The Power to Change
The Stories of Matt, Mary, Peter and You
John 20:1-18; 21:1-3
“Human nature, if it changes at all, changes not much faster than the geological face of the earth.”
That was the verdict of Nobel Prize winner, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his Gulag Archipelago. Of course, he was in a position to say that people don’t change in a way that most of us can't because he lived through one of the most thorough‑going attempts at social change ever made in history, the Russian Revolution. He lived under the Czars and then under Soviet Communism both of which had the goal of changing all of society and even to creating a new kind of human being.
Solzhenitsyn concluded that the whole attempt had completely failed – and such attempts always will fail -- for one major reason, i.e., they do not count on the intractability of human nature. He argued that people can't be changed in a generation; not in fifty generations. Let’s face it: Human nature doesn't seem to be changed easily for the good. In our world, things don't evolve naturally from disorder to order, from bad to good – and that’s definitely true of people.
Just think about us humans: We can change in our understanding of and use of things like technology. That kind of change happens. But as we are able to control our environment more and more, we seem less and less able to control our emotions, our morals, our lives. On one side, we often can recognize right from wrong; we can long to live better than we do. But can we do it? Solzhenitsyn said no.
So, am I going to say today that there no hope for any of us ever to overcome our failures and to become better people? Are we who are human trapped in ways of life that we want to change but can’t?
With that in mind, on this Easter 2016, you show up at Lake Avenue Church and you see that the pastor’s sermon title is “The Power to Change.” What am I going to say? The first thing I want to do is to have you see a video of a young man in our own congregation, Matt Balentine. I want you to hear his story and then I’ll come back and take up this topic. https://bassemwahbi.smugmug.com/Clients/Video/2016/LAC/TestimonyMatthewBalentine/Page/n-PL7jbR
You have just seen and heard the personal story of a young man who has courageously opened up his life and shared with us that he had become trapped in a destructive way of life that included addictive drugs. And, he gives testimony to the fact that he now is finding freedom through faith in Jesus Christ. Matt Balentine is telling us that, on one side, he had experienced that Solzhenitsyn was right in saying that we human beings cannot change on our own. But he is also saying that, what is impossible for us on our own, is possible when we place our faith in Jesus. Matt says that Jesus can change our lives. Do you believe him?
Easter is about many things for those of us who follow Jesus. But, on a very personal level, I want you to know that Easter is about the power to change. We have already heard Matt’s story. Let me show you two more: the stories of Mary Magdalene and of Peter told in John 20-21. Each one is told, not as legends in the ancient world were told, but as eyewitness accounts – just like we heard from Matt.
Mary Magdalene’s Story: The Power to Overcome Hopelessness (John 20:1-2,11-18).
Some of you may be aware of how author Dan Brown in his Da Vinci Code fictionalized that Mary Magdalene was the mistress or wife of Jesus. Brown constructed a Mary who held the “Holy Grail”, which Brown seems to believe was the bloodline of Jesus through a child born through Mary Magdalene. Let me tell you that there is not one bit of evidence in all of history that substantiates what Brown wrote.
What we do know about Mary is that Jesus had set Mary free from a way of life in which she had been enslaved by evil. Dr. Luke, who who tells us about the liberating work of Jesus in Mary’s life, says there were seven demons she had to be set free from. In the Bible, the language of “seven” speaks of completion. What that number seven points to is that Mary’s life had been completely destroyed by the power of evil – emotionally, physically and spiritually. Through much of church history, people have thought Mary might have been the woman who had been gripped by a life of prostitution told about in Luke 7. If so, probably just to survive, Mary had been forced into a way of life that left her feeling worthless and hopeless. In my experience, few people actually grow up as children wanting to be involved in something like prostitution. No, they get trapped by it. The affects of sin and evil in the world often drive a person in that direction – usually an attempt to survive financially. It often seems impossible that anything could change.
But, Mary met Jesus and he had set her from from the demons. And it’s clear that she had followed him ever since – even going to the visit Jesus’ grave after his crucifixion.
At this point, I simply must stop and tell you something beautiful about Jesus: Jesus cares about and provides hope for all people. In her time and culture, Mary would have been the least of people in the eyes of her world. She was a woman in a male-dominant society. She was viewed as having mental problems in a world in which mental issues were stigmatized. She was demonized. And she may have been enslaved in prostitution. That would certainly mean that respectable people would have said she is not respectable. So, think about her life! What kind of future could she possible have envisioned? But then, Jesus had received her, set her free and called her to follow him. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not that the perfect are in and the bad are out. It is that the humble are in and the proud are out. Jesus lifts up the humble who trust in him.
According to Lk 8:1-3, what Mary’s life had become after meeting Jesus was following and supporting Jesus together with a group of other women. So, when we meet Mary in Jn 20, that’s what she had been doing for several years. She had seen many of Jesus’ miracles. She had heard Jesus say often that he would die in Jerusalem – but that he would rise from the dead. Jesus had never spoken a word that had failed. With that in your mind, on the day after Jesus’ death, Mary went to his tomb. It’s clear that the government authorities knew Jesus had said he would rise from the dead. That’s why they put a guard at the tomb! Still, having experienced all this, when Mary saw Jesus’ empty tomb, she didn’t believe he had risen. She said in Jn 20:2: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
In some ways, Mary had been like Matt was in his childhood. Matt went to church because his parents had taken him. That was his pattern of life. That’s what he had gotten accustomed to. Like so many of us who go to church, Matt surely looked and talked like a person who was alive to God through faith in Jesus.
In a similar way, Mary had developed a way of life of following Jesus with other followers. It was a better way of life than she had before – that for sure! But, I don’t think she had never truly believed in Jesus.
So, please make note of this: At this point in her life, Mary didn’t know what else to do other than to go to the place where Jesus was. What could she do? Go back to prostitution? She surely couldn’t grasp why God would allow such a thing as this to happen.
What God was doing was using this confusing and seemingly hopeless time in her life to draw her to himself – to true faith and not just to doing what others did. Never forget this: When everything seems to be going wrong, God is still at work!
You heard Mary’s story when it was read a few moments ago. The risen Jesus appeared to Mary in the Garden. At first, he simply called her what any stranger would have called her: “Woman!” And she didn’t know him. Mary thought he had to be the gardener. Then Jesus called her by name, “Mary.” Then, the coin dropped. Her eyes were opened. She knew. She called him by what she had always called him, “Rabboni.” That meant, “Teacher”, “the one I follow”. I think Mary came alive to Jesus in a whole new way that day.
In Jn 20:17, Mary holds on to Jesus. She wanted simply to be close to him in the way she was before his death and resurrection. I can understand that. Can’t you? But, Jesus lets Mary know what he lets us know in our own day, i.e.: From this time on, she would have to live by faith in him. Jesus essentially said, “Mary, I have died for you. Now, I have work for you to do until I return. Go, and be my witness. Tell people there is hope in this world for I have defeated sin and death by my resurrection.”
And, if the stories of the early church about Mary are true, then her life truly changed. She did not return to her former way of life but became a faithful witness to Jesus and an active part of the early church in Jerusalem. Mary became known as the “apostle to the apostles” because Mary Magdalene was the one who brought the Easter message to Jesus’ own disciples. She found a completely new life after believing in the resurrected Jesus. She had found what we all need in our world, i.e., she had discovered through faith in the resurrected Jesus, the power to change.
Peter’s Story: The Power to Overcome Failure (John 20:3-10; 21:1-3)
Peter had been the outspoken leader of the disciples. Peter had claimed that all the other disicples might fail but he was different. Jesus didn’t have to die for him, Peter thought. “No, I’ll be the one who rescues you, Jesus. I’ll die for you.” But Peter had failed – miserably. One night he lied about knowing Jesus. And, he had denied Jesus. Three times, he lied and denied.
But, then in Jn 20, he and John got to see that the grave where Jesus had been buried was empty. He was slower than John in running to get to the tomb but he had even seen Jesus’ linen clothing still there but without a body. And he had heard from Mary that she had actually talked with Jesus. Then, he had personally seen Jesus face to face on that evening when Jesus told that doubter Thomas to use his fingers to touch Jesus’ side. So, when we meet Peter in Jn 21, he knew that Jesus had kept his word. Jesus had risen!
In spite of the resurrection, I’m quite sure Peter felt personally like a failure. Maybe Jesus would accept him back – but only in some 2nd class status. So, what did Peter do? He went back to his old life. He went fishing. And he didn’t even do that well. He didn’t catch a thing (on his own). What we see in Peter is something we can all understand. Peter had lost his way. He surely thought, “No one will ever listen to me again. No one will trust me. I don’t trust myself. I made such big promises and couldn’t keep them!”
Peter had claimed he would do better than everyone else. He’d done the worst. And yet, Jesus forgave him and restored him. Here’s some good news: Jesus can heal anyone. Restore anyone. Jesus restored this old humbled failure and gave him a great commission! The lesson is that God does great things in our lives not because we are great performers – but when we are great repentors who follow Jesus simply by faith.
Don’t miss this: Jesus made Peter take personal responsibility for what he had done. Jesus met Peter next to a fire. Do you know where Peter had denied him? By a fire. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Now, Jesus called Peter to confess his love for him three times. Peter had to own up to his sin. And so do you.
But don’t miss this either: Jesus doesn’t demand that Peter now has to perform perfectly in the future. Jesus doesn’t say, “Peter will you ever lie again?” He doesn’t say, “Peter will you you never deny me again?” That would only put Peter back where he was before, i.e., having to perform to earn Jesus’ favor.
Jesus goes to the problem under the problem – to what led to Peter’s lying and denial. He asks, “Peter, do you love me more?” More than your accomplishments? More than your reputation? Those were Peter’s real loves. He had put his own reputation and pride in the place of Jesus – and they had failed him. Peter had never really loved Jesus in the Hebrew sense of putting him first in his life. Jesus called Peter to love him even more than self – or accomplishments – or anything. And Peter said, “You know everything. You know that I love you.” And Jesus said, “Now, feed my sheep.” It’s amazing. God chooses those who fail in our own strength but then trust in Him – to be his representatives to the world.
Matt’s life changed. Mary’s life changed. Peter’s life changed. If human resources are all we have, then Solzhenitsyn was right that “human nature, if it changes at all, changes not much faster than the geological face of the earth.” But, at Easter we remember that the One through whom the geological face of the was created entered this world, and he has the power to change anything – even death into life! Jesus can change you! Jesus is ready to offer you forgiveness for whatever is in your past and a new life for your future.
What do you have to do? Like Matt, Mary and Peter, you have to take responsibility for the failures and sins of your past. You need to turn from them and ask Jesus to forgive you. Then, believe in him. You need to entrust your life by faith – as Jesus told Peter, to make him the first love of your life. Ask him to come into your life and be your savior and Lord.
My call to you: Add your story to the stories we’ve heard today: of Matt and Mary and Peter. Add your name to those who have experienced the resurrection power of Jesus to change things. As you consider how to respond to that invitation, I want you to experience in a new way – through God’s gifts of spoken word, dance, and music --, these stories of lives changed by the power of the resurrected Jesus.
And now, may the God of peace,
who brought back again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
equip you with all you need for doing his will.
May he produce in you,through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ,
all that is pleasing to him;
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen