Mark 16:1-7 – Peter’s Call-Back Story
/Lectionary Readings for June 06, 2021 2nd Sunday After Pentecost, Year B
1 Samuel 8:4-20 (11:14-15) Samuel Warns against a Kingdom, but Israel demands a king anyway.
Psalm 138 v8 The Lord will work out his plans for my life — for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 v16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are[c] being renewed every day.
Mark 3:20-35 v35 “Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” ~ Jesus
But today, we’ll be digging into Mark 16:1-7, God calling Peter BACK into the faith community.
Peace through Leadership Quotes
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix
“If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” ~ Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa
These quotes speak to the transformative power of loving our God, ourselves, and others. Overcoming anything takes effort, just ask anyone who has completed an obstacle course.
Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me. God loves me. God has plans for me.
Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading
Today we’re looking at the final call story in our six-week series. From Abraham to Samuel to Esther to Jonah to Mary Magdalene... each of these amazing people experienced God calling them in unique ways – no two people and no two stories are ever the same. Today’s story is equally unique in the sense that it is a beautiful story of forgiveness and encouragement.
One of my favorite Biblical characters is Peter – probably because we’re both passionate people, we’re all in or all out. I also love Peter because so many of us can relate to one or more episodes in his life. Today’s reading occurs on Easter morning and tells – in just two words – the story of Peter being called back. You’ll recall that roughly 36 hours ago, Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times, exactly as Jesus had predicted. Despite such a clear prediction, Peter had vigorously said, “No way, nope, not gonna happen. I will NEVER deny you.” And yet... just a few hours later, Peter did just that.
Based on today’s reading, we can infer that Peter disqualified himself, excommunicated himself, from the tight-knit group of Jesus’ closest followers. But as Paul would later write in Romans 8:38-39 (NLT), “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor heavenly rulers, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Peter’s story of being called back is living proof of God’s amazing grace.
Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we read today’s call-back story.
Read Mark 16:1-7.
In the Methodist tradition, we have three simple rules handed down to us from our “founding father” John Wesley 300 years ago: 1) Do no harm. 2) Do good. 3) Stay in a loving relationship with God.
When Peter denied knowing Jesus (Mark 14:27-31, 66-72), he broke our first rule – he caused harm in multiple ways at once.
Jesus, in all of His humanity, surely must have felt the universal pain of a friend’s abandonment. Peter had harmed Jesus.
As soon as he uttered the words, Peter wept with grief and disappointment realizing what he had done. Peter had harmed himself.
And despite being one of the leaders of the disciples, he had let his companions down. Peter had harmed his friends.
The weight of causing all this harm was overwhelming. So much so that Peter felt unworthy of even associating with the other disciples. We don’t know where he was, but he wasn’t with everyone else. It’s easy to imagine that he had given up, assuming that there wasn’t enough grace in the universe to cover his transgressions. But God had other plans.
Notice that an angel does NOT appear to Peter. Peter must hear God’s infinite grace and personal call back through imperfect people that he knew and trusted. In this same Easter morning scene, Mary Magdalene is called to GO, to be an apostle to the apostles. AND she is called to be the voice of God’s grace and mercy to someone who desperately needs to hear it. “When we have an encounter with the risen Christ [as Mary did], it has the power to transform not only our lives, but [the lives of] others, as well.” Susan Robb, Called. Abingdon Press, 2019, p. 129).
“Now go and tell his disciples, especially Peter...”
“The deliberate inclusion of Peter should take our pastoral breath away. In this and other Easter accounts, there is not a single recriminating word about the past, no demands for an explanation, nothing that would settle the score [between Jesus and those who betrayed, denied, or abandoned Him]. The risen Christ [scolds] the disciples for being slow to believe he is living, but he never holds them accountable for having been cowards while he was dying. That someone would withhold judgment is hard enough for the guilty to accept; but that [Jesus] would show singular affection to the one who failed most spectacularly is almost unbearable. The Living One, it appears, is not content to forgive: he really does forget.” (Jarvis, Cynthia A., and Johnson, E. Elizabeth, eds. Feasting on the Gospels – Mark. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014; p532, 534.)
Peter’s call-back story presses us to ask two questions about our own lives.
1 – When have we experienced receiving such forgiveness and grace from someone? How have we experienced healing through such experiences? In other words, how have we received the Good News of God’s love? The answer to that question is part of our own individual faith journeys.
2 – How can we, like Mary Magdalene, be vessels of God’s forgiveness and grace to others? In other words, how can we share the Good News of God’s love with others? The answer to that question is also part of our own individual faith journeys.
Yesterday during our “Leadership Lunch and Learn,” we discussed some core concepts behind how we want to get more people connected with our church in meaningful ways. But more important than the how is the WHY behind our desire to grow. I shared with everyone that I want our church to grow because the suicide rates in our community and in our nation are too high. Loneliness, despair, depression, neglect, abuse, and addiction are all too high and I am convinced that if we can love others until they love themselves (and that process may take a lot of energy and patience over months or even years)... if we can help people begin to love themselves, their lives, our community, and our nation will be happier, healthier, more productive, and oh yeah, the Kingdom of God will become bigger and bigger and bigger.
People need to experience God’s love, and I sincerely believe Susanville UMC is a GREAT place for them to do so.
So let’s go find the Peters in our community – the people who think they are unworthy of God’s love. Maybe it’s a friend, or a neighbor, or a family member. Whoever it is, let’s GO, find them, and remind them that they are worthy of God’s love and our love. Let’s remind them that they are welcomed, they are invited, they are called back to – and needed – in this big, messy family we call the Kingdom of God and Susanville UMC. Let’s go find Peter!
Amen? Amen!