THE REST OF THE STORY
My name is Simon Peter. I was a guest in this church on Maundy Thursday. I told you about how Jesus called me, the miracles I saw him perform, and what he taught as we celebrated our last supper with him. Then a couple of people from this congregation told me that they wanted to hear the rest of the story. That’s why I’m here today. I’m here to tell you the rest of the story.
Allow me to briefly recap what I said on Maundy Thursday for the sake of those who were not here. I was a fisherman by trade, and I’d been fishing all night long with my brother Andrew and we hadn’t caught a thing. Then this man on the shoreline said, “Cast your nets on the other side of the boat for a catch.” We thought he was crazy, but we did as we were told. We caught more fish that day than we had ever caught before. I knew there was something special about this man called Jesus. When we got to shore, I dropped to my knees and said, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man.” He said to me, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” What could we do but follow? Twelve men, Jesus called, and we all began to follow – ever so slowly at first – doubting him every step of the way. But the more we saw – the more we heard – the more we came to love this man called Jesus with a love we had never known before. The things we saw Jesus do were nothing short of amazing. We saw him turn water into wine. We saw him feed 5000 people with but five loaves of bread and two fish. We saw him heal a man who was blind from birth. And then we saw him raise Lazarus from the dead. We began to believe that Jesus was the Messiah Israel had long awaited. We began to believe that Jesus was, in fact, the very Son of God.
It was at the last supper we ever ate with Jesus that he taught us the secret to life. After supper, he filed a basin with water and girded himself with a towel. Then he began to wash his disciples’ filthy, dirty feet. It was a task typically reserved only for the lowest of the low. Yet here was the Lord of life washing his disciples’ feet. When he came to me I said, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus said, “If I do not wash you, you have no part of me.” I said to him, “Lord, not only my feet but also my head and my hands!” Jesus said, “Your feet will do for now.” And in that one simple act, Jesus taught us the secret to life. The secret to life is love. And the keys to love are humility and selflessness. Again, the secret to life is love, and the keys to love are humility and selflessness.
It was after this that Jesus gave us his passion prediction. He told us that one of our number would betray him. We failed to understand. I said to Jesus, “Lord, I would lay down my life for you!” Jesus said, “Will you lay down your life for me, Peter? I tell you, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Much to my chagrin, that’s exactly what I did. Then Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so – if it were not so – would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father…but by me.’”
After Jesus had said these words, we left the upper room and went to the Garden of Gethsemane. There we disciples fell asleep, while Jesus went off to pray. It wasn’t long before Judas led an angry mob to where we were. When they laid their hands on Jesus, I drew my sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave. Jesus reached up and restored the man’s ear. Then he told me to put my sword away. It was almost as if he was saying, “Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.” At that, we disciples fled while the mob hauled Jesus to the high priest’s house.
I followed at a distance to the house. There was a fire in the courtyard and as I sat warming myself by the fire, a woman said to me, “Weren’t you with that Jesus?” I said, “No, I was not!” A little while later someone else said, “Weren’t you with Jesus?” Again I said, “No, I was not!” Then a group of people again accused me of being with Jesus. I shouted, “I tell you, I do not know the man!” At that, the cock crowed. Jesus had been right. At a time when Jesus needed me most, I had denied even knowing him. You cannot even begin to imagine how I felt after that.
Jesus was brutally beaten and hung on a cross to die. When Jesus died, our hopes and dreams died alongside him. We disciples huddled together in the upper room. We were terrified! If they’d done that to Jesus, what would they do to us? Jesus died on a Friday. We were huddled together all day on Saturday. It was probably the longest day of our lives. Then early on Sunday morning, some women from our company went to the tomb to embalm the body of Jesus. They came back to us telling us that the tomb was empty – that Jesus had been risen – and that they’d even seen an angel. I ran to the tomb myself to check their story out. Sure enough, the tomb was empty. Jesus later appeared to us and convinced us that he had been raised from the dead. Now we had the assurance of a resurrection. Now we had the hope of our own salvation as well. You might think that would be the end of my story. You might think so, but it is not.
After we had the assurance of our own salvation, we went back to our regular lives. I said to the other disciples, “I am going fishing.” Several of them went with me. We toiled all night long and didn’t catch a thing. Then there was this man on the shoreline. He said, “Cast your nets on the other side of the boat for a catch.” And when we did, we hauled in 153 fish. John cried out, “It is the Lord!” I sprang from the boat and I ran to him. Jesus said to me, “Peter, do you love me?” I said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to me, “Feed my lambs.” Then Jesus said to me again, “Peter, do you love me?” I said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to me, “Tend my sheep.” Then Jesus said to me for a third time, “Peter, do you love me?” I was hurt. I said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to me, “Feed my sheep.” And then I knew that the assurance of my salvation was not enough. As John wrote in his gospel, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Salvation is not the end of the journey, it is merely the beginning. We were called to spread the gospel across the land in order to transform the world. And some 2000 years later, you are called to do the very same thing. As a man named Paul Harvey used to say, “Now you know the rest of the story.” Amen.
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