Presented to River Street Cafe, 24 February 2017
Read John 21:15-17
One night
when I was sixteen, I am allowed to borrow my parents’ car on one condition – that I bring my
along little sister. It is bad enough that I have to bring my sister with me
but what is worse is that she has a curfew; so I have to stop whatever I am
doing to bring her home by 9 pm.
I take her
down to the local hangout and tell her not to bother me. It is a good evening.
I meet some friends. There is a party that night that we are planning to attend
– there is just one problem – I have to get my sister home by 9 pm.
As my
friends and I are in the middle of planning our night, my sister shows up and
says, “It’s time to go” and she is not alone. She has found herself a
boyfriend! And this boyfriend, Tony, is a friend of mine! I have an idea…
He can
bring Lorinda home! There are, however, a couple of details to work out: (1) my
sister isn’t allowed to date yet and (2) this boy will bring her home on a
motor scooter. These won’t go over so well with my mom, so I come up with a
plan: I tell him he can take my sister home but to make sure he parks around
the corner from our house so my mom won’t see them and I tell her to tell mom
that she got a ride home from Melody, a girl from church group, instead of from a boy on a
motor scooter.
He gets her
home all right but rather than parking around the corner he parks on the
street, under a streetlight, and
he gives her a good night kiss. Then
my sister has a cigarette as she walks the rest of the way home - where my mom
is watching this whole scene. My sister walks in the door and mom asks, “How
did you get home?”
“Melody…”
A couple of
hours later I come home. All the lights are on and mom is waiting at the front
door… “How did your sister get home? How did she get home? Who took her home? I
am caught. I know it. I betrayed my mom’s trust and now I am being asked these
questions over and over again .
‘Do you
love me?’ is the question Jesus asks Peter over and over again.
Peter must feel just about the same way I did. “Do you love me? Do you love me?
Do you love me?” Jesus trusted him. Peter betrayed that trust and now he is in need of restoration.
Now, of
course, Jesus does restore Peter. Jesus is faithful to build his church upon
Peter’s work for the Kingdom. Jesus forgives him and restores him just like my
mom forgave me and after grounding me for a month or so, restored me to being
trusted with her car.
It is the
same with each of us. Whatever it is that we may have done to deny our
responsibilities or to betray Jesus’ trust we are forgiven and we can be
restored; all we need to do is to come to Jesus and accept his offer to ‘feed
his sheep’
What does
it look like to ‘feed his sheep’? How can we do that today?
Posts
