Do We Love Enough To Feed Christ’s Sheep?
Good Morning Friends,
One of God’s favorite metaphors in the Bible is that of a shepherd. Another is the meal we eat as we consume scripture and share in the Eucharist and as a preparation for a blessing. Think of Manna and the loaves and fishes and the Passover but also the love offered in the making of a life. And in today’s scripture they converge in the meal of grilled fish Jesus cooks up on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias (also known as the Sea of Galilee). He prepared it for himself and also for those fishers of men Jesus called his disciples. But it is not just another meal for Christ is in his resurrected body and I would think he had no need for sustenance but choose to cook up a common meal reminiscent of the feeding of the multitudes. Something special is going on here. For all throughout the story of Scripture, the importance of leading the flock and feeding them is threaded though the message. Abel kept flocks. Abraham amassed an enormous amount of sheep and goats. Moses and David were the two central leaders of the Old Testament, and both were trained for leadership in the pasture with a flock. When the Old Testament prophets began speaking, they spoke against the negligent shepherds of their generation and predicted a time when a greater Shepherd would emerge. At Jesus’ birth and death, the shepherds were part of the story. But on this day, Jesus was surrounded by fishermen. Something new is being put forth as a meal for us to savor and it is a meal of forgiveness and of hope. After the Resurrection Jesus asks Peter to feed his sheep and ask three times if Peter loved him as if to balance out Peter’s threefold denial. But even as Peter soaked in the forgiven offered, a question looms large for all those who would follow Jesus. Do We Love Enough To Feed Christ’s Sheep?
Scripture: After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. 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.”
John 21:1-19 (NRSV)
I come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gather my myrrh with my spice, I eat my honeycomb with my honey, I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love.
Song of Songs 5:1 (NRSV)
Message: God’s overwhelming generosity is difficult to comprehend, though every Christian has experienced that generosity. The extravagant grace of the Good Shepherd is not about being fair…it is about saving and feeding the sheep in a way that changes people. The teaching of Jesus and of the New Testament is that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who seeks out the lost sheep, and dies for His flock. This contrasts with those who are not shepherds at all, but merely hired help, who have no personal concern with the sheep except as a source of work and therefore of income. The bad, irresponsible, or false shepherds represent the leaders, particularly the religious leaders, who fail to fulfil their duty towards God’s flock. So too in today’s scripture Peter is confronted with the reality that he is really to be about being a fisher of men. He too is to be as a shepherd willing to lay down his life. In Jesus’ day when the flock was seen by His sympathetic eye as scattered like sheep without a shepherd, the need for a good leader was obvious. And unfortunately, the problem persists. You see, we need leaders to help us stay determined to focus on God and His grace, rejoicing that He is generous, rejoicing that he is unlike any person we have ever known. For Jesus is resurrected and in a new body and we are part of a new covenant. And in the relationship of love we need to be fed and we need to feed others. We need leaders and to be leaders to help us focus on God’s character, exulting in His mercy and His goodness toward us, marveling that He included us in His mercy. As sheep we get to choose what we will eat. And if Jesus is cooking it up that should be a clue that we should take and eat of that which God has provided. We can either be gracious and thankful for what God has given to us or we can gripe and complain and grumble that God has been gracious to others. Sometimes it is hard for us to rejoice about God’s goodness to someone else. It is difficult to be happy because God has been good to someone else—probably someone that we do not think is as deserving as are we. It is difficult when we work hard, and others receive the credit. It is sometimes hard for us to celebrate the goodness of God when His goodness is extended to someone else. But the thing is that God will eventually bring justice if justice is really needed. Friends, when it comes to God’s grace, there is not much we can complain about. It is a meal worth savoring..
And So, we are to be shepherds leading the sheep to green pastures whether we get paid or not.
We are to realize that the love of Jesus for us makes success out of our failures. Our love of Jesus is to make our testimony believable. The proof text is in today’s lectionary scriptures. Here it becomes clear that God can love us and the world can judge us. We also learn, especially in the story of Peter, that hearing one’s named called can be a joyful or horrible experience. It all depends on the situation. And let’s be honest about today’s stories, Peter and Paul were not at all sure the outcome was going to be joyful experience. Both are about the nudging of God to get us to where God wants us to go in our lives. And so, Peter’s story was about returning to be not just a fisher of men but also a shepherd of sheep. It was about forgiveness. The exchange is profound and dramatic. Peter having denied Jesus three times just before the crucifixion was not in a place of restoration with the risen Christ yet. He was like a sheep without a shepherd, and that is not a pretty sight. Peter was having a hard time forgiving himself even though his sins had been forgiven. Thankfully the Shepherd knows more than just our names. The revelation of Peter should therefore be a revelation for us as well. Here we see that Jesus never disowns His flock. Peter hears the Shepherd’s voice three times calling him out of the sheep pen to a purpose that would glorify God. So too we should hear the Shepherd calling us out of our sin. So here is where this matters for us. When we say, we love Jesus, when we are giving our testimony before the King, the words are to be believable and backed up by actions in our lives. We must seek to love and care for others. We all have, hopefully, experienced the love of Jesus in our lives, but deep down, in addition to God’s love of us, we need to experience and express our love of God. Friends, we need to be lovers of people and for this love to be believed they need to see the love of Christ in our lives. Friends get ready for joy to come knowing that sometimes the journey takes us to unexpected places. So, believe but also be believable. Take and eat but also share.
Pray we realize that we all are to be ministers of the word and to share the Good News with love. Pray we realize that when Jesus tells Simon Peter to feed His sheep and compares us to sheep, He is not exactly giving us a compliment. Pray we realize that sheep need help and need to be fed. Pray we realize that the past does not matter. Pray we realize that Jesus, the Good Shepherd does not give up on His sheep. Pray we realize that people want a leader to mobilize and lead them. Pray we realize that the power of ministry and our lives flows only from our love for God. Pray that as we follow we have the right motive, the right assignment and the right focus. Pray we cultivate a heart like Jesus worthy of leading others. Pray we realize that God will grant us enough time to complete our assignments if we heed His call and have His heart. Pray we realize that sometimes we may have to face the valley of the shadow of death. Pray we realize that our life speaks more powerfully than our words. Pray that we realize that the only thing worthy of following is the deep and committed motivation of our heart to love God. Pray we follow the good shepherd who leads a faithful flock and gives us rest. Pray we are made strong. Pray we are fed spiritually. Pray we are not made weak in character by poor leaders. Pray we are not scattered in thought or focus. Pray God seeks us out when we stray. Pray we are delivered from evil. Pray we are healed. Pray we embrace a covenant of peace in a place of blessing. Pray we not grumble about God’s generosity. Pray we not make ourselves miserable. Pray we too learn to lead others to Jesus the Good Shepherd. Pray we take and eat of that which is Holy. Pray we learn to feed lost sheep and yes be fishers of men.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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