive effect on our health and well-being. It is well documented that stress, tension, and fear have negative effects on our body.

What can we do when fear grips our hearts?

Firstly, get to know what kind of God we have. He is gracious, loving and faithful. We don’t deserve it but he loves us and will always stand by us. We see just how powerful his love for us is when we look at the cross and see what Jesus has done for us.
Get to know God as the king and ruler of the universe. There is nothing so great or too difficult for him to handle. Parting the sea to save the Israelites, saving Daniel from the lions or Jonah from the belly of the big fish, springing Peter from jail, or saving Paul from a shipwreck were all a piece of cake for him. Helping us when we are afraid is just as easy.

Secondly, get to know God’s promises and trust that he will stick by what he says. Memorise and trust words like these –
The Lord is my light and my salvation; I will fear no one. The Lord protects me from all danger; I will never be afraid. (Psalm 27:1,2).
God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not be afraid… (Psalm 45:1,2).
Or Jesus words of authority and power, “Don’t be afraid! I am the first and the last. I am the living one! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead.” (Revelation 1:17).
Be assured that God keeps his promises; that he is with us, even in the worst possible situation imaginable on this earth.

Thirdly, realise that there are too many times when our human attempts to be bold are not sufficient. There will be times when even the texts of promise that we have learnt off by heart will do little to ease our anxiety. We may even feel that God has deserted us. It’s then we need the Holy Spirit to help us – to forgive us for our weakness of faith, to enable us to trust that God has not forsaken us, to support us while we tremble in fear and to help us get through. He even takes our cries of fear to God and pleads to him on our behalf (Rom 8:26-27).

Our strength, our mind, our skills are of no particular use. We just have to relax and wait patiently, trusting in the God who knows all of our needs and is willing to use his power to help us. The Holy Spirit reminds us – when fear is near, God is even nearer.

Fourthly, pray. Ask God to intervene in our troubles and the fear they bring. Pray for faith, for boldness and courage when we are afraid. Pray that we are able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit who points us to the love and compassion of God, and pray that in the end God would take us from the troubles of this world into the eternal world where there will be no more fear.

When fears and worries create tension and upset your life, Jesus promises, “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.”

5 Easter 2025

Revelation 21:1-7
As you may have noticed, I like fixing up old things.  A have restored a few old cars over the years. But I always tried to use them as my regular vehicle and they proved less than dependable. A fifty-year-old car remains a fifty-year-old car, even after months of work and many replacement parts. My biggest restoration effort was a 130-year-old stone cottage in Hahndorf. Kathy and I spent thirty years fixing and renovating that old cottage. And do you know what we had after thirty years? That’s right. A 160-year -old cottage. For all that work, it remained an old cottage.

Restoring old things is not easy. Some of you may have noticed a few old bicycles around the manse. I enjoy fixing up old bicycles.  It is a cheaper hobby than restoring old cars.  But when I start a project I have to decide how to proceed. Do I keep the bike looking old and just try to get it in working order? Do I restore it as much as possible to its original condition? Or to I take in down the frame and start all over with modern parts, essentially making it a new or different bicycle?  It is not always an easy decision. But at the end of the day, a 100-year-old bike remains a 100-year-old bike, which I was recently reminded of when picking up speed down a steep hill and testing out the 100-year-old braking system!

So as a keen renovator, I was very interested to read today’s text from Revelation 21. God makes the heavens new, and the earth new. He remakes the entire city of Jerusalem. Indeed, Jesus, the lamb seated on the throne that we read about last week in Revelation chapter 7, declares: Behold! I make all things new!’  And that includes us. For we read that there will be no more sadness, pain, tears or death (vs 4). These things will have passed away.

So how does Jesus do it? What is his approach to renovation?

The early rabbis, commenting on similar Old Testament promises that God would make the world new, came up with three options.

First, some thought that God would simply renovate the world. He would restore it the way he had originally made it. Any renovator can relate to that. Our goal is often to get that old car, bicycle, house or whatever we are restoring to look and function as much as possible as it did when new. But is that all God does in making all things new? Does he simply put them back to their original condition?

The second option the rabbis came up with was that God would return the world to its original state, when he first began creating, and rebuild it from scratch. In renovators’ terms, this is equivalent to taking the house down to foundations and frame and rebuilding. Or taking everything off the old bike, sanding down and repainting the frame, and putting on all new parts. The end result, according to the rabbis, was also a world that would resemble what God originally intended. But it would be more of a complete rebuild than a renovation, with little recognisable remaining of the original world.

The third option the rabbis came up with was the most radical. Some thought God would completely destroy the world and start from scratch with an entirely new and different world to the one he had originally created. This would be the equivalent to simply giving up on that old cottage, knocking it down, and building a modern cubist structure in its place. Or melting down the bicycle and making a whole new design, never seen before.

So how does Jesus make all things new. Which of the rabbinic schools of thought that interpreted Old Testament promises that God would make a new heavens and new earth are correct?

Were the renovators right. Were the complete rebuild theorists right? Were those who thought all would be destroyed and God would make something completely different right?

I would suggest that none of them were right.

They were missing an important piece of the puzzle.

They did not understand fully the nature of the God who was making the new heaven and the new earth.

The God who speaks from the throne in John’s vision is none other than Jesus. We see this clearly in several textual clues. We already know from chapter seven that it is the Lamb who sits on the throne. The promise that God will dwell swell with us is reminiscent of John 1:14, ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’  And the words ‘It is done’ in verse 6 would have reminded readers of Jesus’ last words from the cross in John 19:30.   Jesus is also known as the Alpha and Omega, and the reference to his given us water from the spring of life also has strong connects to John 7:37-38. So in the minds of the readers, there would be no doubt that it is Jesus sitting on the throne.

And when Jesus, from the throne, says he has made all things new, he speaks as if it has already been accomplished because in John’s vision, it has been. And because it is the victorious Lamb, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end who speaks, we can be confident that this restoration of all things is so certain that we can speak of it as more than a prophecy, more than a promise. But as a reality.

Remember, this is the same Jesus who has conquered sin, death and grave through his own death and resurrection. Jesus knows a thing or two about making things new! And he does not simply renovate us and our world. Nor does he sweep us away and start over.

Jesus transforms us. He makes us new people in him.

He transforms the holy city of Jerusalem. He transforms the earth and even the heavens. Yest the heavens and earth remain. And we remain. We will still be us. But we will be transformed. Not destroyed and replaced. And not simply patched up or having a reset button pushed. For our God is a renovator like no other. He doesn’t simply repair us or start over. In Christ, God is in the business of transformation. And we will be transformed into who and what God had always wanted us to be.

We will be God’s children, and the Lamb will be out God (vs 7). And he will wipe away all tears. There will be no more death, no more pain. Jesus will give us the very waters of life. And we and our world will be transformed. Indeed, in Christ, we already have been and are being transformed. The wonderful promise of the future Jesus has in store for us is already a reality for Christ, who is enthroned in heaven, preparing a home for us. And thus it is also already a reality for us. Amen.

Pastor Mark Worthing

Text: John 10: 27-28

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27–28 ESV)

To hear, to know, to follow! These three little verbs sum up God’s interaction with each of us in one succinct little statement. If we ask ourselves, “What is my purpose in this life? Why did God put me here in this body, in this place?” The answer simply comes back, “hear and follow”!

However, humanity has gone and become confused in the chaos of this world. No longer is the simple call to hear, suffice. We have immersed ourselves in the complexities of ourselves and what’s seen around us. And in all the questions and searching we lose ourselves.

So what is the purpose of living? With all the science and technology, with all the advances in medicine and health, with the ever increasing knowledge of humanity’s social interaction and the plight of peoples around the world, why is it that we are further from a satisfactory answer than ever before? Why is our society more depressed and hopeless knowing the very things that are meant to get us into the secrets of our social fabric; the meaning of life?

Last week’s Gospel reading recounts Peter’s reinstatement where Jesus asks him three times if he loves him to, “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.” And here the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world, takes away the sins of Peter, and now raised to life as the glorified Shepherd in victory over sin, death and the devil, appoints Peter as the first under-shepherd, the first pastor, to feed his lambs.

Now lambs are helpless little creatures. They sit at the bottom of a merciless food chain, potential victims of foxes, eagles, crows, and other carnivorous characters. They’re also victims of themselves it seems. My grandfather often use to say after seeing a sheep flop down and sulk to death, “they die for practise”! And anyone who’s ever tried to yard weaner lambs will see just how frustrating it must be for God who seeks to keep us safe in his fold.

Yet the secret of our salvation is really no secret at all. It just we’re so much like a sullen sulking sheep most of the time, we don’t realise the Shepherd of our souls seeks us. But listening to our own hearts, we take flight from the safety of God and his salvation and run further into trouble. Surely it is me who’s the greatest hindrance to my Heavenly Father! Humanity certainly is helpless!

And so we are! Lambs and sheep that run amuck! We run away, running from the arms of safety into the sins of self. But our helplessness, your hopeless hunt for meaning in your life, that leaves you battered and bruised, unable to think straight anymore makes you …blessedly …helpless! But how can that be?

Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday! Jesus is that Shepherd! He has endured Good Friday to be our Good Shepherd. Jesus became the broken man on the cross, blessedly helpless, and now he is our help! The Blessedly Helpless Lamb of God is now the Good Shepherd tending us his blessedly helpless lambs.

You see this man, who proclaimed to be the Son of God, who is the Son of God – One with the Father from eternity, bore the eternity of death and now leads us and carries us through the valley of the shadow of death into the eternity of life forevermore. He lifts you out of the helplessness of yourself, your questions, your doubts, your tribulations and troubles in this life. How? The Good Shepherd washes you in his Good Friday blood so you stand in robes of white before the Father in the eternal house of the Lord.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For in the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:3–11 ESV)

And so we return to the text for today and the three verbs, “to hear, to know, to follow”. Our purpose, having been made his children, his lambs, is to follow him. We were created to glorify God, to worship him, to look to him and trust him. Heartache comes in every person’s life, both Christian and not, when we turn from this reality. So how do we follow the Good Shepherd when we in our very nature constantly return to our silly sheepish ways?

To follow him requires knowing! But it’s here there’s a subtle surprise in the text. We wrongly assume that it is us who need to know God by our own strength. But being blessedly helpless we know that’s just not possible. Rather it is not us who knows God but Jesus says, “I know them!” He knows you, his sheep!

“Knowing” is nothing short of being faithful, so Jesus is faithful to you. The Good Shepherd constantly leaves the ninety-nine to look for you, the blessedly helpless, lost one! You are his little lamb, he is the Good Friday Good Shepherd. You can trust the Lamb of God who was faithful even unto death, and now continues in faithfulness sending the Holy Spirit into your heart, willing you to believe he who believes in you.

So Jesus knows you and you’re now free to follow him. He sends the Holy Spirit to grow faith within, faith that hold fast to Jesus’ faithfulness towards you, demonstrated on the cross. As faithful sheep of the Faithful Shepherd, the Holy Spirit does in us who know we are blessedly helpless lambs that which we are called to do, namely, to glorify God. And that is listening to him; hearing his voice.

You hear the Shepherd’s voice when you hear the Word of God, the law and the gospel. This is God’s rod and staff. God’s Word is our comfort as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death. It teaches us about ourselves and it guides us. It protects us from the self, and from the old evil foe. And it returns us to the loving embrace of Jesus coming down from the cross in victory over our sin.

…the Lamb in the midst of the throne is our Shepherd, and he guides us to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from your eyes.

Jesus says to you, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27–28 ESV)

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:12 ESV)

Sermon for Easter 3, Year C

John 21:1-19

 Those who go fishing regularly are very good at counting. If they tell you they’ve caught 153 fish, one doesn’t dispute it. I admire the patience of our fishing folk. The persistence, perseverance and patience they display is rare in today’s world, bugged as it is by road rage, impatience in queues and check-outs.

Peter is a man of action. He can’t stand waiting around for Pentecost to come. “I am going fishing”, Peter, the impulsive disciple of Jesus announces. Six others decide to join him. Seven is a symbolic number for completeness. These seven disciples represent what Jesus can do for His whole Church. They venture onto the lake without first seeking Jesus’ blessings on their endeavours. After trying all night, their fishing trip is a dismal failure. Every experienced fisherman can identify with their frustration. It seems Peter went fishing to suppress the memory of how he failed Jesus on the evening of Maundy Thursday.

No failure which results in a learning experience, need get us down. The glory isn’t in never failing, but in rising each time you fall. Before Thomas Edison successfully invented our light globe, someone taunted him with being a failure. “Ten thousand experiments and you haven’t learned a thing!” Edison replied: “You’re wrong. I’ve learned ten thousand ways not to invent the incandescent electric light.” Many people are greater at handling failure than they are at handling success. Jesus can often do more for us in our failures than in our successes. The preoccupation of these seven men on the lake with their failure hinders them from recognising Jesus’ presence nearby.

Now, experienced fishermen don’t normally take advice from a stranger. But these men detect a note of authority in this stranger’s voice. After confessing their failure to him, they find they’ve been fishing on the wrong side of the boat. Fishing from the wrong side of a boat represents making a decision or going ahead with some endeavour without involving our Lord. Don’t we, too, often embark on some course of action without first praying about it? Then the success that occurs is often short-lived or turns sour. We need to remember every day that great resurrection promise: “In the Lord your labour is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).”

The Lord can resurrect us from our failures just as He did for these fishermen. When we involve Jesus in what we do, unexpected blessings come our way. Jesus had surprises in store for those who obey Him. These seven disciples discover how fruitful obedience in Jesus can be. One can’t help but think that St. John himself, the writer of this Gospel, counted the 153 fish himself. St. John refers to himself as “the disciple who is loved by Jesus”. What a wonderful way for a Christian to describe himself or herself. John could never forget the fact that Jesus loves us despite our failures, our faults, our imperfections.

There’s something special and unique about Jesus’ love for us, a love that’s both human and divine. Jesus makes God’s love real, tangible and concrete for us. Nothing we can do can separate us from His transforming love. St. John is the first to recognise that the stranger on the shore is Jesus. Only Jesus could perform a miracle like that. John understands what Jesus does before Peter reaches understanding, while Peter is the first to act. John possesses the keener insight; Peter, the ability to show spontaneous enthusiasm. We have the comic picture of Peter getting fully dressed before he jumps into the water to be with Jesus as soon as he can.

They all come ashore now to a meal prepared for them solely by Jesus. Jesus reveals Himself in something as tangible as a meal, a meal of bread and fish. This is to remind them of the time He fed the five thousand with specially consecrated bread and fish. From that time on, fish quickly became a symbol in Christian art for both our Lord (ICHTHUS) and His Holy Supper (Holy Communion).

As Jesus invites them to eat, they now have not the slightest doubt that all this is the Lord’s doing. It is His gift of love to them. It is in Holy Communion that Jesus can be found. Holy Communion is His gift to us, His gift that strengthens and renews His relationship with us, and our relationship with Him. In Holy Communion, Jesus gives us His heaven-sent gifts of grace, acceptance, peace and encouragement. To His Sacred Supper, Jesus invites unfruitful failures, so that nothing that’s happened in the past will stop them serving Him in the present. First our Lord feeds us with the gifts of Holy Communion, before He sends us out to feed others with His life-giving Word.

After we’ve failed, or let our Lord down, He rehabilitates us by asking us: “Do you still love Me?” Our love for Jesus may not be as strong as we’d like it to be, and in need of regular support and nourishment, but it must be genuine. In today’s Gospel, repentance involves re-affirming our love for Jesus, because we need never doubt His love for each one of us. To know Jesus personally is to love Him with a deepening devotion and a growing desire to serve Him faithfully.

Finally, Jesus gives Peter opportunity to wipe out the memory of his threefold denial of Jesus, with a threefold public declaration of love. Just when Peter’s on “cloud nine” over the miraculous catch of 153 fish, Jesus challenges him to re-dedicate his life to his Lord. In one of the most celebrated dialogues in the Bible, instead of reproaching Peter, Jesus gives him a chance to renew His loyalty. “Do you love Me more than these?” Jesus uses the word for divine love (Agape); Peter replies with the Greek word for friendship-love (Philia): “Yes, Lord, You know I’m Your friend.” Jesus doesn’t ask Peter about his faith, courage or ability. Jesus doesn’t ask: “Do you trust Me?” We can trust someone without loving them.

What matters most, what’s all-important, is: “Do I love Jesus?” God will only entrust His lambs to the care of those who love Him.

In the third question, Jesus comes down to Peter’s level and uses His word for love: “Do you love Me as your Friend?” Peter lets everything depend on Jesus’ knowledge of him: “Lord, You know everything, You know I love You!” Jesus graciously honours Peter with the care of His lambs and sheep: “Show your love for Me by loving the members of My Church.” Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. He now says to all of us: “If you love Me, keep My commandments”, the most important one of which is to love each other as Christ has loved us.

Christ’s love for us motivates us to no longer live for ourselves, but for Him and for those He loves so dearly. In our worship and in Holy Communion, we receive His love, so that our love will cause us to honour, praise and adore Him. When we love our Lord, we will go the second mile for Him. Love leads us to go beyond the call of duty for the One we love.

Jesus said that the woman who anointed His feet with perfume would be remembered forever because of her extravagant gesture of love for Him. May our Love for Christ lead us to respond generously to His unfailing love for each of us. “We love because He first loved us.”

“Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love (Ephesians 6:24).”

Amen.

Text: John 20:20-21 Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.”

One of the strangest and perhaps most counter cultural aspects of the Good Friday are Jesus’ words from the cross just moments before he dies. He is in extreme agony as the nails bearing his weight tear at his flesh and he gasps to fill his lungs with air; the crowds gathered on Golgotha are mocking with loud laughter and taunting him to come down from the cross if he is truly the Son of God. The soldiers are laughing and joking at the foot of the cross as they gamble for his clothes as Jesus was dying. Most of his disciples – his closest friends – are nowhere to be seen; they are afraid and scatter to find somewhere to hide. In excruciating pain and in his dying moments Jesus says, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing”.

When Jesus says, “Father forgive them” – the ‘them’ are all those who have been involved in his crucifixion – leaders of the community and the church, government officials, soldiers, disciples and friends – those who were mocking, jeering, taunting, gambling, hiding. The ‘them’ Jesus is referring to is every person who has had a hand in causing such extreme pain and torture. He prays that they would be forgiven.

That’s not supposed to be how things work – forgiveness in the face of so much hatred and shame. That’s not normal. Anger, hatred, abusive language, shouts about his innocence, cursing his tormenters – that would be normal behaviour.

Today we hear of when Jesus comes into the room where his disciples were hiding. They had deserted him in the Garden of Gethsemane, one had denied that he ever knew Jesus three times, others had said they were prepared to give up their own life for Jesus but in the end fear overcame them, not one of them stood up to defend Jesus and declare his innocence. Jesus’ first words to them are, “Peace be with you”.

Jesus had come back from the dead and cannot resume talking with them until he says exactly what he said on the cross to his tormentors and his failed disciples, “Father forgive them.” He puts their guilt and their shame and their fear aside and says, “Peace be with you” – “The peace of God that brings forgiveness and reconciliation and calmness fill your hearts and quieten your fear”.

These first words of the risen Jesus to the disciples are so much at odds with the way the world thinks of forgiveness. The way forgiveness works for most of us is like this, “Let the person who has offended me, say that he or she is sorry, then I might be prepared to offer my forgiveness”.

When Jesus appeared the disciples didn’t say,
“Oops, I guess we really let you down;”
or “I’m sorry we ran away when you needed us the most;”
or “I beg your forgiveness for not supporting you in your greatest hour of need – in the garden I couldn’t even stay awake and pray for you;
or “I’m sorry that when Judas appeared my confidence disappeared”.
Neither do we hear any reprimand from Jesus for their betrayal; no criticism of their absence to encourage and support Jesus.

There is none of that. Only “Peace be with you. I forgive you, now let’s talk”. These words indicate more than just peace of mind and the absence of fear and guilt. The peace that Jesus offers heals the desolation, the hurt and sorrow that Jesus himself must have felt as saw no sign of his closest friends from the cross. The peace Jesus offers heals the guilt, the fear, the mistakes and misguided loyalties of the disciples.

The peace that Jesus gives puts all of that in the past; it is forgotten and it’s time to start again. We often think that Jesus’ work of forgiveness was confined to the cross but it’s clear from the Easter appearances of Jesus that Jesus’ work of forgiveness continues after Easter. The first words he says to his disciples are words of forgiveness.

Today we also have this whole incident with Thomas who missed seeing the resurrected Jesus the first time. He can’t believe that Jesus could be dead one day and alive the next. It is impossible. It is illogical. It is stupidity at its worst. He had heard Jesus talk about this kind of thing happening and he had heard the eye witness accounts of his friends but he states firmly, “Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later Jesus appears again and this time Thomas is there and what are Jesus first words? “Peace be with you”. These are words of forgiveness and grace and Jesus treats Thomas the same way he treated the disciples on his first appearance – with grace and love. That’s enough for Thomas. Jesus offers to let Thomas touch his scars but there is no need. All Thomas needed was to hear Jesus’ words of forgiveness and healing. Thomas’ faith is the result of nothing but grace, the grace of Jesus Christ who did not wait for Thomas to “come to faith” but who came to him.

One day Jesus told a story about a farmer who had a fig tree (Luke 13:6-9). The farmer came looking for fruit. For three years he’s been looking for fruit and there has been nothing. “Cut it down!” he says. His servant pleads, “Master, let it alone. I’ll dig around it, give it a good dose of manure, and then let’s see what happens”. The word Jesus used for “Let it alone” is the same as “forgive it”.

“Cut it down!” That would have been the logical and right thing to do. However, the story ends with, “Master, forgive”. And that’s what Jesus does with us. When we are up to our necks in the muck and manure of sin or we have not been bearing the fruit that comes as a result of the love Jesus has shown to us, he could quite rightly say “Cut it down!” but instead he permits us to begin again with forgiveness and a new start. He did that with the disciples the first Easter and he does that with us.

No matter how you have failed in your walk with God, no matter how you have betrayed Jesus, remember what he said to those who had let him down so badly – “Peace, I forgive you. Sisters and brothers, I still love you”.

But it is not only the nature of God to forgive but it is also the nature of the Christians to forgive. “Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’” Jesus breathes on his disciples reminding them how God breathed into Adam and gave him life. Here Jesus is breathing over his new creation and giving the invigorating life-breath of the Holy Spirit to those who will continue Jesus’ work of forgiveness and reconciliation after he is gone.

Jesus says, “I am sending you on a mission to announce the gospel of forgiveness but not only to talk about it but to make forgiveness a part of your everyday life. It is through forgiveness that the Holy Spirit cleanses, makes new, restores relationships and give us the peace that only Jesus can give”. In other words, Jesus is passing on to us the ministry of sharing forgiveness; to deal with others with grace and mercy even though it’s hard work especially if we feel we are the people who have been wronged.

We live as if every day is Easter Day. Just as forgiveness was very much a part of Jesus’ Easter appearances likewise forgiveness is very much part of the life of the disciple as we live out the victory of Jesus’ death and resurrection every day.

Bruce Prewer tells this story. A friend of mine was touring in England.  Among his delights was visiting not just cathedrals, but village churches which were steeped in generations of the joy and sorrow of ordinary Christians. Arriving in one village, he headed for the parish church, opened the door and stepped into its secluded beauty.

Near the back of the building, a man was kneeling and weeping. Without saying a word, my friend knelt a few paces away. When with a heavy sigh the villager sat up, the visitor put his hand gently on the man’s shoulder and said, “My friend, you seem to be doing it tough. Can I be of any assistance?”  The stranger, recognising genuine compassion, blurted out his story. Ten years earlier when he was in his late teens, he had committed a crime, was arrested, tried and sentenced. He had been free for nine months. But he still felt terribly ashamed and came (not on Sunday with others) but alone during each week to pray for the Lord’s help.

The visitor said, “But God forgives you. Forgives you utterly. You know that, don’t you? You don’t need to pray alone, you should be here on Sunday with other Christians.”

The stranger commenced to sob again, and then whispered, “Yes, I know God forgives me, but the people in my church and village don’t. Until they do, I am trapped with a feeling of ongoing disgrace. I cannot face them on Sunday. That is why I come here alone to pray during the week.” 

This is precisely what Jesus was saying to his disciples, “If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” This is where the rubber hits the road and this whole business of forgiveness becomes very challenging. Christ has commissioned us to offer forgiveness when relationships go wrong. And there is no doubt that friendships do go pear-shaped more often than we care to admit. We have a choice – either we make real the forgiveness of Christ in our lives and offer it to those who have offended us or we withhold our forgiveness and so tie everyone involved in the bonds of guilt.

We might say, “I don’t care if he/she feels guilty – it serves them right after what has been done to me”. But is that what Jesus is telling us in his Easter appearances? It’s easier to be unforgiving than to reach out with kindness and mercy and be reconciled with another person. That’s why Jesus says, “Receive the Holy Spirit” before he commissions his disciples to forgive people’s sins. It is only under the power of the Holy Spirit that this kind of forgiveness is possible.

To conclude, I’m sure that there are many amongst us here today who have had issues with people in the past and it seems that as much as we would like to do something about it, it is too late to be reconciled with that person. If that is the case, then we need to listen to Jesus as he speaks to his disciples. He knows our hearts and he knows our guilt and he says, “Peace be with you. Your sins are forgiven.”

Easter 6
John 14:15-31 (15:9-17)

In 1992 Baptist pastor and relationship counsellor Gary Chapman published a book titled The Five Love Languages. His basic idea was that everyone shows and experiences love differently. It has had a phenomenal success and continues to influence the way people look at how love is expressed between parents and children, couples and friends. It turns out that if someone feels they are loved when they are given gifts, this is how they assume others experience love. So a mother might buy her child gifts, or a husband might buy his wife gifts, thinking this is how they will know that they are loved. But if the other person experiences love through spending quality time with them, the efforts will fall flat and both parties will be left frustrated.

For those unfamiliar with the love languages concept, the five love languages are:

• Words of Affirmation
• Acts of Service
• Receiving gifts
• Quality time
• Physical touch

Of course, everyone appreciates all of these things. But each one of us, according to this approach, has a particular way that someone can best show their love to us.

My wife is really big on the love languages concept. She has given much thought to what the love language of each of our children is. She has given me a copy of the book (on more than one occasion) to read. She said I should work out her love language. Well, I have made a start. For the past forty years I have bought her gifts to show her that I love her. She politely thanks me and the gift disappears into a drawer, is regifted to someone else, or if I am really lucky, ends up somewhere on her dresser top. So I think I can safely cross off ‘receiving gifts’ from the list as her primary love language. Now I’ve just got four more to work through to find the right one!

As you can see, finding someone’s love language can take some effort. It would be easier if she just told me!

But today’s text raises an even more basic question: What is God’s love language.

In other words, how does God show his love for us? And how do we show our love for God?

We find the answer to the first question, how does God show his love for us, in many places in the Bible. But perhaps no where more poignantly than in John 15, the very next chapter after the one we are reading this morning. In fact, for those who were paying close attention – and I know we all were, these were the words we opened our service with this morning: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (v. 13).

Simply put, God shows his love for us by giving his life for us. God shows his love for us by embracing all of our pain and loneliness and brokenness on the cross.

You have to admit, as gestures of love go, its big! And it was entirely unexpected. It’s not the sort of thing a self-respecting deity would do. The gods of the ancient world asked their followers to make sacrifices for them, to give to them. But in Jesus, God turns that idea upside down. God sacrifices himself for us. He gives his life for us. That’s how he showed his love for us.

But how do we respond to such love. How do we show our love to God? Which brings us back to the question: does God have a love language? A way in which we can show God that we love him?

Actually, it turns out that God does have a love language. And he doesn’t make us work it out ourselves. He tells us plainly. And it is described in today’s text.

Out Gospel text today begins with a line about how we show our love to Jesus. Jesus says to his disciples: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’ Three more forms of this saying follow. Then the reading finishes with statement about Jesus’ love for the Father, to drive home the point.

If the lines are read out together, without the intervening material, they would form a very nice stanza of Hebrew poetry. In Hebrew poetry, for instance the Psalms, the poem is not built on rhyme or metre, but on the repetition of lines, but each time with a chance of words, reversing the order of the words, or in some other way making the same point in a different way.

So, if these key lines were all read together, like a piece of Hebrew poetry, the stanza would read like this.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (v. 15)

 ^“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.” (v. 21)

“Those who love me will keep my word.” (v. 23)

“Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” (v. 24)

“I do what the Father has commanded so the world knows that I love the Father” (v. 31)

We begin with the key statement. ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’

Then the same point is made, but the order of the thought is inverted. That is, it is turned inside out. ‘Those who keep my commandments are those who love me. Together, these two lines form what is called a chiasm. Those who love me keep my commands, those who keep my commands love me.

The third time the thought recurs the word commandment is replaced by ‘word’. ‘Those who love me will keep my word.’ What Jesus commands is what Jesus says, that is, his word. It is another way of saying the same thing, but using a different key word. It is a device any readers familiar with Hebrew thought and Hebrew poetry would have been very familiar with. And they disciples would have certainly understood it. And this line comes with a promise. Jesus says that those who love him, who keep his word, will be loved by the Father. And he and the Father will come and make their home with them. That’s a relationship built entirely on love. We love Jesus because Jesus loved us and gave his life for us. And when we show our love for Jesus, he and the Father come and make their home within us. So just as Jesus and the Father are one, as Jesus has explained earlier to his disciples, now he show how in love we also become one with God.

The fourth line of this sequence keeps the key words of love and word, but now the idea is stated in the negative. ‘The one who does not love me does not keep my words.’ Once again the same point is made, for the fourth time in succession, but in yet a different way.

And in case the disciples have missed the point Jesus is making, he finishes this part of his talk with yet a fifth in this series of parallel statements. And you might think by now he would be running out of ways to say the same thing differently. But Jesus drives home his point by going back to the key words of love and doing what is commanded. But this time he substitutes the Father for himself as the object of the obedience and he himself becomes the subject. Jesus say, ‘I do what the Father has commanded so that the world will see that I love the Father.’

So Jesus is asking us to do as he does. Jesus is asking us to be his disciples by imitating him. Because that’s what disciples do. They watch their teacher and do as he does. Once more in this final talk of Jesus with his disciples during the Last Supper he shows them (and us) the way to show our love for him. Just as he began his talk by setting the example of humility by washing their feet, now he is asking us all to follow his example of love.

So that is the answer to the question of how we show Jesus that we love him. We show our love for Jesus just as he showed his love for the Father, but doing what his Father asked, which was to give his life for us. Now Jesus asks us to show his love for him by doing what he asks.

Jesus’ love language, God’s own love language, is simply this. To do what Jesus has asked or commanded us to do.

Easy? Right?

Oh, but there is a question. And it is the obvious one. You will likely be wondering, just what does Jesus command us to do, in order to show that we love him?

We could try to work this out ourselves. What might God want us to do for him. The ancient world was full of gods and the all wanted the same thing: altars, temples, sacrifices. But Jesus doesn’t call us to show his love for him by building yet more altars and temples. The ancient world had more than enough of these. Jesus doesn’t ask us to show his love for him by building a 90 foot statue of him. He doesn’t ask us to show his love for him by going off on some unholy ‘holy’ war. Jesus doesn’t ask for any of these things.

When Jesus uses the word command repeatedly in this part of his talk, together with the word love, he is reminding his disciples of how he began this talk to them. Just after he washed their feet he asked them to serve one another by following his example. Then he said these well-known words: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone know that you are by disciples, if you love one another.”

These words would have still been echoing in the disciples’ ears when Jesus repeatedly asks them to show their love for him by keeping his commandments, by keeping his word. And this is the one commandment Jesus singles out to say to his disciples before he goes to his death: love each other, just like I have loved you.

And again, in the very next chapter, in case we or the disciples are in any doubt about what Jesus asks of us, he says again: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. … I have given you these commands so that you love one another’ (15:13,17).

No altars. No temples. No 90 foot statues. And certainly no holy wars. These are not God’s love language.

God’s love language is simply that we love each other as God loved us in and through Jesus.

And when we love one another, we are reminded of the One who first loved us. Who showed his love for us by giving his life for us.

Amen.

Pastor Mark Worthing.

Easter 5
John 21:15-25

The postscript to John’s Gospel contains two stories of Jesus on the beach on the shore of Lake Galilee with his disciples. The first story, as you recall, was the catch of the 153 fish and Jesus cooking breakfast for his disciples. This story was characterised, as we saw, by several memory triggers that reminded both the disciples and the reader of earlier incidents, including the miraculous catch of fish when Jesus first met Peter, the feeding of the five thousand with bread and fish, Peter walking on water when he left the others in the boat to go to Jesus, and the institution of the Lord’s Supper.

But there is another memory trigger in this first story that we did not highlight. And that is the charcoal fire on the beach. It is only the second time in John’s Gospel that a charcoal fire is mentioned. The first was at the courtyard of the high priest on the night Jesus was betrayed. On that night Peter sat around the charcoal fire and ended up denying Jesus three times. The mention of the charcoal fire in this final post-resurrection appearance of Jesus is another intentional memory trigger. And as the conversation between Jesus and Peter unfolds we will see its significance.

To understand the context of this conversation between Peter and Jesus we need to recall the conversation between Peter and Jesus, which took place in the Upper Room before Jesus’ arrest, recorded in John 13:36-38.

‘Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now: but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cost crows, you will have denied my three times.”

Now, back to today’s text. Jesus and the disciples have just finished eating their breakfast of fish and bread around the charcoal fire on the shore. The presence of the charcoal fire reminds the reader of the fire that Peter stood by when he denied Jesus three times. The three-fold denial is significant because according to ancient custom to repeat a statement three times had strong legal and moral force. Now there needs to be a resolution of this three-fold denial. There needs to be a reconciliation and reinstatement of Peter and his role as leader of the group of disciples.

So we read that when they had finished eating, Jesus turned to Peter. And Jesus asks Peter, ‘Do you love me more than these others do?”

Well, that’s one heck of a question. What was Peter to think? Of course he loved Jesus. After all, he had just jumped out of a boat and swam to shore to see him. None of the other disciples had done that! So Peter says, ‘Yes, Lord. Of course. You know that I love you.”  But in the Greek in which John writes the account, there is an important difference in wording used by Jesus and Peter. Jesus asks Peter, Do you love me, using the word agape for love. It is a love that transcends all love. It is a love that knows no bounds. It is a deep metaphysical and spiritual love. In fact, John actually defines agape in the words of Jesus earlier in his gospel when he quotes Jesus telling his disciples “No one has greater love (agape) than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). So Jesus does not need to tell Peter and the others that he loves them. He has already demonstrated this through his actions.

But when Peter answers Jesus, he does not use the word agape. Instead he uses the word philo, which is the second highest type of love. It denotes a deep ‘brotherly love.’ In most of our English translations we miss this important nuance because the word ‘love’ is used to translate both words.

In essence, Jesus has just asked Peter if he loves him in the most profound and eternal way possible. And Peter responds, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that l love you like a brother.” This might strike us as odd and even awkward. It is a bit like a young person saying to their boyfriend or girlfriend for the first time those words, ‘I love you’ and in response getting only, ‘That’s nice. I like you, too.’ But Peter was not being rude or awkward here. Given his recent denial of Christ (three times!), it is likely that Peter simply did not feel worthy enough to pronounce this kind of love for Jesus. The last time Peter had boldly proclaimed his commitment to follow Jesus to death he had not been able to follow through. In fact, he had completely lost his courage and denied three times that he even knew Jesus. So here we find a much humbled Peter; a man less certain of himself than before his denial of Jesus. Peter, to put it simply, seems reluctant to commit to more than he is confident he can follow through on. And after claiming that even if the other disciples faltered, he would follow Jesus to the death, he is certainly not willing to say he loves Jesus more than the other disciples do.

In response, Jesus appears to ignore the difference in words used and says to Peter, ‘Well, if you love me, feed my lambs.’  Jesus is looking for action to back up Peter’s words. Jesus showed his own love for the disciples and for each one of us by laying down his life. Now he asks Peter to show his love for him through action.

Then Jesus repeats the question to Peter, using the word agape again. But this time Jesus leaves off the phrase, ‘more than these others.’ Perhaps if Peter is simply asked if he has an agape love for Jesus, and not whether he has this love even more deeply than the others, Peter might be willing to commit. But Peter responds for the second time using the word philo. ‘Yes Lord,’ Peter says, ‘I love you like a brother.’ And Jesus once more asks Peter to tend his flock. But this time he uses the word sheep instead of lambs, and the word tend instead of feed. The request made of Peter has been significantly downgraded! Hand feeding young lambs is much more work and requires a much greater commitment than keeping an eye on adult sheep out grazing. Perhaps Jesus was suggesting that if Peter can only commit to brotherly love, then feeding the little lambs might be too much for him. But Peter could at least tend to the adult sheep, who can feed themselves and need less care and attention than the lambs.

Then the question and answer are repeated for a third time. And this is a not-so-subtle reminder of Peter’s three-fold denial of Jesus. This three-fold repetition of question and response is meant to highlight that something very important is being said here. In first century Judaism a witness often was asked to make a statement or accusation three times. And a man who wanted to divorce his wife had to repeat this three times to have legal binding. So Peter’s three-fold denial of Jesus was a big deal. Now Jesus is providing the chance for Peter make things good by affirming his loyalty to Jesus three times.

But this third time there is a change in Jesus’ question. Jesus does not use the word agape this time. He realises that Peter does not feel able to proclaim this level of love. So Jesus comes down to Peter’s language, using the word philo, and asks Peter, ‘Do you love me like a brother?’ At this point Peter is getting a bit agitated because he thinks Jesus is asking him the same question over and over. So again he says, ‘Of course, Lord. Why do you keep asking me? You know everything. You know I love you like a brother.” Finally the question and the response match up, but only because Jesus has decided to meet Peter where he is at. Jesus and Peter agree on brotherly love. On philo love. It will have to be enough!

And again, Jesus challenges Peter, and asks him to ‘feed my sheep.” Jesus has returned to the request to feed, rather than to simply tend, but has retained the term for adult sheep, rather than reverting fully to his original request to feed the baby lambs. The third request does not bear the full responsibility of feeding the little lambs from the first request. But is more than just tending the sheep, as in Jesus’ second request to Peter. Once again, Jesus accommodates not only his language, but also his request, to what Peter at this point in time is capable of doing.  

It is agreed that Peter, the leader of the disciples, is able to commit to brotherly love of Jesus, and to feeding his sheep. And so the reconciliation is complete. Peter has been brought back into the fold as leader of the disciples.

But there is a final part to this conversation on the beach.

At the end of Jesus’ three-fold questioning of Peter about loving him, he tells Peter that he will give his life for him. But he asks him to follow him nonetheless. And this is exactly what Peter had asked to do, even pledged to do, at the Last Supper. But Peter becomes immediately distracted when he notices John coming toward them. And Peter brings up the question of what will happen to John. ‘What about that guy?’ he wants to know. ‘Will he, too, die for his faith?’ Jesus tells Peter that he is not to worry about John but to focus on his own commitment to discipleship. Then Jesus again repeats the command to follow him. And this command to follow Jesus is the final reference to the earlier conversation between Jesus and Peter at the Last Supper.

Remember, the context of Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s threefold denial was Peter’s request to follow Jesus to his death. Jesus asked Peter then, ‘Will you really lay down your life for me?’ Now Jesus is calling Peter not simply to follow him, but to do exactly what he had pledged before his crucifixion, that is, to follow Jesus to death. And so Jesus tells Peter the kind of death he will die. The reference to his hands being stretched out and led where he does now want to go is a reference to crucifixion. And when John wrote his Gospel his readers would have all known that Peter, the leader of the disciples, had been crucified some years earlier in Rome under Nero.

But what does this text mean for all of us today? We are, after all, not Peter.

Importantly, what Jesus says to Peter is meant not just for him, but for the other disciples, and for all of us who would one day follow Jesus.

So Jesus is asking all of us if we love him. He is asking all of us to care for his sheep, that is to take care of and to love one another. And he is asking all of us to follow him, whatever the cost.

And this is how John closes out his Gospel, his life of Jesus. He concludes with a conversation on a beach that recalls many key events from the ministry of Jesus. He concludes his Gospel with the story of Peter, who despite all his faults and failures, is forgiven and reinstated by Jesus. John concludes his Gospel with these words of Jesus echoing down through generations of followers of Jesus: ‘If you love me, feed my sheep and follow me.’

So, do we love Jesus?

If we love Jesus, however we understand that love, then Jesus calls us to demonstrate this love by our actions. Like Peter, we might have let Jesus down in the past. We might feel unworthy to make a bold commitment of agape love. It doesn’t matter. Jesus calls us all the same to show our love for him by our actions. He calls each one of us to love and care for one another, and he calls us to follow him, whatever the cost.

Amen.

Pastor Mark Worthing.