Here’s a story of a lovely … well OK not really lovely at all. Just read.
John 21:1-19; Revelation 5:11-14; Psalm 30; Acts 9:1-20
You know I have a little confession to make. About half the time when I give a sermon, I feel like God is really working through me – he’s using the talents he gave me perfectly, everything is really clicking, and it’s just … good. Unfortunately the other half of the time it feels like God is working in spite of me – I’ll either be tired, feeling unmotivated, stressed out about one thing or another, or just not pleased with either the sermon or something else. I’m sure y’all can relate to that, maybe not necessarily the sermon part, but just the feeling that sometimes God is working with you and other times God is working in spite of you.
When I think of two people in Scripture who know this feeling better than anyone, I immediately am drawn to Peter and Paul. Peter, the thick-headed leader of the disciples, always one to open his mouth before letting his brain take charge, who turned into a great preacher and the leader of the Twelve. And Paul, or in our readings for today Saul, who went from a fervent persecutor of the Church to an even more fervent missionary and pastor. These are the last two individuals we would have thought God would use. One who betrayed Jesus, and was even called Satan; one who fought against Jesus with everything in him. But God did use them, and in powerful ways.
First let’s look at Peter. We’re pretty familiar with the overview-y things about him. He was a fisherman, working with James and John. His brother, Andrew, was a disciple of John the Baptist before following Jesus and Andrew had a good amount to do with Peter becoming a follower. Peter is the one who said, when many other disciples had left, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter famously said, “You are the Christ, the son of God.” And perhaps even more famously, Peter denied Jesus three times even after stubbornly claiming that he would never betray Him.
And so we arrive at our scene in the Gospel for today. Peter says, “I’m going fishing.” Jesus happens upon them while they’re fishing even though the other disciples don’t realize it’s Him. Jesus gives them some instruction, and they catch a whole lot of fish. When the disciples realized it was Jesus, Peter jumps off the boat into the water to get to Jesus as soon as he can. And then Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” There are countless commentaries on the little differences in each of the questions, but I’m not worried about that. But Peter had to realize, especially by the third time, that Jesus asked three times to counter the 3 denials. In spite of Peter’s stubbornness, God still ended up using him in powerful ways.
And then we come to Paul. Now, Peter, for all his shortcomings, still wanted to follow Jesus. Paul wanted nothing to do with Him. Actually, I take it back. Paul wanted everything having to do with Jesus to go away and never be mentioned again. In Acts 7, while Stephen is being executed for preaching about Jesus, Paul, who I’ll start referring to as Saul for the rest of this part, was there, “giving approval”. After the execution, Saul started going from house to house arresting men and women who belonged to the Church and throwing them in prison.
Then God does something really interesting. Saul goes to the priest and asked for permission to cart off Christians in Damascus to imprison them in Jerusalem. He gets the permission, but just outside of Damascus there is a bright light, Saul has a little chat with Jesus about what’s going on, and when the light fades Saul is blind. At the same time, a Christian named Ananias has a vision where God says, “Saul is going to show up at your friend’s house and you’re going to heal him.” Ananias, knowing Saul’s reputation says back, “Umm… God? Erm. I love you and all. But this Saul guy, he’s bad news. Are you sure?” God basically says, “Yes, I’m sure. I’m going to use him to reach the whole world.” So Ananias went out, prayed for Saul, and Saul’s sight was restored and he stared preaching in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
Now you don’t hear a story much more dramatic than Saul/Paul’s. From fervent persecutor of the church to fervent missionary in the church, God worked through Paul in amazing ways. Yet Peter’s story is just as dramatic, because even though Peter was with Jesus almost from the beginning he still denied Jesus when it mattered most.
Each of us have our own stories of how we got into these pews this morning. Some of us were “with Jesus from the beginning” – brought up in the church, baptized, confirmed, all that. Some of us didn’t buy into this whole God business, or even actively fought against God. But we’re all here now. God worked in your life to get you to where to are today. Sometimes it was when we were on the same page as God, doing the things He wanted us to do. Other times his will was done in spite of our best efforts to the contrary. But God was always there. God was there for Peter, and Paul – and he will be there for us – as He does His will. I hope I’m working with Him and not getting in His way.