United Methodist Church Hyde Park, NY

THE GOSPEL OF THE SECOND CHANCE
John 21:1-19
 
On New Year’s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played the University of California in the Rose Bowl. In the first half of the game, a California player named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble. But then he became confused and started running in the wrong direction. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, managed to overtake and down him sixty-five yards away, just before he would have scored for the opposing team.
 
At half time everyone in the stands was asking the same question: what will Coach Nibbs Price do with Roy Riegels in the second half? The men filed off the field and went into the locker room. They sat down on the benches and on the floor . . . all but Riegels.
He put his blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, put his face in his hands, and cried like a baby.
 
Usually a coach has a great deal to say to the team during half time, but that day Coach Price was quiet. No doubt he was trying to decide what to do with Riegels. The timekeeper came in and announced that there were three minutes till playing time. Coach Price looked at the team and said simply, “Men, the same team that played the first half will start the second.” The players got up and started out, except for Riegels. He didn’t budge. The coach looked back and called to him. Still he didn’t move. Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, “Roy, didn’t you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second.”
 
Then Roy Riegels looked up and his cheeks were wet with tears. “Coach,” he said, “I can’t do it. I’ve ruined you. I’ve ruined the University of California. I’ve ruined myself. I couldn’t face that crowd in the stadium to save my life.” Coach Price reached out and put his hand on Riegels’ shoulder. “Roy,” he said, “get up and go on back, the game is only half over.” And Roy Riegels went back to the game. Those who were watching that day said they never saw a man play football as Roy Riegels played that second half.
 
How many times in their three years together had Simon Peter, that warm-hearted, impulsive, gifted, but imperfect disciple of Jesus Christ, said the wrong thing, asked a stupid question, missed the point completely, done the wrong thing, or failed to do what was right? Time after time he was welcomed back to Jesus’ side, taken into Jesus’ confidence again, and given another chance to redeem himself. But after the events of Jesus’ last week of earthly life, with the ministry apparently ended, Peter was sure that this time, for this failure, there could be no redemption, no second chance. Full of false courage, he had followed when Jesus was arrested. Then, like a coward, he had denied Jesus, not once, but three times! Peter couldn’t stand to think of what he had done. “I’m going fishing,” he said to the disciples. He was going back to what he seemed to do best. With nothing else to do, they went, too.
 
Once again, just as he had when he first called them to be his disciples, Jesus came to them as they worked by the sea. He cooked them breakfast, and when they finished eating, Jesus asked Peter: “Do you love me?” Peter said that he did. Then Jesus asked Peter the same question a second time, and then once more. And each time Peter said that he loved Jesus – three times in all, to make up for the other three times of denial.
It’s not every day that you find someone who will give you a second chance – much less someone who will give you a second chance every day. But in Jesus, Peter found both. Jesus acted as though all the mistakes, all the omissions, all the misunderstandings, all the failures, even the betrayal, had never happened. The slate was clean. The future was open. The last words Jesus ever said to Peter were the same as his first: “Follow me.”
 
Peter never let him down again. He became a missionary evangelist and led the preaching of the gospel in Jerusalem, all of Palestine, Syria, Corinth, Rome, and perhaps even Asia Minor. For many years he was the outstanding leader of the entire Jerusalem church. Although not a great theologian, he contributed significantly to the understanding and interpretation of Christ’s work and the gift of grace. For the rest of his life, Peter was an exceptional instrument of God’s purpose . . . until his faithful ministry ended in Rome in the final witness of martyrdom for Christ. And all because Jesus gave him a second chance.
 
In the British writer-physician A. J. Cronin’s autobiography is the account of an incident that occurred during an outbreak of diphtheria, a disease that was often fatal in those days. A little boy was brought in, hardly able to breathe. Cronin performed a tracheotomy and put the child in the care of a young nurse who would watch him through the night.
 
In the early hours of the morning, the trembling nurse awakened Cronin with the sad news that the boy was dead. Exhausted herself, the nurse had fallen asleep only to discover upon awakening that the tube was blocked and the child had died. The physician was furious and raged against the nurse. He told her he would see to it that she would never nurse again.
 
She stood before his wrath pitifully small, devastated by what had happened. In a scarcely audible, pathetic voice she said, “Give me another chance.” He told her that he would not, and having dismissed her, went back to bed – to bed, but not to sleep. Her poor face haunted him and so did her words “give me another chance.” In the morning when he rose from bed he tore up the letter of condemnation he had written during the night.
 
Years later Cronin met the nurse once again. She was now the matron of one of the largest children’s hospitals in England and known throughout the country for her commitment to her calling and her nursing skills.
 
Sometimes we take the ball and run in the wrong direction, or we fail in our duty, or we make a dreadful mistake, or we let someone down. Sometimes we stumble and fall so badly that we think that things will never be right again. That’s when we need to remember the gospel of the second chance.
 
 
 
Jesus reached out to Peter and reminded him that the job was only half done and the same team that had started – all the remaining disciples, including Peter – would start the second half. Jesus reaches out to us as well, continually offering yet another chance.
That’s when we find that, by the grace of God, we can do whatever it was that we failed at initially and do it as we’ve never done before. This time, we can and do get it right. That’s the good news of the gospel of the second chance.
 
I once read that the early theologian Clement of Alexandria claimed that for the rest of his life, Peter fell on his knees whenever he heard a rooster crow, and with bitter weeping, asked Christ for forgiveness. I don’t believe that story.
 
According to another tradition, Peter’s cheeks were marked with furrows down which tears continually flowed. I don’t believe that either. Having been assured of Christ’s forgiveness, Peter wiped away his tears and devoted all his energy to serving him.
 
There is another story that says that on one occasion when Peter was preaching to a large crowd, and the sermon wasn’t going too well, he heard a rooster crowing in the distance. He paused for a moment . . . and then preached as he had never preached before. Now, that I can believe.