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"Unexpected Forgiveness"
I stood on the lawn, staring in disbelief. Next to me,
the lawn tractor sat idling. Like a bad movie, the events
of the past 30 seconds flashed through my mind. I had been
mowing the lawn and was just about finished. The only thing
that remained was to mow underneath my dad’s shiny new 15-foot
aluminum fishing boat. Just like I had done many times before,
I attached the boat trailer to the hitch on the tractor to move
it out of the way. I remembered to put the tractor in gear –
but, sadly, neglected to put my brain in gear. As I rounded the
corner of the house, the much longer trailer cut the corner short –
as trailers do – smashing into our central air conditioner. And
by the way, this was a unit made back when central air conditioners
were still quite big and had sharp corners.
Now, I stood surveying the damage. The air conditioner had
been knocked right off its cement platform and the corner had
been bent. One wheel of the boat trailer had lifted completely
off the ground. There was a foot long, three-inch deep dent in
the underside of Dad’s new boat. And somehow I’d managed to hit
the trailer itself on the cement, bending that as well. And of
course, there was incidental damage to virtually everything in
the area.
What in the world was I going to do? In haste, I got back
on the tractor and backed up – clenching my teeth at the
screeching sound the boat made as it separated from the
air conditioner. I pushed the air conditioner back on its
platform and parked the boat. And, like every child before
me since the dawn of time, I thought, “Maybe dad won’t notice!”
Kids, let me save you a little bit of trouble here. Parents
always notice. Sure enough, not even a few hours later Dad
came up to me and asked, “Do you know what happened to the boat?”
“No,” I lied, giving my best wide-eyed look of surprise and
shock that something might have happened to the boat. And
to my great surprise, he said “ok” and walked away! Wait a
minute, there’s no WAY it was that easy! Somehow, I got away
with it! He doesn’t know!
But I didn’t feel better. In fact, as the minutes went on, I
felt worse and worse. Finally, against my better judgment,
I went to him and tearfully told him the truth. Then I braced
myself: in my family, there were consequences for misbehavior,
especially lying.
That’s when something remarkable happened. Instead of dishing
out any one of the dozens of punishments I had decided were in
store for me, he simply said, “All right.” Then he had me help
him pound the dent out of the boat – as much as possible. It
slowly dawned on me that I wasn’t going to be punished for what
I had done. And this feeling was different, much different,
from when I thought I had gotten away with it. This wasn’t
escaping punishment; it was being forgiven.
There were countless times throughout my life where I
was punished – and I’m sure it was almost always well
deserved. You know what? I can’t remember any of those
times. I know they happened, but I can’t give you any
details because they’ve faded with time. But this story
I just told you about, when there was no way out and I
knew I fully deserved to be punished, when the situation
was just about as bad as it could be, when I was least
expecting grace and yet received it anyway, this I will
never forget.
I wonder if this is the way Simon Peter felt at the end
of the Gospel lesson today? Peter certainly had reason to
be ashamed and to fear punishment from Jesus. Three times
he had denied being a follower of Jesus; three times
disowned Him after promising never to leave Him, even
if it meant death. And yet, when the time came, Peter’s
promises were revealed for the empty words they were. He
withered in the heat of trial, folded under the pressure
of fear.
What would you expect if you were in his place? What would
you think Jesus was going to do? Even if I somehow escaped
God’s wrath – which was itself not certain – I would think
I’d have to earn my way back to Jesus’ friendship, to prove
myself to Him. I would not expect anything other than
judgment and condemnation.
But Jesus surpasses all our human expectations. He is far
more loving, gracious, and forgiving than we can understand.
According to John, when Peter saw Jesus on the shore and
realized who He was, he dove into the sea and swam to Him –
leaving the other men to fend for themselves in the boat.
Who knows how long he was on shore with Jesus, or what they
talked about while they waited for the others to join them.
But Jesus chose to wait until the others were there before
he spoke the crucial words recorded in our Gospel today.
Just as Peter’s denial was public, Jesus’ forgiveness would
be public as well.
In the court of Caiphas, The servant girl at the door said
to Peter, "You also are not one of this man's disciples,
are you?" He said, "I am not."
And Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than
these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied. “You know that I love
you.” “Feed my lambs,” said Jesus.
Another man came up to Peter and said, “Certainly you were with
Jesus.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Peter.
And Jesus said a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you
love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied. “You know that I
love you.” Jesus answered, “Tend my sheep.”
More and more bystanders came to Peter, saying “Certainly
you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.”
Then Peter began to invoke a curse on himself and to
swear, “I do not know the man!” And immediately the
rooster crowed.
Jesus said to Peter a third time, “Simon, son of John, do
you love me?” And Peter was hurt. I bet he finally
understood. He knew why Jesus was asking him over and
over again. He was living with the constant guilt of
denying Jesus and fearing the consequences he earned
with his action. “Lord, you know all things. You know
that I love you.” And Jesus responded, “Feed my sheep.
Follow me.” Jesus responded to Peter not with condemnation,
but with restoration.
And this is really good news, not just for Peter, but for
us. We see the forgiveness of Jesus. We see how loving
our God is. Jesus went to the cross not to condemn us,
but to restore our relationship with God. And He freely
gives us this forgiveness, this restoration, every minute
of every day. He is constantly reminding us of our baptism
and renewing us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
My family had that boat for years after the accident, but
every time I saw it from that time on, my eyes were drawn
to the scar across its side. When I saw that scar, I
remembered that I caused it, but more importantly that I
was forgiven.
Let the scars of Jesus do the same for you. Let your eyes
be drawn to the nail marks in his hands and feet, to the
wound in His side. Remember that you caused those scars
by your sin. Remember that because of God’s love, you
are forgiven. And know for certain that you are! Christ
rose from the dead to show that sin and death have been
defeated forever. Christ is risen!
May the peace of God which passes all human understanding
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
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