As we travel through the Easter season from now until
Pentecost, I invite you to explore with me the adventure of discerning God’s
call by looking at the Sunday lessons from the RCL (Revised Common Lectionary).
Each of us in on the path of finding their way to being who God created us to be. It’s not so much about ‘doing’
the right thing, as becoming more and more in line with the One who formed us.
As Jeremiah 1:5 notes, “Before I formed
you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”
This Sunday we hear about the call of Saul, a Pharisee and
persecutor of the early church. Jesus meets Saul on the road to Damascus and
blinds him so he can really see. In the Gospel we hear the story of Jesus
meeting the disciples by the Sea of Tiberius, and giving Peter the commission
to ‘feed my sheep’.
Neither Saul nor
Peter could have guessed that God had formed them to be leaders in a brand new
religious ‘movement’. Before meeting Jesus, Peter would have told you he
was a fisherman, like his father before him. Saul would have proudly announced
(as he does in some of his letters, and in his testimony before the Sanhedrin
in Acts 23) that he was a Pharisee, son of a Pharisee.
These are really just job descriptions, though. I could say
that I am an administrator and organizer, but that is not necessarily who I am
in God’s eyes. God formed Peter and Saul
with Love and asked them to respond to that Love by telling the story of God’s
Love. In fact, that is exactly what God wants from each of us. God simply
wants us to respond to God’s Love and share that Love! Sounds simple, doesn’t
it? To just love as we are loved.
Sometimes it isn't so simple. Saul had to be struck blind and Peter had to be reconciled
to Jesus before they could even begin to respond to the Love of God. Many of us have to go through dry and difficult times in order to respond fully to God's love.
Being knocked off your donkey and losing your sight may not
seem like very loving actions, but sometimes
God has to get our attention before we can hear the call and respond. Saul
doesn’t even recognize that he is talking to God. [Saul] “asked, ‘Who are
you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up
and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’” (Acts 9:5-6)
Saul is taken to Damascus and for three days he lies blind,
being prepared by God. Then Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, is sent to Saul.
He is rather hesitant, “But the Lord said
to him, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before
Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how
much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ So Ananias went and entered the
house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so
that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And
immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was
restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he
regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,
and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is
the Son of God.’” (Acts 9:15-20)
Saul was anti-Jesus to begin with and Peter was awash in
guilt after his denial of Jesus in the courtyard of the High Priest (Matthew
26:33-35, Mark 14:29-31, Luke 22:33-34, John 13:36-38). Having denied Jesus wouldn’t
seem to make Peter a very good candidate for God to use, does it? Peter doesn't even seem very loving.
In the Sunday reading from John 21, Peter and some of the
other disciples head back to Galilee after the Resurrection. After a night of
fishing, they see someone on the seashore who asks about their catch and
instructs them to try once more ‘on the right side’. Reminiscent of an earlier
encounter with Jesus, (Luke 5:4-11) they catch a massive number of fish.
After breakfast, “Jesus
said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He
said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my
lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He
said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my
sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’
Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he
said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said
to him, ‘Feed my sheep.’” (John 21:15-17)
Like the three times Peter denies Jesus, three times he is
commissioned to ‘feed my sheep’. Jesus asks Peter, ‘do you
love me?’ Each time Peter responds that he does. In fact, he even gets a little
frustrated after the third time. ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I
love you.’ Despite his
previous denials, and other impetuous actions, Peter is called to Love and care
for those God loves.
At my daughter’s home recently, I saw a lovely crocheted
coverlet. It made me consider the way that we are formed and made and created, bit by bit. The crocheted piece didn’t start out as a lovely swirled pattern.
It started as a strand of yarn and a pattern. Think of yourself as the yarn and
God’s love as the pattern. Gradually, over time, the yarn begins to form
something beautiful and recognizable. In the same way, over time, we are more
and more fully formed into recognizable instruments of the Love of God. Peter
and Saul had a lot of work to do before they were ready to be church leaders
called to ‘love my sheep’. God has a lot of work to do in me before I am
totally recognizable as a bearer of God’s love.
In our day-to-day jobs, we
are called to be the Love of God. How does that play out in my role as administrator
or writer? How does it happen in a classroom or factory? How can you be God’s
love in your particular daily grind? How can you see God’s love in those around
you?
