The message of Easter is so simple yet remarkably daring: "Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here – He is risen." ~ Luke 24:5-6 (NIV)

Jesus is alive.  He is risen.  He's not where he’s supposed to be.  He’s not in the tomb.  That’s where He should be, but Jesus has never been one to follow the rules, even rules as strict and firm as death.

Instead of being in the one place he’s supposed to be, He shows up everywhere else – especially in the places we think are off limits to God. 

He shows up in Mary’s grief.

He steps into the disciples’ fear.

He enters into Thomas’ doubt.

And He even walks with two of his followers in the midst of their disappointment with God. 

Grief, fear, doubt – even disappointment with God – none of these things are off limits or out of bounds for our resurrected Lord.  But there’s one more place Jesus steps into that must be noted.

At the end of John’s gospel, we find Peter dejected and defeated. 

Before Jesus was crucified, Peter had a chance to stand with Jesus.  He had three opportunities to deny his fear and risk suffering the same fate as the One he called the Christ – the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16).  But as brazen and vocal as Peter had been in life, when faced with the possibility of death, Peter found himself denying Jesus rather than dying with Jesus. 

Peter’s shame was crippling.  His guilt relentless.

Jesus may be alive, but Peter is dying inside. 

Peter can’t get past what he did.

Peter can’t move beyond the fact that when Jesus needed him most, Peter denied him not once, but three times. 

Peter’s life had been derailed by shame.  Peter believed that his failure, his denial, had disqualified him as someone Jesus could do life with.  But did Jesus feel the same way? 

John 21 tells us that sometime after the resurrection, Peter went fishing.  In other words, the man who once left his nets to follow Jesus has returned to them.  Do you hear and feel the presence of shame at work in Peter’s actions?

After fishing all night and catching nothing, a man calls out from the shore and instructs them to try the other side of the boat.  We, as the reader, know what Peter does not – the man on the shore is none other than Jesus Himself.  Out of options, the fishermen take the stranger’s advice, drop their nets on the other side of the boat, and almost immediately their nets begin to burst because of the sheer quantity of fish in their nets. 

Here, on the other side of the resurrection, Jesus has recreated one of Peter’s earliest experiences with Jesus (Luke 5:1-10).  Instantly, the miraculous catch gives Jesus away.  Peter recognizes that the voice who called out from the shore is none other than the resurrected Lord.  In response, Peter forsakes the catch, drops his nets, jumps in the water, and recklessly swims to Jesus.  Finally, after a brief meal, Peter and Jesus share an honest conversation in which Jesus restores Peter into full life with Himself for the sake of the world (John 21:15-19).

But what I find most beautiful and so compelling is simply the name by which Jesus calls Peter during this powerful dialogue. 

Peter means ‘rock’, but that’s not Peter’s given name.  Simon is.  And there are plenty of times in the gospels when Peter, the rock, is simply referred to as Simon or even Simon Peter.  But that isn’t the name Jesus uses this time.  He doesn’t call him Peter or Simon or even Simon Peter – Jesus calls Him, “Simon, son of John”. 

Why does this matter you may be wondering? 

In John’s gospel, this name, “Simon, son of John”, is only used twice for Peter.  It’s last used here, at the end of John’s gospel as Peter’s shame comes crashing up against Jesus’ compassion.  But the first time it’s used shows up all the way at the beginning of John’s gospel.  Here is how it’s first usage unfolds:

“Andrew brought his brother, Simon, to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas.’ (Which means Peter).” ~ John 1:42

The first and only other time Jesus called Peter “Simon, son of John” was when Jesus called Peter into life with himself. The only other time Jesus used this name was when Jesus invited Peter to follow Him as a disciple. 

When Peter was at his lowest

When he was certain his failures had cost him everything

When his shame had blinded him from the hope and freedom he had in Christ

Jesus stepped right into the midst of his shame.  Jesus met Peter in his shame, but not with more shame.  Jesus met Peter in his guilt, but not with more guilt. 

Even though Jesus had every right and opportunity to do it, when Jesus met Peter in his shame, he met him with compassion, not condemnation.  Even though he didn’t have to, Jesus reminded Peter that his shame and failure did not disqualify him from life with Christ, but qualified him as a person He’d died to save – someone Jesus wanted to do life with. 

I’m not sure what your guilt and shame have convinced you of, but I do know this, our sin, shame, and struggles cannot overcome the One who overcame death and the grave.  Jesus didn’t taste the bitter sting of death so that we could be overcome by guilt and shame, but so that we could hear him speak our names and know, that because of who He is and what He has done, there is a place and space for people just like us. 

Your shame is not off limits to God.  It's not a score you must settle on your own without Him.  Jesus met Peter there and reminded Peter of a name beyond his shame.  And what Jesus did for Peter, he can do for you as well.  He can meet you right where you are, even in the midst of your shame for, “…we are convinced that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).