Dear Friends,
In the Bible, nobody needed Easter more than Peter. You remember the story, when Jesus shared what was to take place that first Holy Week, Peter announced with great bluster, that even if everyone in the world left Jesus, Peter would never leave him! Jesus cautioned Peter on such bravado and told him that “before the cock crowed” (basically saying by tomorrow morning); Peter would deny he even knew who Jesus was three times. Sure enough, it happened, and Matthew tells us that when Peter heard the cock crowing, he broke down and “wept bitterly.”
Not long after that, Peter is back where he was before he met Jesus, out on a boat working in the family fishing business. The Bible tells us that oddly, he was fishing naked. Nakedness in the Bible was always an image of shame. Peter had blown it. He had been the right-hand man of the Master and he had fallen flat on his face. Peter needed another chance, a new call, a new life… and Easter came. Jesus walked out of the tomb and down the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee to call Peter again. Peter was so ecstatic, that he didn’t grab the oars of the boat and paddle to shore at the sound of Jesus’ call. He “dove in” and left his boat behind! That is the picture of a man who really needs Easter!
Peter may have left his boat behind, but he never left Easter behind. Listen to the echoes of that holy moment in one of his letters to the Church: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:3-7).
Yes, life is tough, Peter acknowledges, but Easter lasts longer than the tough times do. Listen to his adjectives, Easter is “imperishable, undefiled & unfading!” It brings us new life and a living hope… not some vague abstract yearning for a better future, but a hope that breaths power and life into every moment of our earthly existence. Put that way, I hope you will join Peter and shout, “I really need Easter too!”
I hope you will join our growing congregation to sing the great Alleluia on Easter Sunday, April 24th at any of our three worship experiences. I hope you will join us on Baptism Sunday, the Sunday following Easter on May 1st at either 9:30 AM or our combined 11:00 AM service. Join us at any or all of the Sundays in April – what the Early Church called “little Easters” – on our journey to the Empty Tomb. Yes, Christ is Risen! Thanks God, I really needed that!
Faithfully,
Chip Freed
