By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
May 25, 2025
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John 14:23–29 (ESV)
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” This is an interesting place to begin today. It is interesting because it shows us the deeper meaning of what it means to be a follower of Christ.
If we were to look a few verses prior to today’s text in verse 21, it says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” And if we were to look today’s passage in the New International version, instead of word it says teaching. There are two different words being used here entolas (command) and logon (message, teaching, word). And in this final teaching of Jesus prior to his crucifixion Jesus is showing us the relational aspect of life with God.
When we think of the word commandment, we think of rules we must obey. Commands in our mind are nonnegotiable and when they are broken consequences ensue. We gain this idea from human interactions and society. The concepts of law and order are derived from these thoughts. And most of these ideas come from authoritarian or tyrannical ideologies. The king, the president, the dictator has set up the law and we are required to comply or else. This is entolas, command.
When we think of God many of us have this concept going through our minds. We have enshrined the 10 commandments in our minds, we have taught them to our children as the standard of righteousness, and we are currently arguing about if schools should have them displayed in every classroom in some states. The concept is that this is what God requires of us. These are the things that we must or must not do as Christians. And when we happen to stumble, we joke around that God will strike us with lightening or something dire. We joke, we know in our minds that this is not the nature of God, but deep within us we still wonder if that is the case.
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why are there wars, poverty, famine? Why are innocent children subjected to abuse? We struggle with these questions, and often the answer we come up with is that we have broken a rule, we have sinned or our parents have sinned, or someone close to us has sinned and we are paying the price. We do not like that answer, and people have turned their backs on faith because of these answers. This is by in large the ideology of God’s wrath being inflicted on the sinful because we broke a commandment.
We can take this another way, because there are teachings within some spheres of the church where God wishes to heal every disease. That God will shower blessings and riches on every devout individual. And we can see this seemingly being worked out in front of us. But then someone is not healed in the way we expect. Some people continue to carry a burden even though they have released it to God in prayer. What do we say in these situations? Unfortunately it comes back to this tyrannical God concept. You did not have enough faith, or you have some un-confessed sin that is holding back the blessing.
Many of us are fixated on commandments. We focus on the wrath of God. We say we worship a God of love, yet we often portray this God as a vengeful tyrant. And we wonder why people lose their faith.
Jesus does not speak of a wrathful God, He says instead, “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Jesus is teaching us that God wants to come, He wants to draw near to us as we draw near to him. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
Logon, this second word I mention is rooted in logos but refers more toward the message or the content of what was spoken. In this Jesus is telling us that the commandments can often get misunderstood. We see them as hard fast rules, and we miss the point of what God was trying to share with us when he gave us the commandments.
I want us to step back into Israel’s history. They had spent over four hundred years in bondage in Egypt. They were slaves, beaten down, forced to work in grueling conditions. Yet the were able to maintain a just a small portion of their identity as a people. They would cry out to the God of their fathers, to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God heard their cries. From the midst of the people, God used the injustice of Egypt to preserve his inheritance his portion, as Moses’ mother made a basket out of reeds and sent that basket down the Nile to be found by the daughter of Pharaoh.
This daughter raised Moses as her own, and even living in the lap of luxury, this daughter of Pharaoh did not keep from her child the reality that he was of Hebrew origin. And eventually Moses could not bear to watch his own people being brutalized by the culture that accepted him as one of their own. He watched the taskmasters beat a man, and he was filled with rage and was lead to violence.
He knew that his actions would cause trouble so he turned to his own people, and they rejected him, saying, “Will you kill us as you did the Egyptian?” Moses was lost. He was a man without a nation and a man without a culture, and he ran. He ran for his life, knowing full well the consequences of his violence. He ran into the wilderness, and he finally came to rest at a well in Midian.
He saw the brutality of Egypt, he experienced it. He ran from that life and lifestyle hoping to find something different somewhere else. As he sat in the distance, he saw shepherds and shepherdesses coming to the well to draw water for the flock. He watched as the men treated the women with the same brutality he witnessed in Egypt as they restricted them from access to the source of water. Moses could not stand to see this brutality, and could not stand by any longer. He came out from his resting place and stood up to the shepherds driving them away, and assisted the women as they watered their flocks.
This man without a nation, without a people or a place to call home, helped the helpless and the women brought him back to their father and their father accepted him into their family telling his daughters to call him to come and share a meal and dwell with them.
For forty years Moses lived in Egypt and for forty years he lived in Midian. He married one of those daughters, had a son and made a home in this land he did not previously know. And as he lived in that land he saw a different kind of life. A lifestyle that was not based on brutality and force, instead he experienced a life where the stranger was welcomed and bread was shared.
All this while Israel remained slaves, brutalized by Egyptian hands, and they continued to cry out to God concerning the plight they faced. And one day while Moses was tending the flocks of his father-in-law he was visited by the angel of the Lord, that appeared to him in a flaming bush that was not consumed. God spoke to Moses from out of that flaming shrub, and charged him to bring his people out of Egypt.
Moses had spent years in that land he knew their ways. He understood that for humanity, the only way to liberate the children of Israel was to defeat the armies of Pharaoh. So he spoke up, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” God told him that He would be with him.
Moses continued to hesitate, but God eventually convinced Moses to trust him. And he went. He and all of Israel watched as God removed the might and power of Egypt little by little. Each aspect of their culture was laid low, the Nile, their fertility, their health and prosperity, until eventually God cut off the dynasty of by taking the lives of the first born males of Egypt. We often look at this story, and that is all it becomes. We marvel at the power of God, but we often do not look deeper. Each of the plagues God brought to Egypt through the words of Moses, challenged that culture and society. Each of the plagues challenged the Egyptian deities. With each progressive plague, God was dismantling ever aspect of Egypt that they held as important. He challenged Egypt, but why did he do it?
It is through Israel that God chose to reveal himself to humanity. It is through Israel that God was going to bring the light, the word, or the teaching of true life with Him to the nations. It was not only that this brutality was happening to Israel, but God was showing us all the weakness of a life and lifestyle built on falsehoods and a life built on the truth.
Jesus taught us that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over others, but that is not so with us. This is the kingdoms of men, the kingdoms and nations of those that do not listen to the teachings of God. They use force and brutality. They exploit the labor of others and make laws to ensure that the injustice remains. They use might and because their might overpowers the weak, the might is seen as right.
God brought the people out of Egypt, and they carried the wealth of their brutal taskmasters with them into the wilderness. God led them out of slavery where they could worship Him properly, and he brought them to a mountain, and as they gathered a cloud enveloped that mountain and a voice thundered from the lightening. It was here to all of Israel that God, gave us what we call the Ten Commandments, but to the Hebrew people they did not know them as commandments they knew them as God’s teaching or words. The idea of commandments came much later after the Hebrew scripture was translated into Greek, and in that translation aspects of Greek culture and use of the language was incorporated into our understanding.
The Greek culture was one of law and order, not teaching. They had hierarchy, where the Hebrew people had family, tribes and nations. The Hebrew culture was based on community and living together in mutual profit, where Greek culture was more individualistic.
We are more comfortable with the Greek aspects we see in scripture than we are of the Hebrew. We like the stoic individualism of righteousness where we can achieve righteousness, but this is not the teaching. The teaching God gave at that mountain, was to build a community. It was given to make a nation out of broken people and redeem out of the broken something that would draw all people to himself. He wanted to dwell with us again.
Jesus said in this farewell teaching, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” We will understand and live out his teaching, we will understand and embody the content of his message. “and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
I want us to think about this for a moment. People within our culture will spend thousands of dollars with the hope of eating in the same room as the next potential president. We spend money just for the potential to be near, yet that does not mean we have any relationship with that potential world leader. To be honest, we would be lucky if he had the opportunity to shake their hand. Yet the Father and Jesus want to make their home with us. They want to move into our community. They would love to live next door, play catch in the back yard and throw some choice cuts in the smoker. Well Jesus might opt for a fish fry.
The commandments, or the message that Jesus is giving us is not that we should judge or reject, not that we should push people away. Instead it is hospitality. It is inviting the neighbors over and sharing a meal. He wants us to tear down the walls of separation and challenge the concepts that divide us.
Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and we will make our home with him.” but he follows this with the shadow, “whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” And he clarifies it just a bit more by saying, “the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”
This means that the words that Jesus taught, the message that he brings is the intended message from the very beginning. The life and lifestyle that Jesus shows us is the life and lifestyle that God intended and created us to live. Anything contrary to that is darkness, and it will crumble just as Egypt crumbled before God.
What is this life and lifestyle Jesus is calling us to conform to? Prior to this teaching, Jesus and the disciples gathered together in a room. Jesus took off his outer garment and wrapped a towel around himself. He then knelt before them and began to wash their feet. Each of the disciple sat in utter confusion as their teacher performed the lowest task of the lowest servant of a house. To them Jesus was the king, he was their great teacher, yet he bent low to scrub the grime from the callouses of these working men’s feet. My dad was a mechanic and farmer most of his life. I know how dirty a working man can get over the course of a day, I know what can be stepped in and how it smells. This is all over these men’s feet and Jesus is there washing it off.
After he washes their feet he begins his teaching, and he says to them a new command I give to you, that you should love one another as I have loved you.
This is the life Jesus is calling us to. We should not seek praise or power, but to share life with each other. We should not wish others to do things for us, but instead we should bend over and provide them with aide. This is difficult, because how can I do this when I can not stand to be in the same room with some people. How am I supposed to tear down a wall when everyone around me seems to want to build one up? How am I to live according to the teachings of Jesus in a world that seemingly rejects him and me? We are like Moses lost in the wilderness. Running from the brutality of one empire only to be faced with the brutality of another. And Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Of all the words of is passage troubled and afraid are the only imperative verbs. Meaning this is what we should focus our energy in. We are to let not your hearts be troubled, or be afraid. We should instead remember the life and lifestyle of Jesus and rest in that place. Instead of worrying about the terrible events happening all around us, we should focus our lives on loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others.
I say this as if it is easy. It is not. I am a flawed and broken man. And every day I am reminded just how hard it can be to speak and live the message of Christ. I fail, often I find that what I have shown is about as far from God as it can be. We cannot do this on our own. We were not meant to. God, the Father and the Son want to make their home with us. And as the dwell with us they will provide a Helper, the Holy Spirit. The helper in Greek is paraklhtos. This term means an advocate, or legal council. This helper, is the one we come to for advice as we encounter various challenges. There are many things about contracts, and the legal system I do not understand and thankfully there are lawyers available that will look at and advise the best way forward. Their advise should keep us out of legal trouble and they will stand with us if need be. This is who the Holy Spirit is.
I often find myself siting in my chair thinking about which direction I will go, or how I can approach a situation. I sit in that chair and often I am at a loss and unable to see a path forward. I have sat in that chair years. And somehow we have found a way forward. As I sit in prayer, the Spirit prompts things in my mind and I remember times in my past, a story, or a passage of scripture. At times they are profound and at other times its just a simple nudge in a direction that does not seem to be relevant. But there are promptings, leadings, or urgings. The Spirit prompted Moses, to help the women at the well, the spirit prompted Moses through the bush. The Spirit prompts and helps. And it is the spirit that will lead us as we face the challenges of today.
I do not have the answers to the big questions. I cannot tell you why if God is good there is suffering in the world. But what I can tell you is that I feel called in many ways to speak up when I see injustice. I am urged to give money to support a cause. And to make a phone call to encourage someone. The suffering around us is from sin yes. It is from a world system that is opposed to the teachings of God, but we each are called to dwell with each other. To encourage one another to walk forward even when it seems all hope is gone. “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Love God, Embrace the Holy Spirit, and Live the love of Christ with others. And let God take down Egypt for us.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
May 11, 2025
Click here to join our Meeting for Worship
John 10:22–30 (ESV)
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
The past few weeks have been filled with interesting events. We celebrated the resurrection of Jesus as we have done since the church emerged. And shortly after that the leader of the largest church in the world passed away. I am obviously not Catholic, and I have theological reservations that prevent me from embracing their doctrine. But I recognize that their history and practice has spiritual value for every expression of faith.
When Pope Francis died, the global Catholic community went into a time of mourning. They prepared for the funeral, and then after the burial of their pope they spent nine days in prayer and worship. For nine days they prayed for the future of their church. For nine days the leaders traveled to Rome, met together in worship and sorrow, and then we waited.
The Cardinals from every corner of the world. come together, they go into a room, and they began the conclave. Once the cardinals enter that room, they ensure that no outside communication can occur, and they seal them in. And the leaders of the church again began to pray.
They remain isolated from the world, praying together, and they vote with a secret ballot. These votes are counted and if there is not a 2/3rds majority the cardinals again pray. This happens four times each day, and if they do not have a pope on the fourth vote, they go off by themselves to pray and rest until the next day. This process will continue until they come to a place where 2/3rds of the cardinals have chosen their leader.
As an outsider, I find this process both beautiful and weird. I can make arguments for and against the process. I love that they meet in prayer, but I am annoyed that they vote, because I come from a tradition that does not vote because we believe that the spirit will lead us and together we will find a sense of the meeting. But I realize that in an organization that stretches around the globe, across countless languages and into many different cultures it would be difficult for such a large group of people to come to a sense of the meeting without some tangible form of communication.
As we all know there is a new pope in Rome. A pope who grew up in our nation, one that live a life of ministry and service, and can fluently communicate in more languages than I knew existed. But does it matter? Does it matter to the Friends who the pope is in Rome? Does it matter to the Baptists, or the Lutherans? Do the people in Ukraine that are not part of the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church care who the pope is? Do the Imams of the branches of Islam care? Or the Rabbis of the Jewish traditions?
In many ways it does not matter, but there are areas where it does. This is the leader of the largest Christian denomination in the world, they have influence if we agree or not. What they say and do affects us in some way. This is why throughout the past few weeks many followers of Christ from all traditions prayed with the Catholic Church.
I mention this because it is something we have heard a great deal about the past few days. We have heard reports about how politically active Pope Leo has been, and where he has stood on key doctrines. We have heard a great deal, but how can we really know?
This is where the religious leaders were with Jesus in today’s scripture. They had heard stories. They had seen past actions. They think they know something about him yet they are unsure.
Jesus was walking around the temple, and in the colonnade of Solomon. This is a structure on the eastern side of the temple mount platform. It was basically a massive gazebo that stretched 800 ft by 50 ft by up to 100 ft tall. This was the gathering place of the scholars. They would find an area within this massive porch, their disciples and anyone else that happened to want to listen would gather around them and they would listen while they taught.
Jesus is there at the temple. He enters this area, and the people surround him. The term gathered means to surround, to encircle. He steps under the roof and as soon as the shade comes over him, he is surrounded on all sides by religious leaders. I want you to just picture this in your mind for a moment. This is a space where various teachers go to teach, each one has disciples that follow them around wherever they go. Hundreds of teachers meet here six days a week. It is a busy campus like any university today. But on this day, each of those teachers got up and walk over to Jesus.
Hundreds of teachers surround him. Behind them hundreds of student wanting to hear what is being said. Imagine the scene as these bodies move like a flock of birds dancing in the air. Coming to rest around one man. Consider it for a moment and as you do, think of every radio preacher you like to listen to, every religious YouTube or Podcast personality, every university professor, and mega church leader along with their followers rushing in.
“How long will you keep us in suspense?” They cry out.
How long will you keep us in suspense? This is an interesting phrase. As I was studying this week, I found that there are a couple of different ways that people have translated this phrase. The one we have in our translation, but then there is a second way, “How long are you going to annoy us?”
Then they follow that question with another request, “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
I have trouble with this phrase. I have been at the receiving end of arguments where people have loudly proclaimed, “The plain reading of scripture says…” and they proceed to speak their interpretation. I have sat listening to them and my response to their accusations is that the gospel is easy enough for a child to understand while remaining so complex that the wise can continuously debate it forever.
This conversation proves this. The phrase how long will you keep us in suspense? The words here if you were to take each one literally means, “The Soul/Life we take away or pick up.” The image that it portrays is like a child seeing a gift in your hands and you just stand their holding it. They are looking at you in a state of limbo. They look around as you stand there and they wonder if they were supposed to do something before you give them the gift. So they hurriedly pick up all the spent paper, they put away their clothes, all the dishes have been put into the sink, and they come back only to see you still standing there holding the gift. What else do they have to do? Are they missing something. Then the pleas start to come and they come a step closer, while you lift the box up just a bit more. They are wondering what must I do, what is there to do, so they just remain before you paralyzed in a state of desire and anguish.
That is suspense. But there is another way to look at this. Your older brother has picked up your favorite toy. He holds it out above you, just out of reach. You lunge for it, and you fingers just barely graze the item as it is lifted higher. This happens again, and again, and again until you finally cry out in complete annoyance. Your parents come charging in just after he hands it back to you. You look up and you see your brother with an innocent yet baffled look on their face as you parent’s ask what is going on?
One version of the story is one of complete excitement, the other is the origin story of a comic book villain. What is the plain reading of this passage? Can we really know?
There are some that are probably looking to Jesus, as the bearer of the ultimate gift, while others might see him as some sort of cosmic internet troll always out to prove everything you say as being wrong. Either way the very presence of Jesus in that colonnade takes hold of their lives, their souls, their psyche, and he then holds it up.
They can see everything they believe, held over them for everyone to examine. They know what Jesus has spoken. They see his followers, and they know that there is this idea going through people’s minds that he just might be the one they had hoped for. But is he?
How long will you keep us in suspense? How long are you going to annoy us? Tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe.”
As you reflect on this throughout this week, I encourage you to take a quick look at the first nine chapters of John’s gospel and consider Jesus’s words. There are approximately five times Jesus spoke where he mentioned who he was prior to this instance. Each time he faced similar reactions. They tried to kill him, they called him the son of Satan, or they walked away speechless because he pointed out their hypocrisy. He had said, “I am the good shepherd.”, “before Abraham was, I am.”, and , “I am the light of the world.”
They heard these teachings, but they did not understand. They called him a blasphemer. They picked up stones to kill him. They grumbled, and denied his authority. And yet he stands there as they surround him. He stands there and the question remains hanging in suspense and annoyance. While they demand that he tell them plainly if he is the Christ.
Is Jesus the Christ? How do we know? Does he say it plainly? Honestly, Jesus does not say things plainly. He speaks in parables and in word puzzles. I look at the words and I think it is plain as day, yet I can have had conversations with others where they look at the exact same words and come to a completely different conclusion. What does this mean?
Words are just words. Words can be said but if you are unable to apply the words, if you are unable to see the meaning play out before you, those words are meaningless. Pastor Mwenitanda and Bilengana can speak the most amazing words in Swahili, but I do not speak Swahili. Their words are often filled with the Spirit’s power, but how am I to understand? Or how are they and their families’ and friends going to understand me?
“The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,” Jesus continues, “but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
We know the words have meaning because they are lived. This is what Jesus wanted the religious teachers to know that day. “The works that I do,” he says. Some translations have used miracles instead of works here, because the word means the acts or the deeds. The translators look back through the gospel and they see the miracles spoken of, so they believed that it was the miraculous acts that Jesus was speaking of. As scholars have obtained a greater grasp of the usage of the ancient languages, they have realized that the context of what Jesus is speaking of includes more than just the miracles. His work, his deeds are miraculous, but sometimes they are just normal every day things.
When Martha is busy in the kitchen getting annoyed by the lack of help her sister Mary is providing, she goes to Jesus to demand him to tell her sister to help her. Jesus does not tell Mary to get in the kitchen, instead he tells Martha that Mary has chosen something better and he will not take it away from her. Jesus in a short conversation and activity had opened the door for universal education. We might not see this as miraculous, but imagine if you were Mary and Martha that day. Imagine if you were countless women within that ancient society. It was a miracle that any teacher would say those words, and allow them to be practiced. Jesus lived it.
It is Jesus’s life that bore witness to who he is. There were moments where something miraculous was needed to prove the point. Like when the paralyzed man was lowered through the roof. Jesus spoke words to this man, saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” This made the crowd uneasy because only God can forgive sins, so Jesus went on and said, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?” It is easy to say words, it is much more difficult to live words. That day, the man laying on that mat looked into Jesus’s eyes and he heard the words spoken. Jesus look at the man and spoke again, and the man rose from that mat and began to walk.
One work we would call miraculous, the other we might call political or even woke. The point is Jesus did not only speak, he lived. It was his life that bore witness to who he was.
This has been an eventful few weeks. And we have things going on all around us that make us wonder. Words are spoken. And people react based on the words. They have to react because if they do not prepare themselves, their livelihood or their existence is threatened. People look at the reactions and they scoff. We are overreacting they say. The problem is not the words, but the life.
Turn on the news, watch it for just a moment and you will see the hypocrisy we all live in. Words are spoken but the lives lived do not reflect what was said. I have been trolled for months over these very things, and my mind continuously is drawn to this interaction with Jesus. How long will you keep us in suspense? Tell us Plainly!
Protestants, Friends, and the other groups among the western church do not get too overly excited about the pope, but the pope remains important. As much as we would like to say they do not represent us, they do. They are the largest Christian denomination, everything that happens within the Catholic Church reflects on us all. The good and the bad. We can say we are removed from their problems because we are an independent church, not under their control, but as a church leader I know that I am often asked questions concerning it all. Even today we are like those religious leaders crowding around Christ as he walked in the colonnade of Solomon, and we are asking similar questions. Who is right? Which of us is following you best? Tell us plainly!
Today is a day we celebrate the women in our lives that have encouraged us, that have participated in making us who we are today. We call it Mother’s day, but I do not think that encompasses the value women have in our church and in our spiritual lives. When I look at who I am and how I have grown into the man I am today I have come to realize that like Timothy it was my mother and grandmother that planted and nurtured those initial seeds of faith. It is not that my mom and grandma were remarkable in some global sense. They were not serving among lepers in Calcutta, or anything spectacular. They were just who they are and were. The lived what they believed every single day of their lives. And when their words did not match what they did they made a point to reconcile as much as possible. They were not perfect people but they showed me how to be a follower of Christ.
They were not the only ones. It was my pastor Edith Williams, that shared with me the love of she had of the Friends Church, and she showed that love because she took the time to teach us about it, and as she taught she showed us how to participate. It was a librarian that shared with me what books inspired her, that got me excited to read and study. And when I did check out a book that she thought was questionable, she took the time to talk with me and asked questions about how what was written in that book applied to my life. It sounds weird to say it out loud, and it was not accusatory she simply took the time to help me examine and explore my words and life. My Sunday school teacher, was the spouse of another pastor. She would often go grab the books off the shelf to look things up as we explored scripture together.
When I look at my spiritual life, it was the women of the church that would often take the time to explore faith with me. And I cannot fully express how important that is. They played active roles as pastors, and they were just regular people attending meetings for worship. They were teachers in my school, the person that cut my hair and co workers. They were and are people lived their words, and held me accountable to the words I spoke and lived. They showed me something about faith that I did not always see and challenged me to look at how my words and actions affected others around me.
This week I sat with this passage in prayer. I considered the various conversations I have had over the years. I remember the annoyance of some that would ask a question and they felt as if I avoided the answer, because they wanted something plain and simple. Life is not simple. The religious leaders all wanted to know if Jesus was the Christ, yet they all had their own idea as to what the Christ would be. He was to be the king, the priest, the prophet. He would restore Eden on Earth. He would free them from oppression. He would be…
We all have our own ideas. We have our own expectations and some of us might even have those expectations filled. In my life I have not seen many things that people would call miraculous. I have experienced things that I cannot explain and to me it seem miraculous, but to someone else it would appear to be random. Mainly all I have seen is people living the best they know how.
Which leaves us right where we began. Some are sitting in suspense hoping to open a gift and others are hopping around in annoyance. We are concerned, we wonder what to believe, who we can place hope, if we can afford to continue down the same path. We are left wondering if we can believe. Our lives bear witness.
How are you responding to the trolls on the internet? How do you react to the clerk at the store? Did the waitress or waiter plainly see the love of Christ being lived out as they brought you your food and drinks? Or did you hold them in a state of annoyance? Our lives bear witness. And how we live today testifies to the hope we have.
The religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus that day, because he responded to them plainly and they did not understand. They continued to ask him questions, and Jesus continued to live his words in front of them. Eventually they did apprehend him, they used false words to convict him, and they enacted injustice upon him as they hung him on a tree. Yet through all of it Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” They buried Jesus. And on the third day he rose again to life, just as he said.
Jesus lived his words, and in his words we have life. As we go out this week, let us reflect his words and his life. Let our lives bear witness, that there is something more, that there is hope.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
May 4, 2025
Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship
John 21:1–19 (ESV)
1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. 8 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. 9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
The past couple of Sundays we have celebrated the Resurrection. We considered the confusion that this seemed to have caused. The struggle that the disciples faced as they tried to come to an understanding as to what this meant. I want us to really wrestle with this confusion. I want us to understand how we feel when we enter a situation where our past experience and our human knowledge do not quite prepare us for what we currently face. I want us to understand this so that when we face these challenging situations we can meet them without fear, but hope.
The Resurrection is confusing. It is unnatural. Miraculous. We cannot explain it logically. If someone accepts it fully without some hesitation, I as a pastor, would question if that person has understood it, or if it has just become something we say. This is the reason we celebrate a season of Easter and not merely a day. Jesus did not just raise from the grave, pop in to say hi and then proceed to the right hand of God the Father. He instead spend time with the disciples. He appeared to them multiple times in various locations, and in most cases he broke bread with them.
Have we ever stopped to think why there were forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension?
It takes approximately forty days for you to develop a new routine. During the season of Lent, many traditions spend forty days fasting or abstaining from various things. The church throughout history used this time to encourage their people to deepen their spiritual discipline. If you are attempting to break a bad habit that first month is the hardest. If you are trying commit to a more healthy lifestyle, that first month will present the largest challenge. But once that month is over things change. The new routine becomes more natural and less of a burden. This does not mean we are now completely free from the bondage of addiction, or that we will never again be tempted by sweets, it simply means that we have a greater opportunity to make a lasting change.
Jesus fasted for forty days in the desert. Jesus spent forty days after His resurrection teaching the disciples. Forty days. Today we are on the third Sunday of Easter. We are two weeks into something new. New life and new hope.
Jesus had come to meet with the disciples on two occasions. He shared air with them, he showed them the wounds left by the nails and the spear. A week later Thomas the one disciple that was not there that first day, that disciple that said he could not believe unless he saw and put his own fingers into the wounds, was met by Jesus. Jesus called out to him and said put your hand here and feel, and on that day Thomas the skeptic became Thomas the confessor, for he was the first disciple to call Jesus by his full nature, My Lord and My God.
The passover feast is now over. They traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate as was the custom. They celebrated the meal, they spent the week praising the God that gave them a chance, and now the celebration is over and they returned to their homes, in Galilee. They return to their regular life.
As I think about this passage today I am reminded of all the times I went to church camp, or to youth yearly meeting, or the Campus Crusade winter conferences that I attended throughout my early years of faith. I remember how excited I was at the event, and then I unpack the suitcase and sit on the old familiar furniture. Almost immediately one of my siblings would do or say something that would set me off, and in an instant all the righteous energy I had at the conference left and I once again became the punk kid I had always been. In an instant I had fallen. I had confessed and rededicated my life to God and now within hours I had fallen again.
Things were different though. Things changed, and although I wanted to lash out something would stop me, I would remember things I had just learned and would take pull back before damage was done. Slowly I began to change, slowly I became something different. It is rarely fast. I am not saying that it is never fast, but rarely. It takes time to develop a new habit.
The disciples are home now. They had faced a traumatic event as they watched their closest friend and teacher die at the hands of the very people they had once respected and held in high regard. They had sat in fear that they too would face the injustice of the world’s powers as the huddled together in the upper room. They sat together in that room where Jesus had washed their feet and shared a meal. He had asked them do you understand what I have done for you? And they did not understand but they were shocked and perplexed by the activity. Then they met Jesus again three days after they had buried him. They ate with him, and they knew that he was there physically.
Now they are home.
And Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
There is much that has been said about this statement. Some say that Peter was a fisherman by trade and throughout Jesus’s ministry Peter and the other fishermen would need to go out to fish regularly to maintain their livelihood. Other scholars have looked at this statement and have said that Peter was falling into apostasy. That he was turning his back on his faith and returning back to his old life and lifestyle. This too makes sense. Others say that Peter was bored and he enjoyed fishing, there are people among us that can probably relate to this and I can honestly say that each of these ideas have merit. I think that each of them are true.
“I am going fishing.” Peter says, and the others say, “We will go with you.”
Not all of these men were fishermen. Of the people mentioned only three we know for sure were fishermen by trade. We do not know what Thomas or Nathaniel did prior to their time spent with Jesus, and we are not even told the names of the other two. But they all go out to the boat and they fish. Why did they go?
I think they went because they wanted to remember. They had spent three years walking around Roman Palestine with Jesus. They had sat on these boats with him as they crossed the sea to minister. They had adventures, shared stories, argued, and laughed. They had shared life together on these boats and they wanted to remember. They each knew that things had changed. The life they had for the past three years, was not going to continue in the way it had previously. Jesus had risen from the grave, he had talked with them and had ate with them but he did not remain with them. He comes and he goes. Life is changing. How will they continue on? Will they continue?
All night they fish and they caught nothing. This is my story when I go fishing, lucky for my family we are not relying on my ability to fish to put food on the table. They caught nothing.
Imagine for a moment if you were on that boat. It is as if you had been in that position before. There was likely laughter and possibly tears each time they would cast the nets in the water and pull them back empty. Stories would be told. And they would remember.
Then as the day was breaking they see a figure on the shore, and that figure cries out to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” As I studied this week, I noticed that many commentaries focused word we translate to be children. It is only used in this manner three times in the New Testament, here in John 21, then in one of John’s letters, and once in Hebrews speaking of Moses as the princess of Egypt took him as her own. There is love and concern in the voice of this figure. And there is a hint of deja vu. They answer him, John says here. They answer in unison. I imagine that they were probably laughing as they answer because the intimacy of the cry and similarity of their first call to follow Jesus was probably in their minds.
That figure then says, “Cast the net on the right side fo the boat, and you will find some.”
We probably miss the absurdity of this statement because we do not think about it. You would not throw a net off the right side of the boat. To throw the net off the right side of the boat you would be have to do one of two things. Either you would have to stand facing the wrong direct on the boat and then start rowing in reverse to bring the net in, or you would have to throw the net with your left hand. It makes complete sense to me as someone that would be more comfortable throwing left handed, but in a culture where left handed people were not as accepted. We do not often think of these things because We are not fishermen by trade, and when we fish we use a rod and reel. But they are not fishing like us. For us the right side or left side does not matter, but when you are throwing a large net out into the water as far as you can and then rowing a boat forward to draw the net closed it changes everything. For the fish to be on the right side, they would have been right next to the boat. They could just reach in with their bare hands and grab them. It is absurd.
And it is just the thing that they had heard before. Without any hesitation they cast it, and begin the process of drawing the net back in. Almost immediately they realize that the net has resistance, too much resistance. The are unable to haul it in for fear of breaking the net. The disciple whom Jesus loved, or John, says to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
This is no longer a memory but a reality. They have been here before, they know what is happening. Peter, on of the only experienced fishermen on the boat, grabs his shirt and dives over the edge and begins to swim to shore, and the others probably shake their heads as they begin to slowly row the boat to the shore dragging the net behind them.
When they get to shore, they see a fire burning and there are fish and bread cooking, and Jesus tells them to bring some of the fish they had caught. John then tells us how many fish they caught, 153. Historically theologians have tried to make sense of this number. What does it represent? It is interesting what some of them come up with. Augustine says it is seven, the number of the spirit, times seven the number of disciples present, plus the one who spoke to them, and this is done three times to make 150 plus the trinity. This is one of the doctors of the church, which show us something important. Even the smartest of us can get caught in the weeds and not see. There are eight people present, there are some fish on the fire plus 153 more. If Jesus was cooking seven fish, one for each of the disciples to eat while the fresh catch was cooking, there are twenty fish for each person. More than enough.
That is the point. There is more than enough. They have all that they need and more. The disciples had been at this place many times before. They had watched as Jesus took five loaves and two fish and fed five thousand with twelve baskets left over. They had watched him feed four thousand. They had seen a net filled to bursting. They had walked three years with this man and as far as we know they did not lack the basic needs once. There were a few times where Martha thought she needed help in the kitchen, and the religious leaders got upset when the disciples pulled heads off of the stalks of wheat to eat the grain, but they were not in lack. God provided what they would need to accomplish the ministry they were called to join.
They remembered. They went home, they returned to the life they had known before. They were getting themselves prepared to start over again. The teacher they had followed was no longer in a position to lead them any more, what will they do now? Throw the net on the right side, instead of the left. Or as Paul would later say, through our weakness he is our strength.
After they had finished their breakfast. After they had eaten their fill. Maybe they each at twenty fish, I do not know we are not told if they took any home or not, but I think they are probably stretching out by the fire getting ready to take a nap after an impromptu feast. Jesus turns his attention to Peter. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
More than these? This is a pronoun that can mean the person or thing comparatively near at hand to the conversation. Some think Jesus is referring to the six other disciples that were on the boat. Others think Jesus was indicating the fish that had just been consumed or were still cooking over the flames. We are not told exactly what Jesus was referring to, but the implications remain the same. Do you love Jesus more than the people around you? Do you love Jesus more than the things around you? Do you love Jesus more than these? Personally I think Jesus is referring to the fish because there is a different pronoun that could have been used to indicate if Jesus was asking about people instead of things. So I would prefer that we not compare ourselves to other but instead look at our own personal devotion. Do we love Jesus more than fish?
Peter answers, “Yes, Lord you know that I love you.” And Jesus encourages him to “Feed my lambs.”
Jesus asks the question a second time, “Do you love me?” Peter again answers, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” And Jesus encourages him, “Tend my sheep.”
For a third time Jesus asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter is now grieved because he is asked the same question three times, and he answers, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” and Jesus encourages him for a third time, “Feed my sheep.”
Feed, tend, feed are each imperative, or commanding verbs. Feed means to provide nourishment, or to take the animal to a place where they can obtain food. Tend is a bit different, this is means to shepherd. But both allude to the work of a shepherd, but focus on different aspects of what a shepherd does. Feeding focuses on nutrition, where tend focuses on the physical care.
Jesus is telling Peter to provide nourishment for the lambs. Lambs are, if you did not know, immature sheep, or babies. Where the second use of the word feed is attached to sheep, which is one that is mature. When we feed babies we do not provide the same food as you would something mature. The needs are different. Paul would later teach in his epistles that when we were babies we ate milk but now we need solid food.
Jesus is telling us that we need to be aware of who we are speaking to, where they are in the spectrum of faith. The immature have different needs than those that have a deeper understanding. The way you speak to the students needs to be different. The message or the stuff of value that can bring life is the same, but the methods or the approach should be adapted to who we are with. What I say from the pulpit is a bit different than what I will share in the student bible study, because each maturity level will understand things differently. It is different but important. We cannot neglect the lambs because they are the church. And we cannot neglect the sheep because they are the church.
Feeding comes through our teaching, our conversations. The tending comes from living with the sheep. Consider the sheep as an animal instead of a metaphor, for a moment. Sheep are by nature nervous animals. They do not trust those that they do not know. When a shepherd was with the sheep in ancient times, they would often not bath so that they would smell like the sheep. They would integrate themselves into the herd, walking with them, talking to them, sleeping in the same place they slept. If we then apply that same principle to people, we need to be with the people, where they are.
This might be a bit jarring at first. We often teach that we should put on a different life, put on Christ. But we need to remember that Jesus put on humanity. He being God for a little while became a little lower than the angels, and took on human flesh. He became God with us. He lived among the sheep. He looked similar, smelled similar, the walked with us and carefully encourages to move toward the still waters and the green pastures. He tends. Nurses our wounds. Delivers us from the entities within this world that seek to do harm to us. He goes out to find the one while leaving the ninety-nine. To adequately tend the sheep, we need to be with them. Build trust and a relationship. The sheep, or the people within our community need to know that we are working for their good, not their harm.
Today is my birthday and I am now forty-six years old. Half of my life I have spent as a minister. Twenty-five years ago I heard a message on the radio while I was sitting in my dad’s pickup eating lunch between my working hours and my last semester of college classes. I listened to this message just a couple of months after I returned home from Ukraine after spending two months there teaching English classes. The pastor on the radio gave a great sermon, at least I assume that he did since he was on the radio, but I did not hear anything he said after he read the scripture. All I heard that day was, “Jared do you love me more than wheat, than corn, than sorghum?” And I sat there with a ham sandwich stopped halfway to my open mouth. And I was challenged that day to answer a question I was attempting to avoid. Would I be willing to go?
I was a quiet, nerdy farm kid. I rarely spoke and would only speak in public if there was no way to avoid it. How would I be a pastor? I had just returned from the most enlightening experience I have ever had in Ukraine, the righteous energy was slowly flowing and at that moment when I was getting back to normal, Jesus was telling me to throw the net to my weak side. Could I do it? Not everyone is called to be a pastor, some are called to minister in different ways. Will you open you home to host gatherings? Will you run your business to give opportunity to people instead of profit? Will you listen to someone as they struggle with their faith? Will you visit the one in the hospital? Or stand up for the ones that are facing injustice? Will we feed and tend the flock we have been given whoever and wherever they may be?
Peter and the others went home from Jerusalem after they had seen the risen Lord, and they were faced with a new reality. How will we live after everything we once knew has been turned upside down? They went out to the boats, that place of comfort, and while they were there, they remembered. And from that place Jesus calls out to them. “Dear ones, have you found what you are looking for?” No they call out. And Jesus tells them to try it his way, and when they do they realize that they have all that they need.
Do you love your job more than Christ? Will it give you what you really seek? Do you love your spouse more than Christ? With they give you what you really seek? Will your children, or you hobbies provide the hope you need? In some ways yes, but only if those things are done in the love of Christ. The things of this world will only give us what we need if we first love God, embrace the holy spirit, and live the love of Christ with others. Let us now go and feed the Sheep.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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