“Peter’s Three-Peat Repeat”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. This year in August I will celebrate the 30th anniversary of my
ordination into the pastoral ministry. In the middle of those thirty
years, I took time out from being a parish pastor to serve for five years as
Director of Communications at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, which
is operated by our Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and is the largest Lutheran
university in North America. One of the people who worked for me there was
the Director of Sports Information. From him I learned a new word, which
is popular with sports enthusiasts—or at least with sports information
directors: “three-peat.” You may know that when you win for the third time
over a particular opponent, or in a tournament or other event, it’s not called a
repeat, but a three-peat. We hope the Royals will have a “three-peat” this
year when they win the World Series for the third time! During the Lenten season we just read again how on the night Jesus was
betrayed the Apostle Peter experienced not a triple victory, but a triple
failure. At the Last Supper, Peter boldly declared to Jesus, “Even if I
have to die with you, I will never deny you.” “I tell you the truth,”
Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me
three times.” Three times that dark night Peter was asked, “Are you not one of his
disciples?” And three times he failed: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Again he denied it, with an oath: ‘I don’t know the man!’” “Then he began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, ‘I
don’t know this man you’re talking about.’ Immediately a rooster crowed.
The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered what Jesus
had said to him. . . and he went outside and wept bitterly.” In Biblical numerology three is symbolic of something complete and
perfect, like the Three Persons of the Trinity, the complete, perfect Godhead.
But, in this case, Peter’s three-peat denial of his Lord and Master means that
he is a complete, perfect failure. “And he went outside and wept
bitterly.” On Easter morning the angel told the women at the tomb, “You are
looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. .
. go, tell his disciples, and Peter.” And Paul tells us in 1st
Corinthians that after Jesus was raised from the dead, “He appeared to Peter,
and then to the Twelve.” On the night Jesus was betrayed all the disciples deserted him and
fled. But, except for the traitor Judas, Peter was the one disciple who
fell the farthest, from boldly pledging to die with Jesus, to just a few hours
later cowardly denying him three times. That’s why after Jesus’
resurrection he appears to Peter privately, to receive from Peter his private
confession of his shameful doubt and denial, and then to grant Peter private
absolution and personally assure him he is forgiven. But, Peter’s disgraceful fall has become known among the followers of
Jesus. Would they ever accept him again as an Apostle? Because
Peter’s infamous denial was so public and well-known, if he is to again assume
his role as an Apostle, so there can be no doubt that is what Jesus wants, Peter
needs to publicly proclaim, in front of the other Apostles, his love for the
Lord, and publicly receive from the Lord reinstatement as an Apostle. “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon,
son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you
know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ He said to him a second
time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know
that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third
time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to
him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’” Peter doesn’t realize it at the time, but Jesus is graciously giving
him an opportunity for a “three-peat repeat.” To replace his triple denial
with a triple confession of faith, his three-peat failure with a three-peat
pledge of love and service to his Savior—a “three-peat repeat.” Paul is given similar opportunity in today’s Reading from the Book of
Acts. He is “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s
disciples.” He later confesses in Acts, “I persecuted the followers of this Way
to their death.” And he says in 1st Corinthians, “I do not even deserve to
be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” But, like
Peter, the Lord calls Paul also, from the depths of doubt and denial, to
repentance and faithful service. One of the nice things about computers is the handy “undo” command,
which in many applications is “Control Z.” It was actually Xerox that
assigned that key combination, based on a research paper in 1976 which stated,
“It would be quite useful to permit users to ‘take back’ . . . the[ir] . . .
preceding [action].” There have been times in my life when I wished I had a universal
“Control Z” command, so that when I did something I regretted I could just
magically “take back” what I had done, undo it, as easily as on the computer.
But, really, even if we had that power, it still wouldn’t be enough. For,
the book of Genesis says, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth
had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil all the time. . . for the inclination of the human heart is evil from
childhood.” As David confesses in Psalm 51, “Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Some computer programs have multiple levels of the undo command,
allowing you to undo your last five or ten or 15 or 20 actions. But, in
order for us to be innocent, we would need a spiritual undo command going all
the way back. Collectively for humankind, all the way back to the Garden
of Eden. And for you individually, all the way back to before you were
even conceived. Otherwise, even if you could magically undo what you
regret, whatever you undo, whatever you revert to, would still be sinful in the
sight of God. But, Jesus does for us what we are unable to do. He does undo all
our sin, all the way back: all the way back to the Garden of Eden, all the way
back to before you were conceived. Paul puts it this way in Romans and 1st
Corinthians: “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and
in this way death came to all men, because all sinned . . . Consequently, just
as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result
of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For,
just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so
also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. . .
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” All your sins, all your regrettable actions, in the sight of God it HAS
all been undone, for you, by your Savior, as if it never happened. Not
magically, but by your Savior taking your sinful actions upon himself, and
suffering the consequences for you, in your place. Paul puts it
beautifully in Colossians: “He forgave us all our sins . . . he took it away,
nailing it to the cross.” That’s the Good News of Easter: your sins are all forgiven, because in
Christ they were nailed to the cross. As Paul says in Romans, “He was
delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our
justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus graciously gives Peter an opportunity for a “three-peat repeat.”
To replace his triple denial with a triple confession of faith, his three-peat
failure with a three-peat pledge of love and service to his Savior—a
“three-peat repeat.” In the same way, the Lord gives you the opportunity to replace your own
denial and unfaithfulness with faithful love and service to him. As Paul
says in 2nd Corinthians: “He died for all, that those who live should live no
longer for themselves, but for him, who died for them and rose again.” Replace your past indifference toward Christ with trusting faith in
him, as your Savior and the Lord of your life. For he invites you, “Come
to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. . . I am
the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live, even though he
dies, yet shall he live . . . For my Father’s will is that everyone who
looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise
him up at the last day. . . Do not let your hearts be troubled; trust in God,
trust also in me. . . I am the way, the truth, and the life. . . whoever
comes to me I will never drive away. . . I am the Good Shepherd . . . and I lay
down my life for the sheep. . . I have come that they may have life, and
have it more abundantly.” Replace your past indifference toward Christ
with trusting faith in him, as your Savior and the Lord of your life. Replace your past self-centeredness with humble, selfless love toward
others. As Paul says in Philippians, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of
you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Replace
your past self-centeredness with humble, selfless love toward others. Replace your past grudges with humble forgiveness toward others.
As Paul says in Colossians, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved,
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one
another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Replace your past grudges with
humble forgiveness toward others. Replace your past coldness with love, toward Christ, and your brothers
and sisters in Christ. As John says in his First Epistle, “This is how God
showed his love among us: He sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we
would live through him. . . he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love
one another.” Replace your past coldness with love, toward Christ, and
your brothers and sisters in Christ. Like Peter’s infamous, shameful denial of Christ, what is it in your
life that you wish you had a “Control Z” so that could undo it? Jesus does
for you what you are unable to do. He does undo in the sight of God all
your sin. And just as Jesus graciously gives Peter an opportunity for a
“three-peat repeat,” he gives you the opportunity to replace your own denial and
unfaithfulness with faithful love and service to him. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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