Gone Fishing, Part 3

 But we can’t forget Simon Peter – one of my favorite disciples.  Hear these words from John 21:15-19.

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.”

Earlier in worship today, we read from John, chapter 18.  I wanted us to pause and remember what Peter had experienced as Jesus was being tried, convicted, and tortured.  At the Passover supper, Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed.  And, as we heard today, that is exactly what happened. 

Peter is a leader of the disciples.  Does he lead? No. He takes them back to unsuccessful fishing. Why is that?

Earlier in the passage we are reading, when Peter realizes Jesus is on the shore, he puts on his clothes and jumps into the water to swim to shore.  Now I know that at this time in history, fishermen often worked only in a loin cloth, and to go to the teacher undressed would have not shown proper respect, but I can’t help but be reminded of Adam and Eve, in the Genesis story. After they eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they know that they have sinned. They hear God looking for them, and they hide, because they are ashamed of their sinfulness and of their nakedness. I think Peter, who dresses before diving into the water, feels the same way.

Sometimes the scarcity we focus on isn’t what we do not have – it is who we are. Sometimes we focus only on our sin, our fears, our shame. This is where Simon Peter was that morning. He knew he had betrayed the teacher and friend he loved, and this betrayal is all he can see. Jesus pulls Simon Peter aside after breakfast, and changes his viewpoint and his life, once again. 

Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me?  Three times. Three betrayals, three questions, until, finally, Peter can move forward, and feed Jesus’ sheep. Jesus is connecting the love Simon Peter feels toward him into action – love “my sheep” as you love me. 

Several years ago, Jeff Taylor, the president of the Foundation, and I met with a potential donor named Linda.  She died last month, but she left a legacy for her church and for those her church reaches who suffer from mental illness. Following our meeting with her, Linda created a Mental Wellness trust at the Foundation.  She shared (and she asked that the information I’m sharing with you be shared at her funeral) that her family fostered negativity, and that she suffered from mental illness and abuse throughout her life.  She eventually joined a United Methodist church in her community.  They took her in, loved her, and taught her that she is loved by God, and is a beloved child.  She wrote in the preamble to her trust, “I do know that God loves me, and I have been nourished and sustained by God’s grace.  My prayer is that my gift can provide hope to suffering folks who feel at the end of their rope.  May the Lord bless others through me…Just as the Lord loves me, God will love all of my brothers and sisters who whom this trust can provide light and hope.”

Because of the church, Linda experienced abundant love. She gave each month, generously, to the trust she built, and what she has created what will be a beacon of light and hope for others. She gave every month, even though she always lived in the fear of not having enough.  Her love was bigger than her fear, and so she followed Christ.

This chapter in John, often thought of as an epilogue to the gospel, reminds us to turn our eyes to Jesus, instead of to what we do not have – instead of only seeing our fear. The gospel story is not a story of what happened – but a story of what can happen when we follow the Christ. Thomas Troeger writes, “The epilogue affirms, through its story of the risen Christ on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius, what the prologue (of John) affirms as the story of Christ’s early ministry begins: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” The epilogue awakens memories of the darkness – the darkness of our hunger, the darkness of our failure to recognize Christ, the darkness of our denial, but at the same time it reminds us that none of this darkness has overcome the light.  For the risen Christ still calls, still feeds, still empowers even doubters and deniers for the ministry.”

Where do you, either as a person or as a church, focus so much on scarcity that you cannot see Christ? Cannot follow? Cannot feed the Lord’s sheep?

And what are you going to do about it? It’s time to stop fishing so that you can fish for people.