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Things were not going well for Jesus’ disciples: They had seen him alive again but they did not know what to do about it. They were still sad and confused – it just didn’t feel right.
Peter, in particular was having a bad time feeling guilty about his denial of Jesus and, as the leader of the disciples, wondering if they would ever accept leadership from him again. In one sense it didn’t matter because he had no idea whether his Lord still wanted him. Like so many who feel lost, he, with the others, reverted to what he knew best: In Peter’s case, fishing; but even this familiar territory wasn’t working. As morning broke and they returned to shore empty handed, tired and completely dispirited, there seemed no future for them in anything.
Jesus joined them but they were afraid to believe that it was him.
As he spoke to them the lessons in obedience, repentance, forgiveness and a vision for the future were about to begin, especially for Peter. He had to cut through the tiredness and depression, do as Jesus asked and go fishing again. The result was a spectacular change and a huge catch of fish.
With this confidence in the Lord, the harder lesson in repentance came: Peter had denied Jesus three times, now he was asked to repent and accept forgiveness. As each question came, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”, Peter’s answer was unequivocal; and with each of the three affirmations of love for Jesus, (with just a little of the old Peter surfacing on the third time), guilt was removed and forgiveness accepted.
Each time Peter replied, Jesus gave him part of his new commission and vision for the future which could not be completed until empowered by the Holy Spirit later. For now, though, the plan was enough to give a sense of direction and purpose. It also re-instated Peter as leader of the disciples and progressively added responsibility to his calling.
Now, I’m not really a country person having been brought up in West London, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the wonder of the country and understand the ‘shepherd’ analogies which Jesus gave to Peter. A growing commitment was being called for:
“Feed my lambs” was an invitation to nurture new converts to The Way, (they were not called ‘Christians’ until later and, at first as a derogatory name!). It was the call to tell as many Jews as possible that the Messiah had come.
The second was, “Tend my sheep” and required care and attention in gathering and supporting the members of The Way to give them confidence to share in the mission of what was to become ‘The Church’.
“Feed my sheep” gave Peter the commission to teach and preach so that the gathered members had the knowledge to proclaim the reality of Jesus as Messiah, crucified and risen, to the whole society.
Peter was told finally that he would fulfil his broken promise to follow Jesus, even to death, at a later time and when the church had been properly established.
Today, two millennia on, the lessons which Peter and the disciples had to learn before an effective church could begin are worth revisiting:
They speak first about leadership with vision, purpose and a sense of mission. This still often means not moving in the same direction as the rest of society: Always a costly and difficult route.
Obedience to the Lord was an essential part of being called:
Although Peter, as a believer and Saul, the unbeliever, (whose conversion and renaming as, ‘Paul’ we heard in our other reading today), came from opposite ends of the spectrum of faith, both needed to be ready to follow Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Peter’s mission was to the Jewish community, Paul’s the Gentiles.
For both of them, the ongoing work of spreading the gospel was tiring, difficult and appeared at times to be fruitless and dangerous. As leaders they often had to return to their roots of faith to find renewed strength in the Lord and not give up.
In our own time, leaders and churches can become tired, dispirited or too comfortable, just plodding aimlessly from week to week. The effort to do as Jesus asks is an essential part of the renewal of any church but must start with its leaders. A reminder to ordained and licensed ministers in the church of the enthusiasm, trust in the Lord and sense of mission with which they began comes in the ordination reading from Isa. 6. God asks, “Who will go for us and whom shall we send?” Isaiah replies, “Here am I, Lord, send me!”
To communicate this enthusiasm to a whole congregation is to see the revitalisation of that church.
It is not unusual at present to hear a criticism from Christians about bishops and the Archbishops that they give no positive leadership and frequently stay dumb in the face of real spiritual and social issues of our time. I would simply point to the time and leadership given to The Priory in Holy Week and Easter by Bishop David and to the recent actions, prayers and comments by both our Archbishops as a counter to this criticism. Leaders expect to serve as well as lead but neither can be achieved without followers, as Jesus was at pains to point out!
Mission in all its variants, is the renewing vision for all churches: Without it churches stagnate and become the living dead. To quote from a book by a former Bishop of Norwich, Maurice Wood, “We have the power to evangelise the nation, but it lies slumbering in the pews of our churches!” (From: Like a Mighty Army. 1953)
Nearly thirty years later, David Watson was to write in the introduction to his book, Discipleship, “It is a widely held opinion that the battle of the ‘80’s will be between Marxism, Islam and Third World Christianity. Western Christianity is considered too weak and ineffective to contribute anything significant to this universal struggle. Certainly the contest will be severe.” Comments like this were to prompt initiatives like the ‘Decade of Evangelism’. As that decade closed, there was a realisation that grand nationwide programmes are only as effective as the people who are willing to follow them and that the more significant way to follow the Lord’s calling is to work in the local community, reaching out to those close by as well as supporting Christian loving, caring and teaching in other local communities around the world.
The most recent mission here at The Priory is to visit as many of the people who live in the parish as will receive members of a visiting team. It has been on the notices but I think there are still some who are not aware that this is in planning. It is a bold and time consuming plan but is in line with the commission of Jesus to Peter and Paul and to the whole church to tell them of the wonders of God and of the Good News in Jesus.
Support is needed in practise and prayer so that many may come to know the love of Christ for themselves and be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The final word from Jesus is not only for our church leaders, but for each of us as, guided by the leaders, we are asked to accept a growing responsibility as the body of Christ:
He said, “Feed my lambs; tend my sheep; feed my sheep and follow me”
Tony Whalley
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