Did you know that you’re mentioned in today’s Gospel reading?        
​You are – and so am I.
 
In this week’s reading from John, we find Jesus praying to the Father.
It’s the night of the last supper, where Jesus shared a meal with his disciples, washed their feet, gave them a new commandment to love as he loves, told them of his leaving – and now he prays to God.
So, we are overhearing a portion of his prayer to his Father – who is also our Father – and Jesus prays for us.
Three times he beseeches the Father that we would all become one, just as he and the Father are one.
 
In the first part of John 17, Jesus has been praying for his disciples, the ones he’ll soon be sending out as his apostles. You would know them as Peter, James, John, Andrew, Matthew, etc.
But then, at verse 20, Jesus shifts his prayer to also include others, when he says:
“I don’t only ask for those closest to me, but also for those who’ll believe in me through their word.”
That’s us - all of us - because we’re among those people who have believed in Jesus through the apostles’ word - the inspired witness of the apostles, that we find in the New Testament scriptures.
Through the gospel that’s been preached, through the apostles’ teaching and through the sacraments, the apostles were commissioned to pass on the gospel message to the church from generation to generation.
Through the ministry of Word and Sacrament, you and I have come to believe and trust in our Lord and Saviour - Jesus, the Christ.
 
The first thing Jesus asks for us in his prayer, is for the unity of the church – not just based on warm fuzzies, like holding hands and singing Kumbaya.
No, it’s more than that - it’s a unity created by God’s own work of binding us to himself, giving us the gift of faith.
His work of uniting us in the life of the triune God – triune meaning “three in one”.
Notice how Jesus describes this unity: “just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us,” and again, “that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.”
In theology, this is what they call the “mystical union,” that all believers in Christ are one, incorporated into the life of the one true God, in the one true church.
 
Oneness isn’t about eliminating differences, but it is about love – which is the only thing that can overcome division.
Over and over Jesus tells us that we should love God, love our neighbours, love ourselves and love our enemies.
To love our God, neighbour, self, and enemy, reveals our oneness, and the measure of our oneness is our love.
In love there may be differences, but there is no division.
God’s love knows no boundaries, because God loves all his creatures, irrelevant of gender or race, whether they’re rich or poor, etc. 
All are loved fully, completely, and uniquely, as each one needs.
 
We should thank God that he has brought us into his one church.
The Holy Spirit has given us faith to believe in Christ our Saviour and now we all know the Father’s love.
We believe in one true God, and many have been baptised in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is a God-established unity that cannot fail.
It exists now, in spite of all the divisions and fractures and errors we see in Christendom.
And this unity will last forever, when by God’s grace, and in the love of Christ, all those warts and flaws in the church (and that also means within us), will no longer be visible.
They’ll be healed and Christ will present the church as a bride, radiant and beautiful, holy and without blemish.
 
Now, of course, we should want to make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
By speaking the truth in love, the church will be built up and grow strong – not be blown around by every wind of doctrine, instead holding to the faith that was once delivered to the saints.
 
We should work towards agreement within the church, seeking consensus in its pure doctrine and striving for a God-pleasing uniformity in church practice.
This is a fitting follow-up to what Jesus is praying for us.
 
And there’s an outcome that will surely follow, as we dwell in God, and he in us, and we’re built up in the one apostolic faith.
Our oneness in God will result in mission, as Jesus says: “so that the world may believe that you (God) have sent me.”
People will come to faith in Christ as the church lives in, manifests, and testifies to, the love of God.
 
You’ll probably remember those well-known words from John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
This is the love of God that we have received and experienced, and it is a love that will then shine through us, out into a sin-darkened world, drawing more and more people from every nation into the one holy church.
 
It’s happening all around us in the world today.
What Jesus is praying for in this prayer, is coming to pass as the church grows and the gospel expands into every corner of the world.
In Africa, Asia, South America and many other countries, the church is growing by leaps and bounds.
In places like Ethiopia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore, Argentina, Korea, China and Peru, we see the church expanding and establishing new beachheads for the kingdom on every shore.
 
This is the same gospel that saved you and me and it speaks of God’s own Son coming to earth to pay for our sins.
It’s the good news of Jesus Christ, wholly God, yet wholly man, bearing the sins of the world in his body on the cross. He’s the one and only Saviour that God has given for all men, everywhere and he’s the only one you’ll ever need.
 
In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Christ won this for us on the cross, purchasing our salvation with his precious blood.
And then he rose, victorious in the strife, defeating all our foes - death, the devil, the grave, the condemnation that you and I deserve because of our sins.
These all are overcome by the death and resurrection of God’s Son, Christ our Saviour.
Now in heaven, he sits at God’s right hand, making intercessions for us, just like our own High Priest.
And he’ll come again at the last day, to take us home to be with him forever.
 
And that then is the other thing Jesus prays for us in this prayer. Jesus prays to his Father in these words: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24)
Jesus prays this as he’s about to go to the cross, to complete the saving mission for which he was sent.
What follows is his resurrection and, forty days later, his ascension to be with the Father.
So when Jesus prays that we may be with him where he is, to see his glory, he’s talking about our eternal life in heaven in the age to come.
There, with him, we’ll see his glory, undimmed and undiminished.
We’ll be with him and will see him face to face.
 
What a glorious day that will be!
An endless, joyful eternity with our Lord and with all his people, in a paradise restored and made even better!
Friends, this is paradise restored - creation restored, and made even better.
No more sin, or sorrow, or death - only life and abundance and joy.
 
This is what we have to look forward to and this is our hope - our lively hope that animates all our days.
We look forward to that day with great expectation.
 
“Come, Lord Jesus!” is the church’s fervent cry and friends, this will be the ultimate fulfilment of Jesus’ own prayer, the prayer he prays for us, that we may be with him where he is.
 
Pastor Rick

​Just after Jesus has told his disciples that he’s going away, to a place that they cannot follow (meaning his crucifixion and death), John reports Jesus also telling them that, as long as they love him and keep his commandments, God will send the Holy Spirit, an advocate, a comforter, to be with them after he is gone and it will be with them forever. 
These are reassuring words to his closest group, who would surely have been wondering what was going to happen to them all when Jesus departs.
After all, they’re mainly simple folk, who gave up everything to follow their master for all these years – and now it seems as if he’s going to leave them in the lurch.
 
In this day and age, we also take assurances from the word of Jesus, knowing that God loves us and has planned our lives in advance - we just need to follow his examples and keep his commandments, to know that he’ll take care of us.
 
Later on, in God’s Revelation to John, we come to what is, for all practical purposes, the conclusion of the biblical story, the climax, the consummation, the finale and in the last chapter, and what we hear is glorious.
Are you wanting to know something about heaven and why it’s a home worth longing for?
Then ponder on the words of this passage in Revelation.
Let its rich colours and images soak into your soul, enlighten your heart, renew your faith and hope and love.
 
John, the author of this book, describes a city that’s come down to be the centre of the new heaven and earth.
He extols the beauty and perfection of this city - this new Jerusalem is a golden city - crystal clear like a rare jewel.
The wall surrounding this four-square city has a dozen gates, with three gates on each side, each a giant lustrous pearl, each one guarded by an angel.
This is a stable city, resting not on a single foundation, but on twelve foundations, one atop another, each foundation made of a different precious stone.
 
The early readers of these words would surely have been comforted, because the old city of Jerusalem, their holy city, with its great temple, had been demolished by the Romans in 70AD.
Hearing of this new Jerusalem, as John describes it, would have elevated and enlivened the desires of their hearts for God and the consummation of God’s purposes - just as it can for us, today.
 
But what we learn of their new Jerusalem, can function in another way as well.
It can help us recognize glimpses of heaven that intrude into our lives.
Because, when we live by faith, heaven’s not a faraway and alien country, but rather we find ourselves dwelling, some of the time at least, in the suburbs of this new Jerusalem; and moments come when we’re granted sights of its golden crystalline splendour - often when we least expect this to happen.
 
There are three points to remember about heaven that influence the glimpses of heaven that we have here on earth:
Firstly, heaven is a community.
The story of humankind in the Bible takes us from a garden with only one couple, to a vast city with a cosmopolitan population - this new Jerusalem.
Here, there’s an intimate, personal encounter with God, with Christ, but it also leads us to a generous embrace of the world, which God created - and for which Christ died.
Yes, the new Jerusalem described here for us is a vast, cosmopolitan city, with people of every kind - people from every nation.
It’s the capital city of the God who delights in diversity.
If you want a foretaste of heaven, a little nibble to whet your appetite, go out on a fine summer day to a park where there are several big family picnics taking place.
Catch the spirit there in the hubbub and the conviviality - or go to a playground in that park, where dozens of kids dash about in perpetual motion, each on a different trajectory.
There, before you on that fine summer day, is a slice of what heaven will be like.
 
Secondly, heaven is a place of healing.
John points to this when he describes what we call the horticulture of heaven.
Through the city runs the river, a beautiful river, the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, more splendid than anything you’ve seen.
On the banks of the river appear rows of magnificent trees, bearing fruit not once or twice a year, but a super tree - astoundingly fruitful.
Then John finishes with “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”    
The healing of the nations!
So, heaven has medicine for the wounds that separate and scar the nations of the earth.
This new Jerusalem is, therefore, a place of reconciliation, where old and deep antagonisms no longer produce their poison, where traditional enemies enjoy peace with one another.
It’s not that these costly antagonisms, these wars and feuds and oppressions, are forgotten, repressed or ignored.
What happens is that the wounds are healed, brokenness gives way to wholeness, hatred gives way to love and nations who were once at odds, now, together, bring their glory and honour into the new Jerusalem.
Leaving behind anything false or foul, they freely offer their particular gifts.
All this happens because of the healing leaves of the trees.
 
If the national wounds can be healed, so too can smaller, but no less painful wounds.
Things like strife between tribes and clans, or families and classes, and groups, and even individuals.
All these are healed in heaven by the price paid by the cross of Jesus.
Everyone leaves behind what is evil and makes a peace offering to God.
 
So, if you want to see a bit of heaven on earth, go someplace where reconciliation is real, where wounds big and small are treated and healed.
Or bring this heaven to earth yourself - work for justice and peace.
Or bring it still closer to home: forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it, maybe even yourself.
There, you’ll catch a bit of heaven’s glimmer; you’ll be in the near suburbs of the new Jerusalem.
 
Finally, heaven is a place of vision.
Note the references to light in the passage.
We hear that the light of the new Jerusalem is God’s glory and its lamp is Jesus, the Lamb.
By this light the nations will walk, the gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night.
So what is the object of vision in this city of purity and light?
John tells us in a few words: “the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”
God’s servants will be marked as belonging to God, even as now the church marks the brows of newly baptized with the sign of the cross, the seal of the Spirit.
It’s the privilege of these servants not only to worship God, but to see God.
This - the sight of God - is what, above all else, makes this place heaven!
 
Here, in our present life, worship remains indirect.
We use sacraments and signs, images and words that suggest the divine reality to our hearts and minds.
But there, in the new Jerusalem, we shall see God face to face.
Here we’ll encounter God amid the shadows and uncertainties of life.
There we shall see God in the bright light of eternal day and in the delightful rest of eternal sabbath.
 
We’ll have achieved the purpose of our existence and entered into abundant joy from which there’ll be no exit.
In the celebrated words of St. Augustine, “We shall rest and we shall see; we shall see and we shall love; we shall love and we shall praise. Behold what shall be in the end and shall not end.”
 
The creator of all things, the Lord of all time, is giving us glimpses of that great city, reminders of our true home.
We can’t dictate when these glimpses will occur, but we must leave ourselves open to recognizing them and welcome them when they happen.
We can learn, and re-learn, that heaven is a community, a place of healing, a place of vision.
We can long for heaven in its fullness but also enjoy the glimpses that appear to us now in moments of vision and healing and community.
 
So, we don’t need to stress or worry, for God provides everything we need – we just need to be alert to its presence.
 
Blessings in your journey through this earthly life……………Pastor Rick

​If you ask the average Aussie how they would identify a person as a Christian, the chances are that you’d get maybe one mention of something they do - and also a list of the many things that they don’t do.
The one identifying thing they say we do will probably be: “Well, I guess they go to church.”
The list of don’ts will possibly vary a bit, depending on who they’ve bumped into recently.
Perhaps their response might include: “Well, they don’t drink, or swear, or have sex until they’re married.”


Being against these things is about a million miles away from what Jesus wanted his followers to be known for.
 
A recent survey in the US by the Barna Group found that, over the 20 lifestyle elements studied, there was remarkably little difference in attitudes between those who profess to be Christians and those who don’t. 
I think Jesus would be heartbroken over this result, don’t you?
 
As we find in today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells his followers to: “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
 
Presumably then, the answer that Jesus would wish for his followers to have inspired from the average Aussie Joe in the street, is: “They just love everybody, those Christians. They’ve got no idea! They treat the deadbeats like royalty. They think everyone should be welcome here. They want a second chance for every lowlife loser. They’re over the top. I mean, I’m all for love your neighbour and love your family and all that, because charity is supposed to start at home, but these Jesus followers, well, they’re just fanatical about it. They don’t seem to know when to stop.”

Tragically, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that answer given, but it did, however, seem to be what was said about Jesus himself, in his time with us and I guess that’s the point.
 
In John’s gospel, the words of Jesus about his “new” commandment, follow immediately on from him saying:
“I am only going to be with you for a little while longer.”
They’re part of his conversation with the disciples at the last supper and are some of his parting words to them - his last will and testament, if you like.


So, in the short term, he’s thinking about a situation in which people will remember what he was like when he was walking the streets, and so the point is that people will recognise his disciples by their similarity to him.
They’ll say: “These people treat everyone the way Jesus treated everyone. They must be followers of his, because no-one else would behave like that.”

For that to be the case - for people to automatically make that connection - there has to be this “over-the-top”, “above-and-beyond” aspect to the love that’s shown.
It’s quite common for the average Aussie to say, “Yeah, I reckon I’m a Christian; I follow the golden rule, you know, love your neighbour and all that.”
But Jesus is saying that what people WILL notice is something that’s clearly abnormal, something beyond the norm.
 
In another context, that was the point that Jesus offers by telling the parable of the good Samaritan - in answer to the question, “who is my neighbour?”
Loving your neighbour is not re ally radical - so long as you give your own safe definition of who your neighbour is.
But to paraphrase what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount: “Why should you expect any special reward for loving those who love you?  Even the gangsters and people smugglers do that.”

Right the way through the gospel accounts, the things that are constantly getting Jesus into trouble with the religious leaders - and sometimes with the people in his hometown - are things where his words and actions make loving someone a priority over just obeying rules, observing social niceties, and maintaining the conventional boundaries of “who is my neighbour and who is not”.

Jesus could be thinking: “This bloke needs healing and, yes, I could do it, but it’s the Sabbath and I’m not supposed to do that sort of thing on the Sabbath. But I love him. Why make him wait any longer. I’ll do it now.”
That kind of thinking would end up getting Jesus into trouble with the religious authorities.

Or he could think, “this woman has been caught committing adultery, and the crowd have gathered to execute her by stoning, as the law requires. Do I endorse the law and let them do it.  No! Love doesn’t stand by and let this woman die. I’ll stick my neck out and point out that she’s no worse than anyone else here and challenge them to claim otherwise. That will save her.”
Now we’re talking about being in BIG trouble!

In a same vein, “these people are sitting here in the synagogue applauding me for saying that God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, but they’re so racist. They hate the Palestinians, Sidonians and the Syrians. I’ll tell them that God loves these people just as much as he loves them - and he wants them to do likewise.”
Now he’s in BIG, BIG TROUBLE!
Jesus is going to get himself thrown off a cliff.
 
This last example is the same issue we see played out in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles and it goes to show that the first generation of the followers of Jesus were still struggling with the implications of this
boundary-breaking love after his resurrection and ascension.


They were still caught up in an assumption that, to be a follower of Jesus, meant being Jewish first and still following the religious laws - like what they could and couldn’t eat.
But God had sent Peter to speak to the household of Cornelius - who was not only a gentile, but an officer in the hated Roman occupation forces.
And when God obviously pours out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his family, Peter and the church leaders have to decide what to make of this outrageous disregard of the boundaries.
Are they supposed to love these people? Accept them? Sit and eat at the same table with them? Unthinkable!
It goes against everything they’ve been brought up to believe! But, in the end, they rightly conclude that if the Lord himself is breaking the boundaries and pouring out his love on these people, then they either follow suit, or get themselves out of step with what God is doing.
So they should love as Jesus loves, no matter what trouble it might cause.

Perhaps then, instead of just saying, “If you love like me then everyone will know that you are my followers,”
Jesus could have said, “If you love so generously and extravagantly and outrageously that you stir up scandal and controversy and get denounced as fanatics and lunatics and sympathisers and bleeding hearts, then everyone will know that you must be one of my followers.”

The call of Jesus to love as he loved, affects pretty much every question and issue we face in life, both as a church and as individuals in the other circles we move in.
It goes to the core of our discipleship, not just because Jesus issued it with the force of a commandment, but because it was the most distinctive feature of his own life and ministry, of his own way of being.
 
When we gather around the communion table to offer ourselves to Christ and to his people, love is what it’s all about - loving God, loving one another gathered here and loving others, wherever they are.
Every time we celebrate Holy Communion, we’re challenged again to come to terms with just how radically and extravagantly and dangerously Jesus loves us, and with that challenge comes the call to offer ourselves to him, to be remade in his image, as people who love as he loved, for his glory and for the liberation of the world.
 
Are we ready to step out in faith, following the example Jesus set?
Will people look at, and to, us when they’re searching for that “Christian” difference to change their life?
 
I pray that we will be able to rise above the masses and stand out as someone that Christ would be proud of.
 
Pastor Rick

​Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers.
Even if you’re not one, we’ve all had one, and on this day, we give thanks to God for everything they’ve done for us.
 
In Psalm 23, we read that “the Lord is my shepherd” and this conjures up some great feelings of safety and security.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells those assembled in front of him that only his sheep can hear his voice.
And in Revelation, we’re told that “the lamb will be at the centre of the throne and will be their shepherd.”
So, we can see that shepherds are very important people in the Kingdom of God – a bit like mothers are!
 
But if you’ve ever been on a sheep station then you’ll probably agree that sheep are not very clever creatures!
You’ll notice that they all tend to follow each other, often in single file and jump for no apparent reason.
 
As citizens of the twenty first century, we don’t take kindly to being likened to sheep.
Granted, in earlier generations, Australia was said to have economically ridden on the sheep’s back, but that’s about where our respect for these animals ends.
Yes, the wool cheque is welcome - but not so the preacher who makes a comparison between us and these woolly imbeciles.
Therefore, I won’t be the one making the comparison; I’ll leave it up to you.
 
But actually, if you’ve ever had a pet lamb, or petted them at the Royal Easter Show, you’ll know how easy it is to become quite attached to them; and I’m sure that’s how it was for the shepherds in the time of Jesus.
They lived with their flock, day in and day out, knew them individually and when even one sheep strayed, they would risk their lives to save them. 
Therefore, it was a natural thing for Jesus to relate us to a flock of sheep, which he had gathered together, and to this flock, looking small and vulnerable among the powerful “wolves and bears” of the Roman Empire, Jesus made this promise when he said:
“I give them [that is, my sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”
 
What does this concept “eternal life” mean to you? 
Sadly, some people get the idea that all it means is living forever, staying just as we are.
But let me say, if that’s all it means, I’m out of here.
I don’t want to feel trapped in the limitations of this earthly life - life as I now have it - forever.
The God of Jesus offers us something infinitely better.
Eternal life to him means the fullest possible life, life of the limitless new age, that which humanity has dreamed of.
An awesome life, unlimited life; unbounded in every way, without walls and barriers - nothing to stop us. 
It has new horizons, new depths, new heights, new joys and love beyond anything we thought possible.
 
I feel like I get close to defining it when I say: “Wow!” - eternal life is a “wow” life, with an exclamation mark!  
Not life with a comma, or a tired old semi-colon; not life with a question mark, or life within parentheses.
Certainly not life with a full stop. 
 
The timeless dimension, immortality, is just one of the many facets of eternal life.
To be liberated from this time and space, is merely one of the wonders of its amazing abundance.
Of course, this is important and I’m not trying to minimise this part of it. 
For example, when I see a child wither and die from say, leukaemia, I find profound comfort and encouragement that their life-force, their soul, isn’t terminated along with their physical body, because they have an eternal life with God.
 
Please don’t limit your vision of eternal life to this one element, as it’s only one of the kaleidoscope of opportunities.
 
Eternal life is gloriously expansive, opportunity beyond measure, a level of bliss and growth that no number of earthly words could possibly describe.
It’s the opportunity to be with the Lord forever - and who could want for anything more than that?
 
The next important thing I want to try and express to you is that this “wow life” is life that it begins right now. 
Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, we read that the disciples had already commenced eternal life.
Trusting in Jesus and his God is the way to begin that new life now. 
As Paul says: “If anyone is in Christ, there is new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new.”
 
Caught as we are in the limitations of the here and now, eternal life is only a foretaste - but it is also the real thing. Our bodies and minds limit us, the social and political structures of the world limit us.
But in Christ Jesus, we begin to explore the unlimited dimension - that for which we were created and redeemed.  We begin to experience the awesomeness of: “Wow!”
 
When I look back upon my own little life, scratchy and patchy though it still is; when I remember how my faith grew and my experiences altered from the moment I decide to follow Jesus, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude.
It didn’t happen all at once, as the growth can be incremental.
Often, I’ve been impatient – sometimes, I’ve lost the plot, but through the greatness of God, it is happening! 
 
So, I hope I’ve convinced you that eternal life is with us right now.
It’s as if, with Christ at our side, we’re surfing the wave of eternity - right here in our current time.
All around us are the many limitations of time; but on that wave, with Christ beside us, we’re riding along on the crest of the unlimited; the wave of eternal life.
 
And the most significant joy of eternal life is love.
It’s no surprise that John’s Gospel, which is the one that favours the words “eternal life”, is also the one that most forcefully speaks of the importance of love.
Any man or woman who thinks they are just surfing the wave to eternal life, but who aren’t caught up in a greater love – both divine and human – are just fooling themselves. 
Love is the only valid test - love of God, love of each other and love of ourselves.
 
Love is a far more important ingredient of eternal life than is the fact of surviving death - for without love, just surviving death would be pointless.
 
Christ assures us that none of his flock will perish.  
Here, once again, we encounter that strong word: “perish”. 
Flowers wilt and perish, fruits perish, blue Ulysses butterflies perish, leaping red kangaroos perish, our personalities can be corrupted and perish, our bodies will perish, but not the soul-being of those to whom Christ has already transferred to eternal life.  The flock of Christ won’t perish.
 
What matters to us, especially in times of crisis, is not our grasp on the Lord, but his grasp on us.
 
It’s by his grace that we’ll make it, not by our own skill or cleverness.
When we think we can go it alone, then we’re surely in trouble.
But with Christ, we can make it through, knowing that his is the stronger grasp.
That’s a part of the “Wow!” I’ve been talking about.
 
Are you ready to give up trying to do it all by yourself and to surrender to the love of the shepherd?
God is faithful and will never let us down or abandon us.
 
So, if you haven’t already done so, give yourself over to him and join the eternal flock.
Open yourself to him in prayer and surrender to his eternal, wow, life.
I know that you’ll find it to be the best decision you’ll ever make.
Take a moment now, in prayer, to talk to God and ask him to be your life force, now and into the future.
 
Pastor Rick

​In the final movie of the trilogy “Lord of the Rings”, film director Peter Jackson almost seems unsure of what he wants the ending to be.
It seems like he couldn’t decide how this great work by the novelist J.R.R. Tolkien should conclude.
Maybe, in the back of his mind was the thought “Can I make a sequel after this and make even more money?” 
 
The writer of the gospel of John also seems to have been a bit undecided about where to end his work.
Chapter 20 appears to be the logical conclusion, with Jesus doing many other miraculous signs, “which are not recorded in this book”, but then John adds an epilogue which takes us back to where it all began – fishing on the Sea of Tiberias, which is the name used in many Roman texts (we know it better as the Sea of Galilee).
 
Although this story appears to be a bit of an afterthought, it does add to the overall picture of life after the resurrection and it may have been added later by John, or by another writer.
 
We should note that this story is not repeated in any of the other Gospels.
 
Ok, so after the tumultuous entry into Jerusalem of Palm Sunday, the shocking crucifixion on Good Friday and the miraculous resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, Peter and some of the other disciples had gone back to doing what they knew best – fishing – and, early one morning, a man appears on the shore and asks them if they’ve caught anything.
 
Well, they hadn’t had any luck that night, so, when the man tells them to throw their nets onto the other side of the boat and assures them that they’ll catch some fish over there, well, they were doubtful.
But, when they did – my goodness - they could hardly pull the nets in, because there were so many fish in them.
 
It was only then that John recognised Jesus and said to Peter “It is the Lord!”
 
This was the third time that Jesus had appeared to Peter and the disciples.
That number (3), may have been significant in that Peter had denied knowing his Lord 3 times on the night of the trial of Jesus.
It is also consistent with the number of times that Jesus then asks Peter if he (Peter) loves him (Jesus).
 
When Peter assures Jesus that he does, Jesus gives to Peter a call to action.
He says, “Look after, feed and tend my sheep.”
 
Peter did, in fact, go on to demonstrate his love for Christ, becoming the head of the church in Jerusalem and preaching the Gospel widely, as far away as Antioch and even Rome.
He would even be taken somewhere that he didn’t really want to go - to his death on a cross for proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God.
His obedience to the task that Jesus gave him would bring glory to God and help to spread the Christian message throughout the known world.
 
We can see that the events of Easter changed things.
Not only for those left behind when Jesus ascended into heaven, but for us, too.
We’ve been charged with the responsibility of looking after others, feeding and caring for them.
 
There’s no going back once a Christian makes the decision to follow Jesus Christ.
They can only move forward as a response to the call of their risen Lord.
 
When things get difficult in our lives, we, too, find it tempting to go back to safe, familiar surroundings, but Christ calls us to go out, to go forward into unfamiliar territory, onto shaky ground.
We’re called to obedience, to put ourselves, our own security, to the back and to push on in Christ’s name.
We know that Peter wasn’t perfect, before or after this encounter with Jesus, but he was obedient and he moved forward, unafraid of whatever would come.
 
This passage can also be a great text for a prayer. I encourage you to read it in that way and try imagining Jesus asking you “Do you love me?”
Then ask yourself whether you can respond like Peter did.
Listen in silence to hear what God reveals to you.
Determine who is in need of love and help and then form a plan for how you can assist them.
 
It might seem scary at first, but going forward will glorify Christ and we should remember him saying that he will go ahead of us and call us.
 
Our calling might not be exactly what we had imagined.
And it might take us to some strange places.
It’s all part of what I’m terming “mysterious callings”.
 
In a similar way, as we hear from the book of Acts, Saul, also known by his Roman name Paul, was another one who didn’t imagine the future that God had in mind for him.
He was a Jew’s Jew, a Pharisee, well trained in the Jewish religious ways.
 
In a later letter to the believers in Philippi, Paul described himself as having been circumcised as an infant on the eighth day.
He further confirmed this by stating that he was of the people Israel and he went on to cite his descent from the tribe of Benjamin.
 
At the time after the death and resurrection of Jesus, he was persecuting Christians and has even been implicated in the stoning of Stephen.
 
We read in Acts of his miraculous and mysterious encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, where Jesus asked Saul why he was persecuting him.
This encounter left Saul blind for 3 days and during that time, he fasted and prayed to God. 
Jesus then sent Ananias and tasked him with the power to restore Saul’s sight.
 
From that time on, Paul proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God and preached far and wide around the Mediterranean, reaching out to both Jews and gentiles, telling them of God’s love for all of them.
He was so convinced of the truth about Jesus, that he endured many hardships, including times in prison and under house arrest, finally dying in Rome around 66AD.
 
Maybe we don’t feel called in the same ways as Peter or Paul were, but I’m sure that God has a plan for all of us and we’re charged with the responsibility to determine just what that is.
We won’t find that plan written down anywhere, but I believe that, in our prayerful conversations with God, he will reveal it to us.
Then, with his help, we can start putting it into action.
 
Remember, Jesus assured us that we wouldn’t be asked to do anything that God hadn’t prepared us for, so we need to trust him and move forward with the support of the Holy Spirit.
 
Do you love the Lord?
Are you prepared to follow him?
Will you help spread the gospel, the good news about Jesus?
 
I pray that you can answer the Lord in the same way as Peter did, by saying “You know that I do and that I will.”
 
Pastor Rick