Central Lutheran Church - Elk River

Do You Love Me? 1, 2, 3 with Pastor Ryan Braley

• Central Lutheran Church

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A charcoal fire, the smell of fish, and a question that won’t let go: Do you love me? We walk the shoreline with Peter from the night of denial to a dawn of restoration, and we discover why Jesus asks three times—not to shame, but to heal, reframe, and entrust. The tension is familiar: there’s the self we intend to be and the self that shows up when fear hits. Instead of pretending the split isn’t there, we name it, then watch how grace composes something larger—like day three of creation, where separation becomes space for life.

We unpack how the miraculous catch opens Peter’s eyes, why the identical charcoal fire matters, and how trauma loses power when it’s spoken aloud. Each yes to “Do you love me?” turns into a concrete task: feed my sheep, tend my lambs. Service becomes the path out of shame’s loop. Along the way, we explore the Hebrew imagination of numbers—one, two, three—as a lens for unity, discord, and harmony that holds both without erasing either. This isn’t theory; it’s a map for everyday choices, from relationships to leadership to the way we show up for our neighbors.

We also turn toward our community and publicly commission Ben with five charges: receive unearned grace, see people with compassion, keep intimacy with God ahead of output, lead by serving, and extend forgiveness by raising others to lead. If your past feels like an anchor or your present feels like drift, this conversation offers a third way forward. Name what hurts. Answer the question. Then feed someone—literally, spiritually, practically. If this episode moves you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review with one tension you’re ready to name and transform.

Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org


SPEAKER_00:

Amen. Let's pray this morning. God, we ask for your grace and mercy to be with us this morning. And um Yeah, would you open our eyes and our ears this morning to hear what you'd have to say to us? And uh may the word preached and the prayers and the songs and this ordination ceremony for Ben. May it yeah, may it minister to the deepest parts of our souls that need uh uh that need it so badly. God may the good news overwhelm us this morning in every way. And uh may this be uh indeed a day of celebration. And uh we pray these things in your holy and precious name. Amen. I may you be seated. Morning, everyone, how are we doing? Good. So we are in the uh at the in the middle, a couple weeks into our our sermon series called This Isn't Rhetorical, and it's actually a sermon series about the questions that Jesus asked. So Jesus asked lots of questions because he was a good Jewish rabbi in the first century, and um that was one of the ways that they would, you know, the the fancy word is pedagogy, that pedagogically they would ask questions and that's what it teach people. And so he asked over 300 questions. So we are gonna pick out one each week and kind of just talk about it and ask it. And the idea is that as we as we hear the question that Jesus asked, we would hear it, you know, asked in the first century. Of course, that this one this morning was asked to Peter, but also we'd hear it asked of us today. So Jesus asks Peter, Do you love me? And he asked him three times. And uh, by the way, the there's threes all over this story this morning. My sermon title this morning is actually that. It is uh, oh hang on one second. It is uh sorry, what's any idea what's happening right now? Close your eyes, close your eyes, hold on, close your eyes. Nobody peeking. That was weird of okay, there we go. Now we're good. Are you guys doing that or am I? I I got the clicker, so I'll I'll take care of it. How about all right, hang tight. Keep them closed, keep them closed. Clearly, we did not rehearse this this morning. Okay, now we're ready. Okay. The sermon is titled, Do You Love Me? One, two, three. Uh, there's lots of threes in this story. If you can find them, uh you get a prize at the end of the sermon, I guess. Uh so uh Jesus asks Peter, Do you love me? Now, here's the deal. This is right after the resurrection. And scholars don't really know what the exact chronology, uh, chrono uh chronological order was of the appearances of Jesus. We know he appears a bunch of times. Uh he appears as a gardener in the uh in the tomb area. Uh, he appears in the room with the disciples. He also appears here on the side of the Sea of Galilee with Peter and the disciples there. And they're not really sure because in the old in the ancient world, they would sometimes arrange, you know, uh stories and kind of patch them together. So no one really knows which one came first, but I love the notion that this one might have come first. So this is the first time that Peter and the other disciples are seeing Jesus after the resurrection, and they're up north in Galilee around the sea, and they're uh they're hanging out and they're actually fishing, and then they see Jesus. So imagine that they haven't seen Jesus resurrected yet, and this is what happened. So just prior to this, a couple of days ago, Jesus, their rabbi, their teacher, their their master, like the one whom they had lived for three years with. They slept with him, they journeyed with him, they spent tons of time with them. He had called them as young men to come and follow him. And they spent all this time doing all these incredible things, and then he was uh was arrested, convicted for for no child. I mean, he was it was he was an innocent man, and he was uh he was murdered on a cross. And in every way, the disciples had lost. Like the movement that was supposed to start with Jesus, this incredible thing that was happening, the crowds buzzing, it all was over. And these guys watched their rabbi, their master, the leader of their little tribe, their movement. They watched him get hung on a cross, a shameful way of dying. And it was all over. The jig was up, and they ran for their lives. Because you can imagine if your leader was hung on a cross, that meant that you were next in the Roman Empire. Like you were next. And they were gonna come find you, and they were also gonna crucify you as a rebel and as a rabble rouser. So they're like extremely afraid, they're lost, they have no idea where to go. And so, in this moment of like deep, dark despair, Peter says, you know what? Uh, I'm gonna go fishing. Like you do when you're stressed out. Like, I mean, I can't, I gotta go out and go fishing. I got I need to relieve some stress. I'm going out on the on the sea to do some fishing, which I think is just hilarious because Peter uh has no idea what else to do. So, you know what? I'm gonna go fishing. But there's also this Peter, as you remember, was by trade a fisherman. He was a professional fisherman. So years prior, three years prior, he was doing this work day in and day out. And then Jesus calls him out of that work and he goes to follow Jesus. And now, in the moment of like despair and feeling lost and broken, like the whole thing has come to an end. And after three years of being with Jesus and walking on water, Peter walked on water after watching Jesus heal the woman who was bleeding for 12 years, after he cuts a guy's ear off to defend Jesus, after all of that, Peter simply goes back to his old life as though nothing happened, as though it was all a dream. You know, sometimes you and I we don't know what to do, and the stress is overwhelming, and we just go back to our old way of living. I was thinking the other day, I'm like, you know what? There are really uh two different kinds of Ryan. So, for example, there's the Ryan, uh, and maybe you can relate to this. I don't know. There's the Ryan over here. This is Ryan. We'll call it Ryan 1. And this is like the Ryan I want to be. Like the Ryan I dream of kind of being. If I could be this guy, this is what I would be. Here, I'll here's what he looks like. He looks like this. Just always happy and smiley, in a good mood. Very handsome in that picture. You can clearly apparently he's winking. I did not mean to do that, but he's winking. But here's the reality. There's another Ryan. There's another Ryan that kind of lives in there too. Uh the great Brennan Manning says that you and I are like a mixed bag of contradictions. So over here is the Ryan that sometimes surfaces. I don't know, on a Thursday mid-morning when I haven't had my coffee yet. Uh, or when I'm in line anywhere, and the line is more than three people deep, and it's taking forever. Or in a matchup and they run out of guacamole. This is the other Ryan that shows up on occasion. This Ryan looks like this, maybe. How's that? He's stressed out, Ryan. You know what I mean? And here's the reality: maybe you have the same kind of thing in you, and there's like this tension between these two Ryan's like the Ryan I want to be, and the Ryan I sometimes end, that I'm not always the most proud of. And I believe this in the story, you see this in Peter, and this tension in Peter. So Peter has no idea what to do. So he's like, I'm gonna go fishing. And he goes out on the lake with his buddies, takes his nets, and he goes back to his old lifestyle he had just a few years before. Now remember, the last time that Peter saw Jesus, because they're about to meet again on this on the Sea of Galilee's shores here after the resurrection, but the last time they saw each other was a few days earlier. And Peter is at the trial of his best friend. Jesus is being convicted, and Peter's there. Now, again, they know if they crucify the leader of your tribe or your little movement, they're gonna take all of you down. And so they someone spots Peter. Peter's over there warming himself by a coal fire. I imagine that's like a fire made of coals. And uh he's warming, he's warming himself, watching, but he won't he won't acknowledge who he is. And they they say to him, Hey, you're one of the followers of that guy. And Peter's like, No, I'm not. No, I'm not. And he denies his friendship with him. And they ask him again, a second time, yo, dude, you're the guy, you're you're with this dude. Peter's like, not me, dude. Nah, bro, I don't know that guy. I don't know him at all. Twice around this coal fire. Third time, yo, you're the guy, you're with Jesus, you're with that guy. And again, the text tells us Peter denies it. Now I don't know him. Three times. Jesus had warned Peter, you're gonna deny me three times. And Peter's like, No, I won't, dude. And here he is, denies him three times around this coal fire. In fact, in Matthew's gospel, it says he's so irate Peter is, he's so he like doubles and triples down, he curses at everyone around him. I don't know him. Curse words. I don't know that dude. He's not me, it's not my friend. I don't know him at all. And that was the last time they saw each other. Three times Peter denies him. So maybe Peter goes back to fishing because he's like, I don't know what else to do. I'm stressed out. I could use a fish lunch or a fish breakfast. But maybe also Peter is acutely aware of his failures that happened just a couple days ago. And his own weaknesses, his inadequacies. And Peter, maybe in this moment, thinks he's no longer worthy of anything except to go back to his old life. Maybe you've been there, like I don't I've I've I've I've I've screwed up so bad I can't do anything else. I all I know I gotta just go back. I can't do anything else. I'm not worthy of anything. And Peter, in this excruciating betrayal of his best friend, maybe thinks he's disqualified himself from anything that Jesus wanted him to do originally. And all those three years that have gone by, it meant nothing because Peter's like, I I ruined it all, and none of it matters. And so he leaves and goes fishing. It's all he knows to do. He's discouraged, disillusioned, and disappointed. See, there's this tension for Peter as well. The Peter that Peter wants to be, that maybe he sees kind of emerging in the days of Jesus when he's hanging out, walking on water, Peter, that guy. Like, boy, that dude is a that dude's a legend. And then there's the other Peter that also surfaces. It's the denying Peter. Peter the betrayer. Yeah, that guy's down there too. And Peter feels this tension and he doesn't know what to do with it. And so what does he do? He goes back to his old way of living, his old life, his old lifestyle. Because at least there, maybe the shame and the guilt and the embarrassment won't feel as painful. So he goes backwards. Now, there they are on the side of the Sea of Galilee, and they're fishing. They fish all night, and then the next morning the sun comes up, and there's somebody on the shore. They don't know who it is yet. It's Jesus, by the way. They don't know yet, though. So, and this person calls out to them, hey friends, do you have any fish? Now, Peter, because he's a fisherman, he knows the fisherman code. You know the fisherman code. If you're catching a bunch of fish and someone comes by on their boat, hey, you guys catch a lot of fish? Of course, the answer is, no, nothing here, man. No fish here. Sorry, move along. Right? Yeah, you know the fisherman's code. You don't tell anybody, yeah, bro, there's tons of fish. Now you got 30 boats that come on. We don't want that. No, dude, no fish here. Nothing to see here. Although, of course, they actually hadn't caught any fish. They caught nothing all night, which has got to be disappointing. I know we fishermen tell ourselves, you know, I'm just here for the scene and the fresh air, and I love just being in the, it's all part of the journey. No, I want to catch some fish, you know what I'm saying? So the guy from the shores, wait, we haven't caught nothing. And the guy from the shore goes, hey, why don't you throw your nets on the other side of the boat? Which is terrible advice. Here's why. This is a boat from the first century. This is actually excavated on the Sea of Galilee. It's a first century boat. Those of us went to Israel a couple years ago, we saw this boat. It's called the Jesus boat or the Sea of Galilee boat. It's not very big, okay? It's not very wide. So this guy from the shoreline, who's like an expert apparently in fishing, it's like, hey, take your net, because they would fish with nets, and move it over two feet. Now, I don't know about you, but that's not a great idea, uh, in my opinion. That's like saying if someone's shoveling and digging, you know, for a treasure left-handed, and someone's like, hey, any treasure? Nothing. Oh, try using your right hand. Okay. Nope, still nothing. Idiot. That's not in the text. I made that part up, but and they do it, and lo and behold, they catch so many fish, they can't bring them into the boat. And then Peter's like, it's Jesus. He goes, Is it you, Lord? And Peter, ever the impetuous young fella who just is brash and a bit maniacal, which I love about Peter, just jumps in the water to swim ashore. I love that about Peter. He just goes for it. Sometimes, you know, you're so afraid. It's like we just need to channel our inner Peter. Just go for it, man. You only get one life anyway, and life is what you make it. So he jumps in the water, which is also hilarious because, you know, you've seen humans in water. Maybe you've been in water. We're not very good in water. Meanwhile, his body's around the boat, which is pretty good in water. And I imagine they just scoot right by him. They see it at the shore, Peter. See when you get there, he's chugging along, trying to swim along. And I'm sure they beat him to the shoreline. And when they get there, Jesus is there. And he's got a fire. Actually, it's a it's a coal fire. I got another coal fire on the story here. And he says, Hey, uh, you guys want some breakfast? Uh I'm paraphrasing it, something like that in the in the text. Yo, guys, come have some breakfast. Oh, it's just like Jesus. Uh, three days ago, I was brutally murdered, crucified on the cross in a shameful way that was against the Jewish law. And the whole thing that we had started was ended. We all lost. You ran for your lives, but here we are. You want to have some breakfast? Here's some fish and bread. I'm like, well, this is whiplash, Jesus. What can you explain what happened? What the heck? Where have you been, man? And how are you alive? What's going on? And he's just some fish, he's got some bread and some and some fish, and he invites him to have some breakfast. I love it. Then after they're done eating, because I'm sure there's like this elephant in the room, you know, like, uh, how did you get what are you doing here? And for Peter, of course he remembers what happened the last time they were together. I don't know that dude. And so for Peter, it's like this heavy, maybe elephant just right there. So Jesus asks him, Hey Peter, uh, Simon, he says, son of Jonah, son of John, do you love me? That's an odd question. Peter's like, Yeah, of course I do. And then Jesus asks him again, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yeah, God, of course I love you. By the way, after each time he says to them, Okay, well then feed my sheep or tend my lambs. Lambs are like baby sheep. So, okay, okay. And then he asks him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter says, Yeah, Jesus, he almost sounds irritated. You know I love you, of course I love you. Why does he ask him three times? Well, many of you know the answer. He's he's of course taking him back. The coal fire. This is the second coal fire in the story within three days. Also, these are the only two mentions of a coal fire in the entire New Testament. The word for coal fire is the word anthrax. Did you know this for coal? Anthrax is the Greek word for coal, which is hilarious or something interesting, maybe. It's not actually hilarious because when you get when you get anthrax exposure, your skin turns charcoal black. So not funny, but just interesting. So John's clearly tying these two stories together, and so is Jesus. He asks him three times to sort of mirror and reflect and take Peter back to Peter's three denials. Hey, aren't you his follower? Nah, man, not me. Don't you know that guy? Not I don't know that dude. Don't you? Aren't you a friend? No, I'm not his friend. Curses, curses, curses. Uh Peter, do you love me? Of course I love you. Feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Yes, of course. Peter, do you love me? Of course. Jesus is, of course, in this brilliant move taking him back. Taking him back to his place of shame and brokenness and addressing the elephant in the room. Because, friends, sometimes you have to address the elephant in the room. Because there it is, we all know it, we all see it, we all walk around it. You have to name it. Because there's trauma research that suggests that if you don't name it, unnamed wounds, they remain kind of stuck on replay. And though you shove it down or try to hide it, it sort of leaks out sideways. It's just on replay, dumped somewhere down in your soul. And they exist in the shadows, these past wounds or past mistakes or past failures or past weaknesses. And the shame it begins to fester and it just goes on replay over and over again. And the only way to heal it is to name it, to call it out. This is why it's super awkward when you go to those family reunions and nobody mentions Uncle Kenny's drinking problem. Or that shamefully embarrassing speech he gave at the wedding three months ago that was horribly embarrassing. Like no one wants to mention that at all. Or the fact that he's on his fourth wife. No one wants to talk about that. Or that he was in jail two years ago for the second time. We don't talk about these things. But guess what? For Uncle Kenny, then he just sort of lives down here in this shame and this shadows. And I'm just telling you, in order for there to be relational reconciliation and healing, you have to name it. Somebody has to say, hey, Uncle Kenny, I think you have a problem. Hey, let's talk about this. Hey, are you doing all right? Hey, what you what you said to me really hurt my feelings. Can we talk about that? I know it's I know it's kind of awkward and it's painful, but if you don't name the elephant in the room, it'll just live down there. And unnamed wounds don't disappear. They fester and they come out sideways. And so Jesus takes Peter into his deepest, most recent wound when he rejects him three times. Takes him backwards. And then he says, Hey, but also, buddy, I'm still here. Let's have some breakfast. But also, he doesn't just take him backwards, he takes Peter forwards. I love this part about the story. See, this story is full of symbolic numbers. Now, in the Jewish, in the Jewish history of the Jewish mind, um, there are all kinds of numbers that are symbolic. You probably know this. I'm gonna erase this here. There's uh a lot of they call it numerology in the in the scriptures. So the number seven, a very symbolic number in the scriptures. Seven, you know, means seven. It also means like perfection, wholeness, completeness. The earth was, of course, created in how many days? Seven. So it's done, it's finished, it's complete, it's whole, it's good. Actually, by the way, in the Genesis narrative, that seventh day doesn't ever end. It keeps on going. So you and I are perhaps living in day seven, and the creation is ongoing, and you and I are invited to be a part of this ongoing creation of the world. That was free, by the way. I didn't have that in the first sermon. Okay. Uh the number 12. Another one. There were 12 tribes of Israel. That's that's symbolic of the mission of God in the world. God wants to save the world through the 12 tribes of Israel. And so his mission that included everybody, the Gentiles, the Jews, you know, uh dolphin fans, all those people. Um there's how many disciples? 12. Also, the numbers one and two. Any dolphin fans in the house? I don't know why I said dolphin fans, I don't know if it's kin man. The numbers one, two, and three. The number one, in the in the Hebrew consciousness, the sages suggest the number one symbolizes wholeness, unity, completeness, peace. Because there's just one. We will worship the Lord our God. The Lord God is one, one, wholeness, completeness. It's unity, it's it's perfection. This is why when you uh when you go to the bathroom, you lock the door. Especially if you have little kids. It's your only moment of peace. You want to lock that door. I need to be alone in peace and harmony and wholeness, right? That was funny to me. I thought it was funny. That was funny. Um somehow those darn kids they still find you in the bathroom at the door, like they sort of shoving their fingers under the door, you know, on the bottom of the which brings me to number two. Two symbolizes discord. So this is harmony. I'll just put unity here. Yeah, here we go. Unity. And uh two symbolizes discord or disharmony, or uh dichotomy, separation, tension. There's a tension between the one and the two. When that kid shows up shoving his fingers under the door, like, oh, I had I had peace, now I don't. You know, if you're at home alone on a Friday night and you order a pizza just for yourself and eat that whole pizza alone, that's a good night, am I right? Am I right, Jenny? Where's Jenny? But if you do the same thing, if you order a pizza and you eat that whole pizza by yourself, and there's a friend there watching you, now it's judgment zone. And you're like, oh, I'm so ashamed, I mean this whole pizza by myself. It reminds me of this great joke. What happens when you take a Baptist preacher fishing with you? Uh, he drinks all your beer. What happens when you drink two or when you bring two Baptist preachers with you to go fishing? They don't drink any of your beer. It's a slow burn. Some of you will get that later on the way home. Uh forgive me, Baptists. I I love you too. See, we Lutherans, we're just on a shame. We like beer, we're fine. We don't, no shame in that. Luther was our hero, so okay, hey, moving on. Discord, tension. What do you do? How do you handle it? What do you do when there's tension? Peter, the Peter he wanted to be, that he saw that Jesus was maybe like showing him on the front end of things, and the the Peter of his dreams that he thought he was becoming. And then wham! Peter the betrayer shows up. Tension, discord, disunity. What does he do? And he goes back. He goes back to just being the old guy. Peter. In the creation story, you have this. The sages talk about on day one, it was just God, God alone exists, there's beautiful unity, wholeness, completeness. Day two, God begins to separate things. The light from the dark, the waters from above, and waters are below. There's separation, there's disunity, there's discord. For the first time in the story, there's a discord, there's separation. What is to happen? Oh, this is where number three comes in. So number three symbolizes harmony. Harmony, though, that includes one and two. So it takes both the ones and the twos, seemingly opposite things, and it unifies them, brings that harmony to both of them. So on day three, God takes the separated light and darkness, the separated waters above and waters below, and he begins to sort of make room for life. And he gathers the waters and he makes room for life. So day three is of course this now this harmony. You have this way forward. It's a way forward, it's a way to relieve the tension that includes both one and the two. Does that make sense? It doesn't eliminate the tension, it incorporates all of it. Okay, here's another example in case I'm losing any of you. My wife and I love movies. We love watching movies, but I love action and adventure movies. Am I right, fellas? So just you know, me and Katie are stereotypically uh male and female. Like you, I know that not all guys like action, and that's totally fine. Some women, whatever. But like her and I we're very much like no, I'm kind of like a dude kind of kind of guy, and Katie's like stereotypically kind of like a lady kind of lady, you know. So she loves, of course, rom coms. Yep, you got it, yeah, exactly. So when we watch a movie, like, oh, there's tension. Uh action adventure or rom com? What are we gonna watch? Now we could eliminate one or the other, like, well, you watch your show, I'll watch my show. But if we want harmony, we will of course settle on romanting the stone. Okay, for you younger folks that don't get that joke, uh, how about uh free guy? Free guy? Okay, uh, okay, for you really young, uh Spider-Man. What I'm trying to do here, if you don't get it still, is you know, uh, it's a unification of both the rom-com romance and action adventure. They come together in one go watch Romancing the Stone. It's a great classic. Okay, how about this one? Um, I like hip-hop music. Um, Katie does not. She likes country music. Tension. So if you want to listen to music together, we of course listen to Shaboozy. Right? Now, for some of you older folks who don't get that joke, uh, you could say that like Katie loves country music, and I kind of dig reggae. So we listen to Willie Nelson. Linda Ronstadt, maybe she's like a genre bending artist. Okay, you get the idea. So there's like this harmony that doesn't exclude either one. See, entity one leaves no room for two. The Ryan I want to be, I don't I don't wanna have, I don't wanna acknowledge that guy over there, or Peter. I don't acknowledge him. That's I don't like discord and I don't want tension. This guy over here is like, oh, I'm so full of shame and guilt. I will never be that guy. I can I can't have it. They're dichotomous, you can't, you can't merge them. But the three is like, no, no, no, I'm gonna take you, I'm gonna take you, and we're gonna make something brand new. Jesus asks Peter three times. I think certainly take him back, like, hey, remember that moment? But he also takes him forward. Hey, buddy, you think you can't find a way forward? I got you. I'm gonna make a way forward for you. When you came in this morning, you should have gotten a piece of paper and you have your paper on you. Take that out. Because this is true of all of us. There are things in you that there's a tension. Maybe you're like, hey, uh, gosh, I want to be this kind of person so badly, but I keep screwing up. Yeah, that's they're they're both in you. They're both there. Man, I wanna I want to be a leader for Ben in student ministries, but I don't, I don't know the Bible at all. Or I've got this past, it's just shameful and broke. I man, I wanna I want to serve and love God, or I want to be a Christian, but I'm on I'm on a I'm on my own third marriage. I don't know what to do about that. I want to do the right thing, but I keep doing the wrong thing. The apostle Paul says, Why do I do the things I don't want to do? And why do I not do the things I want to do? There's this tension. And what is your tension? On your sheet of paper, when we sing in a minute and even as I'm talking, what are the things that where's your tension? Where do you feel it? And what might God call you to to move forward? To include all of it, because it's it's all belongs, it all belongs. In that day three of creation, God takes all of it. Yeah, we're gonna make something cool out of this, and he makes life day three, it's good. He calls it good, and he doesn't exclude it, he includes all of it. All of it. See, Peter, uh the Peter he wanted to be, and Peter the betrayer, it's this division within him, this tension. Peter has both this love and betrayal, this division and this devotion to Jesus, and also his uh his denial of Jesus, his calling and his shame. What does he do with it? He goes back to fishing, and Jesus is like, nah, dude, we're not doing that. Do you love me? Yes, and feed my sheep. Jesus gives him a third way, and it's a calling, a commission to do something to go forward. And by the way, notice this the third option is neither denial of the wound nor despair and shame, but it's reconciliation. He names the elephant in the room, gives him a way for to get out of it, and calls him for it to serve other people. I love it. Yeah, Jesus doesn't erase the past, you can't. Look at me, friends. You you cannot go backwards, and neither can I. That junk in your past, the scuba that's back there, it's still back there. And you can't ignore it or deny it. Sometimes the appropriate response is to rip our clothes and to uh you know pour ashes over our head. That's ancient world stuff, but to beg forgiveness, to make, you know, to go and apologize and do all of that. But you can't go back and change it. So include it, incorporate it, and move forward. So he doesn't erase the past, but he transforms it. Because also, if you don't let God transform your past wounds, because they're down there, and if you don't let him transform it, you will transmit them to others. You always will. Whatever's down in here, if we don't let God change them, we'll just give them out to other people. This is why folks who've been hurt just hurt other people all the time. Because they have not let God heal them. And G is like, nah, Peter, we're not going back, dude. We can't go back. You can't repeat the past, we're going forward, buddy. And he gives them this commission. And the command is a calling. It's like, hey, Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. By the way, if you're stuck in a spiral of despair or shame or brokenness or guilt, go and serve somebody else. Go help read uh books to kids. Go serve in a soup kitchen down wherever they have those, you know, right now. Uh go bring some casserole food to your neighbor. Go mow your uh you know, the elderly person's lawn. Go volunteer at Faith in Action. Do something for somebody else. Get to focus off yourself. This is why the 12th step in AA is like, hey, now that you've like awakened, go help other people, go sponsor somebody. Go spread the good news. Go help somebody else. For God's sake, help somebody. Go and feed my sheep. Yeah, this is the way forward that uh Jesus calls Peter to. And this is true for us too. That whatever you got in your past is tension and write it down. I want you to name it on your sheet of paper. And then hear the call that Jesus gives to all of us to transform those past wounds and our tension and to call us forward. I want to end by giving five pieces of advice to Ben, who uh will be our pastor here. Just a actually, we already commissioned him this morning, so we're gonna, but you get the idea. Um because it's a sermon for Ben, too. And I love this story. If you know Ben, Ben has a past, like all of us, you know. And uh and yet here he is. And there's the Ben that Ben wanted to be probably years ago, and there's the Ben that hit a few hiccups, to say the least along the road a while back. Now, we could hide Ben's past and be like, we're not gonna acknowledge that, and we're gonna just move forward. That'll leak out sideways. And you can hide your past, it leaks out sideways. Or Ben can be like, you know what? That guy will never exist because I just screwed up so badly, I'm not gonna be able to. Or we can tell Ben here today, and all of us tell ourselves, uh, maybe Jesus has a better way. The third way. Feed my sheep. So, five things. Number one, Ben's uh Ben's mishap, Ben's sins, Ben's past mistakes were made very public years ago. You probably know this. Ben knows this. And this is very public falling out with Ben and the church, and uh, and he's acknowledged all of those things, and he still does. Um Peter, Peter vehemently denies Jesus three times in front of everybody. And what does Jesus do? He doesn't shame him, he doesn't beat him up, he offers him grace. Peter doesn't earn anything, he's not scraping and clawing his way back. Jesus extends the invitation to Peter. It's unadulterated mercy and grace. And he restores him publicly. So, Ben, I don't know if this has happened to you before. I mean, it did an hour ago at the first service, but and we're gonna try to cry again like we did at the first service. But I want you to hear me say, I know your past transgressions were very public. Mine weren't. None of yours probably were. Maybe some of yours were, but yours were. And so I want to declare publicly that we are with you, dude. We forgive you, we love you, we support you. We're glad to have you as a pastor at Central, and we're behind you and 100%. And so I want to restore you publicly and hear the words to feed my sheep. Number two, I want to say this about to Ben. Uh, Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus was the good shepherd. He was a good shepherd, and he gives that shepherd mantle to Peter, and we're giving it to Ben. So, Ben, may you see the people like sheep without a shepherd. Not these folks, they're really smart and wise and good and they're handsome and other people. May you see them like lost sheep without a shepherd. May you have, but behind that, may you have compassion on people as you pastor people. May you see them. Not their story or their rap sheet or their resume or their uh fancy car, but may you see them and the depth of their own soul and lostness and shame and guilt or joy or excitement and their longings and their desires. May you see them. May you have compassion on them. Number three, Ben, may you prioritize always intimacy over ministry. Jesus calls Peter, hey, love me. Do you love me? That's the basis of all of our stuff. May we all know Jesus, the risen Jesus, and the power that he gives to us. Then may our ministry flow out of that. May your ministry always take a second or back seat to your intimacy and love for Jesus. May you spend time with Jesus. May you know him deeply. May He let him get to know you. Let Him into those deep places that we all have, the places that are down, you know, beneath the surface. And may you know Jesus. May you find intimacy and enjoy spending time with him. Number four, uh, Ben, may you be a servant leader. Jesus says, in the world that I live in, and this is the first century, the leaders and the rulers they rule over people and they lord over them. I'm so glad our leaders today don't do this to us, right? Oh boy, don't get me started. Leaders should be servants. This is why politicians need to remember, you're a public servant. You're to serve the people. Pastors, myself, we should remember these things. I should be a servant of the people. Ben, you're a servant of the people. You're to lead them by serving them, coming underneath them. That's what Jesus does. Wash their feet. Love them, feed them, take care of the little lambs, the broken, the babies, the infants, the marginalized, the forgotten, the ones that are helpless, who've wandered off for the tenth time. Go get them and bring them back. May you be a servant leader. Lastly, Ben, may you always forgive and commission others. As Peter was forgiven and commissioned, as you've been forgiven and commissioned, may you also forgive others and commission other people. Central Lutheran Church and Ben, may you know the depth of the love of Jesus. May you feel this tension. I want you to feel it. Write it down on your sheet of paper. And if you want, you can show it to me or to Pastor Ben later on. And hear the words of the third way feed my sheep. Or maybe you hear something different from Jesus this morning. Write it down. And remember there is a way forward that incorporates all of this. May you have hope and may you receive the grace and forgiveness and the love of God. And Ben, may you feed his sheep. Amen.

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Ryan Braley

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