Dr Paul Allen

Book of Genesis, Fall of Man. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) God created human beings in his image so they can be friends—intimate, love-filled companions—with him and one another. But soon they learn to live as enemies. To all the wonders that God has created, human beings add an invention of their own: revenge. You hurt me, and I’ll hurt you back. A kind of Newtonian law becomes as inevitable as the law of gravity: For every infliction of pain there must be an equal and opposite act of vengeance. A character in the book of Genesis named Lamech takes this concept to its ultimate extreme. He kills a man for wounding him; he says he will seek revenge seventy-seven times over against anyone who hurts him.  This is the Law of Lamech: If anyone inflicts pain on me, I must make them pay. One of the most poignant statements in Scripture comes shortly after the episode of Lamech as God views the violence and corruption that has spread like an epidemic through the creatures he loves: “

Peter's Denial by Rembrandt, 1660. Jesus is shown in the upper right hand corner, his hands bound behind him, turning to look at Peter. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) John’s gospel tells the story of a man who failed his best friend, who denied his master; who thought his failure put him beyond the reach of God’s grace , and who turned out to be blessedly, wonderfully wrong. It is a story for anyone who has ever been broken by failure. It is the story of the raggedness of man and the greatness of God . This is a story about a man who threw away the chance of a lifetime. And this is a story about the Lord of the second chance . It is 6:00 A.M. Peter and his friends have been fishing all night. They’ve caught nothing. A figure calls to them from shore. The Voice says, Catch anything? No, they say. What’s your point, Voice? The story starts with an admission of failure, and that’s all he’s waiting to hear. The Voice says, Try again. Put your net down on the right side of the boat. D