He Loves Us Anyway!
introducing the apostles Peter and Andrew
Sermon based on Luke 22:31-33, 54-62; John 21:15–17
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

Peter and Andrew were brothers but they seem to have been quite different. Andrew was the one that discovered Christ first; he had been a disciple of John the Baptist. He saw Jesus for the first time when John baptized him in the river Jordan and called him the “Lamb of God.” It was Andrew that made the astonishing statement that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. He brought his brother Peter to Jesus, and both of them followed him and became disciples and, later, apostles. Andrew seemed to be a deep thinker theologically, whereas Peter often seemed to have made confessions before he truly understood.

One time, Peter repeated his brother Andrew’s words when Jesus asked: “who do you think I am?”  Peter blurted out: “you are the Messiah, the son of the living God!” Only, it turns out he didn’t really understand what exactly these words meant, because when he opposed Jesus’ next words about having to suffer and die, he said: never! And remember what Jesus said? “Get behind me Satan.”  I can imagine Andrew rolling his eyes thinking: “that’s my loud-mouthed brother!”

And it’s not like Peter takes this lesson to heart for next time. He just continues to speak up boisterously. At the Last Supper, when Jesus talked about how all of the disciples would be failing him, Peter swore: “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” And Jesus answered him, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”  What happened next shocked all of the disciples: Jesus is betrayed by one of their own-Judas Iscariot; then he is put on trial before the Sanhedrin and later before Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. A few hours later he was scourged and being nailed to the cross. That’s when they panicked and dispersed and went into hiding for fear of their own lives.

That night Peter was warming himself at a fire among the people when a female servant of the high priest spots Simon Peter, saying that he had been with Jesus. Peter replied: “Woman, I don’t know him.” That was denial #1.

Then Peter went out to the gate, away from the camp fire, but a man followed him saying: “You also are one of them.” And Peter answered: “Man, I am not!”  That was denial #2.

The third denial came when Peter's Galilean accent was taken as proof that he was indeed a disciple of Jesus. Peter insisted, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed and I can imagine Peter breaking down at that point, remembering Jesus’ prediction of his failure.

How did he go from “Lord, I will die for you” to “I don’t know him” within 24 hours? Was his word any good ever? Did he really believe in Jesus?  He was certainly not the leader he thought he was. In fact, except for Judas, he was the weakest of them all. He had deserted the Lord; he had denied him; he had failed him.

This must have been the low point of his life.  Its one thing to be a sinner and to thoroughly mess up your life and then to become a Christian. You can always say, that was my former life and God has forgiven me and gave me a chance to start fresh. It’s another story when you’ve been a Christian, when you’ve followed Jesus for many years, like Peter did, and then to fail God in such a big way.

Perhaps there are some here this morning that feel this way and think they have totally fallen from the grace of God; perhaps there are those who think that they have committed the unforgivable sin and that there is no hope for them to ever being accepted and forgiven by God again.

To Peter’s credit, he may have felt like that inside, but he came back to find the other disciples; he shared with them his failure (or else we wouldn’t know about it); he confessed his failure and was forgiven and once again accepted into the fellowship of the believers.  But did Jesus forgive him?

The answer is yes, as you may have guessed. Because after Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared to the disciples, including Peter, something odd happened.

On first blush, it seemed like Jesus was holding something over Peter; Jesus asked Peter: “do you love me.” And though Peter answered “yes, Lord.” Jesus was not satisfied. He asked a second time: “Peter, do you love me?” as though he didn’t believe Peter’s confession; as though he was saying: Peter, how can I ever believe you again after what you did to me? And again Peter answered, “You know I love you, Lord.”

When Jesus asked him a third time: “Peter, do you love me?” Peter was really hurt inside according to John’s account. Perhaps he felt like Jesus was holding a grudge, perhaps his sin was outside the scope of God’s forgiveness, or perhaps he thought that his word was no longer trustworthy. Peter was deeply saddened, perhaps he thought back to the moment of his denial of Jesus and felt the shame, the pain, the agony of his failure all over again.

This time, when Peter answered his Lord, he opened his heart to him-he laid it all out there for God to see-- when he said: “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” This time, Peter knew that he meant his words; his confession was pure and he knew that he would never betray his Lord again.

And this time, the Lord accepted his confession and charged Peter (like he did in his previous responses) to feed his sheep. Only this time Jesus did not ask Peter again.

Three times, Peter had denied Jesus, three times Peter had to confess his love to Jesus.  Jesus had not given up on his most boisterous disciple—even though he hurt him very much.  There was never a question about Jesus’ love of Peter. Jesus loved him even though he knew ahead of time that he would deny him; he loved him anyway.

There is a song by the Sidewalk Prophets, that expresses this incredible, absolutely amazing love Jesus has not only for Peter, but for us all. Its entitled: “You love me anyway:”

I am the thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
I am the nail in Your wrist
But You love me anyway
I am Judas' kiss
But You love me anyway

If you are here wondering this morning whether God still loves you even though you keep sinning, even though you keep denying him in front of others, know that Jesus loves you anyway. And I don’t mean to say that Jesus loves you anyway because he is this stoic who doesn’t feel pain. I’m sure that Jesus’ heart is breaking and that he feels the death-pangs of the cross all over again when we disappoint him, when we let him down. But He loves us anyway.

And that, my friends, is the totally and utterly undeserved grace of God in action. Word’s cannot express, the human mind cannot fathom, this LOVE God has for you and for me. How will you respond this morning to Jesus’ declaration: “I love you anyway?”