YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

School was out and it was time for Joey to spend the summer with Grandma and Grandpa on the farm in the hill country. He looked forward to eating Grandma’s cooking, playing baseball with his cousins and friends and helping his uncles bale hay in the fields. During those hot summer evenings he ate green apples as he pulled smallmouth bass out of the creek. No chore was too burdensome in the country. Joey actually looked forward to drawing water out of the well and helping around the farm.

As June turned into July and later into August, Joey’s thoughts invariably turned toward home. It wouldn’t be long now before school would begin – always the day after Labor Day. He would surely miss the activities in the country, but he knew that he had to go home. He never felt it was something he “had” to do; he really looked forward to going home again.

So it was with these anxious thoughts of going home that Joey stood by the rickety old bridge and watched for his father’s car. There weren’t very many cars that came down the old dirt road, and you could see their dust almost a mile away, even before they rounded the curve and came into sight. Joey remembered how he had stood by the bridge and watched his father’s car just a few months ago as it rounded the curve and disappeared from view.

Nearly 2000 years earlier, Jesus’ Apostles stood in the field with their eyes toward the heavens. They watched anxiously as they saw His body taken up into the air. Each one of them had witnessed parts of His life and been touched by it. There were wonders and miracles and disappointments; He had healed many, but He had not established His Kingdom in the manner they had expected. But then they witnessed Him after His resurrection, and gained a new perspective. They had a new promise and a job to do.

Before Jesus ascended to heaven He appeared again to His disciples – this was the third time since He had returned from the dead. He had finished having breakfast with them, and He asked Peter, “Do you love me more than these others?” Peter first answered, “Yes, you know I am your friend.” Well, that didn’t exactly answer the question that Jesus asked. But Jesus replied by telling Peter to “Feed my lambs.” Then He slightly reworded the question by saying, “Peter, do you really love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I am your friend.” Now that wasn’t what Jesus asked either. But Jesus told him to “Take care of my sheep.” Jesus came back the third time and asked, “Peter, are you even my friend?” This really grieved Peter because of the way Jesus asked this question, and he said, “Lord, you know my heart, you know I love you.” Jesus’ reply to Peter’s third answer was, “Take care of my sheep.” Jesus’ thoughts and concerns were that a dear friend continue to follow Him and that he take care of His followers. Jesus had a job for Peter to do.

The disciples thought that Jesus would set up His Kingdom on this earth at that time. Like most of us, they wanted to know the time and date of His return. But Jesus said that He didn’t even know that, only His Father knows. But He didn’t leave them hopeless. He didn’t leave them powerless. And He didn’t leave them without a job to do. He told them to wait in Jerusalem and they would receive the gift God the Father promised – the power of the Holy Spirit. This was the power to do the work of God. He had to return to His Father before this could happen. Jesus promised in John 14:12, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles and Christians to do a work mightier than what Jesus had done. You have access to that same spirit of power, because Jesus went to the Father.

The job of taking care of and feeding His sheep is not unique to Peter. Matthew 28:19, 20 expounds on that job, “Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this – that I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (TLB). Just like the disciples, you also have a job to do.

As they saw the dust left behind and the car driving out of sight, Grandma and Grandpa were already missing Joey. Even though the disciples saw Jesus slowly disappear out of sight as He went to His Father, they did not have to miss Him because He is at the Father’s right hand making intercession for us. He left and went to heaven, and they became empowered with His Spirit on the day of Pentecost. We have hope as never before, we have power like the disciples had, and we have a job to do. But we must tap into that power through a daily relationship with our Savior. The power of the Holy Spirit can’t remain dormant in us. We must commit to being pro-active by utilizing that gift of power to feed the “lambs” and take care of the “sheep.” Jesus wants you to be pro-actively empowered and to be involved in making disciples and caring for His sheep.