The Disciple
Jesus Loved Tells All!
John 21
Flash
back with me to 1968. (For some of you
that’s a scary trip!) The Mexico City Olympics are taking place amid great
fanfare. As the marathon contestants line up, spectators buzz about possible
winners of the race that gave birth to the entire Olympic movement. Most of the
attention focuses on Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia, and John Akhwari or Tanzania. And rightly so; they were the best in the
world. Wolde was the best in the world, but Akhwari had beaten him in an event
leading up to the Olympics, and this rematch was expected to be one of the
great highlights of the games.
With the crack of the starter’s gun, the contestants begin
their quest for a gold medal. But Akhwari, found himself trapped in the middle
of some other runners several miles into the race. Unable to see well, he fell
hard, dislocated the knee on his right leg, and cut his head and arm. He
watched in anguish as the other racers continued past him. John Stephen Akhwari
will not win the marathon on this day. Mamo Wolde would go on to win. Akhawri had come to Mexico City and failed…or had he?
Now
flash forward to the end of the race. Wolde, the Ethiopian, has crossed the
finish line an hour earlier, darkness is falling, and the last spectators are
leaving the stadium. Suddenly their attention is drawn to the sounds of police
sirens. The marathon gate to the stadium is thrown open, and, unbelievably, a
lone runner stumbles into the stadium for his last lap. It is John Stephen
Akhwari. Hobbling painfully on his bandaged, bleeding leg, grimacing with every
step, knowing he cannot win the race, he continues all the same. He slowly, painfully finishes a final lap
around the stadium before collapsing across the finish line.
Why,
someone asked him, didn’t he stop after injuring himself? After all, there was
no way he could win the race. Listen to John Stephen Akhwari’s response: “My
country did not send me 7000 miles to Mexico City to start the race,” he said
with dignity. “They sent me 7000 miles to finish the race.” His race is one of the most memorable in
Olympic history, even though he lost – he never quit, he never gave up. He is a hero.
Nobody
likes a quitter.
Our
heroes are not those who faced obstacles and gave up – our heroes are people
who faced seemingly insurmountable odds and kept working, kept trying, never
lost their sense of mission and purpose, and were over-comers.
As
we come to the final episode of the memoirs of the Disciple Jesus Loved, we are
faced with a man who was ready to quit.
Turn
with me if you will to the final chapter of John’s gospel - chapter 21. Let me read this incredible story to you
beginning in verse 1:
[Read John chapter 21]
Obviously,
it is Peter who is the primary focus of Jesus’ attention in this chapter; so
let’s simply watch the progress as his life transformed right before our eyes.
In
verses one through three we see a man who is ready to quit. We see it written in our Bibles: “I’m going
out fishing,” but in the original language that is used, it would literally
read, “I’m retiring to fishing.” Peter
has reached a point where he has lost his vision and sense of mission and purpose. He didn’t know what to do next, so he was
ready to throw in the towel and go back to his old line of work.
How
can that happen? How can a man who had
seen the risen Lord, heard His voice and been called to serve Him possibly loose sight of his mission???
Hey,
it happens. It happens a lot.
You may are or may not be aware, but people are leaving the ministry at alarming rates today. 1,500 pastors leave the ministry each and every month in this country. At least part of the problem is the unreal expectations and pressures. That great giant of preachers Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “I feel as though I have created a great machine and it is ever grinding, grinding and that I may yet be its victim. No one knows the toil and care I have to bear.”
H. B. London from Focus on the Family wrote a book entitled Your Pastor Is An Endangered Species and
he said, “Pastors dwell in a world of unfinished tyranny, where they can’t shut
the door, walk out of the office, or know that something is completely
finished. There’s always another Bible study, sermon, phone call, committee,
hospital call, home visit, or gathering clamoring for attention.”[i]
Lloyd
Rediger in his book, Clergy Killers, says that Pastors are “…still
expected to produce reassuring sermons, exciting programs and manage the church
budget without causing discomfort to anyone but himself and his family.”[ii] As a result of those pressures and the
amount of stress that is faced in the ministry by pastors and their families,
statistics tells that 50% of ordained ministers across denominational lines are
out of the pulpit within 5 years [Focus on the Family].
And
it’s not just pastors who are tempted to quit sometimes. Those few faithful servants who find
themselves doing so much work for the Lord are often hit with the same feelings
and struggles. Just in the past week, I
heard of one of our people who does set up each Saturday who said, “I don’t
mind doing this, but it would be nice to have a week off once in a while…” Nursery workers, children’s church teachers,
Bible study leaders, AWANA volunteers, church cleaners, sound techs, praise
team members, special events planners and any person who works in a position of
service or leadership is at one time or another going to face a point of
frustration or exhaustion to the point of wanting to quit.
Peter is given to us as an example of one of the first workers in the church
who wanted to quit.
He
was still feeling defeated and inadequate. Yes, he had seen the risen Lord - they had all seen Jesus – but no one
else in the room had messed up like Peter had. He had denied that he even knew Jesus when He needed him most! Can’t you hear Peter’s self talk? “What a hypocrite! What a looser! How could
God ever use an idiot like me? I always
screw up!”
Sure,
Thomas had doubted the resurrection, but Jesus had shown up and addressed that
doubt directly and publicly. He hadn’t
addressed Peter at all. He had probably
done all he could to avoid eye contact with the Lord during those first two
meetings…He was so ashamed! He didn’t
even feel like one of the disciples any more, and Jesus knew it – when the
angel had told Mary to go and tell the others of His resurrection, he said, “Go
an tell the disciples, AND PETER…” Was
it possible that the others didn’t consider Peter one of the group any
more? Whatever the case, Peter was
still feeling the effects of his failure.
So
Peter resigns himself to a life of insignificance. Not because fishing is an insignificant profession – it is a
noble, vital job – especially in their day! Our significance is not determined by our career – our significance
is defined by our impact. We can be a
cook and have a life of great significance, and we can be the owner of a great
corporation and have little significance. This decision meant insignificance for Peter because it was a step
backward – it was a return to his old life, his old job, his old values.
The
other 6 disciples that happened to be there were feeling much the same way –
“We’ll go with you,” they said, and off they went to the familiar, comfortable,
confines of the fishing boats that had defined their lives before Jesus had
come along.
But
going back was unfulfilling. It was a
frustrating night – not one fish. I
imagine Peter, James, John and the others were beginning to think that maybe
they couldn’t even do this right any
longer! Can you relate to what they
were feeling? It just seemed like they
could do nothing right!
As
the sun began to rise, the peak fishing time passed, and the disciples began to
make their way toward shore. A figure
on the shore called out to them, “You haven’t caught anything, have you?” It was more a statement than a
question. The disciples murmured back,
“no.” The man on the shore said, “throw
your nets out on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” They did, instinctively, and immediately the
net was so full of fish they could not haul it in the boat!
It
was John who recognized what was going on first. I can just imagine him, grunting along with the others to pull
the net in, when suddenly it dawned on him. Maybe he had one of those deja vu moments – “This has happened
before…” More than three years earlier,
John, his brother James and Peter had been partners in the fishing business,
and in an almost identical situation. It was the day Jesus had first called them to follow Him. He leaned over to Peter now and said,
“Peter, it’s the Lord!”
On
that first occasion, three years previously, when Peter had recognized Jesus as
a prophet, possibly the Messiah, he had fallen to his knees, and said, “Depart
from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Now, as soon as he recognizes that it is Jesus, he throws on his upper
garment, and jumps into the water and made his way to shore.
Peter
still recognizes himself as a sinful man, but he also recognizes that being
apart from Jesus is the last thing he needs! In that moment, Peter recognized that he needed to abandon everything he
held dear, and seek after Jesus. When he
jumped out of that boat, he left fishing behind him for the last time.
Peter
recognized his need for Jesus, and Jesus recognized what Peter needed,
too. In verses 15 – 19, we read of a
painful exercise that Jesus took Peter through in order to personally and
publicly restore him. After the breakfast,
the disciples began to walk with Jesus. Jesus and Peter were walking together. Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you really love me more than these?”
On
their last day together before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, Peter had boldly
proclaimed that he was more loyal than all the others, and that even if they
all abandoned Jesus, he would stand and defend Him. Now Jesus asks, “Do you truly love me more than these?”
Doubtlessly
red-faced, Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Jesus response was, “Feed my lambs.”
Twice
more Peter is asked about his love for the Lord, and each time he responds,
“Lord you know I love you.” The last
time, in verse 17, we read, “Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him a third
time.” There are many commentators who believe that there were three repeated
questions because of Peter’s three denials, and that may be the case, but I
think that Jesus would have kept asking the question as many times as it took
to reach Peter’s heart. In each case,
Jesus responds to Peter’s statement of his love with a charge – “Feed my lambs,
take care of my sheep” – Jesus affirms that Peter has a role in the mission,
but he keeps asking until Peter feels the full weight of the pain he is
carrying. There can be no complete
restoration from a fall until there is compete recognition of my fall. The affect it has had on myself and others,
the patterns or personal decisions that led to the fall, the underlying issues
that caused me to fail.
It
hurt Peter – it had to. There can be no
restoration without introspection, and any attempt to restore a person without
calling them to examine their heart is dangerous, and will lead to an even
greater failure in the future.
Jesus restoration included for Peter a renewed sense of vision and mission. He told Peter in clear terms that he would, indeed, one day be given the ultimate opportunity to prove his love and devotion. For some, that may seem like an unwanted honor – but you don’t know Peter, and you don’t know Jesus like Peter did. As the weight of those words fell on Peter, I can just see Jesus, placing a hand on the shoulder of his old friend –“Rocky”- smiling broadly, and saying, “Follow Me.” Again, it must have been a flashback to the first day by the sea when Jesus had said, “Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.”
But
now check out the first two words of verse 20. “Peter turned.” I am amazed by
how real Peter is – he’s just like us! The last two words of verse 19 are Jesus saying to Peter, “Follow Me!”
and the first two words of verse 20 are “Peter turned.” How much is that like us?! Even after going through the pain of
recognizing our failure, and the exhilaration of being restored, how quickly we
fall back into our old patterns!
Peter
turned, and noticed that John was walking just behind them. He said, “Lord, what about him?” Right back to the old argument! “Well, if I’m going to die for you,
what’s he going to do?”
I
can just see Jesus putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder again, getting his eyes
back on Him, and saying, “If I choose to let him live until I return again,
what does that matter to you? YOU MUST
FOLLOW ME!”
It is so easy to immediately fall back in to our old patterns if we are not diligent. We need to daily, even moment-by-moment rededicate ourselves to the mission and purposes of God. It is so easy for us to lose sight of God’s purpose for us, to take our eyes off the ball, and fail – and when that happens, it won’t be long before we feel like a loser, and are ready to quit.
There
will be times when we will feel we have fallen and are sitting bruised injured
and bleeding along the road while the other runners go by us. We may feel resigned to quit – but if we
will recognize the presense of Jesus, and allow him to restore us, and moment
by moment rededicate ourselves to serve Him faithfully, then we will be
obedient to the word of God as given to paul in 1 Corinthians 15:58,
”Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labour is not in
vain in the Lord “
Prayer.