Anakephalaiossathai (A Thanksgiving Intermission).

The first sermon I ever gave (as a pastor) was entitled Anakephalaiossathai.

It’s a Greek word.
Ana – again.
Kalphale – head.

Anakephalaiossathai means “to bring things together under one head”

It’s sometimes translated as
“recapitulate”
or “retell”

And this is the plan: at the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth.

Ephesians 1:10 (NLT)

I’ve chosen to end (although there will probably be an epilogue at some point) the exploration into my experience with Gaslighting through Anakephalaiossathaing the tale. Because after this recent weekend, I saw how God was retelling and restoring my experience.

However, I know people have shorter attention spans, so with this being a little over a page JUST exploring the concept, I thought I would make it an intermission!

Let’s look at two verses that speak to the idea of Anakephalaiossathai.

For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets.

Acts 3:21 (NLT)

and through him [Jesus] God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

Colossians 1:16 (NLT)

The know that the concept is biblical, but how has it operated in practice? Much like with many things in scripture, Peter provides a great example of this!

In a less than 24 hours (more than likely) Peter said that he would never desert Jesus and would rather die (Matthew 26:33,35). However, he can’t even stay awake (Matthew 26:37-45) and overcompensates by chopping off an ear (Matthew 26:52-54). The story of Peter’s betrayal of Jesus is in all four Gospels (Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, Luke 22:54-62, and John 18:15-18, 25-26) which means that it’s important and crucial to Jesus’s story.

But God.

John 21:3-11 is one of my favorite stories in all of Scripture. And it’s something that only John wrote about.

After Jesus died and was resurrected, he made a series of appearances. One of these times, Jesus appeared to the disciples who had been fishing all night. He, asked about their fishing and then tells them to throw their nets to other side. This series of events mirrors Jesus’ first interaction with Peter (Luke 5:1-11).

Peter gets it! And he exclaims, “It is the Lord!” He jumps into the water.

I love this so much. We can really see the growth here with Peter. When this first happened in Luke, Peter gets on his knees and tells Jesus to go away from him because he’s sinful. But now, after spending three years with Jesus and even failing the way he did his reaction was to rush towards Jesus.

For all the mistakes and screw ups that Peter made in his life. He didn’t try and separate himself from Jesus when he needed Jesus the most.

Jesus and Peter spend time talking as the rest of the fish are hauled in. We don’t know the specifics of the conversation but, we know that Jesus was cooking fish over a charcoal fire. That’s very important.

Anthrakin (the term for coal)
Is only used in the one other time in the gospels.
In John 18:18, it’s when Peter denies Jesus.

In front of the charcoal fire, Peter, affirms his love for Jesus three times. Jesus, affirmed Peter’s calling. Jesus showed Peter that no matter what was done and by who, Jesus was in charge of how the story would end. Jesus would Anakephalaiossathai Peters story.

While I never betrayed Jesus, and in fact was only persecuted for doing what Jesus called me to do, God used events at a Vida Nueva weekend, to reaffirm, retell, and restore my story.

I am thankful for this.

So on this Thanksgiving day, may you become aware of how God is retelling your story. May it finally click with you, and may you be like Peter and rush towards Jesus. And may you celebrate the Anakephalaiossathaing of all things.