lost one…

All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. (Luke 15:1-7, CEB)

If you had 100 sheep and you lost one, what would you do?

If these 100 sheep were all you had and they provided for your livelihood, you would probably do as the shepherd in the story and go to find the lost one. You may not just leave the 99 sheep alone in the pasture, but if no one else was around, you might have to do that.

The shepherd here leaves the 99 by themselves, not in a pen or secure, but out in the pasture, and goes to find the lost one. This seems ridiculous until we are the one. The 99 have the others, and the one is alone.

God will never leave us to fend for ourselves and will always come searching for us.

And once we are back, God will throw a party for us!

Know you are never too far gone and God is always looking for you.

submit?

For the sake of the Lord submit to every human institution. Do this whether it means submitting to the emperor as supreme ruler, or to governors as those sent by the emperor. They are sent to punish those doing evil and to praise those doing good. Submit to them because it’s God’s will that by doing good you will silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Do this as God’s slaves, and yet also as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Have respectful fear of God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:13-17, CEB)

The author of 1 Peter is telling us here to submit to authority, for by doing that, we will silence the ignorant talk of the foolish people.

I wonder what the author of 1 Peter would say about submitting to the talk of those in power in the United States today?

I do not believe that this text means we are to lie down and submit when we know that rulers are stepping away from where God is leading us. I do not believe that we are to submit to authorities that use the name of God for their own uplifting and to keep groups of people from being who they were created to be.

When we speak up and stand against tyranny and bold misuse of power, we stand in the gap for those who are being held down, and in doing that, we show God’s love for all humanity.

Submit to God and stand against tyranny.

you are!

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light. Once you weren’t a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you hadn’t received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, since you are immigrants and strangers in the world, I urge that you avoid worldly desires that wage war against your lives. Live honorably among the unbelievers. Today, they defame you, as if you were doing evil. But in the day when God visits to judge they will glorify him, because they have observed your honorable deeds. (1 Peter 2:9-12, CEB)

You are:

A chosen race!
A royal priesthood!
A holy nation!
A people who are God’s!

Who were chosen and placed here to speak about God and the wonderful acts of Them who called you out of darkness.

You once were not, but now you are.

You are.

Rest in the assurance that you are God’s own chosen child.

153?

Later, Jesus himself appeared again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. This is how it happened: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two other disciples were together. Simon Peter told them, “I’m going fishing.” They said, “We’ll go with you.” They set out in a boat, but throughout the night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Jesus. Jesus called to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” He said, “Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” So they did, and there were so many fish that they couldn’t haul in the net. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he wrapped his coat around himself (for he was naked) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they weren’t far from shore, only about one hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire there, with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you’ve just caught.” Simon Peter got up and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three of them. Yet the net hadn’t torn, even with so many fish. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples could bring themselves to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21:1-14, CEB)

I have always marveled at this passage. First, Peter was naked, out fishing. Well, I remember discussing this in gospels class in seminary, and maybe Peter wasn’t naked, but had on under garments of such, and he put on his outer robe. But why do this to jump in the water to swim to shore?

And then the haul of fish is 153 large fish? Why is this number here, and what does it mean?

All of this is to say that sometimes the mundane facts or questions get in the way of faith. It doesn’t really matter if Peter was wearing clothes or not, or that he put clothes on to jump in the water, or the number of fish they caught. It is the fulfillment of the promises of God that are manifested in Jesus being there.

They know who he is without asking or Jesus telling them, and that is because they know the promises. As we know the promises.

Do not get hung up on the 153 or the clothes, or any other minor thing. Do not expect to know all the answers; that is why it is faith.

We will not know, but we can still believe.

get rid

Therefore, get rid of all ill will and all deceit, pretense, envy, and slander. Instead, like a newborn baby, desire the pure milk of the word. Nourished by it, you will grow into salvation, since you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3, CEB)

Get rid of everything but wonder and excitement for different things and the world.

Get rid of ill will and deceit.
Get rid of pretense, envy, and slander.

Instead, look on the world with wonder and love.

decay

Do this because you have been given new birth—not from the type of seed that decays but from seed that doesn’t. This seed is God’s life-giving and enduring word. Thus,
All human life on the earth is like grass,
    and all human glory is like a flower in a field.
The grass dries up and its flower falls off,
        but the Lord’s word endures forever.
This is the word that was proclaimed to you as good news. (1 Peter 1:23-25, CEB)

We will not decay.

We will live forever.

We are made full by grace.

We will not dry up or fall off.

Grace makes us whole.

Emmaus

On that same day, two disciples were traveling to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking to each other about everything that had happened. While they were discussing these things, Jesus himself arrived and joined them on their journey. They were prevented from recognizing him. He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk along?” They stopped, their faces downcast. The one named Cleopas replied, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who is unaware of the things that have taken place there over the last few days?” He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth. Because of his powerful deeds and words, he was recognized by God and all the people as a prophet. But our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the one who would redeem Israel. All these things happened three days ago. But there’s more: Some women from our group have left us stunned. They went to the tomb early this morning and didn’t find his body. They came to us saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who told them he is alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women said. They didn’t see him.” Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! Your dull minds keep you from believing all that the prophets talked about. Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then he interpreted for them the things written about himself in all the scriptures, starting with Moses and going through all the Prophets. When they came to Emmaus, he acted as if he was going on ahead. But they urged him, saying, “Stay with us. It’s nearly evening, and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?” They got up right then and returned to Jerusalem. They found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying to each other, “The Lord really has risen! He appeared to Simon!” Then the two disciples described what had happened along the road and how Jesus was made known to them as he broke the bread. (Luke 24:13-35, CEB)

Again, a story where people who should have known Jesus had no clue who He was when they saw him. People have spent long days and years with Jesus, following him around and seeing miracles and signs and hearing Him teach, and yet here on the road, when walking with Jesus, they did not recognize him.

We would all say, I would have known it was him. Balony. We would have all been lost in our anger, pain, and loss. We would not have our senses any more than these two disciples.

But when they sat at a table, and Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it, their eyes were opened because their hearts connected with something deeper.

What does your faith connect with?

Repay?

Then Jesus said to the person who had invited him, “When you host a lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, or rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return and that will be your reward. Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind. And you will be blessed because they can’t repay you. Instead, you will be repaid when the just are resurrected.”
(Luke 14:12-14, CEB)

Why do you do what you do?

Is it so that the person you are doing it for will see you and want to repay you?

Do you do things selflessly because they are the right things to do?

So many times, we are about the quid pro quo and not about just being good people.

Do what is right because it is right, not for what you get.

Hope on grace

Therefore, once you have your minds ready for action and you are thinking clearly, place your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Don’t be conformed to your former desires, those that shaped you when you were ignorant. But, as obedient children, you must be holy in every aspect of your lives, just as the one who called you is holy. It is written, You will be holy, because I am holy. (1 Peter 1:13-16, CEB)

Place your hope completely on grace. Knowing you can do nothing to earn it or nothing to lose it.

Just focus your life on being who God has called and created you to be living in the love They have given us all.

Believe!

Although you’ve never seen him, you love him. Even though you don’t see him now, you trust him and so rejoice with a glorious joy that is too much for words. You are receiving the goal of your faith: your salvation. The prophets, who long ago foretold the grace that you’ve received, searched and explored, inquiring carefully about this salvation. They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was saying when he bore witness beforehand about the suffering that would happen to Christ and the glory that would follow. They wondered what sort of person or what sort of time they were speaking about. It was revealed to them that in their search they were not serving themselves but you. These things, which even angels long to examine, have now been proclaimed to you by those who brought you the good news. They did this in the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven. (1 Peter 1:8-12, CEB)

You have never seen Jesus, but you love him.

I disagree. I have seen Jesus. There is a song called Have You Seen Jesus, My Lord.

Have you seen Jesus my Lord?
He’s here in plain view.
Take a look, open your eyes.
He’ll show it to you.

Have you ever looked at the sunset,
With the sky mellow and red,
And the clouds suspended like feathers?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord

Have you ever stood at the ocean,
With the white foam at your feet,
Felt the endless thundering motion?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord

Have you ever looked at the cross,
With a man hanging in pain.
And the look of love in His eyes?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.

Have you ever stood in the family,
With the Lord there in your midst
Seen the face of Christ on your brother?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.

Have you ever prayed for your church,
With the Lord there in your midst,
Seen the face of Christ on your sister?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.

We have seen Jesus and see Him every day when we look at the face of one who was created by God.

See Jesus in your family, your neighbor, the stranger.