Forgiveness given and received....or

                                               
"Why this scene on the beach between Peter and the risen Jesus is so important for people of faith."

If you are familiar with Peter's understandable but deeply disappointing behavior when Jesus was arrested, and subsequently crucified, you will understand why this scene grabs our attention.

It is intimate.  Although others are around, the gospel writer clearly makes this between Peter and Jesus.

It is serious.  Simon, son of John.......remember when your mother called you by your full name?  It's serious.

"Do you love me more than these?"   Jesus never clarifies what the 'these' are, but his point is made.  Am I number 1....or do I fall further down your list of priorities?

What do you do when you are across from the one you claimed to love yet betrayed so completely?  What do you say when you are as deeply disappointed in yourself as the other guy is?
What do you do when your crime.....sin.....wrong doing.....weakness....is an enormous elephant sitting right in the middle of the room?

Somehow, with your mouth dry from the depth of your emotion and a lot of stress, you croak out, "You know that I love you."   and you wait.

You wait to hear how big a disappointment you've been.  You wait to hear how much hurt you caused.  You wait to hear someone say outloud, "You really screwed up."  but instead you hear.

"Feed my sheep".

This is forgiveness in its rawest form.  No recriminations.  No words recapping the bad deeds of old.  No finger pointing or name calling.  Just a mission.  An important mission.  A mission to lead the others in the telling of the story to the whole world.

There are lots of potential explanations of why Jesus repeated the question three times.  Some say it parallels the 3 time denial of Peter.  Some say it helps Peter focus on the task at hand instead of the past.

Perhaps it took three times for Peter to truly believe he had been forgiven in such a way that his past was just a building block for the future that Jesus had for him.  Perhaps it took three times for Peter to truly forgive himself for being the fragile, fractured human being that we all are.

But this is the one who received the mission:  tend my sheep, feed my lambs.  Tell the world about God's love poured out; tell the world your story.  Forgiveness given sets us free and breaks open the possibility of new life.  Forgiveness received sets your steps on the path of life in God.

This is Jesus: God's great forgiveness given for you.

Oh no, not that!

The cross is coming.

In Sunday's lesson, Jesus issues his first 'passion prediction' which is the technical name for these passages where Jesus speaks of his upcoming rejection, suffering and crucifixion.  There are 3 such predictions in Mark's gospel.

Each time Jesus talks about his eventual death by cross, the disciples respond poorly.  In this first passion prediction there is an enormous swing from Peter's acclamation "You are the Messiah" to Jesus' rebuke of Peter "Get behind me Satan' in the very next paragraph.

It started with the question, "Who do people say that I am?"   Peter's claims Jesus as his Messiah.  The problem is, Peter has no idea what it will take to be the Messiah.  God's plan for the Messiah includes the cross; there is no other way. 

So Peter rebukes Jesus for this terrible predicted death.  Jesus rebukes Peter in turn.  Without the cross Jesus cannot be the Messiah.  The two go together.  If Peter is to accept Jesus as Messiah, he must also accept the cross.

To be the Messiah is to enter into the suffering that all humankind experiences.  To be the Messiah is to walk forward into the deep abyss that we all fear: rejection, suffering and death.  To be the Messiah is to know that it is coming and to continue on the road to Jerusalem regardless.

The tricky part is that to be a disciple is to take up your cross and follow where Jesus leads.  We are called to let go of this life so to grasp the life that Jesus offers. 

The cross might gross us out.  Letting go of this life scares us to death - which is exactly Jesus' point: holding onto this life leads only to death.   Never an easy message nor an easy task.