This morning, we did something a little different. The pulpit was moved out of the way, the stage was set as a seashore. Simon Peter had a fishing net on his lap, he was cleaning and repairing it for the next time he goes fishing. And he shared some stories with us... A reading from John 21:1-19 sets the stage for this message. To read it now, click here.
Oh, hi. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you coming. I guess I’ve been pretty distracted lately. It’s been a really crazy week. Something’s happened, and it’s really weird, I’m just trying to figure it out. I’m sure you heard about Jesus. I was one of his disciples. I’m Simon, though He called me Peter. I loved that man, I would have done anything for him. At least that’s what I thought. When push came to shove, I failed him. He was arrested and I watched from a distance, afraid to let anybody know that I even knew him. What’s even worse, He told me earlier that night, that would happen. I said “no way, I’ll even die with you if I have to.” But it turned out he was right. I denied that I even knew Him. And when I realized what I did, I just ran. I had to get out there. I didn’t even know where I was going; I just knew I had to get away from there. It turns that they crucified Jesus. He didn’t do anything wrong, but they crucified Him, I don’t think He ever did anything wrong. But they killed Him anyway. I saw so many things in the time I spent with Jesus. Once, He took James and John and me up on a mountain, and as He was standing on the mountaintop, He started get brighter and brighter. His clothes became whiter and brighter than anything I’ve ever seen before; it would be impossible to even bleach them that white. Even His skin seemed like it was glowing. The next thing I knew there were two other people up there with him. It was Moses and Elijah. I swear it was. I don’t know how I knew it was them, I just knew it. I was so excited I didn’t know what to do. I suggested we build some shelters so we could all stay together. I didn’t know what I was saying, I was just so excited. Then this really thick cloud settled on the mountain top, and I couldn’t even see them anymore. Then I heard God himself, a thundering voice from the cloud, that said, “This is my son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Then, almost as fast as it came, that cloud was gone, and so was Moses and Elijah. They just disappeared. I couldn’t even begin to explain it. It just happened! I still can’t believe it happened. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. I thought of something else. On the way down the mountain, Jesus told us not to tell anybody what happened, so we didn’t. But when we got the bottom, we found the other disciples in a rather heated discussion with some teachers of the law, and a crowd had gathered around them to see what was going to happen. Jesus asked what they were talking about, and a man stepped forward saying that he was the father of a boy who was possessed by a demon. The others had tried to cast out that demon, but they couldn’t. Jesus spoke to the spirit, commanded that it come out, and it did. What the others couldn’t do seemed easy for Jesus. Everything was like that. Once we were in the region where my mom lives, so I asked Jesus if we might stop by as long as we were that close. I hadn’t seen her in long time, and I wanted to introduce her to Jesus. It turns out that when we got there, she was really sick. She had stayed in bed that day, had a really bad fever, she felt terrible. That’s not my mom, if she stays in bed, you know she’s really sick. Jesus walked over to her, touched her hand, and immediately the fever left her, and she was all better. All better, I mean she got up and started taking care of everybody. She even made supper for everybody. I remember sitting in her house that night, Mom and the disciples, and me, just talking half the night, but hundreds of people kept bring sick folks to Jesus, and he healed all of them. I saw Jesus heal so many people. People with illness of all kinds, even people with leprosy. One time, ten men with leprosy approached us and asked to be healed. He told them to go to the priests and show themselves. As they walked away, they were healed. All visible signs of leprosy just disappeared. He healed ten of them, at one time, from quite a distance. I’ve even seen Him bring people who died back to life. In fact, I saw that three times. Once we were on our way to man’s house, a man named Jairus, whose daughter was sick, so we were making our way to his house so Jesus could heal her. We kept getting delayed, and some of his servants caught up to us and said, it’s too late. She died. But Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, just believe, and she will be healed.” And so Jesus left the rest behind, and just took me and James and John, and we went the rest of the way to Jairus’ house. It was terrible when we got there, the mourners were all around the house, moaning and crying, wailing that she had died. Jesus said, “Stop this, she’s not dead, she’s just sleeping.” Every laughed at Him, they all knew she was dead. Jesus brought us inside, with Jairus, who was the father, and the mother. Jesus walked up to her and took her by the hand. He said, “My child, get up.” Sure enough, that little girl got up. Jesus told her parents to get her something to eat, and she ate. She was fine. Once, he did it for a boy who was already in a coffin, being carried out to the tomb. We were entering the village of Nain, and we had stepped aside so the funeral party could pass. Jesus looked at everybody, and when he saw the boy’s mother, I think He felt really sorry for her. He said something to the mother, then He stepped out and put his hand on the coffin. The men who were carrying it stopped. Jesus just reached out and opened the coffin, and said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” Everybody thought he was crazy. But the boy got up, good as new. The third time had to the be hardest. It was our friend, Lazarus. We all knew Mary and Martha and Lazarus. We visited them every time we were in Bethany. I really loved those folks. We got word that Lazarus was sick, but we didn’t go to see him. A couple days later, we got word that he had died. We were still three or four days away, but Jesus decided we were going. By the time we got there, Lazarus had been placed in the tomb about four days ago. We got there, and Mary was in the house. I think she just had enough of the people. She was so devastated by his death, and all the people, and all the crying, she just had to be alone. Martha was outside, she came up to greet us. Jesus said something to the extent of, don’t worry, he will be raised. We all thought he meant at the resurrection. But he walked over to the tomb, and asked that they roll away the stone. When they did, Jesus spoke, and Lazarus walked out. Even though he was dead for about four days, he just walked out of the tomb. It was amazing. I don’t know. I’ve seen so much. So many miracles. So many healings. So many incredible things. Now the latest, and I think the greatest. And this just happened a week ago. He even raised himself from the grave. He was crucified. He was dead. He was buried in a tomb, but when some of the ladies who were with us went back a few days later, he wasn’t there anymore. Then Mary reported seeing Him, and telling us that we were supposed to wait for Him in Jerusalem. And then He came to see us. A couple times. He had told us to stay and wait in that upper room where we have been staying, but I was going stir crazy. I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m not a waiting kind of guy. So last night, I just about lost it. I just had to get out there. Apparently everybody else felt the same way. I finally just jumped up and said I’m going fishing, and they all wanted to go, too. So we all went fishing. It’s kind of crazy, but it was one of those nights. It was peaceful and quiet, but we didn’t catch a thing. We stayed out all night, and didn’t have anything to show for it. We were coming in this morning, and there was this guy standing on the shore. I didn’t know who it was, I didn’t recognize Him, but he said, “drop the nets on the other side of the boat and you’ll catch some fish.” I thought he was crazy, but if I’ve learned anything in the last three years it’s just to do what you’re told, and amazing things have a way of happening. So we threw out the nets on the other side, and we caught so many fish we couldn’t get the nets in. It was the largest catch I’ve ever seen. Then John recognized the man on the shore was Jesus. I was so excited to see Him I jumped overboard and swam the rest of the way in. The others came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. When we all got ashore, Jesus had a little fire going, and he had cooked some fish, and we sat around eating for a while. It was great. After we ate, something a little odd happened. Jesus took me aside, and starting asking me some weird questions. He kept asking me over and over again if I loved Him. And he kept telling me to follow Him. The whole thing sounded weird. But I’ve thought about. As I’ve been sitting here working on my nets, I’ve thought a lot about it. And I don’t where He is, and I don’t how I’m going to follow Him if I don’t know where He is, but I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to figure that out. I was really distraught wondering how He could be the Messiah if He was killed. But I don’t care anymore. I know He is the Messiah. And I’m going to do whatever He tells me for the rest of my life. I don’t care how hard it is. He died for me, well by golly I’m going to live for Him. I have a feeling I won’t be needing these nets anymore. I don’t know where He’ll be leading me, but I have a feeling I won’t be fishing any more. If you don’t know Jesus, let me make a suggestion. Find out everything you can about Him. Talk to others who know Him. And take it from me, He’s the one we’ve been waiting for. He’s the Son of God. And my life has never made more sense since I’ve met Him. I don’t know where He’s going to be leading me, but I’m going to follow Him. I’ll do whatever He says. And it may seem crazy, but I have a feeling I’m going to see some pretty amazing stuff happen. Why don’t you come with me? We’ll follow Him together.
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