Jesus said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me? … Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep’ (John 21:17).
Read John 21:15–25
Simon Peter had messed up big time. He had followed Jesus so far in his time of need, but then, when it came to the crunch, he fell to pieces. To deny knowing him once was bad. To do it again was worse. To do it a third time, well, that just seems unforgivable. Now, however, Jesus comes to restore him. If you’ve ever been in this position of making a big mistake and then have been given a second chance, you know something of what this must have been like for Simon Peter. Jesus, in his resurrection, comes not to condemn or settle the score with those who had let him down, but rather, he comes with his blood-bought peace to restore Peter to his service in a remarkable way.
Jesus repeats his question three times, a parallel to Simon Peter’s threefold denial. The question is striking, though, as it doesn’t exactly match. It’s not, ‘Simon, can you publicly admit now that you do know me and are one of my disciples?’ Instead, it’s ‘Simon … do you love me?’ As always, Jesus gets past the external manifestation to the deeper issue of the heart. The issue is, who or what has Simon Peter’s fear, love and trust above all things? Jesus graciously forgives and restores Peter to service, and in that restoration, Peter is invited to once again place Jesus at the centre of his service and life. He is invited to love the one who loves him.
If you struggle with past sins and wonder how Christ can still use you in his kingdom, look to Peter and how he was graciously restored to service. As we do this, we’re invited to respond to the same question our Lord posed to Peter, ‘Do you love me?’ At the centre of all service in the church and all of Christian life is the one who loves us and invites us to love him above all things. I once heard someone say that when a congregation is searching for a pastor or lay worker, they usually have many questions but can sometimes miss the obvious one: do you love Jesus?
Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for restoring Peter to your service, even after his failure. Help us to fear, love and trust you above all things. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joshua is married to Kimberley, and they have four children together. He is a pastor of the Lutheran Church of Australia and previously served at St Paul’s Nundah in Queensland and Bethlehem Adelaide in South Australia. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Concordia Seminary St Louis, USA, and enjoying the adventure.
Matthew 13:24–30,36–43
Some of you who are better gardeners than I am may have trouble tolerating weeds in your pristine gardens. The presence of that which is impure and out of place is hard to take. Among your lovely lush herbs, vegetables and flowers are ugly weeds that aren’t supposed to be there. The natural thing, of course, is to get rid of them. However, in Jesus’ parable, this is the point at which the agricultural analogy breaks down.
In Jesus’ parable, the field is the world, the good seed is the children of the kingdom, and the weeds are the children of the evil one. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t deny that the devil is active and has those on his side. The impulse, therefore, to get rid of evil isn’t the problem. The problem is that, as fallible human beings, we don’t have the insight to do this without inflicting tremendous damage. We’ll uproot the wheat along with the weeds.
In a time where the values of our surrounding culture are increasingly at odds with those of Christ’s church, it can become tempting for Christians to want to see the causes of evil removed from our world. Indeed, we do need to take sin and evil seriously and struggle against injustice. Especially in the church, we’re called to exercise discipline where appropriate to lead to repentance and protect the vulnerable. However, our Lord’s words today are a warning about humility and caution in this and that final judgement is always in Christ’s hands rather than ours.
Thank God for that! Not only is the Son of Man capable of rendering this justice in such a way that the wheat isn’t uprooted along with the weeds, but this judge is also your Saviour. He’s the source of goodness that makes good seed even possible, and because of him, you have the promise of shining like the sun in the kingdom of your Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son to plant good seeds in this world. Help us trust in your perfect justice when we’re tempted to take final judgement into our own hands. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joshua is married to Kimberley, and they have four children together. He is a pastor of the Lutheran Church of Australia and previously served at St Paul’s Nundah in Queensland and Bethlehem Adelaide in South Australia. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies at Concordia Seminary St Louis, USA, and enjoying the adventure.
Once a week, I lead a church hall full of zero- to five-year-olds and their carers in a ministry program for little children so they can get to know Jesus better. I love asking them what they had for breakfast – I’ve heard of some pretty quirky toddler brekkie combinations over the years!
Jesus cooked breakfast for the disciples at least one time, recorded in John’s Gospel after his resurrection – and presumably on other occasions before the Easter events. He used what was available and commonplace for them at the time – fish baked on burning coals served with some bread. It sounds quite nice, although not the first thing I would choose to eat in the morning, but in order to have brekkie with Jesus, I’d say yes, please!
That’s an incredibly detailed account of the menu on that morning when the resurrected Jesus once again appeared to the disciples. And there is more detail, like the exact number of fish caught in the net – 153. It’s interesting to look at what is missing and left out of the story too. Why had the disciples returned to their fishing boats after the resurrected Jesus had appeared to them twice already, breathed the Holy Spirit on them and sent them out? Or why did they not recognise Jesus by his appearance, although he had already appeared to them twice since his death? They did, however, recognise Jesus by his actions, similar to the disciples recognising him in the action of breaking the bread in Emmaus (Luke 24:31).
I wonder if those little kids and their adult carers in our church hall can recognise Jesus by the actions of the ministry team when we sing, dance and play together? I bet they do. I bet people also recognise Jesus by your actions when you show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the fruit of the same Spirit Jesus breathed on his disciples. This same Spirit has been poured out on you. Let your actions of love towards other people be accompanied by a prayer today that the Holy Spirit reveals the living God to them as they recognise Jesus in you.
The theme for General Synod next year is ‘The gift of God – It’s grace that unites us’. What a beautiful encapsulation of the ending of Jesus’ high priestly prayer in our John reading today. Jesus is the culmination of God’s grace through the redemption of all people by his blood. A better gift doesn’t exist. The climax of Jesus’ extensive prayer captured in John 17 is for the unity of all believers – that we may be one as Jesus and the Father are. If only we could achieve such a blessed unity in our earthly life already. But it seems this will only come to completion when Jesus returns.
Jesus, who is fervently praying for unity, is also the very one in whom we find true unity. Paul reminds us (Ephesians 4:3–6): ‘Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.’
The key is Jesus. The reason for unity is one hope: grace – the redemption through Jesus’ blood. The reason for unity is one baptism – new birth through water and the word. God the Father is over all, through all and in all. Jesus is the centre. The foundation. The focus. The reason. Unity in faith means all believers can follow, serve and proclaim Christ and this blessed hope – together. Unity in Christ means finding common ground in Jesus, which sustains us when we have theological, cultural and practical differences. The colour of our skin, the language we speak, our convictions on what music or liturgy we should have in worship, if women or men should be ordained, or whether we can pray in tongues – our starting point in any of our big and small issues is recalling our Christ-centred unity as baptised believers. This is an ongoing work in progress to which we are called in different ways throughout in our lives. Let us take the words of Jesus’ prayer and make them our own – especially as our LCANZ journeys toward the General Convention of Synod in 2024.
You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly (Psalm 65:9a).
Read Psalm 65:9–13
If anyone should be at the forefront of environmental protection, it should be those who believe that the land is ultimately God’s. This reading echoes the thought of Psalm 24:1: ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.’ The land is God’s. Our land, Australia, is his, and he first gave our Indigenous people the task of being its caretakers and now to those of us who are non-Indigenous to also care for it. But the abundant, natural care for the land comes from God.
I don’t know if it still happens, but churches used to hold a Harvest Thanksgiving service each year, where the sanctuary would often overflow with produce from the land that people had brought as an act of thanksgiving. In more recent times, in urban areas, some churches asked people to bring whatever would be a good representation of their work: perhaps a laptop, a musical instrument, a briefcase or an office chair – whatever it was that contributed to them being able to make a living. It’s a good thing. A good thing to acknowledge that God is the great provider, and he crowns the year with his bounty (verse 11).
Caring for the land means acknowledging that land is a gift. Here in Australia, we experience both bountiful years and years of scarcity. We know what it is like when things flourish and how it is when there is drought, flood and fire. Sometimes we can take good things for granted, and perhaps sometimes, when things are grim, we are forced to put a greater value on the gift we have.
This psalm is simply a thank-you song. It begins with the words, ‘Praise awaits you, O God’ (verse 1). When I see how God cares, enriches, provides, drenches, softens, crowns, clothes and covers, what is left for me but to praise? We can add: because God’s gift is so precious, we will care for this gift.
Thank you, gracious God, for your care for our land. By your Spirit, give each of us the will to care as custodians of what belongs to you. Amen.
Pastor Jim Strelan is a retired pastor living on Brisbane Northside. He served in Papua New Guinea and as school pastor in several schools and congregations with schools. Jim is married to Ruth, and they have three children and seven grandchildren, who Jim loves unconditionally. He loves to share the gospel as simply and clearly as he can.
John 15:1-11 The Vine and the Branches
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunesa] so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
In my first year of high school, Australia converted to decimal currency and Simon and Garfunkel released the song, “I am a rock”. While everyone in Australia was working together to adjust to the new currency the song spoke of going it alone. “I am a rock. I am an island.”
It’s a sad song about being hurt and withdrawing into isolation in order to avoid any more pain.
We’ve had some experiences of isolation this year and depending on our nature we’ve either enjoyed or hated those times.
Our God is into community. God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in a divine community of love and because we’re made in the image of God we’re also made for community.
The Christian faith in particular and life in general aren’t meant to be solo adventures. Even those with an introverted nature need others. We all need community.
Paul describes the community in terms of a body with many different and varied parts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. The different parts of the body need each other and when they work together the body functions properly.
The beauty of this image and situation is found in the love and support we give and receive in the community. There are times when we desperately need the support of a loving community and there are times when we provide the support to members of the community.
This ‘strange’ year has highlighted the need for community. We need to care for each other and look out for each other.
It’s great to know God is always doing his best for us. It’s also clear our sisters and brothers are gifts from God. God often helps us through the community. God bless you with all the help you need and with all the strength you need to help others.
A hundred years ago two astronomers were engaged in a great debate about the size of the universe. Some say it was the first great debate.
Have you been having any great debates lately?
In the Gospels we find Jesus engaged in many debates with his opponents. I love the way Jesus is always the winner.
Debates generally produce winners and losers. Sometimes that means little more than some temporary prestige for the winner and disappointment for the loser. But other debates produce more serious and long lasting consequences.
One of those is the debate our church has been having over who can be ordained, men only or both women and men. For many of us it’s been a 30 year debate. A long debate.
As a church and particularly as pastors we’ve become increasingly polarised. We shouldn’t be surprised, debates tend to polarise opinion.
The General Church Board and the College of Bishops met in February this year and their Covid-delayed report is dated August 2020. It’s a report to the whole church and you can find it on the LCA website (https://www.lca.org.au/lcanz-leaders-report-on-ordination-deliberations/) or I can give you a printed copy.
I think it’s fair to say it presents a pretty gloomy outlook for the LCANZ. None of the three and a half scenarios presented are without winners and losers.
Bishop John Henderson writes in his concluding remarks, When we disagree with each other, when we argue or fight with one another, Christ is there between us. He takes into himself any hurt, accusation, verbal barb or violence. If we hurt each other, it is really him we hurt. ... So, as you pray about this issue, as you think about what you are going to say, write or do on this issue, think first about Christ and his unwavering, undiscriminating, unending love for the sinner, the outcast, the broken.
Pray for a God-pleasing way forward. Pray for love to increase and polarisation to decrease for God’s sake.
What does it mean to be a servant of Christ?
Would people say you are a ‘true servant of Christ’ and if they did what would it mean? What might people see in you to cause them to make that assertion? Stop for a moment and think about your answer.
The Lutheran Church of Australia confers a Servant of Christ Award to honour lay people who give outstanding service. The guidelines say a recipient shall be a lay member who has:
· given long and faithful service as a member of the LCA
· rendered this service in a humble and selfless spirit
· sought to bear witness to the gospel in word and conduct.
Maybe you might wonder why you haven’t been nominated.
Paul talks about being a servant of Christ or a slave of Christ on a number of occasions in his letters.
One of those, is in his letter to the Galatians:
I am not trying to please people. I want to please God. Do you think I am trying to please people? If I were doing that, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10
Paul makes it clear we’re to please God or Christ not please people. What does this look like in 2020?
It seems to me we could get very divergent answers to this question depending on our understanding of what is at the heart of the Christian faith.
I’d like to link my answer very directly to the Gospel, to the Good News we find in Jesus, the Christ. Therefore, love will be at the heart of a God-pleasing life of service.
A servant of Christ, a Christian person, will be known by their love - their love for God and their love for people. To be an ’ambassador’ is the ultimate servant role and Paul says the love of Christ compels us to be his ambassadors in the world, sharing his message of peace. (2 Corinthians 5)
God bless you, servant of Christ.!