Resurrection 101 - Hindsight 20/20 - The Fifty-Day Boot-camp

We really don’t know a person until we hear their history. 

Where did you come from?

What makes you laugh?

What makes you cry?

What do you love?

What do you hate?

What do you wish to erase from your life... and why?

Where are you now?

What is your deepest longing for the future?

What is your biggest fear?

We all have histories. Who we are today is a sum total of all our yesterdays and the unrepeatable, unique mix of countless factors that make you – you and me – me.

When we first met Peter he already sees himself as ‘damaged goods’. But Jesus sees something in him that nobody, not even Peter sees in himself, and calls him Rocky.

From then on, Peter’s life is a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows the fisherman turned into fisher-of-men couldn’t have conceived in his wildest dreams.  Being with Jesus caused Peter’s confidence to soar to unimaginable heights.

But then there was a tragic turn of events that also turned Peter into a denier. Not once. Not twice.  But three times. The sense of failure and self-condemnation was so overwhelming, the wound so deep that even seeing the resurrected Christ wasn’t quite enough to heal Peter’s broken heart.

Strangely, all this is a part of God’s unorthodox custom-designed training for His chosen disciple.  Jesus deals with both Peter’s self-confidence and self-condemnation, and reaffirms His calling to the distracted follower. There is only one debt left, and it is a debt of love. 

After 40 days following His resurrection, Jesus leaves them with a promise of the coming of the the Holy Spirit - finally the power to be - to become - who we are made to be.  The power to do what we were created to do.

Isn't this what we all need? What we really want?

For I don't need anybody to come alongside and tell me all the wrong things I need to stop doing.

I don't need anyone to come alongside and tell me all the good and right things that I should be doing.

What I need is somebody - Somebody - to come alongside and empower me to do what I already know I should be doing, to give me a kick in the butt, to blow wind into my sagging sail, to recharge the depleted battery on my smart phone... so it can do what it was made to do, what it's supposed to do all along. 

The disciples wait and on Day Fifty – the promise finally arrives. And it blows all the paradigms of what’s and how’s of God’s presence and activity among His people.