Now What?

This is the message given at the Oahe Manor service in Gettysburg on Sunday, April 14.  The Bible verses used are John 21:1-14.


Two weeks ago we celebrated Easter. And that’s always a big day in the church. We had more people at our services we had a bunch of Easter lilies in the front of the church, we did all sorts of special things. And in fact, we’d been preparing for that celebration for weeks. We’d had special Wednesday night Lent services, we’d had special services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, we did all sorts of things to get ready to celebrate the fact that the tomb was empty and that Jesus Christ, has, in fact, been raised from the dead and is alive.

And it’s good that we did all that. But now, it’s two weeks later. Easter is long since over. And we look around and we say, “Okay, now what?”

It’s a legitimate question. What do we do now that Easter is over? Do we do anything different? Or do we just go back to normal, the way we’ve done so many other years?

The disciples asked that same question after the first Easter. They’d watched Jesus die, and that was awful. Then, they found out the tomb was empty, and that was confusing. Then, Jesus appeared to them, and that was wonderful. But now what?

Well, the disciples did just what we do so much of the time. They went back to normal. Peter says, “I’m going fishing”, which of course is what Peter had done before he met Jesus. And the other disciples, some of whom had been fishermen too, said, “We’ll go with you.”

We cannot be too hard on them. They probably did not know what else to do. I mean, they knew Jesus was alive, and that was really cool, but where were they supposed to go from here. Jesus had not just been their teacher, you know. He had been their leader. He’d made the decisions. He’d said where they were going and when they were going to go there and what they were going to do when they got there.

Now, Jesus was gone. There had been no clear second-in-command, no one who was in place to take over the leadership of the group. Jesus was it. Now that he was gone, they did not know what to do or where to turn. So, they did the only thing they knew to do. They went back to doing what they’d done before.

And if Jesus had not appeared to them again, that might have been what they kept doing. They might have just gone back to being fishermen. The Christian church might have been over before it started.

But Jesus did appear. And he talked to all of them, but he especially talked to Peter. And he told them, no, this is not what you’re supposed to do. You’re not just supposed to go back to doing what you did before. You’re not supposed to go back to being who you were before. You have a job to do. You need to take care of my people. You see, I’m alive. If you follow me, nothing about your life should ever be the same again.

And it’s the same for you and me. We’re tempted, now that Easter is over, to go back to doing what we did before. We’re tempted to go back to being who we were before. But that’s not what we’re supposed to do. We have a job to do. We need to take care of God’s people. You see, Jesus is alive. If we follow him, nothing about our lives should ever be the same again.

Now, that’s an easy thing to say. It’s not so easy to live. It’s a hard thing to live at any point in our lives. But then, we look around here. I suspect a lot of you are thinking, you know, I’d love to take care of God’s people. In fact, I used to do all kinds of things to take care of God’s people. But what am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to do anything to take care of God’s people when it’s all I can do to try to take care of myself?

I understand. There are still things you can do, though. You may not be able to do all the things you’d like to do, but there are still things you can do.

See, even though you may not get out much, or maybe you don’t get out at all, you still see God’s people all around you every day. And every one of these people you see, including the staff, has some hard things they’re going through. There are thing you can do to help them. You can be a listening ear when they need someone to talk to. You can tell someone a joke and make them laugh so they don’t have to think about their problems for a little while. You can tell stories about the old days, and for a while be transported back to those times. You can smile at each other. You can pray for each other.

Did you ever wonder why Wanda and I like to come out here? It’s really not for you. I mean, we hope you like seeing us here, but that’s not the main reason we do it. We don’t do it because I’m a pastor, either, because we used to go out to the nursing home in Wessington Springs before I ever became a pastor.

The reason we like to come out here is that when we do, we feel better. We feel happier. You do that for us. Visiting with you, sharing a laugh, sharing what’s going on in our lives and in your lives, makes us feel good. You do that for us every time we come out here. That’s what I mean when I say we don’t come out here for you. We come out here for what you do for us.

And you can do that for each other, too. You can do it for the staff. And you can do it for anyone who comes out here to visit. You can still take care of God’s people in all kinds of ways.

Nowhere in scripture is there the idea that we ever retire from being Christians. The ways we serve God change, but we still have a job to do. You see, Jesus is alive. And nothing about our lives should ever be the same again.