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Sermon Text
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!
That was our refrain two weeks ago. It is our refrain today.
How are our lives different today because of that news? What does it mean for us to stand and say, “Christ is risen!”
No matter how we understand the event of the resurrection, we know that in the act of God raising Christ from the tomb, God defeated death. Death no longer has the last word. Death is no longer the last thing we say about Jesus, about this world we live in today, or about our hope for the future.
This is a profoundly liberating word. Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!
While it often leaves us with more questions than answers, it also is the source of our hope. The violence and pain we see around us every day are not going to be victorious. Christ is at work, risen from the tomb, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to bring about God’s New Creation.
Jesus does not promise us a life now that is separate from this broken and fearful world. Rather, he promises to be with us in the midst of this broken and fearful world. And to remind us that by breaking out of the tomb and conquering death, this broken world is not all there is.
We, as Easter people, are people of hope. Hope in a future that has seen its beginning in Christ’s empty tomb. The future is clearly not here yet, but we have seen the promise, the potential. And so we hope.
The paradox of living on the other side of Easter is that even though we are surrounded by senseless violence, death, war, sadness, hunger, and disease, we do not give those things authority. We live knowing that God has conquered death, and so we believe in a different future for God’s children. And so we work to create a different future than the one we sometimes see.
How are our lives different on the other side of Easter? Have you felt different these past two weeks?
Have you radically altered your schedule, patterns, habits?
I confess that after Easter, I had not. I heard the good news, people sang the Hallelujah chorus, and I went home and worried about the next sermon I had to write, the agenda for the session meeting, and paid some bills.
On one hand, I know my life is different after Easter. I fully trust and believe in Paul’s words that in Christ we are a NEW CREATION. But on the other hand, I feel very much the same as I was before. Despite this EXTRAORDINARY news, my life feels very ORDINARY.
The comforting news to people like me, to people like us, is that we have a story in scripture this morning of people like us. People who were also operating on the other side of Easter.
Peter had been there through the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. You’ll remember that Peter was also the disciple who denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed. But despite his denial of Christ, and the shame, guilt, and whatever that must have come with it, Peter was there on Easter morning.
Mary Magdalene told him what she had seen at Jesus’ tomb and Peter races to the tomb, goes in, and finds nothing but the cloths in which Jesus had been buried. He doesn’t know what to do with what he’s seen, so he and the other disciples go home.
Later he hears about Mary Magdalene’s visit with Jesus in the garden. And Peter was in the locked upper room with the other disciples when Jesus appeared in the midst of them. Twice.
So, if anyone should know that the world is not as it was before, it is Peter. If anyone should be different. look different. act differently. it is Peter.
So Peter, gathered together with the other disciples, says, “Christ is risen! Let’s go fishing.”
Now, for many of you, I’m sure that makes perfect sense. What could be better than a day on the lake with friends, catching fish, enjoying company? But for Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, and the other disciples, fishing was not just something they loved to do. It had also been their job. Remember, those jobs they left behind to follow Jesus? The nets they walked away from so they could go fish for people?
Do they go fishing because it is where they find comfort? because that is what they do? who they are.
Or do they go fishing because that whole following Jesus business didn’t work out so well for them? Do they think they are out of work? Even this side of Easter, having seen the risen Lord, is there still some confusion about what it means for them to follow Jesus?
The text doesn’t spell it out for us. But I do think we should carry it around with us for a while.
What does it look like to “follow Jesus” when it hasn’t turned out exactly as we envisioned? Messiah. Lord. We don’t know exactly what the disciples thought they were signing up for when they put down their nets, but I think we can safely say they were not expecting their leader and teacher to be killed as a common criminal by the Romans. They certainly were not expecting him to rise from death. Resurrection was a Jewish belief. But it had never before been understood as something that would happen to one person. Resurrection was an end of time event for all of God’s righteous.
So whatever they were expecting, it wasn’t the dead coming back to life.
Yes Lord. We’ll follow you.
But where are you? First the disciples thought he was dead. It was over. They were hiding. avoiding arrest.
And then he appears. out of the tomb. talking to them. Letting them touch his side. Giving them his peace…
and then disappearing again.
We’ve had 2,000 years in which the theologians and Sunday school classes could help us understand what it means for Christ to have risen from death, and on most days it still seems a little fuzzy. But what did it mean to the disciples in that moment, without the benefit of all those years of reflection?
How did they process that extraordinary news?
Christ is risen! Let’s go fishing!
And it is at that moment, in that place of confusion and uncertainty, that Jesus appeared again to his disciples.
Going about the normal routines of their lives, despite the extraordinary news that their teacher, who was dead is now alive again, shows us that the disciples trusted that the world, which has been turned upside down and is not as they thought it was, is still in God’s hand.
Perhaps fishing is Peter’s way of saying, “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I don’t know if Jesus is going to show up again or not. But I do know and trust that God is in charge and I am going to go about the living of my life. The authorities can’t keep me hidden, cowering in fear.”
And it is when the disciples take that step to go about the living of their lives in hope, that they encounter Jesus. Peter says, “I’m going fishing”, grabs his pole and gets the can of worms out of the fridge. The disciples with him join him, get their new lures and tackle, throw their rods in the back of the pick up truck and go fishing.
All night long, they fish. nothing. not a bite. I’ve fished enough to know how maddening that can be. And for them, it must have been insult to injury. “Not only can we not fish for men but now we can’t even fish for fish any more!”
But then Jesus appears on the beach. And he says, “children, you don’t have any fish, do you?”
“No.” they reply. He tells them where the fish are biting, they follow his directions and immediately, what had been an unproductive night becomes successful and fruitful.
Isn’t that how it goes? One minute, we don’t know how we are supposed to follow this resurrected Christ, but we gather together in our community anyway, we live out our lives in hope, and then he appears, bringing grace into what had been frustration, confusion, fruitlessness.
Frederick Buechner writes “Our days are full of nonsense, and yet not, because it is precisely into the nonsense of our days that God speaks to us words of great significance—not words that are written in the stars but words that are written into the raw stuff and nonsense of our days…”[1]
Maybe we think we need to be doing big and showy things for God to notice us. In my experience, though, it’s in the small ordinary moments when I experience God. The conversation with a stranger on an airplane. The phone call from a friend when you’re feeling lonely. A beautiful sunset after a stressful day.
It is in the going about the details of our lives, the very ordinary act of fishing, or running, reading, volunteering, shopping, doing laundry, working, whatever it is for you that is ordinary, that God speaks to us words of great significance. “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?”
Perhaps they heard the concern in his voice for their welfare.
Perhaps they heard the voice of the one who loved them more than anyone else ever had.
In any case, they follow his instruction, cast their nets on the other side, and bring in the catch of a lifetime.
Then Peter, true to character, lives out his impulsive and exuberant nature and leaps into the water and swims to Jesus while the rest of his friends bring the boat into shore, like normal people.
When Peter raced to the tomb on Easter, he missed Jesus. Didn’t see him. Even though the boat was only 100 yards from the shore, he wasn’t going to miss him again. He dives into the water and swims to Jesus. They gather. They eat fish for breakfast. They sit on the beach, around the fire, talking with Jesus.
And Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” three times. Peter says, “yes Lord, you know I love you.” three times.
Peter is the disciple who denied Jesus three times—Jesus knows it. Peter knows it and he knows that Jesus knows it. Presumably the other disciples around the fire know it—and Jesus brings it up.
Do you love me?
Do you love me?
Do you love me?
This is the confrontation that Peter had been running towards. Jesus is giving Peter the chance to affirm what he has denied. “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t bring this up when the disciples first see him standing on the beach, after a night of unsuccessful fishing. He provides for them first. He gives them fish. He builds a fire. He makes them breakfast. Then he asks Peter if he loves him.
Grace and breakfast first. Challenge second.
Like all of our encounters with God. Grace first. Our response is second. Feeding sheep is literal—Jesus has just done it and follows from loving someone. not obligation, duty, guilt. Jesus entrusts his sheep to Peter’s care.
Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.
This is Christ’s response to what has been on Peter’s mind since Easter, has been on our minds since Easter. What does it mean to follow the risen Jesus? In the very ordinary world in which we receive this very extraordinary news, how does it look to follow Jesus?
Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.
In response to God’s love for us, given despite Peter’s denial and our denial, our response is to feed God’s sheep and tend God’s lambs. We just made promises for baby Link as he was baptized, and last week for the confirmation class as they joined, promises to care and tend for them. These promises come from this Easter good news.
Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.
Since I’ve been with you these past two years, I’ve had the privilege of watching you feeding God’s lambs and tending God’s sheep, even during covid. You give of your time to teach children, youth, and adults, to make cookies and serve coffee, to help out at the food pantry and our Matthew 25 partners, to volunteer in worship leadership, to visit with and give rides to those who need rides, to sing in the choir, to advocate for social justice, to speak out for peace, to speak up for God’s creation. The list goes on.
Maybe you are looking to get involved in service, study, or fellowship. Reach out to me or one of the other members of our staff. As we emerge from Covid, there are ways we can respond to the good news of our Easter faith in a way that will help tend God’s flock.
Remember that as Peter and the disciples are told to tend God’s flock, they are also in need of tending. They must receive as well. For many of us, that is the bigger challenge. Allowing people to help us.
Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.
As we live on the other side of Easter, expect Christ to appear in the ordinary times of your life. Watch for Christ’s sheep, so you may feed them. Watch also, for those times when your net is empty. When Christ is calling to you, telling you where to find fish. This side of Easter, we may look and feel the same as we did on the other side, but we look with new eyes, we live with new hope, and we respond in love to Christ’s surprising presence in our midst.
[1] Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner
Scripture
John 21:1-19
Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
21 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.[a] It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus[b]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.[c] 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
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