Easter 3C – RCL
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. Very truly, I tell you,
when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you
wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone
else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to
go." (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify
God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
This is one of
my favorite post resurrection stories.
Scholars contend that it is an epilogue – an add on – to the original Gospel
of John. But all of the scholarly
comments aside I really don’t care. I
love this story. There is so much going
on here and folks usually focus in on the story line between Simon Peter and
Jesus. It is the part of the story that
lends its name to the holy site on the Sea of Galilee where tradition says this
story took place. The holy site is
called Peter’s Primacy.
The site of
Peter’s Primacy is a lovely site today.
There is a wonderful little chapel built around the rock where it is
said Jesus barbecued the fish. And there
is a very nice sculpture depicting Jesus telling Peter to “feed my sheep”.
But to be
honest I don’t like the name Peter’s Primacy.
The focus on Peter three times expressing his love for Jesus completes a
story in John. Without this story we are
left with our last real experience of Peter denying Jesus in the courtyard of
the High Priest. And there is certainly
much sermon fodder in the second half of our story – the Peter centric part.
But really I
like to call this story “The barbecue on the Beach”!
In this story
the disciples are finally out of the locked room. But they are not off making new disciples.
They are back to someplace familiar.
They are back to the sea of Galilee where Jesus found Peter. Perhaps they are looking for some comfort in
the familiar. They are back to their
boats. And Peter says “Lets go fishing!”
There is
comfort in the familiar. I know when my
world is rocked I go to the familiar. I
find a spot or an activity that is familiar and comforting. For me it frequently involves music. Certain musical numbers have the ability to
comfort me. And certain places have the
ability to comfort me.
So we find the
disciples heading out to fish. Heading
out onto the Sea of Galilee - which they know so well. They know every shallow spot. They know the
places where the fish like to hang out.
It is familiar and comforting.
But they catch nothing. They fish
all night and the nets are empty. As my
fisher friends like to say that is why it’s called fishing and not catching.
So at dawn
they head back in. Empty. Empty nets like their empty hearts. This going back to the familiar didn’t seem
to help. And they see a stranger in the
distance. Standing on the beach. Jesus asks them – well really he tells them –
that they have no fish and they should put the net down on the other side of
the boat.
Really! Just put the net from one side of the boat to
the other. That won’t work. I am sure that is what the disciples
thought. They know how to fish and it
just doesn’t work that way. But they do.
They trust this stranger for some reason.
And the result is so many fish.
153 fish. The nets are so full
that they have trouble getting them to shore.
And when they
get to shore they find Jesus had been having a better time fishing than they
had up to that point! Jesus already has
fish cooking over the fire. And
bread. Jesus invites them to
breakfast. “Come and have some
breakfast!” No rebukes. No scolding.
Just come warm yourselves on the fire.
Come eat.
Jesus is like
that. Grace is like that. Resurrection is like that. The invitation is out there to us. The invitation to eat. To warm our souls at the fire. It just keeps coming.
That is what I
like about this story. God’s grace is
not always where we expect to find it.
We can go looking all day long and think we know best. We are in church so of course we know where
God’s Grace is! Its right here – right?
Unfortunately
so many people think that God’s grace only can happen in certain ways in
certain places. God’s
grace only
happens in a box on Sunday morning. And
we tend to think that God’s grace is limited.
Or we act that way! People act
that way because it is too scary otherwise.
And because we don’t act that way we imagine that God won’t act that
way.
We create laws
that put limits on grace. We think in
the terms of three strikes and you are out.
You are to be put away. Our
society wants to limit the amount of time someone can be on assistance – because
otherwise they are milking the system.
We hear on the news that whole states cannot imagine LGBTQ persons
having equal rights – so instead of recognizing the grace that is built up all
when we build up one – instead of that state’s are passing discrimination laws
wrapped in the flag of religious freedom.
To think that
God’s grace is so super abundant that it will come to us on the banks of our
despair over and over and over again – runs counter to our way of
thinking! But it does. God’s grace does not set a three strikes
limit. God grace does not say when or
where it is available. It just requires
us to open our hearts. To turn away from
whatever activity that we are doing that separates us and accept God’s
grace.
That is what
is happening in John’s Gospel. Jesus is
offering an abundance of grace so large that we cannot imagine it – if we keep
thinking in terms of limitation.
Jesus gives God’s grace when he asks Peter if he loves him. Peter is given the chance to say yes after
saying no. And Jesus keeps after him – Peter
– do you love me – over and over again – to the point of annoyance. Jesus is showing us that God’s grace is
offered again and again. And there is only one payment for that grace.
The payment is
to say yes. And the payment is to feed
God’s sheep. All of Gods sheep. Not just he ones we like. Not just the ones like us. Not just the ones who come to church.
Feed my
sheep. Everywhere and everyone is worthy
of being fed and offered God’s grace.
And we as the crazy Jesus people that we are are called to be
examples. We are called to feed God’s sheep. We are called to show that God’s grace is
available. Its available over and over
and over again. God does not limit God’s
grace and neither should we.
Jesus said to
Peter and says to us “Feed my sheep!”
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
