But do you LOVE me?

Read John 21:15-19 (NRSV)

Was the question really whether Peter loved Jesus more than Peter loved the other disciples, or whether Peter loved Jesus more than the other disciples loved Jesus?  Yes.

Peter was singled out for his claims, his struggles, his false bravado regarding his devotion, his words of hubris regarding his faith followed by failing to follow through in the living of it.  I do not believe that Jesus in this Gospel singled Peter out so that He could shame Peter, but rather to use Peter, the epitome of one who claims the name without following the Way, as an example of coming to walk a faithful walk.  Peter had failed Jesus, just as Jesus in John had said he would.  Peter is us.

Jesus asked Peter if Peter loved Jesus (agapas).  Did Peter love Jesus in active commitment on Jesus’ behalf, even to self-sacrifice (a meaning derived from study of agaph in “Little Kittel”)?

Peter’s answer was classic Peter – “Yes, Lord; you know that I love (filw - like a best friend, in this case, I believe) you.” 

Jesus admonished Peter like a best friend, “Feed my lambs.”

Again, Jesus asked if Peter loved Him (agapas), as if to say, “But Peter, do you love me in an unconditional, self-sacrificing way?”

Peter’s answer was consistent in its limitation – “Yes, Lord; you know that I filw you.”  Like a brother, Peter loved Jesus.

Jesus, acknowledging the limitation, instructed Peter, His brother, “Tend my sheep.”

Finally, Jesus asked Peter if he loved (fileis) Jesus.  In other words, “are you sure you even love me like a best friend or brother?”

At this Peter was hurt.  Indeed, Jesus did know everything (in John’s Gospel), and Jesus questioned whether Peter even loved Jesus in his limited capacity to love.  Peter's answer was emphatically limited.

Jesus commanded Peter, “Feed my sheep.” 

Jesus then told Peter that he would indeed die for his faith, and gave Peter one more imperative, “Follow Me.”

The significance of this text is NOT that Jesus asked three times to illustrate the three times Peter denied Jesus, at least not that alone.

The significance of this text is twofold.

1.       Jesus pointed out Peter’s inability to love Jesus (and Neighbor) with agaph.

2.       Jesus still commanded Peter to take care of Neighbor and follow Him by living agaph for God and Neighbor.

Peter, in the end, was faithful, even to giving his life out of faith in his Lord.

Peter is us.

We claim Jesus, even sometimes with great hubris and bravado.

We fail to live the agaph that Jesus commanded us to live for God and Neighbor.

We are still COMMANDED by Jesus to follow Him in the living of that agaph in the world.

Thanks be to God for Grace, and that God does not give up on us but continues by the Holy Spirit to DRIVE US to the living of agaph in the world around us, even though we fail to live it perfectly.

In the end, it is my hope that I and you will be faithful in living our lives, even giving them to the one who gave His life for us, which means following Jesus in how we live agaph in the world around us.

Learn more about Jesus’ teachings, commands and examples in the Gospels.

Strive to live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have that in the Gospels.

Grow from mere “filw Lord and Neighbor,” to “agapao Lord and Neighbor.”

Feed His Lambs.  Tend to His Sheep.  Feed His Sheep.  Follow Him.  In that, you are loving God and Neighbor.

Pastor Jamie

Peace, when there is no Peace

John 20:19-31

Jeremiah said it.  It was an indictment of the culture.
For though there was no war and the nation had strong military might and great wealth, still there were some who did not have what they needed.  They did not have justice or opportunity.  So the prophet exposed their lack of well-being, wholeness and completeness as a nation.  There was no peace (shalom).

Here, the disciples are huddled together in fear and grief and Jesus came to wish them Peace.  They did not have well-being, completeness or wholeness, but Jesus offered them Peace (eireinei).

Then, Jesus sent them out, but not without the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus' presence must have restored a great deal of shalom.
The presence of the Holy Spirit would sustain them in shalom.

When our well-being, completeness and wholeness has been challenged or devastated, we hold onto the hope that it will be restored.  We trust in the presence of God in our lives.  We carry on.

Doubting God's presence, love and grace condemns us to a lack of shalom or any hope of it.

Hope on.  Keep steppin'.

Pastor Jamie

"Why do you seek the Living among the Dead?"

Jesus is alive.
What a wondrous thing!  It means hope for all of us!
Death could not hold Jesus and can no longer hold us!  Wow!

So, why do we seek a LIVING LORD among the DEAD THINGS?
The celebrations are important, to be sure.  We remember that Jesus is no longer dead but alive by celebrating the resurrection.  If Jesus is alive to us today, why would we treat this as mere history, as something to be remembered as past event?  Why treat our churches as museums for the things of the past, for the preservation of a memory?  Why only commemorate Jesus on certain days, holidays and feasts?  And why talk about Jesus in the past tense?  If Jesus is alive and we believe that, we will include Jesus, address Jesus and actively live to follow Jesus still today.

Is the Living Lord alive to us today?  Why do we seek the LIVING LORD among DEAD ATTITUDES?
Jesus taught, commanded and modeled Agape Love as a way of life for His followers.  This active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy and especially the most vulnerable demands that we shed our attitudes of believing in the unworthiness of others, prejudice toward some others, beliefs around personal entitlement, acts of hubris and not humility and greed, lust for power and desire for status for ourselves at the expense of others.  These things are to be dead to us as followers of Jesus, because they lead to division, destruction and death and not NEW LIFE.  If Jesus is living Lord to us, we must live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us as we have that in the Gospel witnesses.

Is the Living Lord alive to us today?  Why do we seek the LIVING LORD within a DEAD FAITH?
Why is the empty tomb so important as "proof?"  Are we people of proof or people of faith?  Why spend so much time trying to prove to others that Jesus and the things of Jesus were real, rather than talk about how real Jesus is to us here and now?  Relics, archeological artifacts and witness accounts of sightings perhaps prop up dying faith for some, at least for a while.  The real legacy of Jesus is what Jesus taught as a better way in which to BE the children of God.  It means living what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us as the faithful way to walk as God's children, here and now.  Proof of resurrection, a singular focus on personal salvation and personal power and glory are NOT at the heart of what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled as faithful living.  Gaining financially and having all one's troubles supernaturally disappear are NOT things Jesus promised for those who would follow Him, the Jesus who said His followers would "deny themselves, take up their Cross and follow Him."  They are things of a weak, if at all alive faith.  Do you believe in Jesus?  Do you believe in Jesus' Way of being children of God in the world?  Jesus declared, "If a person loves me, he/she will keep MY words...," and "If you love me, you will keep MY commandments." Are you living in Jesus Way of being in the world around you, in THIS PART of God's Kingdom, or are you merely claiming Jesus while living Empire's way of being in the world?  Jesus also declared, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you?"  A faith that is not ACTIVE in COMMITMENT to GOD and NEIGHBOR, but is centered only on worship, praise, tithes, prayer and waiting on supernatural intervention is NOT faith in JESUS the Fulfiller of Law and Prophets, Redeemer and Savior.  Jesus IS the Way, the Truth and the Life.  What does Jesus teach us?  What does Jesus command us to do?  What does Jesus model for us as faithful lives to God?

Jesus is alive to me.  Jesus' Good News is alive and is transformative when lived in the world.
I will strive to live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for me as His follower and God's child.  It is a better way.  It is the ONLY way.  I will walk in Jesus' Way.

Pastor Jamie

All about the Cross

God identifying with humanity.
God commanding humanity to love one another.
God demonstrating that love as Word made Flesh.
God including those not included by some in the faith.
God touching those considered untouchable.
God resisting the evils of empire in word and action.
God giving Kingdom value alternatives to empire.
God taking sides.
God showing what faithfulness is, often in the most unlikely people.
God showing what real power is, even in the apparently weak.
God willingly being subjected to false accusations,
    and arrest,
    torture,
    a sham trial,
    and execution.
God died.  Horribly.  Scandalously.  Fully.  Willingly.  Like so many among us have.
To redeem us from the fruits of sin, which is death, God took on our death,
    even a most humiliating form of death.
To give us new resolve, new hope, new dedication, new direction, new life.
What wondrous love is this!

What kind of God does that?
What kind of people would follow that God?
Emulate that God's exhibitions of love in the world?
Imitate that God's Graciousness in the world?

The temptation to skip the humiliation and heaviness of the Cross for the sake of focus on the glory of Resurrection is very real among many who call themselves by Jesus' name.

Go to the Cross.  Weap.  Be filled with love, a love that makes other loves seem insignificant.
Consider such a God at the Cross.
Consider what it means to FOLLOW such a God in OUR lives.
Deny yourself, take up your Cross and follow.

Because following Jesus is ALL about the Cross.

Pastor Jamie

Media Circus (without the media)

What happens when Kingdom values confront empire values?
What happens when the tension between them comes to critical mass?
What happens when those who love to abuse POWER, have their power threatened with real Power?
What happens when the GREEDY have their ill-gotten gains threatened?
What happens when those who seek STATUS are upstaged by someone with genuine glory?
The events of that Holy Week show the result.
Today, it would be a media frenzy, a spectacle observed by all channels and social media outlets.

Jesus empowered His disciples by BEING the Passover Lamb for them.  Jesus broke himself and poured out Himself for His disciples in the Passover Seder, empowering them with the Grace of the Kingdom.  The Temple Cult leaders of the time were busy trying to use the Passover feast for economic and political gain, at the expense of the people and Jesus.  The Romans were busy using their military might to oppress and control the people.

Jesus parodied Roman power by His triumphal entry, mocking the military glories by showing what genuine devotion is about.  The Temple Cult leaders of the time were threatened because it looked bad for those colluding with the Roman Empire.

Jesus continued to teach His disciples about not participating in the values of empire, especially because those values of status and lust for power would divide them.  He worked to prepare them for what was coming in prayer.  Then Jesus gave them an example of assertive, non-violent resistance to injustice, as He was betrayed by a beloved friend who chose empire values, wrongly accused, arrested, tortured, put through a sham trial, perp walked around the countryside, mocked and humiliated before officials and crowds and lynched.  Jesus challenged the authority of Pilate and Herod, and remained an example of faithfulness to the authorities and frenzied crowds.

Manipulated by the Temple Cult Leaders of the time, the people were already angry at the Roman Empire because of their occupation and oppression.  Believing as they were taught for generations, that they should do whatever they could, not to resist but rather to collude with Rome to at least survive and get some personal gain out of the empire system, it was not difficult for them to be manipulated.  Some were moved genuinely by Jesus at His triumphal entry, still many were swayed to promote and promulgate the system based on Greed, Power and Status that was empire and eliminate anyone who stood in the way.  The Temple Cult Leaders, having their illegitimate positions, authority and ill-gotten gains threatened by the real Messiah, and knowing that their false teachings were being exposed for what they were, would do anything to keep the power, status and wealth gained by their corrupt and unfaithful collusion with empire.  The Romans had crucified thousands and were good at eliminating anyone who would dare threaten them by gathering an army of 5,000 men and breaking them into "battle" groups of Half Centuries (Luke 9).  They were good at eliminating anyone who would claim kingly authority.  It all came together at the busiest time of year in the biggest city in the nation.  The crowd was worked up in a frenzy and the politicians, power brokers, corrupt religious leaders and empire enforcement police all played their roles predictably.  And Jesus was executed in public.

Empire debilitates.  The Kingdom redeems.
Empire tears down.  The Kingdom builds up.
Empire exploits.  The Kingdom empowers.
Empire oppresses.  The Kingdom liberates.
Empire corrupts.  The Kingdom restores justice.
Empire occupies.  The Kingdom brings peace.
Empire destroys.  The Kingdom saves.

It was a media circus, as the forces of empire met the Kingdom of God.  And look at what Jesus did!

So, Empire or Kingdom?

"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Shalom in heaven (and earth), and glory in                  the highest heaven!"
or

"Crucify!  Crucify him!"

What will it be?

Pastor Jamie