John 21:1-19
“Fish and Sheep”
May 1, 2022
We’ve all probably heard the advice.
After we lose a loved one or experience a tragedy, those around us recognize that we need time to grieve and pick up the pieces, but how long will that take?
There is no right or wrong way to grieve and there certainly is no designated length of time for grieving but if you’re the one grieving or having a hard time getting back to “normal,” it can certainly seem like some around us have a stopwatch.
Here’s the thing, though, that stopwatch usually is more a reflection of the discomfort of those around us who are watching us go through a hard time and feel powerless to do anything to make it better.
Pretty soon you start hearing things like, “Oh, you just need to get back to your old routine” or “You need to get out and see people and that will help” or even worse folks just stop calling or visiting or texting.
Everyone deals with pain differently.
For Simon Peter, his response to his grief and confusion and guilt was to get back to doing what he knew best – fishing.
Now I know some of you enjoy fishing and what a perfect reading to have on this weekend when the first annual Battenkill Fly Fishing Festival has welcomed fishermen and women from all over to talk, see, learn and buy all things fishy.
And it seems a bit fishy that once again Jesus goes unrecognized by the disciples just as he was mistaken for the gardener by Mary when he had risen from the dead.
These disciples in their boat are having no luck and even though they supposedly don’t know who Jesus is while he’s asking questions and giving instructions, they do what he says and only once they catch something do they realize it’s Jesus.
For John the Gospel writer resurrection does not mean resuscitation.
Jesus comes back in a different form.
They finally recognize him.
And then there’s that naked Simon Peter detail.
Naked was good enough when it was just the disciples and some wise stranger on the shore but as soon as Peter realized that this was “the Lord” he put on clothes and then jumped in the sea, presumably to swim to shore.
So Jesus had already had the experience in the locked room with Thomas where he commissioned them to go out into the world as apostles which translates from the Greek “person sent forth.”
But what they appear to be doing here is returning to their old way of life.
Could it be that they were conflicted about what to do next?
Maybe they needed a dose of courage doing that which they knew best?
Are they feeling guilty about deserting and denying Jesus?
Do the vestiges of Jesus being gone still grip them?
Any of that could have been true and yet, Jesus here in a passage that many scholars feel was tacked on later, has tracked them down, all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee.
If only a few days earlier, they ate what we know as The Last Supper, it is now time for The First Breakfast and they move from a scarcity mindset to one of abundance, all with the help of Jesus.
On this Sunday when we will celebrate Communion or Eucharist together, we are witnesses in this story to a eucharistic moment.
The last time that we heard about them at the Sea of Tiberias was during another meal that made something out of nothing – the feeding of the 5000.
This is a story of love and trust that does not dwell on the desertion and denial that came before.
It was three times that Peter denied Jesus and now Jesus is asking him to state his love three times.
But Peter saying, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you” is not the end but rather the beginning.
That admission of love has wiped away all of the past ways he has hurt Jesus.
Jesus proclaims that love is shown through action.
To follow Jesus is to feed his sheep.
We are blessed to be a blessing.
We are loved to be loving.
All of the signs and wonders found in John are meant to get our attention and open our minds and hearts to the work God is doing by turning the ways of the world upside down.
Who needs feeding right now?
Right now it may be those in Ukraine who’ve emerged from hiding in basements and underground train stations and are in search of food and shelter and a safe future.
In June and throughout the summer it will be the children right here in our community who we will make sure are provided with the food they need.
Remember how the Jesus followers didn’t know him at first, only recognizing him once their nets were filled?
How will others recognize Jesus?
Jesus will take the shape of us as agents of God’s grace.
Jesus will be known not by our belief but rather with what we do with that belief to feed God’s lambs.
We have the potential to turn scarcity into abundance.
Abundance that looks like enough food.
Abundance that looks like an all-embracing welcome.
Abundance that looks like generosity of spirit.
Abundance that looks like sharing what we have in love.
We may find some of Peter in ourselves, not acting out of belief until we are assured that we have been forgiven for not being the perfect Jesus-follower.
Jesus here offers Peter and us a way to show our love for God, not just hold onto it or even just come to church and proclaim it.
There must be a way to make such love real.
When we feel most out of sorts, lost, grieving, or overwhelmed – it is then that we most need to reach out to our fellow lambs in need of feeding.
Let us go out to feed God’s love. Let us pray:
Loving One,
may all that I do today
nourish your beloved lambs.
May all that I say
feed souls hungry for grace.
May all I do
tend your beloved
and show the way to green pastures.
All that I meet are, like me,
thirsting for love.
Give me grace to feed your sheep.
Amen.