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!
Accessed
May 4, 2019
