John 21: 1-17, 20-22
After these things Jesus showed
himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in
this way.
Gathered there together were
Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of
Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, “I am
going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got
into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Just after daybreak, Jesus stood
on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, “Children,
you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”
He said to them, “Cast the net to
the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now
they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.
That disciple whom Jesus loved
said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.
But the other disciples came in
the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land,
only about a hundred yards off.
When they had gone ashore, they
saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some
of the fish that you have just caught.”
So Simon Peter went aboard and
hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and
though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, “Come and
have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?”
because they knew it was the Lord.
Jesus came and took the bread and
gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
This was now the third time that
Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When they had finished breakfast,
Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed
my lambs.”
A second time he said to him,
“Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that
I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
He said to him the third time,
“Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the
third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything;
you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Peter turned and saw the disciple
whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus
at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”
When Peter saw him, he said to
Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”
Jesus said to him, “If it is my
will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!”
I had a wonderful, refreshing,
renewing time of vacation last week, and since I am a sermon geek, I did sit
down when I got back, and listened to the Rev. Dr. Loren Scribner’s Word to you in his
sermon last Sunday. For those of you who are not aware, our church website is up and
running again, and the audio recordings of the weekly sermons are there. I
heard that some of you had difficulty hearing him, and so I would recommend the
audio recording to you, because it came through loud and clear. The message of
his sermon last Sunday was that we need community, and we are called to be in
community and in relationship with one another, with all God’s people, as the
body of Christ in the world. All the world needs to belong, and we are the
vessels by which we create relationship with each other, by which all the world
can come into unity and belonging with one another.
In this week’s gospel message, we
will consider how purpose is also an essential part of our lives as disciples,
as followers of Christ.
In our story this morning from the
last chapter of the gospel according to John, seven disciples come together and
decide to go fishing. In the midst of the loss and confusion they feel after
Christ’s crucifixion, and after these glimpses of him in random sightings, they
feel the need for purpose. And so they turn back to what is, for them, an old
familiar routine and ritual. They go fishing. And, as anyone who fishes will
tell you, often that routine involves long stretches when you catch, well,
nothing at all. And that was the case for them that night. All night long, they
cast their nets, and the nets came up empty. But still, it felt to them like a
purposeful way to spend this purposeless time, and so they continued.
Just as the sun is coming up, they
see a stranger at the shore. The narrator tells us it is Jesus, but we also
hear that they don’t know it is him. This “helpful” stranger says, “got any
fish?” We can perhaps imagine their tone of voice as they provide the
inevitable answer. Then he offers advice – (“thanks a lot”, they probably are
thinking). But, since nothing else has worked, they try what he suggests. And
what happens is a huge catch on the first time they let down their nets on the
opposite side of the boat. We don’t know if they had only fished one side all
night or not. We don’t know why they didn’t think of this themselves, or if
they did. What we do know is that the catch was so big – 153 fish, we are told!
- that they would normally expect their nets to fail – but they hold. And in
their astonishment, one of them catches a glimpse in the stranger of their
teacher, their Lord and Savior.
And so Johns’ gospel comes full
circle. Jesus’ first earthly miracle, when Jesus attends a wedding at Cana with
his disciples, produces an abundance of the best wine of the night, from an
ordinary drawing of water into jugs.
And Jesus’ last earthly miracle, as
he fixes breakfast for his disciples at the shore, produces an abundance of
fish, the best catch of the night, from an ordinary lowering of the nets.
In each miracle, there is abundance
– a good meal, good food and drink, and plenty of it.
But food is not the only nourishment
being provided as they break bread and eat fish together.
Though his conversation with Peter,
we also experience how Jesus forgives and how Peter accepts.
Jesus goes beyond simply caring for
Peter by feeding him along with the other disciples.
Jesus does not judge or condemn
Peter – he simply forgives him, without Peter even asking for forgiveness.
Jesus forgives him and they move on.
And the forgiveness Peter receives
is a package deal – it includes the call to discipleship – feed my sheep. Tend
my lambs. Care for my flock. Love one another.
I have made you fishers of people,
just as I called you from the beginning. As you followed me then, so I call you
to follow me now, doing what I call you to do.
We are given the opportunity in
every encounter with God’s children – especially with those who we are tempted
to judge or to condemn – to forgive as Jesus forgives us, to accept without
condition as Jesus accepts us, to set aside our own comforts in order to belong
with those in need, to even suffer the loss of our own creature comforts in
order to be in relationship with all God’s people. Let us listen together to
this song, Twenty-First Time, by Monk and Neagle, which expresses the change of
heart that comes from being part of the body of Christ in the world.
Professor Reggie Jackson, from
McCormick Seminary, posted a reminder this weekend that “seventy one years ago,
on April 9, 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was taken in the morning from his prison
at the Flossenburg concentration camp and hanged to death. As a brilliant,
wealthy, Aryan man, he was killed by the forces that were attempting to
construct a society specifically for him, for his benefit, power and comfort.
But rather than be at home in what was billed as the “ideal community”, he
suffered like the outcasts, choosing to suffer the consequences for
non-cooperation with evil.”
The forgiveness of Jesus is freely
offered, as it was to Peter, and to us all. However, a life of discipleship is
not free; it is costly, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer made clear in his book The
Cost of Discipleship, a book that some of you studied together last year,
and that we discussed throughout Lent last year. Grace is indeed free,
but it is definitely not cheap. It came at a great cost to Christ, and it asks
of us that our entire lives be turned over to Christ. And the way we do that is
by giving over our lives to feeding his sheep, tending his lambs. It demands of
us transformation. It expects from us the hard work of reconciliation.
And it is possible only because of
the saving power of Christ’s resurrection, only because of the abundant grace
of God.
The Rev. Jill Duffield, teaching
elder and editor of Presbyterian Outlook, reminds us that, like Peter,
“We are more than the worst thing we
have ever done.
We are greater than the sum of our
mistakes.
Forgiveness is real. Reconciliation
is possible. Transformation happens.
This radical transformation is God’s
doing, not ours.
We can claim this for ourselves and
we can allow it to change the way we see all God’s beloved children.”
Every week in worship, after the
sermon, we move into the final two portions of the service – Responding to the
Word, and Going out into the World. As the signs over our exit doors remind us,
we leave this place and enter the mission field.
This morning we continue our worship
by singing our way into Agape Hall, by actively living out our Prayers of the
People, through working together to prepare food for 60 guests of the Macomb
County Rotating Emergency Shelter – also known as MCREST. These guests are
staying this week at St. Thomas Community Presbyterian Church in Shelby
Township, and our congregation is cooking and serving dinner and eating with
them there later today. There are tables
set up in Agape Hall for each of us to participate in three different active
forms of prayer – praying by fixing food, praying by writing notes and coloring
pictures for each of the guests we will serve, and praying for those on our
prayer lists, in our hearts and minds, and in need throughout our county.
When you get to Agape Hall, find and sit down at a starting place at any
one of the tables set up there, and wait for further instructions. After we
have spent time at our first spot, we will get up and move to other tables, so
that each of us gets to spend time in food preparation as a form of prayer, and
also in various forms of prayer at the other prayer station tables.
After that, we will offer our gifts
to God, sing a hymn together, receive the charge and blessing, and continue in
fellowship and mission as we go out into the world, transformed, to practice
forgiveness, reconciliation, and resurrection – to follow Jesus Christ.
Jesus says, “Follow Me.” We have
been given our purpose – so let’s go!
No comments:
Post a Comment