Sunday 04 • 21 • 19

Try it. Okay? This is a high test group. So we're going to read together out loud John 21:1-19. It's printed there in your bulletin and on the screen behind me. Let's say these words together as we turn to God's word. You ready? Three, two, one, go.

After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to him, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet his disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, do you have any fish?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.

That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he was stripped for work and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far away from the land, about a hundred yards off.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, a 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast."

Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished 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." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."

He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord. You know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved 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."

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God. And after saying this, he said to him, "Follow me." — John 21:1-19

Would you join me in prayer?

Father, we thank you for your word. We pray that your word would come in power and come and meet us in the places of our need, our unbelief, our doubts, our fears. Lord, we come this morning in need of a word from you. One word that would change us, that would remind us of what is true, that would raise our heads. Father, we pray for your power to go out through your word as we talk about these things together. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Observations on the Text

So this morning, we're looking at what is the third appearance of Jesus after the resurrection to the disciples. And I want you to notice just really briefly three things about this.

First is that this account is such a tactile account—probably the best way to say that. It's like you can almost smell this. You could almost smell the charcoal fire, the smelly fish. BO. Yeah. Yes. Body odor—fishermen who've been up all night without antiperspirant. Right? They've been out working all night and they probably smell bad. And then the breakfast that Jesus cooks for them. So it's a tactile account.

It's also such a precise account. Would you notice all these details in here that I'm not sure why we need them? Verse 7 tells us that Peter was stripped—like he was stripped to the waist, he'd been working, and when he sees Jesus, he puts his outer robe around him before he jumps in the water. Why do we need to know that? I mean, it doesn't drive the story. Or they're a hundred yards off from land. Like, okay. Or 153 fish. Now why a 153?

Some scholars have looked at this and tried to find some symbolism in the number 153. I think this is why: if you've ever been a weightlifter or a fisherman, you know your max. Right? You know this is the most I can do. Or this is the most I've ever caught. This is why they know this. A 153. It's probably the best catch ever. That's why they know this. So what are these details for us? I mean, what do they do?

They don't do anything to drive the story. Why are they here? Because they happened. This is a memory, and this is several sixteenth, seventeenth centuries before the novel was invented. Nobody wrote accounts with realistic details to make sure it sounded believable. That just wasn't a practice in first century Greek. That's not how they wrote. So what are these for? They just tell us: this is true. This is what happened. It is a tactile account. It's a precise account, but this is what I want you to see—such a personal account. Such a personal account.

Now, a lot of scholars and commentators who've looked at John have said it's really interesting. John's gospel would have ended really well at the end of John chapter 20. There's really no need for John chapter 21. It sort of feels tacked on or added on. It's really just a story about Peter. Peter looms large in all of the gospels as a major figure, one of the inner circle of the disciples. And last we've seen Peter, he had denied Jesus three times in the courtyard outside the high priest where Jesus was on trial. And Peter sort of disappears from that point forward in the narrative.

You know, it's funny—think about Peter. Peter had stood up at the Last Supper and made a fool out of himself. He's like, "Jesus, even if all the other fools out here forsake you, I'm gonna stick with you." And Jesus says to him the famous words: "Before the rooster crows three times, you will deny me three times." And this is exactly what happened. This is such a personal account. It's a story of how the resurrected Jesus comes into the life of Peter post-resurrection. And that's really important for us.

The reason I picked this for this Sunday is the resurrection always has to be a personal account. There always has to be a personal account to it. The resurrection of Jesus must mean either everything to you or nothing to you. It can't just mean something to you. Either this is such personal, life-flipped-upside-down, transforming news, or it's trivia. It just can't be, "Yeah, I've heard that. Yeah, I've heard this before." No. See, it's got to be personal.

So this morning, we're going to look at this passage under four headings: Collision, Intimacy, Repenting, and Purpose. Let's look at these together.

Collision

Have you ever had an experience of déjà vu? Déjà vu is where you feel like, "Man, I feel like I've been here before. I've been through this very experience. All these people in the right place—didn't this happen before?" Surely Peter and the disciples on this boat would have experienced a major déjà vu because the details of this story match perfectly with the first events where Peter and these other fishermen met Jesus the very first time.

Luke 5, John 21

Here's how you line them up. Both events are about fishermen in a boat. In both events, the fishermen have been fishing all night and catch nothing. In both events, Jesus says, "Now cast your net over here." In both events, there's this miraculous, enormous haul of fish. And it's no wonder that even though the disciples didn't recognize the resurrected Jesus—just as some of you don't recognize your pastor wearing a suit this morning, right?—the disciple John says, "That's got to be Jesus. I mean, who else can it be?" He recognized it.

Now here's where you get the difference between those two accounts. In Luke 5, after the enormous catch of fish, Peter looking at Jesus says, "Get away from me. Like, get off my boat, get out of my stuff. I don't want you here. Go away." Do you remember why? He says, "Because I am a sinful man." He's trying to get away from Jesus. Peter wanted nothing to do with Jesus.

Now here we are in John 21—same circumstances, miraculous catch of fish. Peter, instead of saying "Get away from me," can't get to Jesus fast enough. They're only about a hundred yards off from shore. It's not gonna take long to get in. He puts on his robe, which doesn't make any sense, jumps in the water to swim to Jesus. He can't get there fast enough. It's like—what's changed? What's changed?

I mean, Peter is still a sinner. We know that really well. He is still very much a sinner, but something has radically changed. What is that? The answer is this: he has had a collision course with the real Jesus. He's had a collision.

Now look, there is no polite, nice, southern dinnertime way to describe this. And sometimes we try to do that. So we have phrases that sound very neat and orderly for how a person comes to know Jesus.

So like I asked Jesus into my heart. That's neat, but it sounds really safe. Or I accepted him as my Lord and Savior. Okay, that's true, but it sounds a little too neat because Jesus—when you have a relationship, when you come to know the risen Jesus—that is like a car crash. It is a collision. It's not neat and tidy and safe. There's nothing tame about coming into meeting the real Jesus.

See, the real Jesus—the Bible says coming to know Him is always a car crash between His holiness and your sinfulness.

The Context of Peter's Failure

Remember the background of the story. The last time that Jesus was near Peter in John 21, he had denied him three times. It is the most famous failure story in the whole Bible. Peter denied Jesus, failed, all in public—very, very public. We read that last Sunday.

What happens in your life when you come into a situation that shows you you're more of a failure than you thought? What happens in your life when you come into a scenario, in a relationship, an event that shows you don't know what you're talking about, that you're more of a mess than you thought, that you don't know what you're doing? I don't know about you, I hate that. I mean, I run away from every circumstance that's embarrassing, where I look like an idiot in public, where other people see it.

Let me play some imaginary examples. Let's say you take painting classes from Pablo Picasso. Your artwork is shown to be stick figures compared to Picasso. Or you play one-on-one basketball with LeBron James or, let's say, the best basketball player of all time, Steph Curry. Or you're jamming with the best band you can think of—the best most talented musicians. Let's say U2.

This is what Peter felt like times—oh, I don't know—a billion? He looks into the eyes of the God of the universe. He looks into the eyes of the holy one of God.

Get away from me. — Luke 5

That's Luke 5. And that's why he says, "Get away from me." But here Peter is. He's still a sinner, still unworthy like in Luke 5, still a failure. But notice, Peter has had no conversation with Jesus up to this point. There's been no hug, no restoration moment. And yet, look what Peter does. He can't stop himself. He's got to go to Jesus. He is so driven to go to Jesus.

Joy Greater Than Shame

Look at this. In this moment, his joy at being near Jesus is greater than his shame. His confidence in God's grace for sinners is greater than his shame. His confidence in God's care for him is greater than his shame. His confidence in Jesus's love for him is greater than his shame.

One writer, Robert Bolton, many centuries ago wrote this:

The mercy of God is, like God himself, infinite. All our sins are finite both in number and in nature. Now, between finite and infinite, there's no proportion. Therefore, listen to this—therefore, be thy sins so notorious or numberless, yet thy sins can no more stand before the mercies of God than a spark thrown into the boundless, mighty ocean.

You hear what he's saying? Your failures, your weaknesses, the public ones, the private ones, your sins—no matter how notorious they are, how large the number is—it's like a spark. You drop a spark into the ocean. It doesn't have a chance. It's just immediately snuffed out.

This is how you know. Can I shut you in on a secret? This is how you know you've been graced in your life. This is how you know you've been gospeled. Knowledge of your sin makes the sight of your God, being near your God, sweet and not bitter. Even in your worst moments, being near God is more desirable, not less so. You're like, I need to be near him.

Here's my question: Has this happened to you? Has this happened in your life?

This is why Brendan Manning says, "Those who have the disease called Jesus will never be cured." Man, I pray that over you. I pray that for our city. That those who have this disease called Jesus will never be cured. Like, we would be people who would run to him in our sin.

And I want you to notice, there's no middle ground here. It's either Luke 5 or John 21. You're either one or the other. It's either "get away from me for I'm a sinful man" or you dive in the water and run to him. You got to be near him.

See, we live in a culture where there's this kind of nice cultural Christianity that wants to be like, "Well, I sort of like him." If that's you, you are not listening to what this man says, to what this gospel says. You're just a nice cultural Christian, and that is the most dangerous place to be. It must mean everything or nothing.

But that's—I feel like this morning, yeah, I thought about this over this sermon. I feel like one of those game show announcers who gets on and says, you know, like they're talking about the prize and they're like, "But that's not all."

So I feel like I'm stuck in this for this whole sermon. But wait, that's not all. Because a real relationship with Jesus is not just a collision course between your sinfulness and his holiness, experiencing his grace, but it's also this word: intimacy. Regular experiences of God's intimacy.

One of my heroes put this on Twitter. He said, "Why is so much of Peter's failure taking up so much space in all the gospel accounts?" And this is what he wrote: "To remind us how fallible and weak we are." And I think that's great. But I think there's something more to that. Why so much space is given in the four Gospels to Peter's denials and failures? To remind us how intimate God is with His people. How intimate He is.

This whole passage, do you notice what God does for these people? He makes them breakfast. Is this striking to you? These people got served breakfast.

This reminds me of an account of what happened in First Kings 17. A couple summers ago, we studied First Kings and Second Kings about Elijah and Elisha, two of the biggest prophets in Old Testament history. Here's the backstory on what happened with Elijah. Elijah lived at a time where he was one of the only prophets left of the living God. The king and queen had led in a national time of turning away from God and toward false gods, toward Baal and Asherah. So Elijah's like, "I'm the only one left," and he calls for a showdown on top of this mountain.

He says, "Okay, here's how it's going to go. I'm going to build a stone altar and put a sacrifice on top of it to Yahweh, the God of Israel. You build an altar to your God, Baal, the God of the country and now the king and queen, Ahab and Jezebel. Let's see which god answers by fire—that's the real God."

So here's how it goes. The prophets of Baal are dancing around and chanting and waiting for their God to answer. Silence. Elijah keeps mocking them. He's like, "Maybe he's asleep. Maybe he's on vacation. Maybe he's in the bathroom." Nothing happens. They're cutting themselves. They're chanting. Nothing happens.

Then Elijah says, "Okay, God, show Yourself." And fire comes down from heaven and not just consumes the sacrifice, but the entire altar is burned up. Victory. And yet Elijah knows exactly what's happening because he is a dead man. The king and queen were all about that God over there. So Elijah goes on what is the first ever ultramarathon. He runs 120 miles and collapses. He goes way out in the wilderness and collapses under this tree. He prays, "God, it's better if I die. Just let me die."

He wakes up and there's an angel of the Lord figure beside him. He looks over and there's a cake there and a jug of water. The angel of the Lord says to him, "Elijah, this has been too much for you. Get up and eat." He gets up and eats and drinks. He's so exhausted he goes back to sleep. When he wakes up, the angel of the Lord is right there and says, "Elijah, get up and eat." He eats the bread, drinks the water.

It's such a powerful picture because I think like you and me, we're just normal weak people, aren't we? Sometimes you need encouragement from other people or to hear good stuff. Sometimes you just need a good meal. Sometimes you just need a good breakfast. I think this is astounding.

Commentators have looked back on this passage in First Kings and said, "Who was that? Who is this mysterious figure?" You see, sometimes it describes him as a messenger of God—that's what angel literally means. Sometimes the language almost sounds like it's God Himself. Who is that? Commentators think this is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus who shows up to minister to Elijah in his weakness, to come and feed him cakes, give him water, and revive him.

And it's so familiar because we see Jesus show up on a beach with some failed disciples, particularly Peter, and feed him breakfast.

When Jesus had said this at the Last Supper, "Who's greater? The one who sits at the table or the one who serves?" He said, "I come among you as one who serves."

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. — Matthew 20:28

This is our Jesus. This is how Jesus deals with weak Elijah. This is how Jesus deals with weak Peter. This is how Jesus deals with weak you. Weak you. Weak me.

Intimacy with Jesus

I want to intentionally highlight this phrase: intimacy with Jesus. Intimacy. I'm not talking about growing up in a church where at one point when you were seven, you made a profession of faith. I'm not talking about, like, at one point in your life, your teenage years, you walked forward and you were baptized.

I'm not talking about assenting to truths about Jesus. I'm talking about an ongoing regular experience of being with him. See, notice the meal. Always in the ancient Near East, a meal between two people meant we're together, fellowship, we're good, I love you, we're friends. When Jesus shows up and he cooks this meal for them. What is he saying to Peter? I want you. I want fellowship with you.

I want you to know sometimes people read stuff like this in the Bible. They're like, "Yeah, yeah, back then. I mean, if I'd been there, of course, I would believe this stuff. But I can't see this. I don't experience this now. This is great for history." But see that even in this passage, there's something for you and me who don't see.

Notice in Luke chapter five, with the miraculous catch of fish, where was Jesus in relationship to the boat and the disciples? Come on, you gotta talk to me. He was on the boat with them. But here in John 21, he's not on the boat. He's a hundred yards off. He's over on the shore. What was Jesus showing them? Look, I don't have to be right beside you for you to know intimacy, for me to care for you, for me to draw near to you.

See, I want to ask you this: Do you experience intimacy with God? Have you experienced that?

Now, let me just ask you some questions. I'm not trying to embarrass anybody. But when you pray—not all the time, okay? Everybody has a hard time praying. But sometimes, just sometimes, do you ever feel like God's hearing me? I mean, He's close to me? Do you ever have a time where you come into this place in worship and not all the time, like not every Sunday—like a lot of times you're thinking about lunch, right?—but sometimes you come to this table and you have this experience of like, "Yeah, He's drawing near to me"?

Do you ever have this experience when we worship and sing these songs together and we praise God, where you're not into it all the time, but sometimes you're like, "Yeah, he's right here"? Or when you show up in fellowship with other Christians, you're sitting around the table. It's almost like sometimes it's just business, but sometimes it's almost like he's with us?

Or sometimes when you open his word, you know, there's a lot of times you're like, "Hey, this is a dry season. I don't know about this." But sometimes you open his word and you're like, "I felt like he wrote this yesterday for me, to me." I mean, do you have this experience?

This is what it means to have a living relationship with God, with the resurrection Jesus.

There's an interview done with one of the Baldwin brothers, Alec Baldwin. You may not know Stephen Baldwin. One of his brothers was interviewed by ABC News after Baldwin became a Christian, and he says this:

It's real. It changed my life. It's transformed my heart. I'm not who I was before. I mean, no longer do I feel the pressure of how fancy are my shoes or what kind of car am I driving or how much money do I make? None of that matters to me anymore. I'm having a daily experience of the spirit of God that's more priceless than anything I've experienced before.

You hear those words? He's saying intimacy. This is real. See, collision, intimacy. Wait, but there's more. This is the hard part of the passage.

The Charcoal Fire

This is the hard part because Jesus sort of sets it up. Jesus makes Peter retrace all of his steps. He sets a scene. So when Peter comes up on the beach, he comes up and what kind of a fire is out there on the beach? Remember what it says in the passage? Charcoal fire, right?

And I want you to think about this. There's only one place, one place in all of John's writings where the word charcoal is used. It's in the courtyard when Peter was watching the trial of Jesus, and three times he denied Him. You have to know that this didn't escape him.

You know how you ever had this where like a smell or a song can transport you back in time? Like, okay, I'm an old person compared to many of you here, but like this happens to me regularly. There's this bush that blooms in Raleigh every year that was under my freshman dorm room. And suddenly, I smell that thing and I'm 18 years old again, you know, a lot more hair. And then like, or there's this song that comes on, and I'm right back at my high school prom. Have you had that experience before? Like, some smell, some sound, some song—it just takes you back.

You've got to know charcoal fire. I mean, charcoal fire. It's got to be one of the best smells in the whole world, right? Meats are about to be grilled. It's going to be great, right? So like, this has got to have taken him back, not very long, not very long to his betrayal.

And then Jesus three times asks him the question: "Peter, do you love me?" Now, why three times? Why three times? Peter gets it, right?

Like he keeps asking, "Do you love me?" The third time he says, "Yeah, you know, I love you." Because three times he denied it. But look what happens here. Peter doesn't say, "Oh, no, I didn't." He doesn't fudge it. He doesn't pretend. He doesn't blame anyone. This is the first step in repentance: saying, "Yeah, that's me." It's really uncomfortable, but he says, "Yeah, that's me."

Then notice Jesus never brings up the behavior. Instead, he asks him a really weird question. Did you notice the question? Peter—he doesn't say, "Hey, Peter, you can never lie again?" That's what I would have said. That makes sense for what he did. Or "Peter, are you ever going to deny me again?" No. This is what he says: "Peter, do you love me?" Then he adds on a phrase: "more than these." That's a really important phrase for you to know because God cares. God is a God who cares about the "more than these" in our hearts.

God Cares About the Heart

As a parent, I got to confess, I always cared about outward behavior. I'm always like, "Stop it." I'm just like, "I just want you to be quiet." It's always about our behavior. But God is not like that. God cares about the heart. God cares about what's on the inside. So this is why he asked "more than these." It's the sin under the sin that Jesus is getting to. Because in all our sinning, there's something "more than these" that we want—something we love more than him. It's some "more than these." So it's a false savior. It's a fake Jesus, a substitute.

Maybe it's money. Maybe it's "I'm finally going to get that break in the job that I'm looking for." Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it's security or looking good or having the right person or being thought of well by others or popularity or comfort or security or being in control of your life. But whatever it is, so many times we want to use Jesus—we don't love Jesus. We want to use Jesus. This is why Jesus comes to him and says, deals with him this way—with the "more than these" questions—because Jesus is exposing what motivates Peter.

Sin is always about motivation before it's about behavior. It's always under the surface. I mean, nobody wakes up on Wednesday morning and is like, "I think I'm going to be really mean to her today. I think I'm going to yell at my kids later on this afternoon, around 4:00." Like, nobody is doing that. The plumbing for the human heart is really deep and it's really dark. Sin is motivational before it's behavioral.

So in these three questions, Jesus comes and he hurts to heal. Jesus is always a surgeon. He comes in with very fine cuts. He's not a butcher. He's not hacking at something. He's a surgeon. He makes very precise cuts here. He's showing Peter: Look, you think the silly outward stuff of your life—that's what your big problem is? No, no, no. Your big problem is deeper than that. I want to expose not your behaviors, but the motivations that have you running away from me, throwing me out.

And Jesus doesn't come to Peter and rustle him on the hair going, "Oh, you! You know, get back out there, you're going to be fine, little guy." He doesn't do that. He walks him through repentance.

Love Means Always Having to Say You're Sorry

Thomas Buchanan writes this about the 1970 movie Love Story. He says, "Love Story gave us that memorable quote, which is all over American culture: 'Love means never having to say you're sorry.' "

He writes, "Of all the phrases that Hollywood has given us, this one ranks up right below 'Yabba Dabba Doo' for intelligence."

Love, of course, means always having to say you're sorry, over and over again. For this reason, every relationship requires times of humility and repentance. And this is especially true in our relationship with God—especially true.

You see, the Christian life is one of perpetual repentance. Over and over again. This is how you know that you're worshiping the real Jesus, a vibrant Jesus: he keeps showing you stuff about yourself, right? He's got that friend who's like, "Hey, can I give you some input on something?" And you're like, "No, I don't want any input." "Yeah, I guess I do. Okay, right." Or your spouse who's like, "Hey, you know when you did that?" And you're like, "Ugh." The worst is kids. Kids are like little mirrors, and you're like, "Ugh, really? That's what I'm like?"

See, this is how you know you worship a real Jesus. He keeps showing you your heart. He keeps confronting you with ways you need to change even more.

A lot of people think, "Hey, if I worship God, God has to just accept me as I am." No. No. No. God has a deep agenda for change. Praise him for all of us. He takes us as we are, but he has a deep agenda for your change. And what is that? To conform you into the image of his Son. He wants you to know freedom and joy. He wants to give you life.

So he keeps asking the same question. You love me more than these, and more than these, and more than these? See, he keeps exposing our false saviors and our idols because he loves us so much. Because he loves us. So what is the Christian life? It is one of perpetual repenting.

A lot of people have heard of Martin Luther, the monk who started the Protestant Reformation in 1517. He nails his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. Do you know what the first one is though? The first of the theses? A lot of people don't know this, but you do now, right?

When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ said, "Repent," he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.

In other words, that's not bad news. That's good news. God invites us because of how much he loves us to come over and over and change. You know what? The spark of our sin is nothing compared to the depths of his ocean love for us. We're never going to run out of mercy. This is the daily substance of Christianity. You want a real relationship with the risen Jesus? It's one of perpetual repentance.

Called to Care for Others

But wait, there's more. Do you notice in Jesus' Q and A with Peter? When Peter says, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you," what does Jesus say to him? It's a really bizarre statement. He says, "Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep."

Now a lot of people make a bunch of stuff about that. I think Jesus is saying something very simple. I don't think he's making three different points. He's just saying, "I got sheep like you. There's other ones, and I want you to love them. I want you to care for them. I want you to go to others. Don't wallow in self pity, Peter. Get out there. Get out there."

Agents of the New Creation

See, resurrection day—do you know this? I'm not sure you know this. Can I tell you something? Easter Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that day was the beginning of something completely different. It was the beginning of God's new creation, making all things new. You're being resurrected. You're being made an eternal being. Death being over for you. You will die, but you'll be raised again. All those things—those are the beginnings, the cracks of the new creation God's doing. When he raises Jesus, it's the foretaste of everything being made new.

And the thing is, you're not just supposed to be beneficiaries of that, which is awesome, but you're also supposed to be agents—agents of this.

Do you remember the movie that came out several years ago, The Green Mile? Tom Hanks stars as a prison guard on death row, guarding cells of men who are waiting to be executed. One day, this prisoner named John Coffee comes into one of the cells—a mountain of a man, just huge, and yet he's this gentle giant. He's almost childlike. And things begin to happen around John Coffee.

One of the other prisoners has this mouse that he's been feeding, and another prisoner, one who's particularly cruel, kills the mouse. They hand the mouse to John and ask if he could have it. He holds it, and you see the lights flicker. He begins to show just incredible pain on his face. Then he bends down and lets it go, and the mouse crawls out. This sort of spews out this black, nasty smoke-like stuff.

Then one of the prison guards has an infection. John touches this man. Again, the lights flicker. He's suffering, and the man is healed. Once again, he turns and spews out this contagion of evil within him. Then they make a deal. The chief of the prison, the warden, his wife has been this really kind of evil, wicked woman, and she's in a lot of pain. They bring John over to the house and he touches this woman. As he does, all the evil and wickedness just drains out of her, even as it crushes him. And again, he turns and spews out this black, wild, smoky stuff.

Do you see what a lot of people within this movie have noticed? John Coffee—initials JC. Gosh, that sounds really familiar. Isn't that what Jesus does for us? He comes and takes into himself our wickedness, sin, our sickness, our death. He takes it into himself and he suffers. And yet it doesn't destroy him. He's raised again to life, victorious over this.

And here's the thing I want you to see: This is what Jesus has done for us. In the resurrection, the empty tomb, he has spewed away all of what is killing his people and is making all things new. But Jesus calls us, like Peter, into the lives of people around us. People around us.

See, if you've been gospeled, if this collision and this intimacy and ongoing repentance has happened and continues to happen in your life, you are—guess what—for the very first time actually useful to God. You're actually useful because you can enter into the lives of other people like John Coffey and touch, and it may be painful. It's painful to enter into the lives of other sinners. But God has called you:

Feed my sheep. Take care of my lambs. Take care of my sheep. — John 21

This is what's so encouraging. What equips you for kingdom usefulness? It's not moral perfection. It's not being really good at knowing the Bible. It's not any of these things. It's a vital relationship with Jesus. He can do amazing things through people just like us.

Teresa of Avila wrote this in the fifteen hundreds, but I think it rings true:

Christ has no body on this earth but you. Christ sees you as his body, your two hands as his hands to finish his work. With your feet, he travels the whole world. Through your two eyes, he casts his sight of compassion on the earth.

You know, Easter was incredibly personal to Peter, but it was never private. In our culture, we think of those as the same thing, but they are not the same thing. The resurrecting power of Jesus in your life must be personal to you or you're not a Christian. But it should never, it can never just be private—like good news for you, go on your way. It's a calling.

See, what sheep is God calling you this day to love? What other lambs is God calling you to care for, to touch, to reach out to? Jesus took Peter, made him into a rock. Jesus took this scared fisherman and he became the cornerstone of the early church, fearless, bold. What might he do with you? What might he do with you?

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.