John
18:12-27
“Why do you ask me?
Ask those who heard what I said to them. They know what I said.”
Each
year during Lent, we are reminded of Peter’s denial. In some ways, it’s old
news, not something we focus on the rest of the year—kind of like “there was no
room for them in the inn” or “three wise men came from the East.”
Peter
is a prominent player in the passion story: he at first refuses to let Jesus
wash his feet, he cuts of a man’s ear when the soldiers come to the Garden of
Gethsemane to arrest Jesus, and then he snakes along at a close distance
denying he even knows Jesus three different times in a matter of a few hours.
Denials,
especially ones that affect people on a grand scale, are alive and well. We
still have people who believe and books being written that deny the Holocaust
ever happened. A great number of educated people deny the effects of Global
Warming, and there are Christians who believe that the Church needs to stay
just the way it is.
“Denial,”
Mark Twain said, “ain’t just a river in Egypt.” And our poor friend Peter gets
a master’s degree in the subject here in Chapter 18 of John. “Peter not only
denies being Jesus’ disciple, Peter denies being in the Garden. Peter denies
any relationship with Jesus. Peter denies all links to the disciples. Peter
denies even what Judas acknowledges—that he knows [about] the Garden, the
disciples and Jesus.”[1]
While
blatant denial is a prominent player in this text, what I would like us to
consider today is the opposite of denying Christ: sharing Christ. There’s a lot
of bad press about evangelism, which means simply getting out a message; a
proclamation of good news. In New England, there are few scarier words in our
vocabulary than “evangelism.” There are all kinds of connotations with the idea
of evangelism: street corners, soap boxes, sandwich signs and shouting about
Jesus and scaring folks into believing that their doomed unless they claim
Christ as their personal Lord and Savior right on the spot.
Fear
not, New Englanders, there are hundreds of ways to evangelize. One of the most
efficient ways is just to tell someone who could be comforted in their
circumstances if they were to hear how Jesus has made a difference in your life.
No need to cajole, criticize or condemn people; it’s a matter of sharing what
Jesus has said and taught that has helped you to overcome a difficulty,
withstand a persecution, or oppose and injustice.
Has
Jesus made a difference in your life?
This
“is not an abstract historical question. It is a highly powerful and
personal question. The individual’s answer depends on her/his level of
openness to the role Jesus Christ desires to play in our lives.”[2]
If
Jesus has made a difference in your life, if Jesus has taught you anything
about who God is or the promise God has made to you, or if life is more
bearable because Jesus lives, then do not keep what Jesus said in the
scriptures to yourself.
The
High Priest, Annas, not the most upstanding guy in the Temple, questioned Jesus
about his disciples and about his teaching. The insinuation of sedition drips
like poison from Annas’ lips. Jesus was a power-hungry rebel secretly amassing
an army of disciples to take over Israel. That was Annas’ job, after all!
But
Jesus calmly replies, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught
in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. I have done
nothing in secret.”
Jesus
had been transparent about his message: Jesus’ mission was focused on
reconciling people to God for the sake of their salvation. He had no interest
whatsoever in taking over the land,
amassing all the money, or oppressing the Hebrew people. “Ask those who heard
what I said to them. They know what I said” (v 21).
On
the cusp of the crucifixion, the only ones who can forever after get the good
news message out to those who need to hear it are those who have already heard
it and have become his disciples too. And their job is to tell what Jesus said
and to teach what Jesus taught, and testify to what he has done in their lives.
Unlike
Peter, we new disciples have important words to share with others,
life-changing lessons to teach. And if we are too shy or reticent to reveal ourselves
as people who know, then I wonder if we are not the same as Peter—denying Jesus
every time there is an opportunity to say, “I know him. This is what he said,
this is what he taught, and this is why I am here today.”
Being
silent is just another form of denial. Unless we speak up about what we know, Jesus’
message of forgiveness and unconditional love could die with us. Let’s not
stand at quite a comfortable distance, warming ourselves by the fire, as Peter
did. Let’s undo the ropes that bound Jesus as an enemy of religion. Walk with
him to the foot of the cross and weep in gratitude for his pure sacrifice of
love.
Even
as we deny him, Jesus remains faithful to us. Our Lord and Savior is so good,
so loving, so truthful and so forgiving that he will find even the tiniest
fleck of faith in us and build on it. All he needs is a relationship with you. If
you want to know about what Jesus can do in your life, if you want to give your
life to him, then ask someone who knows, and then one day you will be the
someone who knows. Thanks be to God for the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, who will
never forsake us or deny us. That is amazingly Good News! Amen.
March
24, 2014
First
Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, Maine
The
Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
