4/27/03 Easter 1 INI John 21:15-17

Dear Fellow Redeemed through the Risen Christ,

To be had is often better than to have. Sound strange? Sure does. Most of us would much rather "have" than be "had." But take the child who has been given all sorts of things by indulgent parents, who were unable or unwilling to give the love and attention the child desired most. Such a child may have a great deal, but as he grows up he will cry out to be "had" -- to be loved, held, and possessed by his parents.

To be had is often better than to have. Consider the case of the teacher who possesses such great knowledge of his subject that everyone proclaims him a great scholar. But he cannot get what he has across to the students because the knowledge he possesses does not have him. He may have accumulated to himself much light from his own studies, but this light does not possess him so that it burns from within him.

To be had is better than to have, especially when it comes to the desire to share the good news of the gospel of Christ and to confess His saving name.

What did Peter and the rest of the apostles have? They had a great deal of knowledge concerning the person and work of Jesus, the Christ. On several occasions, James, Peter, and John were given special revelations of the glory and power of Jesus. We think of the raising of Jairus' daughter and the Transfiguration of the Lord. Jesus wanted these three leaders present on those occasions so that they might receive and know the truth about His identity. Later on, Peter and the others would confess that they knew Jesus to be "the Christ, the Son of God."

Most importantly, Peter and the others learned of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Jesus had given them the testimony of the women who were there at the tomb. They saw the empty tomb, and the folded grave clothes. The Lord came to them in the upper room and spoke His words of peace to them. He showed His wounds to doubting Thomas (Jn. 20:21-23) Then He revealed Himself at the Sea of Galilee by the miraculous catch of fish (Jn. 21:1-14). John knew that it was the Lord. Peter also knew and jumped overboard in a state of panic and confusion!

All this brings us up to the moment of our text. If anyone knew who Jesus was, and what He had done -- if anyone possessed the truth about Jesus -- it was Peter. Yet now, after breakfast, Jesus does not speak of what Peter knows about Him. At this point there is something more important than all the truth that Peter had been given. Three times Jesus asks the apostle: "Do you love me?" In other words, Jesus says: "Peter, all the truth I've given you these past years, all that you have from Me, has been given so that I might possess you as my own dear child and friend. Have I reached your heart? Are you mine?"

What was Peter's answer? "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you" -- that is, "You know that I have been had by You; You know that I am Yours and You are mine." Only then did Jesus say to the Apostle: "Feed My sheep." You see, Peter had shown that the truth he had learned concerning His Savior had taken hold of his heart, so that he was qualified to be a shepherd of Christ's flock.

Many years ago the members of the World Council of Churches were debating this question: "What is Christian truth?" A leader of the Greek Orthodox Church remarked that the question, "What is Christian truth?" Never arose in his church, "because," he said, "we have the truth."

Surely part of the Christian truth is the command of Jesus to "make disciples of all nations (Mt. 28:18-20). Yet the Greek Orthodox Church has never been interested in mission work at all! How can one say, "I have the truth," if he does not DO the truth?

Christian truth is not content to be had by us. Wherever it exists, Christian truth must HAVE and possess the sinner. Christ did not bring us the truth of salvation so that we could boast that we have the truth; but so that we might be possessed by the truth. And that's the same as being HAD by Jesus!

If you and I have the truth, that's one thing -- a great blessing indeed! But to be possessed by the truth -- to be had by Christ so that we DO the truth is more! We are thankful to our gracious God that we know and are committed to the truth about Christ: His incarnation, His virgin birth, His substitutionary death for our sins, His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God and His coming again in glory. We have and treasure the proper Christ-commanded administration of the Sacraments; we have been given and are committed to those blessed teachings of the apostles which direct us to walk as children of light and to avoid sin, the false teacher and his error.

Yes we have truth! It's preached from our pulpit and taught in our classrooms. But let us never forget that this truth is meant to take hold of us so that we feel personal devotion to Jesus and the desire to be more like Him.

There are "Bible worshipers," good, church-going people whose lives are truly pagan. Several years ago, my brother told me about a small town in Minnesota that was loaded with Lutheran Churches. For years most of these people had learned and receive the truth concerning salvation through the grace and merits of Jesus alone. But many of these people became very upset at a funeral when a confessional Lutheran pastor dared to say, that although the deceased was "the best of men by human standards," He "was not good enough to get to heaven."

Later the pastor told my brother that his congregation of some 800 members is full of Lutherans who pride themselves in their Lutheran and Bible background, but do not trust in the salvation of sinners by grace alone! The truth about Christ and His grace, which they have possessed all these years, no longer possesses them!

We would not be surprised to find out further that there is no real zeal for mission work among these Lutherans either. For it's only when the sinner is had and held by the embrace of God's grace in Christ that he gladly and willingly shares the Word of grace with others.

It's not the knowledgeable Peter whom Jesus commands when He says, "Feed My lambs;" but the Peter who is thrilled and warmed by the love of Christ for him.

It's not a self-righteous apostle who now gladly takes up the work of sharing the spiritual food of Christ with others. This is the apostle who could never forget his own denial of Christ' and who could never get over the unending, divine mercy which sought him and saved him anyway, in spite of himself!

Has the undeserved love and grace of Christ gripped you and me like that? Are we so HAD by the saving truth, that we have a real desire to DO IT, TO LIVE IT, AND TO SHARE IT?

Do we pray often for the mission efforts of our congregation and our church body?

Are we so possessed by the truth of salvation that our greatest concern for our children is that they may gain life in heaven at the side of Jesus?

Do our offerings for the work of finding and feeding Christ's sheep come from willing, generous, and joyous hearts?

Does the flesh frustrate us? Lord forgive! To the extent that our Savior now possesses us by His saving grace and power, we give thanks to God alone!

To the extent that we have the truth without being HAD by the truth, we pray, "O Christ strengthen Your hold on our HEARTS ! Amen.