Setting Ourselves Apart

MORNING
Psalm 66, 67 • Ezekiel 3:4-11 • Acts 10:34-44 

EVENING
Psalm 118 • Ezekiel 34:11-16 • John 21:15-22

Simon Peter was hoping things were getting back to normal.  

In the twenty-first chapter of John, the disciples landed on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias with a record-breaking haul of fish.  After Peter pulled the net from the water, Jesus offered them breakfast of bread and fish. Peter had just survived one of the hardest weeks of his life.  He was ready to move on. 

A few days earlier, when Jesus forewarned the disciples of their rejection, it was Peter who asserted he would never stumble, never deny Christ.  After all, didn't Christ call him "the rock"?  Rocks were solid, unyielding. Yet Jesus rebuked him by predicting Peter would, in fact, betray him and very soon.  As we know, he did. Peter must have felt like his life was falling apart.  

And now, here he was having breakfast and an intimate conversation with the resurrected Christ. Jesus knew Peter loved him; he did not have to ask him three times.  

If Peter was hoping things were getting back to normal, he was partly right.  But it was a new normal. Jesus told the disciples and us in John 13:34 "just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other". Now he takes it a step further and says because of our love for Him, we must put our love into action by feeding and taking care of His sheep.  

The effect on Peter was immediate and lasting. In his first letter to New Testament believers, he writes, "Set yourselves apart by your obedience to the truth...love each other deeply and earnestly." (1 Peter 1:22).

Written by Barbara Batson

Barbara loves the welcoming, inviting spirit of St. Paul's. She serves on Wednesdays at Community Meals and worships at the 11 a.m. Sunday service.