April 18 Sermon: Feed My Sheep
“Feed my Sheep”
Holy Covenant UMC, Sunday April 18, 2010
Rev. Kate Hurst Floyd
John 21:1-19
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Easter was two weeks ago…and even though in the church calendar we celebrate Easter for 50 days, most of us still consider Easter to be that one Sunday that comes after a long Holy Week when we put on our best outfits, gather with friends and family, worship with great joy and then feast with meat and chocolate and caffeine—all the things we deprived ourselves of during Lent. Two weeks out from that magnificent day (and we did have a truly magnificent Easter celebration here at Holy Covenant!), we’re breathing a sigh of Easter relief. Easter is glorious, but it is also a lot of work!
We had family visiting us so we cleaned up our places, put on our happiest faces for our in-laws…we went out of town, packing, braving the airports, tuning up our cars…and putting on our happiest faces for our in-laws. We’re breathing a sigh of relief that the stress of visiting with family is behind us. Some of us hosted big meals for our urban family here in the city…at the church, some of us woke up before the sun rose to gather in the dark and watch God’s light rise up to meet us. It’s a busy time at the church: The choir sang two beautiful anthems for both services, we moved lilies, set out hundreds of chairs, welcomed strangers, and feasted on a beautiful spread in the gallery. But now the signs of Easter are behind us: At Walgreens, peeps and chocolate bunnies are on sale and it’s looking like a new holiday: earth day, cinco de mayo.
Even though we know Easter is 50 days, at the two week mark we can slow down and settle back into our normal routine. It’s time to take some deep breaths and get back to it.
This is where we find the Disciples in our text from John…the very last chapter, the very last words of this entire Gospel. They, they, have had an intense last few weeks. Nothing compared to entertaining our crazy uncle or cooking ham for 40 people…They’ve watched their savior die, been threatened themselves, went into hiding….and now they’ve just learned that he isn’t dead: he’s risen and appeared to them twice already!
They’re more than a little shell-shocked; we think gorging ourselves on sugar after Lent is a shock to our system– imagine what they must be thinking and feeling, seeing Jesus back from the dead! It’s time for them to crash back down to reality and settle back into their routine.
So they do what they know how to do….they go fishing. They’re fishermen, after all. Being out on the boat, with the wind against their backs, sun blazing on their forearms, is what they know. It’s how they lived until Jesus entered their lives 3 years ago. Fishing lends a predictable rhythm to each day, it’s marked by the seasons, it makes sense….fishing is a much more regular and comforting way to live then following Jesus…..with Jesus, they never knew what to expect: Their lives were surprising and chaotic and confusing; often challenging and exhausting: He upset the rhythms of life that they’d come to expect: healing on the Sabbath when someone was sick; eating with the unclean; touching the untouchable: women and lepers. He’d feed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish; and then he’d call on them to do the same. He was always unpredictable: And now, even in his death, the one thing certain along with taxes, he’s upsets their expectations…for he overcomes death! Rises out of his grave! They have been on a wild ride this past week, these past three years.
No wonder that now, they put a sign up over the doors in their homes that says “Gone fishin’”
No wonder we settle back into our routines after Easter…following Jesus is hard. And frankly, when he’s not in our day to day life teaching and healing and feeding, it seems kind of absurd to keep doing his work. Like the disciples, we find ourselves back to what we know, what makes us comfortable. It’s tempting to put out a sign that says: Gone Fishin’.
We leave Easter and find ourselves back into our routines: plugging away at homework, diving into work or searching for a job; spending the evenings with reality tv and hanging out with our closest friends and family.
It’s easy, on Easter, to hear about the resurrection and have high hopes that we’ll go out into the world meeting Jesus…and then a few weeks later wonder what’s really different. We don’t quite know what to do to meet him or follow him, so we go back to what is familiar, our day to day lives. We want the resurrection to change us, we’re just not so sure how that’s happening.
For the Disciples, something about their regular lives isn’t the same as it was before Jesus called them off of their boats. They’re trying to do what they know, go fishing,…but it’s just not the same. They’ve lost some of their skill or focus in these three years….they’ve cast the nets, but no fish are swimming near the boat. Are they in the right part of the sea, they wonder? Using the right kind of bait? It’s been so long.
And just as they’re doubting themselves, some guy on the shore yells out some advice; “Cast your nets on the other side of the boat”. Now, most of the time, they resent some stranger telling them how to do their job. But they’re desperate and hungry and so they give it a shot. And lo and behold, it works! There are so many fish…an abundance, they just keep coming and coming…they have to stop because they won’t all fit in their small boat. Who is this guy? Well, the beloved Disciple knows: it’s Jesus! The third time he’s appeared to them.
Peter is so excited that he puts on his clothes, jumps into the water, much like a puppy dog, and swims all the way to the shore. Jesus knows they are hungry, so he fries up some fish right there on the shoreline and invites them to join him for his impromptu cook out.
Thank goodness, he’s back! He’s in their midst! They don’t have to go back to fishing…they can be with him as he teaches and heals…he’s there, in the flesh, feeding them. They’re eating together again, praise God. Praise Jesus!
And we, as readers, find ourselves a bit envious, don’t we? For here we are, back in our routines, and we would give anything for some guy to show up and show us the way. To say, hey: cast your net on the other side: take this new career path; adopt a child; move to New York; forgive your mother; let go of resentment; face your addiction; get married; leave your partner; Cast your nets in this place and you’ll find abundance.
We want so much, on this side of Easter, for Jesus to show up and cook us breakfast. To show us, concretely, the way forward. To help us know how to love him and follow him and give our lives to him. To tell us it’s ok to do something outside of our ordinary routines. We want him to tell us how Easter should change us.
Well Peter, more than any of the other Disciples, can’t contain his excitement! Jesus is back, his teacher is before him, and he can tell him what to do. Now we have to remember, that just a few days before, Peter, Peter was the one who denied Jesus…not once, not twice, but three times. Peter, this faithful, if overeager, disciple…betrayed Jesus when Jesus needed him most, at the hour of his death. So how surprising, how loving, how forgiving, that when Jesus comes back, he appears to Peter.
And he doesn’t chastise him or embarrass him or shame him; instead, he cooks him breakfast. Nourishes him with grace, love, and forgiveness, right there around the campfire.
And that’s how Jesus meets us, comes to us: Not by cooking us breakfast on the beach, but by meeting us where we are, in our ordinary routines, and providing us abundant nourishment. On the train, in our empty bedrooms, in our crowded cubicle, in the silence of our hearts and the busyness of our routines, Jesus shows up and shows us a new way. He brings new life to the Disciples when they are out there on their fishing boat.
The Disciples hope Jesus will stay right there with them, loving them, feeding them, forever. And so do we. We want to hole ourselves up in that moment of feeling good, feeling loved, being embraced by Jesus. Recognizing his love for us and staying comfortable with it, because it’s a good feeling.
But Jesus looks at Peter, he looks at us…..and he says: I won’t be with you always, in this body, in this flesh. I am going to be with God…but you will never be alone, for I leave the power of the Holy Spirit with you. And he says, I live in the flesh of all other human beings, and that’s how you will meet me and find me and take care of me.
Peter just wants Jesus to love him, not a speech about how he’s leaving, and so do we. But Jesus makes it clear to Peter that the resurrection is not only about Jesus loving us. The resurrection is about how we are to love Jesus….for it changes how we encounter life, other humans, all of creation.
Jesus asks Peter, not once, not twice, but three times: Do you love me? And Peter says of course! Of course! Of course! Of course I love you, I jumped into the water when I saw you on the shore to run to you as fast as you can. And Jesus looks at us and says: Do you love me? And we think, of course we love you, Jesus: We came to church on Easter, we say our prayers, we have a Bible in our bed stand. We have Gospel music on our ipods. Of course we love you, Jesus: Of course, of course, of course.
But Jesus tells Peter, and tells us, that loving him isn’t only about enthusiasm or feeling good or praying alone. Loving Jesus is about how we live out our enthusiasm: For the resurrection changes everything….and if we don’t work to change the world into his vision of peace and hope and eternal, abundant life, then we aren’t really loving him. We aren’t really living as an Easter people. Jesus says to Peter: If you love me, tend my lambs, feed my sheep.
Feed my sheep. Peter, he says, if you really want to follow me, you can’t spend your life hanging out in the same old boat with the same old guys. It’s comfortable and familiar and it changes nothing. You’ve got to jump out of the boat and swim ashore to those who need good news. And Peter, who has been following Jesus, knows who Jesus’ sheep are: the lost and the least; the bad and the good; those who have heard about him and those who need to know his love. Peter knows that Jesus resides in the hungry and homeless; the naked and lonely; the outcast and prisoner. Usually, the people who are invisible and aren’t in the tight circle of Disciples who hang out in a boat together.
And that’s the word for us today, two weeks after Easter, about the resurrection: If we really love Jesus, if we really live our lives as resurrection people, then we have got to feed Jesus’ sheep.
We know this at Holy Covenant, because of our mission statement, our identity, who we are…we say every week: We are a community of friends who seek God, love all people, and change the world. Seek God, love all people, change the world.
But it’s easy, like the Disciples, to say that every week in worship, and then to head back out into our routines between Sundays and not do much about it. But Jesus makes it clear: if we really love him, we’re to seek God, love all people, and change the world each and every day, by feeding his sheep.
And there are so many sheep out there, that we have to ask ourselves, who are the sheep that need nourishing? Who are the sheep? This is the hard part, the part that makes us uncomfortable, the part that makes us want to set sail on a boat with our closest friends. Because Jesus tells us, that yes, the sheep are those in this room who we already know and love….but if we truly love him, we’ll reach outside these walls. This is how we are Easter people year-round: not just when colorful eggs adorn the stores or children wear pastel clothing. We are Easter people all year long when we recognize Jesus on our shoreline and follow his commands to cast our nets wide:
We’ll care for those who are in prison…often the most invisible people in our society; perhaps by writing letters or starting a prison ministry…
We’ll march in an immigration rally and advocate for marriage equality.
We’ll visit those who are in senior living facilities, knowing that visit is the best way to nourish those who are hungry for company.
We’ll let our own experiences of pain and exclusion provide hope and comfort to those in a similar situation.
When we dream and plan as a church, we’ll focus, not on what makes us happy, but on how we can prepare a place for those who aren’t here yet but so desperately need to know the love of God…how are we feeding those sheep?
We’ll support dignity diner and take the chance to donate or volunteer…
The good news is, we don’t do any of this alone, but through Jesus who nourishes us and God who meets us in the flesh. So we have a choice: We can respond to the Easter News of resurrection by putting up a sign that says: “Gone Fishin’”; or we can find ways, each and every day, to feed Jesus’ sheep. If we love him, we’ll feed his sheep.
Tags: Kate
