You will never let me down

 

I love Easter. I have started to realize that my favorite holidays are more weather related. It's wonderful having Easter this late this year. The sun was bright and baseball games were being played. 

 

And most of all its an important holiday (which means Holy Day). Sidebar: Don't get offended when someone tells you "Happy Holidays" in 8 months from now. Because Holiday really does mean "Holy Day"

 

Anyhow, as we wait for the arrival of my son this Monday after Resurrection Sunday I wanted to go back and read the "end of the story" from St John's Perspective.  

 

So This morning I read John Chapter 21. 

Jesus is alive. He already appeared to his disciples twice but had some unfinished business before His ascension into Heaven. 

So he goes down to the lake and He sees His friends doing a thing they loved to do. FISH

We think to ourselves? How could they go back to fishing? Their world was changed forever. Didn't they understand what was going on?

 

But the truth is we do the same thing! When something traumatic occurs in our lives it is actually healthy to run to a thing that brings us a sense of security. Something that makes sense.  This does not mean we are meant to stay in that place forever but it's good to have your place of safety and refuge. 

It is here that Jesus eats fish and bread with them and forgives Peter for his denial of Him. It is here that Jesus forgives him not once, but three times (one time for each denial).

 

 Do you remember the sequence? 

Quick review!

Jesus: Peter you will deny me.
Peter: Never, Lord.
Jesus: You will deny me three times before the rooster crows.
Peter: No, you are wrong.

Peter then proves Jesus right by denying him three times. 

This was a pretty traumatic three days from Peter's perspective. Not only did he deny his relationship with his Lord but also his best friend. Peter must have felt like he let down God. 

 

 

Have you ever felt like you let God down? Maybe you felt God calling you to do something for Him and you didn't deliver. Or maybe you had a situation similar to Peter where you denied knowing Jesus because it would not benefit you. 

The good news of the Gospel is two things.

1) We can never let God down because it wasn't about us earning his love in the first place. 

This idea of letting God down is rooted in pride and honestly a little bit of narcissism. I earned this. We need to be very careful in America. We tend to be people that value earning things. You know like the American Dream. 

The issue is God doesn't work like that. He is better than the American Dream. He gives of Himself freely to us. Our salvation was a gift. Our daily walking with him was a gift. 

If you think you have to earn a gift, then it was never a gift to begin with. 

We can't let God down, because He knows everything that is going to happen. He knew Peter would deny Jesus. In the same way, He knows our shortcomings. He knows when we are going to make a mistake. 

The amazing thing is: He takes our failures and "let downs" to bring glory Himself glory and works the bad things in our lives (collectively) for our good.

2) The Story of the Resurrection reminds us that God is willing to meet us right were we are.

The first disciples were not the "A" team. They were not the scholars. And many of them had troubling pasts. But God chose them. 

 

God chose Mary Magdalene to be the first person to witness the Resurrection. She was said to have been demon possessed at one point in her life. Talk about baggage.   

The disciples themselves ran back to the familar. When they faced the tragedy, they went to fishing. And we do the same. 

When we feel like we let God down we return to "old life" we once lived before we understood how amazing life could be with Him. But the amazing thing is God came running after them and He comes running after me.

 

 This story brings me hope because in my brain I know I can't let God down, but in my heart there are times when it feels like I did. Yet, I believe Jesus asks us the same question He asked Peter, "Do you love me?"

 

 

Then we can declare with a resounding: "YES, LORD, YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU."