Have you ever heard two people talk about the same event and noticed how the focus of each of their stories is different?   It doesn’t really matter if they’re discussing a concert, a traffic jam, or the Sunday sermon – even in a common experience - we all seem to focus on different things.  We notice this in the gospels as well.  Compiling the various gospel accounts is how we get the best picture of the Easter story.  In John, Mary meets Jesus, whom she supposes to be the gardener, while she is weeping outside the tomb.  In Luke, there are two men in dazzling clothes who bring the news that Jesus is not there.  In Matthew, we see the guards and their reactions and the angel’s words are accompanied by an earthquake.  Today, however, our focus comes from the story of the resurrection as told in Mark’s gospel. 

During our journey from Ash Wednesday to today, we’ve been studying the life and characteristics of Peter and, in Mark’s telling of the resurrection story; Peter is singled out – called by name by the young man in the white robe that the women found in the tomb when they had expected to find Jesus there. 

Mark’s resurrection story is short and to the point.  It includes these words of the messenger – “…but go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee.” Mark then tells us that the women fled in terror and amazement and said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. But we know from Matthew, Luke, and John that they got over their fear and followed the messenger’s instruction and did go and tell the disciples and Peter.  I’ve thought a lot this week about how it might have felt for Peter to get that message – to be singled out by name.  It would be like your boss, your teacher, or your spouse sending you that “we need to talk” or “come to my office” message when you know you’ve done something very wrong. 

We’ve been studying Peter for seven weeks now.  We began with him meeting Jesus through introduction by Peter’s brother Andrew.  Jesus then calls Peter to be one of the disciples, calls him to walk on water, and selects him to go with him to the mountaintop to witness his transfiguration and the appearance of Moses and Elijah. 

Peter has been in the inner circle of disciples.  Time and again, Peter has been the most prominent and outspoken of the disciples.  His ultimate moment is when he declares that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.  Jesus blesses Peter, calls him a ROCK, and tells him that he’s going to build his church on Peter’s confession of faith.  It’s hard to imagine things getting any better for Peter.  But then came last week.  Peter was missing in action for Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  He gets soundly scolded when he resists Jesus’ prophecy about how he’ll be killed and he gets told more than once to keep his mouth shut.  On Thursday, as Jesus gathered for a final meal with his friends, Jesus begins to take on the role of a servant and wash their feet.  Bold Peter, trying to do the honorable thing, says to him, “you will never wash my feet!”  He’s wrong again.  Jesus answers, “unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”[1] 

When Jesus said that one of his disciples would betray him - bold Peter protests that HE would die for Jesus.  It was then that Jesus correctly predicted that Peter would deny even knowing Jesus three times before the cock crowed. Our last named glimpse of Peter before the crucifixion has him as a broken man, having just heard the crow of the rooster, he’s despondent, crying.  As Jesus died on a cross, Peter was a man without hope.  From the moment the rooster crowed all that Peter hoped for was gone. 

Here is the message for today – there is a difference between what you hope FOR and what you hope IN.[2]    When you hope for something, you want it to turn out a certain way – a way that is to your liking and likely will benefit you in some way.  I had a twinge of nostalgia last week as Butler played Kansas State to advance to the Final Four in the NCAA basketball tournament.  You see, while I was an architecture student at Kansas State University, I and hundreds of other students would camp out in front of Ahearn Field House on the K-State campus hoping for student basketball tickets.  Once inside, we would hope for our beloved Wildcats to win.  I knew last week that I had been fully exorcised of those demons as I found myself hoping for a Butler win. 

What are you hoping for this morning?  Some hope FOR a job, others hope FOR good test results, still others hope FOR the Cubs to win the World Series, or FOR their favorite team to win it all tomorrow.  If we get what we hope FOR, it’s quite a rush – at least for a little while.   When what we hope for fails to transpire, there is sadness.  If what we hoped for was deep within us, there is despair – and that’s exactly where we find Peter on this Easter morning.  His hope for a Messiah to overcome the Romans had crumbled.  His hope for his own steadfast defense of Jesus was shattered by his three denials.  Everything Peter had hoped for had crumbled around him.  He was a man without hope. 

“Go…tell the disciples and Peter,” the messenger said to the women.  Peter’s reaction to that message is incredibly telling about how a relationship with Jesus can change lives.  Peter may have been in the middle of deep despair, tried and convicted by his own conscience.  He had every reason to be terrified when the message came to him that Jesus was alive and he was asking for Peter by name – “Peter, we need to talk.”  Luke tells us that Peter runs to the empty tomb and sees it for himself.  Upon seeing the tomb, Peter “went home, amazed at what had happened.”  Amazed but not convinced.  Convincing comes in seeing Jesus.  Paul tells us in I Corinthians that Jesus did meet first with Peter before meeting with the rest of the disciples.  We don’t know what was said in that meeting - but we do know that a life that was broken was mended.  Peter experienced the grace of this Jesus.  His old hopes were being transformed to something new.   I believe it was at that moment – at that meeting - that Peter finally gave up hoping FOR the future he had in mind and started hoping IN the promises that Christ brought for him. At that moment, Peter’s life changed. 

The answer to the question of why Jesus wanted to see Peter first, before anyone else, had come – Jesus knew Peter’s guilt and despair.  He needed Peter to know he still loved him – no matter what he’d done.  The ministry to which I have for you, Peter, is still for real.  Let’s try this again.  Peter soon found out that the words, "tell Peter," were an expression of love, confidence and forgiveness from Jesus. "Tell Peter."  What loving words of assurance for one who had been unfaithful. Jesus was saying, "No matter what you have done, there is forgiveness, there is hope IN me. If you want to stop hoping FOR the things that you want and start hoping IN me, we can make this thing happen. I am alive. I am with you all the way. I offer you a new beginning.  When you start believing in tomorrow rather than worrying about tomorrow, Peter, your life will go positive.” 

The people of Jesus’ time were hoping FOR a king – but he was crucified and that hope quickly died.  The resurrection transformed those “I want” hopes.  When those first disciples put their hope IN Jesus, a new relationship was born.  In many ways the Christian church was born when people stopped hoping FOR a messiah and started hoping IN the Messiah. 

Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite writers and theologians.  He frequently wrestled with depression and disillusionment but found the power not to let it become his life.  In his little book, Out of Solitude, he reminds the reader that it is our hope and expectations for the future that make all the difference in how we deal with the inevitable moments of despair in the present.  Nouwen says it this way, “the paradox of expectation indeed is that those who believe in tomorrow can better live today, that those who expect joy to come out of sadness can discover the beginnings of new life in the center of the old, that those who look forward to the returning Lord can discover him already in their midst.”[3]

During his time with Jesus before the crucifixion, Peter hadn’t learned that lesson.  He hoped for a messiah, a King of Kings.  He hoped for lots of things that were taken away at the crucifixion.  But in his personal resurrection moment with Jesus, he began to understand that all that we hope FOR eventually fades but that hope IN someone can be eternal when that someone is Jesus. 

That moment transformed Peter’s life and allowed him to face the persecution of Nero knowing that even if every Christian in Rome were killed, hope IN the resurrected Savior lived.  Peter spent the rest of his days boldly proclaiming the good news of the Lord he once denied.  He became a mighty witness to the power of Jesus Christ, eventually giving up his own blood as a martyr for Christ.  Shortly before his death, Peter writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.” [4] 

“…A living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”  That’s hope that does not fade, rot, spoil or disappear.  I don’t know what you’re hoping for today.  It may be wonderful and important and perhaps even noble.  It may be something you believe you need or something you really must have.  Marriage, job, health, money, success, security, power – what’s on your list? 

But, what you are hoping FOR is NOT the question for today.  The question of Easter is: who are you putting your ultimate hope IN?  Listen closely to the messenger waiting for the women in the tomb.  He tells the women to “go tell the disciples and Peter.”  That message transformed Peter’s life, made him whole, gave his life meaning and inspiration and passion.  Transformation can be yours as well.   Imagine that instead of this saying “go tell the disciples and Peter” it says, “go tell the disciples and ‘insert your name here.’” “Go tell the disciples and Ryan.”  “Go tell the disciples and Lisa.” “Go tell the disciples and Dave.” “Go tell the disciples and Heather.” 

Your name is there.  The invitation is yours.  Jesus invites you by the grace of God to have your personal resurrection moment – to hope IN Jesus Christ so that you may lead a life transformed, filled with meaning, passionate, and filled with hope.