Do You Love Me More Than These?

 2^nd Sunday of Easter!                                       

                                                              John 21:1-19

 

Focus Statement:             In this scripture, the Lord appears again to the disciples, Peter has gone back to doing what he did before, and Jesus reinstates him.

 

Function Statement:       As a result of this message, the congregation will examine their priorities and dedication to Christ and make a deeper commitment to their risen Lord.

 

Movement 1:

One of my favorite Disney movies is Lion King; there is so much that this little movie says about life.  At the beginning of the movie, Simba is born and goes through this ritual not too unlike baptism.  As Simba grows, his father, Mufasa, spends time teaching him in preparation of him being King some day: he teaches him to hunt and pounce his prey, he tells him one time as they look at the stars that other Kings who have gone on before are looking down upon him, he teaches him the need for service, and he tries to teach him how to be safe.  The tragity of the movie is that one day his uncle Scar arranges for Mufasa to be killed and tells Simba it is his fault.  Simba flees for his own life, thinking the others will hate him for it.  Scar becomes King since the others think Simba has also been killed, and the kingdom literally goes to the dogs (the hienas who serve Scar).  The kingdom is plundered and everyone about starves.  Meanwhile, while Simba grieves for his father and runs from the responsibility of going back and telling his family he didn=t kill his dad and taking up the responsibilities of being king, Simba finds companionship with a couple other characters and lives a rather carefree life.  This goes fine until Simba runs into a lioness who was special to him in his youth, Nala, and a monkey priest who confronts him with his past and tells him he has become less than he was meant to be and that because he won=t go back and assume his role of King others are suffering.  This causes Simba to look at his priorities and he goes back, reclaims the kingdom, and sets things right. 

Recap: Simba is born.  He is discipled in becoming king.  The King is killed.  Simba flees scared and becomes less than he was meant to be.  Simba is reinstated and takes up his job that the King meant for him to do in serving the kingdom.

 

Movement 2:

This little story is not too unlike our scripture for today!  Jesus is born to be our King.  He makes disciples.  He spends time teaching them how to serve in the kingdom.  The King is killed!  The disciples, including Peter, flee for fear and because they are confused about all that has happened.  Peter probably felt some guilt because of his denial and not doing anything about it.  They have gone back to what they knew before Jesus.  They have gone back to the life they loved before Jesus: to a simpler and more carefree life!  They are fishing.  This day, they aren=t catching anything.  Someone appears to them on the shore and asks them how they are doing; they tell we aren=t doing too good.  This person tells them to cast their nets on the other side; they do, and they catch so many fish they almost can=t bring it in.  They realize then that it is Jesus.  This is one of John’s accounts of the appearance of Jesus after his resurrection!  Peter puts on his clothes and jumps in the water and swims back to shore!  The others come back by boat.  Jesus cooks them breakfast of fish and bread.  After the meal, Jesus looks directly at Peter and says, ASimon son of John, do you love me more than these (as Jesus probably gestured toward the others and toward the lake that Peter loved)?@ He said to him, AYes, Lord; you know that I love you.@ Jesus said to him, AFeed my lambs.@  (Reminds me of the movie: Do what you were meant to do: you have become less that I meant for you to be!)  16  A second time he said to him, ASimon son of John, do you love me?@ He said to him, AYes, Lord; you know that I love you.@ Jesus said to him, ATend my sheep.@  17  He said to him the third time, ASimon son of John, do you love me?@ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ADo you love me?@ And he said to him, ALord, you know everything; you know that I love you.@ Jesus said to him, AFeed my sheep.

Peter gets up from this encounter with the Lord and takes up his job that he was prepared for.  We said last week that we have no evidence at the tomb that Peter saw and believed; well, here, Peter sees and believes!  He has looked at his priorites and decides that he wants to serve the Lord and do what Christ called him to do, AFeed his sheep.@   He becomes one of the leaders of the early church; he becomes a fisher of people.  Tradition has it that he became the first Bishop of the church.

 

3^rd Movement:

The Lord used this scripture where Jesus reinstates Peter to call me into the ministry.  The Lord kept asking over a period of time, AMike, do you love me more than anything else?@  Then feed my people!  Do you love me more than this?  (Perhaps, my rental property!)  Do you love me more than that? (Perhaps, my plans for the future.)  I kept saying, AYes Lord, I love you more than anything else!@  Then you know what you must do.  Finally, one day with tears in my eyes I acknowledged God=s call on my life and answered the call into the ministry!  

We all have things we plan to do!  We all have things we like to do!  We all have things that we were meant to be (God=s call on our lives and God=s gifts).  We can be the happiest in God; that has been my experience!  God=s ways are best, but sometimes it is hard to see that and to resign to that.  God=s ways are best for the others we love (Remember Simba), but sometimes that is also hard to see!   In the midst of all of this, today Christ asks for complete surrender, ADo you love me more than these? (Perhaps, it is that thing you love to do the most.)  ADo you love me more than this?  (Perhaps, it is our plans for the future.)  ADo you love me more than these?@ (Perhaps, it is our friends and other people; what will they think?)   ADo you love me more than these?@  Have you fell away from God’s call in your life because something happened that threw you a curve?  Have you become less than God called you to be? Are you a fully committed Christian?  Is God calling you to something you have not yet answered to?  What is God calling you to this morning?  Individually and as a Church?  Answer the call this morning as we encounter Christ at the table!

 

Prayer of Confession

Service of Communion

                                                                             

Do Not Hold to Me!

Easter Sunday!

Prayer

John 20:1-18

First Movement:                               

            Most of us do not like change, if it is change from something we like.  I hate the way apps and programs update and change.  I can understand the need to update for security reasons, but some of the changes don’t seem necessary to me; moving where you go on the menu to do certain things doesn’t seem necessary.  About the time you get used to it, they change it.  One of the hardest things for me as a pastor has been the realization that I have to move from time to time.  Moving usually means learning a new set of 100 – 200 people and their stories; it means getting new doctors; it means finding new places whom you can trust to work on your cars or get them inspected.  It means learning where everything is, at the new place.  It is a very high stress year for a parsonage family as they say goodbye to the old and are introduced to the new. 

 

            One of the most appealing things to me about retirement is buying a home and being able to stay there as long as I am able.  You have given me a head start on that since you have a housing allowance instead of a parsonage; we plan on this being our final home.  Even growing up, the longest I have lived in any one house has been 9 1/2 years.  I envy, in some ways, people who have lived in one place for a long time, because change is hard, but sometimes it is needed.  Sometimes, change can be good.  Change has given me the opportunity to learn things and people I would not have known if I had not experienced the change! It has given me a chance to learn and be exposed to different ways and to accept for my own those I believe to be right!

 

 

Second Movement:

            Our resurrection story this morning is from John’s gospel.  It is significantly different than some of the other gospel accounts.  Here Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb and sees that the stone has been rolled away.  First difference is that John only records Mary Magdalene.  Some of the other gospels record two women or two Marys.  There is really no satisfactory account for why John only records the one, other than she was the one significant to  the point he wanted to make. 

 

            Mary runs to tell Peter and the disciple Jesus loved, which we believe to be John himself.  John never refers to himself as John but only by the distinction of the disciple Jesus loved.  They come running to see.  Peter enters first, but there is no mention of him seeing and believing.  We know he came to believe.  Our 1^st scripture from Acts 10:34-43 tells us what he had to say later, but for now, there is no mention of him seeing and believing. The mention of the linen cloths is significant!  Someone who might have robbed the grave or took Jesus would not have taken off the linen cloths, and they would not have taken the time to roll up the one from his head.  Some sources say that it was a Jewish tradition that when you left the table and folded your napkin it meant I will be back; they believe this was a hidden message here, that Jesus was saying, “I’ll be back!” Peter doesn’t seem to pick up on any of this. The disciple whom Jesus loves enters, sees, and believes.  He picks up on all of this. John, the one who stood by Jesus’ mother at the crucifiction, is the first one to see and believe after the resurrection, according to John’s gospel. 

 

            Then, we come to what I really want to talk about this morning.  Mary stands weeping outside the tomb.  She looks in and sees two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been.  They say to her “Woman why are you weeping?”  She says, “They have taken my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  Mary then turns to Jesus.  Mary’s address as Jesus as Lord.  This may be John’s first hint to Jesus being the risen one!  She sees him, but does not “see” him.  She sees him with her eyes, but she does not see him with her faith until he speaks to her.  Then, she really sees him and calls him “teacher.”  This could be closer translated as , “My great one!”   She apparently grabs him when she sees him because Jesus does not say, “Don’t touch me.”  He instead says, “Do not hold to me.”  Or this could also be translated, “Let go of me because I have not yet ascended to my father and your father!” 

 

Third Movement:  

            This brings us to the point I want to make today.  When Mary recognized who Jesus was, she clung to him because she wanted to hold onto what had been.  She wanted things to return to the way they had been.  She wasn’t ready for a change; she was so excited that things did not have to change as she thought they had.  She liked things like they were!  She thought now Jesus could set up his earthly Kingdom. He would reign on earth!  He would set up an Earthly Kingdom and right the wrongs they were experiencing, but John wants us to know there are bigger and better things to come.  This was a change that needed to happen!  Jesus was saying, Don’t hold to me, let the change come!

 

            The next  big event for John’s gospel are not all the appearances of Jesus after his crucifixion, but it is the ascension to Heaven to take His place beside the Father as our intercessor and King, to his Father and our Father!  The ascension stories confirm his Messiahship, but it is after the ascension that Jesus sets up his Kingdom, not before.  It is after the ascension that he reigns in a Kingdom where his followers and the Kingdom people are those who receive what he has done on their behalf on the cross!  It is in this Kingdom that his followers strive to let his “Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven,” as we pray in the Lord’s prayer.  It is in this Kingdom that Jesus’ followers strive to love others and make things right, to let Jesus love through them!  It is in this Kingdom that things are finally made right, beginning now and consummated in eternity!

 

Forth Movement:

            Jesus has lived before us and showed us how to live!  Jesus was crucified and died for our sins on Good Friday!  He arose on that first Easter morning!  We celebrate it on Easter Sunday!  We, the church, celebrates it each Sunday; that is why we worship on Sunday and not Saturday.  Sundays are little celebrations of the resurrection!  Christians began to worship on Sunday, because of the resurrection!  He made many appearances after his resurrection, but we can only see him through the eyes of faith!  He has ascended to our Father God where he reigns forever!  Do you see him through the eyes of faith?  Do you want to be a part of his Kingdom this morning?  Come speak to him this morning and believe as we encounter the risen Christ at the table this morning!  (If you make a first time commitment, please let me know so I can help you with your new walk in Christ!)  As you look at the cross this morning, he is not here, he has risen!

 

Prayer of Confession

Service of Communion