Have you ever heard of Kintsugi bowls? In fifteenth-century Japan, a family wouldn’t throw out precious pottery when it was broken. They would bring the pieces to an artisan trained to put the family heirloom back together with gold-dusted lacquer. The Japanese word “Kintsugi” means “golden joinery.”
David Brooks wrote about the ancient bowls: “They look like they have golden veins running through them, making them more beautiful and more valuable than they were in their original condition. There’s a dimension of depth to them. You sense the original life they had, the rupture, and then the way they were so beautifully healed. And of course they stand as a metaphor for the people, families, and societies we all know who have endured their own ruptures and come back beautiful, vulnerable, and whole in their broken places.”
Then Brooks added, “I don’t know about you, but I feel a great hunger right now for timeless pieces like these.”
The night before the cross, Jesus predicted he would soon be arrested and all the apostles would abandon him. Simon boasted that he never would, but he did. Finding himself with the enemies of Jesus by a charcoal fire (John 18:18), Simon had three opportunities to take his stand for Jesus. On each occasion, Simon denied his association with him.
After the resurrection, Simon sat with the risen Christ by another charcoal fire (John 21:9). And there Jesus cancelled out Peter’s three denials by giving him a chance to make three new affirmations of his love for Jesus.
Years later, in 1 Peter 5:10 (CSB), the Big Fisherman wrote, “The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you….” How could Peter assure us of that? Because he had experienced it himself.
Jesus is the true and greater Kintsugi master. He does not discard broken disciples. He repairs us in a way that even our once-fractured places become beautiful.
Read about Simon Peter’s restoration in John 21:1-17 and let it give you hope that Jesus wants to restore you, too! We’ll study this passage at Hillcrest this Sunday at 10am!
--Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.