Sunday’s Sermon in a Nutshell
(John 21:15-19)
None of us gets to sketch the blueprint of our own becoming. We may set intentions and chart courses, yet life leads us down pathways we never imagined—and sometimes to destinations we would flee from, if we could.
In John's Gospel, Jesus speaks tenderly to Peter: "When you were young, you dressed yourself and walked wherever you wished, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands while another clothes you and carries you where you do not want to go." These words hold both the gentle ache of aging and the deeper mystery of what it means to follow.
Discipleship calls us to both active and passive faithfulness.
We lean forward into prayer and service, into generosity and justice-making. And we learn, too, the sacred art of receiving—accepting what comes, opening our hands to what God asks, discovering grace even in the circumstances we never would have chosen.
In these days when dehumanizing the "other" has been perfected to an art form, Peter's story whispers something our souls need to hear: The apostle upon whom Jesus promised to build his church died as a non-citizen—an immigrant lacking legal status in Rome.
Unlike Paul, whose Roman citizenship afforded him the dignity of a swift beheading, tradition says Peter was crucified upside-down in Nero's arena, subjected to the full brutality reserved for foreigners deemed dangerous to the state.
This detail pulses with more than historical significance—it carries the heartbeat of the gospel itself. The foundation of Christ's church was laid by someone the powerful dismissed as outsider.
What does this mean for us, here and now?
The love of God recognizes no borders
Christ's call cares nothing for documentation or national identity
In God's kin-dom, citizenship in the realm of Love matters most
We are called to wrap our arms around those our society pushes away
Our congregation already lives this beautiful truth through your openhearted welcome of all people and your faithful, persistent advocacy for justice. In these times when fear and "othering" fill the airwaves, let us lean even more deeply into this gospel calling.
Jesus invites us to follow—sometimes toward places our hearts would resist, but always toward places where Love is needed most. Today, those places include standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our immigrant neighbors, offering the kind of hospitality that heals, and remembering that in Christ's eyes, we are all foreigners welcomed home.
The same Jesus who said "Follow me" to Peter calls us to stretch out our hands—not in surrender to fear, but in embrace of those whom those the world would render invisible.
Where is Christ leading you today?
Peace and every good...
