Resurrection Sunday 2020

Mark 16:7 (TPT): Run and tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is risen. He has gone ahead of you into Galilee and you will see him there, just like he told you.”

John 20:2-3 (TPT): So she went running as fast as she could to go tell Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. She told them, “They’ve taken the Lord’s body from the tomb, and we don’t know where he is!”

3Then Peter and the other disciple jumped up and ran to the tomb to go see for themselves.

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The empty tomb after a few soul-numbing days of darkness, uncertainty, fear, shattered expectations.....

Baffling revelations that still didn't sink in come the first day of the week.

But in these two passages lies something very beautiful - Peter's involvement.

Just a few double digit hours earlier, he vehemently denied ever knowing Jesus - this after swearing his allegiance to Jesus so deeply he would follow Him straight to death. Zealous, yet well-meaning, ignorance at it's finest.

His shame kept him away from the rest after Good Friday's culmination of the Curtain in the Holy of Holies being ripped from top to bottom. An immediate outcast, horrified disappointment in himself, and the added emotions to process after seeing his Messiah murdered in front of him and feeling a part of his disappearance.

And yet, the beloved John found his way to him. I'm not sure it's ever made known what it was about John's character and natural disposition that made him so beloved to Jesus - but I venture a guess he was naturally a lover of souls, empathetic, caring.

Perhaps the beloved John was someone who was naturally tilted to the Heart of Jesus so closely that he shared similar visions of hope and the greatness of people as Jesus did. And when two people who naturally see greatness in others, operate without effort in great love, find each other, there's a depth of friendship not normally seen between others. It is a special bond, especially if they get to walk in life together, always pulling from one another and honing their love capacities and skills.

And I venture to say this because in Mark, we see the angel tell the women specifically to go find Peter - who was no longer congregating with the remaining Eleven out of his behavior on Maunday Thursday. He had secluded himself away to be alone with his shame, with his struggle at how quickly he betrayed his so claimed Messiah, and his fear of retaliation.

And in John's Gospel we see the two of them together, but none of the other Eleven. The one who Jesus was closest to, caring enough about the soul of the group's most vocal and passionate grandstander to find him in his seclusion.

None of the others appear to have reached out to Peter, likely muddled in their own mixture of shame and fear and disbelief.

Not only on this day do we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus - the single defining moment of Christianity alongside of the virgin + Holy Spirit pregnancy/birth - but we should also pause to remember how even in the depths of despair the parable and defining characteristics of Jesus still play out.

Jesus was hated by many for spending His time congregating with those considered 'sinners' - which in the Amplified Bible translation is defined as non-practicing Jews.

They didn't go to church. They didn't submit to the demands of the church authorities to live what they considered 'holy' lives, they were seen as lesser-than and their mistreatment justified by those church leaders because if they were doing what they should have, they'd be blessed enough to be respected as proper humans.

But Jesus brought time, effort, resources, and an unconditional love to them for the first time in their lives. They felt worthy and seen, and their hearts heard for the first time by someone who carried a holy, pure, genuine love for them on His Being so deeply that you couldn't help but feel it as you interacted with Him.

He rarely found great faith in those that attended a building on regular schedules. He found it in a Roman military officer. In a desperate Samaritan woman. In those He healed in fields and back alleys as He walked.

The parable of the lost sheep played out time and time again in front of the Tweleve - and they never chose to soften their hearts enough to see it - even though the 'lost one' were entire villages, sectors of the population, groups of people He ate and laughed with in the everyday.

And in three days time during Holy Week, Peter found himself in their shoes. Outcast. Faithless. Ostracized so deeply he knew he would be skewered and rejected by those he had fellowshipped with prior.

So he hid. Alone.

Yet the beloved John, carrying a heart bent to Jesus, sought him out. Consoled him. I'm sure fought hard with Peter who was likely so depressed from his own shame that he didn't want anyone around him (I mean, Paul went toe to toe with him later on in the Bible, so I'm assuming his zealous nature didn't subside with his depression and shame, it was probably his default survival reaction method).

And yet John stayed. And ministered love. He did not let Peter know he was forgotten, or hated, or thrown away because of bad choices.

All of that solidified in the account in Mark where the Angel of God instructs the women to make sure they go tell Peter that Jesus has risen. It was known on both sides of eternity that Peter has sought solace in isolation. And what amazing grace and act of restoration to have both sides of eternity make sure that you know you are not forgotten, and still loved, and that you still matter deeply to the one you betrayed, or feel you had let down to a level that cannot be forgiven.

The first great act of ministry at the Resurrection.

It restored. It comforted. It loved.

It didn't force someone to move into a building to prove it's standing with Jesus.

It didn't hold the shame of the past and previous choices in front of their face.

It didn't demand that this or that or whatnot be changed to be able to see the empty tomb or be indwelt with Holy Power later in in the book of Acts.

John didn't demand that Peter come back into a building with the other Ten and pay tithes and do unpaid ('volunteer') work to support a tax-exempt building in order to be considered 'worthy' of being assisted, and only slightly assisted so that you don't abuse your privilege of being assisted.

No, that true character of Yahweh, made visible and able to be practically understood in Jesus, compelled John to seek out out a broken man where he was, and sent a lover of souls to minister to him where he was hiding, and offered a loving encouragement and restoration to his tired, broken being.

In the end, that perfect love, that unfailing love, that restoring love, empowered a man that had betrayed that love without demanding a thing, or saying a word in that direction. Because when great love and radical expression of that is extended, people have the power to naturally become different versions of themselves.

We are a reflection. Or at least, we are supposed to be.

Blessings on this Resurrection Sunday.

©Kristen Garcia 04-2020