Endings and Beginnings

I have a mixed history with endings and beginnings. I have had so many that I have lost count. I would like to report that with age and maturity I have greeted the end/start of most cycles with satisfaction and eager anticipation, but such is not the case. I often found the change intrusive and a source of anguish, but at other times, I welcomed the change with cheers. This is surely the natural cycle of life - both ordinary and spiritual. And the holy time of Lent represents all the richness and intensity of one of the greatest endings and beginnings of all time: the death and the rebirth of Christ.

Some of the players in the Lenten experience made important transitions that are easy to overlook in the high drama of the main story. Simon Peter is a case in point. Simon, as he was known when Jesus first met him, was hardly the kind of man most of us would look to for leadership. He was impulsive, rash and forever simply missing the point. Recall that when Jesus attempted to wash his feet, Simon insisted on having his whole body washed - nearly missing the importance of Jesus' symbolic act of servant leadership. And later when the soldiers came to take Jesus, it was Simon who cut off one of the soldier's ears. Poor Simon, he simply didn't get it.

Most of us remember Simon's major failure: proclaiming his unassailable love to Jesus at their last supper, and then over the next days denying three times that he even knew Jesus. Simon must have been a miserable and remorseful fellow indeed at Jesus' death. Simon's personal ending with Jesus was bitter and betrayed much of what lay at his spiritual core. A sorry ending.

Yet the seed of Simon's new beginning had already been planted. At an early meeting with the disciples, Jesus let Simon know he was choosing him for a position of leadership and even changed his name to something more suitable for a leader - Peter, which means "the rock." Given Simon Peter's history, the other disciples must have been astonished at the choice. I can imagine them snickering about the irony of Simon's new name - this man was simply not a rock. On the day we call Good Friday, most observers would affirm the disciples' negative assessment of Simon.

So when Jesus confronted Peter after the resurrection, it was a tense time for Peter. His recent bitter and multiple failures weighed heavily. But Jesus spoke of none of the past failures. Instead he recognized Peter in a new way - and Peter broke into tears. Some say Peter cried because he realized that he still loved Jesus, but a closer reading reveals the glorious moment of Peter's sure knowledge that Jesus still loved him. And because that is how God's grace works, Peter eagerly responded positively to Jesus' request to care for God's sheep. And what a new beginning Peter had as servant leader of the early church. The Book of Acts is filled with stories of his wisdom and steadfastness. Yet, in this new beginning, Peter deserved the name "Rocky."

In recent years, I have been making the transition from an active business and professional life to that of a person staying at home with a long-term disability. Not really what I had in mind as a capstone of 30 years of growing responsibility with a not-for-profit research organization. Not what I had in mind as the sort of activities that would fill my retirement years. But the ending is undeniable, and beginnings are still being revealed. What am I learning from all of this? One lesson is an old one I seem to need to repeatedly relearn: No matter what the situation, there always seems to be enough of the things that matter - enough love, enough care, enough opportunity to contribute, enough of the world's resources to meet our earthly needs and enough rich relationships to carry the transition no matter how long. I take none of this for granted.

I am being called away from a lot of familiar things in my private and professional life - and being called to be something yet to be revealed. As an impatient person, I pray I will not miss the splendid revelations of the endings and beginnings ahead.

— Joe Matney

Alex Taylor    

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist