Monday, May 6, 2019

Jesus' Barbecue with his Disciples


Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter – Year CMay 5, 2019 – St. Paul’s Episcopal



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!

The Lesson from the Gospel of John today is one of my favorites.  Perhaps it is because I have been known to go fishing and, when I actually have caught fish while camping, have enjoyed the joys of fresh roasted fish around a campfire.  It is a scene that I can relate to.  It is a scene that I have experienced at some level. 

When I visited the Holy Land several years ago we visited the site that tradition holds was the place where the disciples joined Jesus on the beach for the meal.  There is a simple chapel built around a rock outcropping where a fire could be made to barbecue some fish.  Outside the chapel is a rocky beach that drops off fairly quickly so it would be a logical place to put out to fish. 

The site is called “Peter’s Primacy” because of the last portion of the Gospel reading where Jesus tells Peter three times to feed his sheep.  I prefer to call it the site of Jesus' Barbecue with his disciples.  It is one of the sites in the Holy Land that grabbed me and was hard to leave.  It seemed that all of my fellow pilgrims also did not want to leave.  We all gathered and silently absorbed the sites and sounds of the area.  It was one of a handful of places in Israel that took my breath away.  There is a tangible sense of God there.  Of course, the site with the church on the shore of the lake may not really be where this took place – however people have gathered there for over 1600  years to remember this Gospel story.  It is a place for me where the gospel story becomes tangible. 

When the story opens the disciples have left Jerusalem and their locked room and headed back to where it all started – at the Sea of Galilee.  And Peter decides to do what he was raised to do – to go fishing.  In their grief over the death of Jesus – and the death of the dream they had that the messiah would overthrow the empire – they turn to the comfort of a normal activity.  They go out to fish.  And after a night of fishing they head back to the shore with empty nets and empty hands.  Peter the expert fisher was not to catch fish that night.  As they approach the shore an unrecognized person suggests that they try again – and they do and in the abundance of the catch they recognize the risen Christ on the shore. 

Peter, being Peter, once again leaves a boat to rush to Jesus.  This is the Peter that also left the boat to walk on the water to meet Jesus earlier in the Gospels.  I find it amusing that it says he put on his clothes to jump into the water when most everyone else would have taken off some of their cloths before going swimming!  But this is Peter – the one who is so like all of us in both his getting what God would have him do and in being all too human to see past societies expectations.  Societies expectations of what a messiah would do and societies expectations of what a fisherman would do.  Peter rushes towards Jesus leaving his companions to deal with a net full of big fish struggling to get it to the shore.

It is in this abundance that the disciples recognize God.  Where there was scarcity in their catch it has been replaced with unexpected abundance.  And in the abundance their eyes where opened.  And in the abundance Jesus invites the disciples to bring some of the fish that they have caught to add to the barbecue that Jesus has set for them. 

David Lose, a preacher from Luther seminary said, “...once they have hauled their catch ashore, Jesus invites them to bring some of what they have caught and add it to what he has already provided for them. I think there is something powerful here, as Jesus not only provides for the disciples – in what is as close to Eucharistic sharing as you will get in John’s account – but also invites them to contribute what they have and, by extension, who they are. As they are join what they have to what Jesus provides, they are drawn back into the fellowship of those who not only see but also believe.”[1]

This is good news for us today.  It is too easy in our churches to focus on the scarcity.  It is too easy in our society to focus on scarcity.   People worry about the attendance at services and how much the congregation can afford to spend.  We focus on the matrices of corporate success.  And if we focus on such statistics we will likely miss the catch that God has for us.  A catch that will show up when we least expect it.  I have seen this abundance of God over and over again.

I remember one time before I was ordained, I was disappointed that I had been turned down for a promotion – as it happened I have was told the bad news on a Wednesday morning.  A little before noon I gathered myself to come here to conduct the noon service of healing prayers.  As I gathered myself into prayer I was astonished to find some 25 people or more here for prayers for healing.  It was if Jesus had said to me to put my net down on this side of the boat instead of the side of climbing the bureaucratic career ladder.  It reinforced that God’s abundance was measured differently than a corporate ladder of increasing responsibility and authority. 

After being fed Jesus addresses Peter – the one who put his clothes on to jump in the water.  The Peter who saw the empty tomb and pondered what it meant.  Peter who is still nursing the hurt of his denial of being one of Jesus’ disciples at another fire in the courtyard of the high priest.  Now at this fire Jesus takes him aside and asks Peter three times, not once, but three times – Peter do you Love me.  Peter – stung that Jesus asked three times assures Jesus that he does love Jesus.  And each time Peter is given a command to feed the sheep.  Jesus commissions Peter to take up the staff of the Shepherd and to feed Jesus’ sheep.  Peter – who is not who society would expect to be a leader – is commissioned by Jesus to carry on with the promise of God’s love for all of God’s beloved children. 

We too are being called by Jesus to feed his sheep.  We are called to a commitment to our baptismal promises to respect the dignity of all of God’s beloved children.  Which more and more seems counter cultural.  We are surrounded in this age of instant communication by reminders about how we should despise people who we disagree with.  We are surrounded by accounts of people going after people because they are different.  People putting down the other – or worse – just because they don’t look of act like we do.

Just a little over a week ago, at the end of passover, a young man, who pointed to his understanding of a “Christian superiority” and a hatred of the Jews, opened fire in a synagogue.  A person who used words taken out of context in our scriptures – and particularly in the Gospel of John which can be read as an indictment on all Jewish people for killing Christ.  A literalist reading of the passion story drove this young man not to love but to kill.  An antithesis of Jesus’ command to love one another and not just to love those like us but to love those who are different than us.   In this age of intense partisanship, we are called not to extinguish the other but to love the other.  To feed the other.  We are called to show the world that God’s dream is different than what we can see all around us. 

We are called to be different.  We are called to tend all of God’s sheep.  Our faith should call us not to condemn and hate those we disagree with but to feed them.  All we have to do is look to the story of the conversion of our Patron Saint,  Paul,  in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles today, to see how Jesus calls the unexpected to bring about change.  Saul was the opposite of a disciple of Jesus.  He was set to root out heresy in this new group that were following the way of Jesus.  Saul, who held the coats of those who stoned Steven, the first deacon, is dramatically called to a different way.  Saul is knocked off his horse and called to stop persecution and to tend to the sheep outside of the house of Israel.  Saul – now Paul was called to spread God’s love outside of the Jewish community to the gentiles.  If we had read a little further in the Acts of the Apostles we would see that even in his conversion God called those who were being persecuted by Saul/Paul to care for him until he regained this sight.  The followers of Jesus had to get over their suspicions of Saul and trust that God was calling him to something different.  To act on their faith that God calls us to love all of God’s beloved children – which is so so hard.

Alan Brehm, another preacher I follow said, “ I think this is one of the most important ways in which we can share our experience of new life through faith in Jesus Christ.  But in order to do that, we may have to change our outlook toward the people we come in contact with every day.  Rather than being suspicious or defensive, we may have to try to see them as “sheep without a shepherd” so that we can have compassion for them as Jesus did (Mt. 9:36/Mk. 6:34).  It is only when we care for the people we encounter that we can really share the love we have for God and for Jesus Christ.  If we want to share our experience of new life, we first have to demonstrate it by doing the simple, but demanding task of tending the sheep around us.[2]

We are all called to tend to God’s people.  We are called to see the abundance in the scarcity and to invite others to the banquet.  We are called to hear God’s invitation to drop our empty nets to the other side of the boat.  We are called to recognize the abundant Grace of a God who does not condemn Peter or Saul/Paul for their actions but invites them to tend God’s people.  To follow the risen Christ and proclaim the Love that will not die.  The love that God has for all of God’s beloved children.

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!

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