“It's the Lord!”

Notes from Christian Education

    They were a dispirited group of disciples.  Their leader was gone—put to death by those in power.  There was hushed talk of a couple of post-resurrection appearances, but even that wasn't going to restore it all to how it used to be.  The whole Jewish community had been filled with so much hope.  Hope of a messiah that would relieve them of Roman oppression and replace it with God's righteous rule.  And then Jesus had appeared on the scene, healing the sick and feeding hungry souls with teachings of the coming Kingdom of God.  But in that final confrontation, the oppressors had reaffirmed their hold on power.  God's Kingdom had not arrived after all.  In the light of so many disappointments, the tide of public opinion had turned and the disciples felt they need to tread very carefully now.  In fact, some were quite reluctant to continue.

     According to accounts in the Gospel of John, it was Peter who finally broke through the indecision and declared that he was going fishing.  The others decided to join him.  And so they set out that night to go back to the work they had been doing long before Jesus had come into their lives.  But then, daybreak came and they had not caught a thing.  Tired and discouraged, they almost didn't notice the solitary figure on the shore until he spoke up and seemingly chided them by saying, “Children, you have no fish, have you?”  Then he advised them to give it one more try.  Upon casting the net, they were amazed to discover it filled with more fish than they could easily haul in.  Just who was this person on the shore?  There was something about him.....

     “It's the Lord!”  The disciples had finally recognized the one who had promised to always be with them, and the raced to his side.  What followed has been called by many the “Great Commission”.  It is here that Jesus repeatedly asks Simon Peter in particular if he truly loves him.  When Peter affirms that he does, Jesus says, “feed my sheep.”  In Matthew's gospel it is clear he is addressing all his disciples, not just Peter, and he tells them to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...” and it is also clear that he is addressing us.

     As we read through this story, it's quite easy to see ourselves in those dispirited disciples, sitting in the darkness and wondering what to do next.  Many of us have been touched by inspirational leaders in our own time, who reflect a number of the same qualities those ancient disciples saw in Jesus.  I for one, recall a pastor of the church I attended as a teenager.  One of his greatest gifts was his ability to communicate to us how valuable we young people were in his eyes and in God's eyes.  Then the time came for him to move on to another church, another calling.  Simultaneously, I graduated from high school and went off to college.  Our pastor assured us that he had done as much as he could for us and now it was time for us to move onward into another phase of our lives.  Nevertheless, I was left with a void, and it took me more than a year to figure out how I would deal with it.

     I've had that sense once again as I've gone through and completed the 40-day prayer journal that is part of Martha Grace Reese's Unbinding Your Heart study.  Most appropriately, she ended her series of prayer devotionals with the “Great Commission.”  I found myself, along with many others who had also completed the prayer journals, debating the issue of “what do we do now?”  At least we don't have to content with the kind of oppression the ancient disciples felt!  It's very easy and tempting to go back to doing all the old things in the old ways, but once your soul has been touched and inspired by the Spirit of God, that's just not possible, and if we tried, our nets would probably come up just as empty as those of the disciples of Jesus on that night long ago.

     Now that's not to say that we weren't doing worthwhile things in the past.  It's just that we have seen “the Lord” in a way we never had before, and that's going to color everything we do from now on, even when we look at some of the old lessons and practices.  They will all be seen in a new light.  This has already started to happen for me, and I suspect for others too. 

As an example:  I've tried a number of times to become more spiritually disciplined by doing such things as reading scriptural passages and daily devotionals.  I would start out with good intentions but inevitably would end up letting it go for days on end, claiming I was just too busy.  It was hard to admit that I wasn't always getting very much out of it.  Now I find it much easier to do and actually look forward to the time I spend with it.  It's actually becoming more rewarding.  I've also found that I've become more comfortable talking about my faith, and in listening to others doing the same, I've become more tolerant of the many and varied ways that people can reflect the love of God in their thoughts and deeds. 

     All of this is possible because of God's spirit.  I believe that the Spirit works in two ways.  First, through prayer, it can work within me as an individual and secondly it can work within the relationships I develop with other people I know.  It helped me immensely to be able to work through the prayer journal with a group of fellow Christians within our church who were on the journey along with me.  Their love and support is part of that reflection of God's loving spirit.  I would wish that others could have a similar experience.  My only prescription for them is that they trust in God and join a support group (within our church) and begin to share in the fellowship.  May God's Spirit be with you as you move forward on this journey.

Yours in Christ, Kent Dristle Christian Education Committee