Climax/Grue/Sand
Hill Lutheran Churches (Climax)
April 10, 2016
Easter 3
John 21:1-19
Sometimes
there are loose ends that just have to be tied up.
That’s one way of talking about what appears to be
happening here in this gospel reading from John 21.
The previous chapter of John’s Gospel (the story of the
risen Jesus’ appearing to his disciples and Thomas who doubted) …this chapter drew
to a close in a way that sounded like a compelling conclusion to an entire
book: Now Jesus did many other signs in
the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these
are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son
of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.(John
20:30-31)
Ta
dah! Amen! The End!
But then John’s gospel didn’t end, after all. After Chapter 20 seemed to polish off the
whole book—another chapter appeared, the one we have before us this morning.
And what gives with that?
Well, sometimes even at the end of a story well told—there
are still a few loose ends dangling that simply need to be tied up.
And in the case of this 21st chapter of St
John, the loose end has a name: Simon
Peter.
John just couldn’t end his gospel with Peter, the
leader of the disciples, stuck back in the courtyard of the high priest (John
18:15-18, 25-27), warming himself by a charcoal fire while Jesus was on trial
for his life. John couldn’t leave Peter
there, denying he even knew Jesus…not just once, not twice, but three times.
You can’t abandon the prince of the apostles in such a
dire straits!
So another chapter to this gospel had to be written….to
tie up this critical loose end.
And truly--Peter looms large here in John 21.
- He stands in his usual position, at the head of the list of the seven disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.
- It is Peter’s bright idea to go fishing with the boys.
- When a mysterious stranger on the seashore shouts out some angling advice that ends up filling the boat with fish—it is to Peter that one of the disciples whispers: “It is the Lord.”
- When the seven disciples try to make their way toward shore with all those fish, it is Peter who just can’t wait, Peter who pulls on his clothes and plunges into the water to swim for shore, ahead of the boat.
- It is Peter who—apparently singlehandedly—drags the bulging net filled with 153 fish to the feet of the stranger, so he can rustle up a “shore-lunch” breakfast for the weary fishermen.
Impetuous as always, Peter “makes a scene” here,
trying to gain Jesus’ attention…
So, when breakfast is over, it is to Peter and Peter alone that the risen Jesus turns, as if this whole scene had been orchestrated purely for the purpose of getting Jesus and Peter in the same private space, facing each other for the first time since “the night in which [Jesus] was betrayed.”
Why? What’s
this whole over-eager, grand-standing effort of Peter about? Why did he need some facetime with Jesus?
Two reasons, I think.
First, Peter had to have been filled with the deepest,
darkest remorse—for how he had abandoned Jesus, in effect spitting in Jesus’
face with all the other haters and accusers.
That had to have weighed heavily on Peter. It must have been the one thing he couldn’t
stop thinking about.
And
haven’t we all been there? Haven’t we
all royally messed up? Let someone
down? Abandoned a friend in a time of deep
need? Denied being associated with
someone we have known and even loved?
Peter and Jesus needed to encounter each other, first,
because Peter was being crushed by a load of guilt that he could not absolve
himself of.
No—only someone else, only Jesus, could remove that crushing
load from Peter’s back.
Only Jesus, crucified and risen, could tie up this
loose end and allow Peter to lift up his head again. Indeed only Jesus risen from the grace could liberate
Peter to live again.
But how would this reunion go? What would they say to one another?
If I’d been in Jesus’ shoes I know exactly how I would
have handled it.
I probably would have shook my head, wagged my finger,
and blurted out something like: “Peter, you good for nothing jerk! How could you do that? How dare you lie three times about your
relationship with me? How could you
stand there—with a straight face—and declare you had never known me? What do you have to say for yourself,
Peter? Why should I even be talking with
you now? What future can I possibly
have with a miserable turncoat like you?”
If I had been Jesus I would have asked Peter if he was
sorry, I mean “really and truly sorry”…sorry from the tips of his toes to the
top of his head. I would have demanded
that Peter ‘fess up, admit his guilt and ask for forgiveness.
But
that is not what Jesus does here, it is not what Jesus says to Peter.
Instead of all that wallowing and groveling in the
past that might have been our first inclination, Jesus insists on living in
the present, with an eye toward the future.
Jesus has—really—just one question for Peter: “Peter, do you love me?”
I doubt Peter could ever have made a confession good
enough, wide enough, deep enough, sincere enough to cover his grievous sin….but
to this question from Jesus, Peter had a ready answer, an answer he didn’t even
have to think about: “Yes, Lord, you know that I
love you….”
A question, asked and answered, not once, not twice,
but three times.
Peter was momentarily dismayed when Jesus kept
repeating the question—wondering why Jesus had to ask more than once. But of course, Jesus had to do that. The question and the answer had to be heard
just as many times as the denials had been uttered on that dark night when Peter
had denied Jesus.
Why did Jesus and Peter need to have this conversation? Remember, I said there were two reasons….and
dealing with Peter’s crushing guilt, redeeming Peter’s past, was only one of
those reasons.
Jesus had more “fish to fry” here, though. Jesus didn’t need to tie up some loose ends
in Peter’s past. He needed to bestow
upon Peter a fresh future….a future that was wrapped up not just in knowing
Peter still loved him, but a future that was granted each time Jesus invited
Peter back into his mission with the gracious command:
“Feed my lambs, feed my sheep”….
….a command issued, not once, not twice but three
times…
….because the main thing Jesus was after here was to restore Peter to useful service and
witness, to be offered in the blazing light of the Resurrection.
My friends, sometimes the absolution sounds like
this: “I now therefore declare unto you
the entire forgiveness of your sins.”
What a glorious word of promise and freedom!
But sometimes the forgiveness of sins comes with other
words, like: “Do you love me? Feed my sheep, feed my lambs.”
Surely Jesus was restoring Peter in this conversation,
not just undoing Peter’s sorry past, but imparting to Peter a fresh future.
And isn’t that what we all, always need to hear for
ourselves, too?
- If there are some loose ends in your life…
- If you have really done someone wrong….
- If you have ever known from the tips of your toes to the top of your head that you, yes you, are “captive to sin”….
- If you are plagued by pangs of guilt over some unbearable evil you have done or may simply have allowed to happen…
- If you ever imagine that you can’t possibly be of any further use to God…
...There is Someone who stands before you this morning, having
passed through death into the Life that never ends. This One does not demand that you make a
good enough confession so as to deserve his forgiveness.
This One does not live in the past. He belongs to the future, and he bids you and
me step forward, with the likes of Peter the denier….this One woos us forward
not with words of shame but with a simple question: “Do you love me?”
How can we answer in any other way than to
reply: “Yes Lord, you know that I love
you?”
And having heard us say that, if only in the silence
of our souls, how can Jesus respond in any other way than to say: “Feed my sheep…lavish on them my
word of pardon, fill them with the story of my death-defying love, embolden
them to serve all graciously, feed them with the Best News
Ever--intended for all ears to hear.”
In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
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