Do you know what it’s like to see someone for the first time after you’ve had a fight, or they’ve said hurtful things either to you or about you? I hope you’ve never been in that situation, but if you have, you’ll probably know how difficult it can be. Do you ignore what’s happened and pretend like everything’s OK? Or do you try to talk about it and run the risk of opening up old wounds, causing more conflict, or things getting worse between you?
In two of this week’s readings, the resurrected Jesus met with two people who had hurt him. The first was Peter who was one of the first disciples Jesus called to follow him. He had responded immediately, leaving his fishing nets & old life behind. The gospels portray Peter as one of Jesus’ closest disciples, often being present when important things happened and the first to answer when Jesus asked questions. Peter could also act without thinking which we can see when he cut off the ear of one of the people who arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Even though they were so close, Peter let Jesus down when he was arrested and taken to the house of the High Priest. Three times people asked Peter if he knew Jesus and three times Peter denied him. Even though Jesus predicted that Peter was going to do this, it still would have hurt him when one of his closest friends let him down so badly.
The second person we hear about in these readings was Saul, whom we also know as Paul. He was born into a Jewish family and dedicated his life to becoming the most devout Jew he could. We read about his background in Philippians 3:4-6 where he explains that he fulfilled the Law of Moses from a very early age and was trained as a Pharisee, a religious group who were very strict in obeying the Jewish Law. As far as we know, Saul didn’t meet Jesus before his death and resurrection, but after Jesus’ crucifixion, Saul worked to put an end to the movement Jesus started by hunting down, arresting and even killing Jesus’ followers. The first time we hear about Saul is in Acts 8:1 where he was present at the stoning of Stephen, the first of Jesus’ followers to be killed for their faith, as he approved of his murder.
Both Peter and Saul had hurt Jesus in different ways. Peter had let Jesus down when he needed him the most by denying him. Saul was opposed to Jesus and wanted to see his followers imprisoned or killed. However, in our readings this week John 21:1-19 and Acts 9:1-20, we hear that Jesus appeared to both of them after rising from the dead.
We can be surprised at how Jesus treated both Peter and Saul when he met them after his resurrection. He didn’t criticise them or make them feel bad about what they had done. Jesus didn’t judge them for what they had done wrong or tell them how disappointed he was in them. Instead, he extended grace to them, established a new relationship with them, and gave their lives new purpose.
Jesus did that with Peter by asking him three times if he loved him. This is the first recorded conversation between Jesus and Peter in John’s gospel. He tells us that it was first thing in the morning, on the shore of a lake, after a miraculous catch of fish which parallels another story in Luke 5:1-11. Each time Peter told Jesus that he loved him, he was reaffirming his devotion and commitment to his Lord. In his conversation with Peter, Jesus reestablished his relationship with Peter, even after he had denied him.
Jesus did something similar when he appeared to Saul on the Road to Damascus in Acts 9:1-20. Even though Saul was hunting down and arresting Jesus’ followers, when Jesus appeared to him, he asked Saul, ‘Why are you persecuting me?’ Jesus identified with his followers who were being persecuted, afraid and hurting. Years later, Saul, now known as Paul, would write about Jesus’ followers being the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:12). This encounter with the resurrected Jesus on the Road to Damascus set Saul’s life on a radically different path. With Peter, Jesus healed a broken relationship with a friend. With Saul, he initiated a new relationship with an enemy. In both cases, Jesus came to extend grace, love, compassion and forgiveness to people who had done wrong, which changed their hearts, gave them hope, and set them free to live a different life.
Jesus also gave a new purpose to both Peter and Saul. After asking Peter if he loved him and receiving his reply, three times Jesus instructed Peter to feed and care for his lambs and sheep (John 21:15-17). Jesus commissioned Peter to continue the work of the gospel which he had been training him in for three years by nurturing and feeding people with the gospel. After appearing to Saul, Jesus told Ananias that he was his ‘chosen instrument’ (Acts 9:15) to take the good news to non-Jewish people who hadn’t heard of Jesus yet. Both Peter and Saul spent the rest of their lives serving this purpose as they proclaimed the gospel to people in many cities and nations, strengthening their faith and equipping them to live in Christ-like love wherever they went, until both were martyred for their faith decades later.
We might not have an amazing story like Peter or a conversion experience like Saul, but we can all identify with Peter and Saul as people who have let Jesus down or hurt other members of Christ’s body in some way. These stories tell us that our crucified and risen Jesus continues to come to us, not to criticise us, judge us, or make us feel bad about ourselves or what we have done. Like Peter and Saul, Jesus comes to reach out to us, to renew his relationship with us, and to extend his grace and love to us. Jesus gives our lives new purpose, just like Peter and Saul, as he calls us to live for him and bring the good news of his love to everyone we know in our words and in actions. Jesus might not be calling us to leave everything behind to spend our lives as missionaries, travelling to faraway nations and peoples. But he does give our lives purpose and meaning by calling us to feed each other with his grace, care for each other with his love, and be his instruments to bring the message of the new life he gives us through faith in him to everyone we know.
It can be hard seeing someone for the first time after an argument, harsh words, or anything that can damage a relationship. We can learn a lot from these stories about showing grace to others and mending broken relationships the way Jesus did. What’s most important, however, is that we trust that when we get things wrong, when we might turn our backs on Jesus or hurt people who are members of his body, Jesus comes to us in grace and truth to restore our relationship with him, to give our lives purpose and meaning, and to be part of his mission in the world by showing his grace and sharing his love with others.
More to think about or discuss:
- What do you think Peter’s reaction might have been when he first realised that it was Jesus on the shore? How do you think Saul might have felt when he saw Jesus?
- How did Jesus’ words to Peter and Saul help mend their relationships? What might this suggest about what Jesus might say to us when we turn our backs on him or hurt him?
- What can we learn from these stories about how we can treat people who do wrong to us in some way?
Pastor Eugene Online 
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