Peter and Jesus part 2.

Baseball was a big thing in my family while I was growing up.  Both my older brothers and I were involved in summer leagues throughout our childhood.  My father loved baseball and he still does.  He invested so much of his time and money into helping me and my brothers learn how to play the game and develop into quality baseball players.  Baseball was always something that connected the four of us together.  I am the youngest of the kids so I never really had the chance to play on the same team as my brothers.  But my freshman year of high school was Gabe's senior year so we had the chance to play on the same team at the school we attended.

With how much I still love baseball and all of the memories playing as a kid there is one memory that sticks with me to this day which I am not very fond of.  I forget how old I was at the time but I remember I was young, maybe 6 or 7.  I was at an indoor baseball practice and I was pitching.  My father was attending the practice and he was standing behind the backstop giving me some instruction while I was throwing the ball.  For some reason that night I wasn't throwing the ball very well, I kept throwing balls instead of strikes.  Finally my coach came walking out to the pitchers mound and asked me what was going on.  I couldn't tell him why I was throwing the ball so poorly, I was around 7 years old.  He looked over at my dad and called him out to the pitchers mound.  I'll never forget what happened next.  The coach told my dad that he was being a distraction to me and that's why I was throwing the ball so poorly.  My father disagreed and said he was helping me.  After my dad and the coach went back and forth a few times the coach turned to me and asked "Anthony, is your dad distracting you?"  I was nervous and scared, I didn't know what to say, I was 7 years old.  I wanted to make my dad and my coach proud of me.  The coach asked me again and I said "yes".  I'll never forget the look on my dads face.  He looked like I just told the coach I wanted him to be my new dad.  That night during the drive home I remember sitting in the front seat and telling my dad I was sorry and that I didn't mean what I said.  He looked pretty disappointed which made me feel pretty awful.  I'll never forget that night as long as I live.

On a very small scale I can understand how Peter felt after he denied Jesus those three times.  Peter has spent over 3 years following Jesus around.  Peter has gone all in, he's invested his entire life with Jesus and in 3 separate moments of weakness Peter denies Jesus to save his own life.  I'm sure the guilt and shame were overwhelming and overpowering.

John tells us about the first interaction with Jesus after His resurrection.  Some of the disciples are out fishing and Jesus walks down to the beach and starts a camp fire.  Jesus calls out from the shore and tells them to bring some of their fish to Him and He'll make them all breakfast.  Peter throws on his shirt and jumps overboard swimming to Jesus on the shore while John pulls in the row boat and rows himself to shore.  They all sit down and have breakfast together and then Jesus begins a conversation with Peter.
Jesus says "Peter, do you love me?"
Peter says "you know I love you Lord."
Jesus responds, "Then feed My sheep."
The first opportunity Jesus has to get peter alone after His resurrection Jesus uses to give peter the chance to set the record straight.  Peter denied Jesus 3 times.  Jesus asks Peter 3 times, "Do you love me?"  It's not that Jesus didn't know if peter loved Him or not.  Jesus was doing this for peter's benefit.  He wasn't just telling peter "I get it, you didn't mean what you said.  There's no need to talk about."  No, Jesus was giving peter the opportunity to take it back, to say I love you and I didn't mean what I said.

Notice that Jesus gives peter a direct command into ministry after peter's response.  Jesus:  "Peter do you love me?"
Peter:  "Lord, You know that I love You."
Jesus:  "Then feed my sheep."
Jesus doesn't tell peter to go through an emotional healing class before he enters into ministry.  When Jesus forgives you for something He forgives you.  He doesn't remember what you did, He doesn't hold it against you, He doesn't act differently towards you because of your sin, He forgives you, restores you, and forgets about your mistakes immediately.

I'm thinking this is how we should all act towards one another.  Let's face it, we all make some pretty stupid mistakes in our lives.  Just like Peter, we become afraid of rejection, we begin to day dream about what could happen if we say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time.  Because of this fear we say or do things we don't really mean and then we are faced with people in our lives who don't know who we are because we were too afraid to say what we really meant or show them how we really felt.

I think we should all take a page from the playbook of Jesus and learn how to forgive people better.  We should stop holding onto the past, stop holding onto our bitterness, stop holding onto our fear and rejection and simply forgive.  It's really not that difficult, it's just a mind set, like flipping a switch.  We're Christians, Christ Followers, we're supposed to imitate Him.  That means we should love and forgive people just like He did.  Just like He loved and forgave peter.  Remember, Jesus loved and forgave Peter at the first opportunity He had.  What does that show us about the importance and urgency of forgiving and loving people in our lives?  It may seem difficult to call someone who hurt you and tell them you forgive them.  I've been there, I know it can really suck.  I'll tell you from experience, life is better when you can forgive someone instead of remaining upset and bitter towards them.  It's all a choice.  It's time to choose freedom and let go of the resentment.

Cheers.