![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Here's my second sermon for Teaching Parish:
Easter 3C, 2007
Acts 9:1-6 [7-20]
Psalm 30
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.
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." --John 21:15
So here Simon Peter is, back where he started, fishing by the Sea of Galilee. (By the way, the Sea of Tiberias is another name for the Sea of Galilee.) He’s been all over Judea and Galilee following Jesus, been through adoring crowds and jeering authorities, over mountains and valleys, by rivers and seas, through countryside and cities. He’s had amazing insights at some points and missed the point completely at others. He’s been from the heights of joy and praise at the Transfiguration to the depths of grief and despair at the Crucifixion and back to joy in the Resurrection. His life has been turned inside out and right side up. In the process, he’s grown in faith and wisdom in ways he probably could not even have imagined when his brother Andrew told him about Jesus. But now the journey is over and here he is, back where the amazing adventure began.
So he and his fellow disciples go fishing. After all, they have to eat, and it’s a living. And no experience, no matter how extraordinary, lasts forever. You can’t stay on the mountaintop. But Jesus is present in everyday life, too, and he proves it by showing up here, by the sea, and helping the disciples fill their nets. Peter, always the impetuous type, dives overboard and swims in to meet him while the rest bring in the night’s catch, the catch Jesus has given them. Together they eat, a meal of fellowship among friends, an ordinary, everyday breakfast made special by their relationships with each other and with God. And here, in the midst of their nets, surrounded by the trappings of everyday life, Jesus asks Simon Peter a question: Simon, do you love me?
Of course Simon loves him. Simon Peter always loved Jesus as a friend and mentor and as the Messiah; that certainly hasn’t changed. He loved Jesus back when Peter didn’t understand anything, when he kept getting confused and misinterpreting almost everything and arguing with Jesus. He loved Jesus when, even though he was terrified for his life, he snuck in to listen outside as Jesus was put on trial; Peter may not have had the courage to acknowledge Jesus then, but at least he was there, which was more than any of the others could say. Now that he knows the Good News in his soul, down deep in his heart, has lived through the worst of its sorrows and the heights of its joy, of course he loves Jesus! Does the question even need to be asked?
Yes, it does. Because the problem with questions whose answers are so obvious is that nobody ever thinks about them. The answers are unmistakable. Basic truths. The foundations of our life. So certain we don’t need to ask ourselves what they mean. So certain we don’t need to ask ourselves what comes next. How they affect us—how they should affect us in our everyday lives. Yes, like Peter, we love Jesus. Yes, Jesus loves us. We know that, and it’s good that we know it. The problem is, we don’t ever stop and think about it. And because we don’t stop and think about it, we never stop to think about what comes next.
When Peter says he loves Jesus, Jesus responds with a command: “feed my lambs.” Jesus asks again: "Simon son of John, do you love me?" This is the exact same question he used before. Note that he’s being very formal, here; he calls Simon by his full, formal name; Peter is, after all, only a nickname, despite the fact that it’s the name he usually went by. This is no idle question, and Peter’s knee-jerk reply isn’t good enough. And again Peter replies that he does love Jesus, and again Jesus replies: "Tend my sheep."
Jesus asks a third time. "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Now, Peter’s more than a bit upset by this; not only is Jesus questioning his love and loyalty, he’s doing so in a way that has to remind Peter of how just days earlier he’d denied three times that he even knew Jesus. "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Yes, Jesus does know, but his response this time is the same as it has been before: “Feed my sheep.” Why does Jesus repeat the question, answer, and response three times? Because this is a very important point Jesus is making, and Peter (like many of us) can be a bit dense at times. He wants to make sure that we’re all paying attention here, because he’s telling us what comes next. Do you love Jesus? If so, then feed his sheep.
So we love Jesus, check. Because we love Jesus, we’re going to feed his sheep, check. So what does that mean? Who are Jesus’ sheep, and how do they need to be fed?
We are all Jesus’ sheep, every single person on this planet. Regardless of what we look like, where we come from, how we talk, and even what god we worship, every single one of us was created by God in His image. We are all his children, and each one of us is precious to him. No matter how far astray we have gone, we belong to him. Even people who have never heard his Word—or who have purposefully turned away from it—are his sheep, and he loves them and mourns that they do not know him. As the Good Shepherd, he seeks out the last, and the lost, and the least, to lead them gently home. But Jesus works through people. Through people like you and me, who love and worship him. We are the ones commanded to feed his sheep.
But what does it mean to feed Jesus’ sheep? Does he mean literal food for the hungry? Certainly that’s a part of it, but not all. We don’t live by bread alone, or at least not the kind of bread you get from a food bank. We also live by the Bread of Life. Jesus himself is our heavenly food, who sustains our souls. He is the food we are commanded to share with the world. We do this through public worship with Word and Sacrament, and through the proclamation of his Word in our daily lives. That proclamation comes, not just through our words, but through our deeds. Sharing our love for and knowledge of our Lord and Savior with others through witness and testimony is one way to feed God’s sheep, and it’s a very important way. But it is not the only one. Saint Francis of Assisi had a famous saying: ‘Preach the Gospel. If necessary, use words.’ To put it another way, if Christianity was a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
To truly feed God’s sheep we must not only preach the Gospel, but live it. That means living according to the Golden Rule, yes, but it means far more than that. It means sharing with others the love and forgiveness that God has granted to us, even when it seems so hard to do. It means accepting and doing God’s will even when it contradicts our own will, but more basically than that, it means keeping our hearts and minds open to allow God to show us what his will for us is. It means allowing God to work in us and through us, so that ordinary, everyday life may be transformed into something extraordinary. Living the Gospel means living in the community of fellowship with all believers, and with those who don’t believe, because they are the ones who need the Gospel the most, in both word and deed. Living the Gospel means reaching out to those whom the rest of the world has passed by, so they may know that God has not passed them by.
There are a lot of people in the world who are hungry, in body, soul, or mind. Some need food, others comfort, others just the knowledge that someone cares about them. All of them need to hear and see the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus Christ has redeemed us from our sins. They hunger for the Bread of Heaven, and thirst for living water. Some of them are in other countries, and some are right here in our own community. We cannot help all of them, but we can still help some of them. We can help by volunteering, by telling our stories, by listening. By going outside our comfort zones and talking with people we would normally ignore. By remembering that everyone you meet, no matter how different or strange they are, no matter what they’ve done, is a child of God just as you are.
When all of God’s children know His steadfast love and grace, when all of His children know His Good News, through both word and deed, then we will have fulfilled our Lord’s command to feed his sheep.
Easter 3C, 2007
Acts 9:1-6 [7-20]
Psalm 30
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.
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." --John 21:15
So here Simon Peter is, back where he started, fishing by the Sea of Galilee. (By the way, the Sea of Tiberias is another name for the Sea of Galilee.) He’s been all over Judea and Galilee following Jesus, been through adoring crowds and jeering authorities, over mountains and valleys, by rivers and seas, through countryside and cities. He’s had amazing insights at some points and missed the point completely at others. He’s been from the heights of joy and praise at the Transfiguration to the depths of grief and despair at the Crucifixion and back to joy in the Resurrection. His life has been turned inside out and right side up. In the process, he’s grown in faith and wisdom in ways he probably could not even have imagined when his brother Andrew told him about Jesus. But now the journey is over and here he is, back where the amazing adventure began.
So he and his fellow disciples go fishing. After all, they have to eat, and it’s a living. And no experience, no matter how extraordinary, lasts forever. You can’t stay on the mountaintop. But Jesus is present in everyday life, too, and he proves it by showing up here, by the sea, and helping the disciples fill their nets. Peter, always the impetuous type, dives overboard and swims in to meet him while the rest bring in the night’s catch, the catch Jesus has given them. Together they eat, a meal of fellowship among friends, an ordinary, everyday breakfast made special by their relationships with each other and with God. And here, in the midst of their nets, surrounded by the trappings of everyday life, Jesus asks Simon Peter a question: Simon, do you love me?
Of course Simon loves him. Simon Peter always loved Jesus as a friend and mentor and as the Messiah; that certainly hasn’t changed. He loved Jesus back when Peter didn’t understand anything, when he kept getting confused and misinterpreting almost everything and arguing with Jesus. He loved Jesus when, even though he was terrified for his life, he snuck in to listen outside as Jesus was put on trial; Peter may not have had the courage to acknowledge Jesus then, but at least he was there, which was more than any of the others could say. Now that he knows the Good News in his soul, down deep in his heart, has lived through the worst of its sorrows and the heights of its joy, of course he loves Jesus! Does the question even need to be asked?
Yes, it does. Because the problem with questions whose answers are so obvious is that nobody ever thinks about them. The answers are unmistakable. Basic truths. The foundations of our life. So certain we don’t need to ask ourselves what they mean. So certain we don’t need to ask ourselves what comes next. How they affect us—how they should affect us in our everyday lives. Yes, like Peter, we love Jesus. Yes, Jesus loves us. We know that, and it’s good that we know it. The problem is, we don’t ever stop and think about it. And because we don’t stop and think about it, we never stop to think about what comes next.
When Peter says he loves Jesus, Jesus responds with a command: “feed my lambs.” Jesus asks again: "Simon son of John, do you love me?" This is the exact same question he used before. Note that he’s being very formal, here; he calls Simon by his full, formal name; Peter is, after all, only a nickname, despite the fact that it’s the name he usually went by. This is no idle question, and Peter’s knee-jerk reply isn’t good enough. And again Peter replies that he does love Jesus, and again Jesus replies: "Tend my sheep."
Jesus asks a third time. "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Now, Peter’s more than a bit upset by this; not only is Jesus questioning his love and loyalty, he’s doing so in a way that has to remind Peter of how just days earlier he’d denied three times that he even knew Jesus. "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Yes, Jesus does know, but his response this time is the same as it has been before: “Feed my sheep.” Why does Jesus repeat the question, answer, and response three times? Because this is a very important point Jesus is making, and Peter (like many of us) can be a bit dense at times. He wants to make sure that we’re all paying attention here, because he’s telling us what comes next. Do you love Jesus? If so, then feed his sheep.
So we love Jesus, check. Because we love Jesus, we’re going to feed his sheep, check. So what does that mean? Who are Jesus’ sheep, and how do they need to be fed?
We are all Jesus’ sheep, every single person on this planet. Regardless of what we look like, where we come from, how we talk, and even what god we worship, every single one of us was created by God in His image. We are all his children, and each one of us is precious to him. No matter how far astray we have gone, we belong to him. Even people who have never heard his Word—or who have purposefully turned away from it—are his sheep, and he loves them and mourns that they do not know him. As the Good Shepherd, he seeks out the last, and the lost, and the least, to lead them gently home. But Jesus works through people. Through people like you and me, who love and worship him. We are the ones commanded to feed his sheep.
But what does it mean to feed Jesus’ sheep? Does he mean literal food for the hungry? Certainly that’s a part of it, but not all. We don’t live by bread alone, or at least not the kind of bread you get from a food bank. We also live by the Bread of Life. Jesus himself is our heavenly food, who sustains our souls. He is the food we are commanded to share with the world. We do this through public worship with Word and Sacrament, and through the proclamation of his Word in our daily lives. That proclamation comes, not just through our words, but through our deeds. Sharing our love for and knowledge of our Lord and Savior with others through witness and testimony is one way to feed God’s sheep, and it’s a very important way. But it is not the only one. Saint Francis of Assisi had a famous saying: ‘Preach the Gospel. If necessary, use words.’ To put it another way, if Christianity was a crime, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
To truly feed God’s sheep we must not only preach the Gospel, but live it. That means living according to the Golden Rule, yes, but it means far more than that. It means sharing with others the love and forgiveness that God has granted to us, even when it seems so hard to do. It means accepting and doing God’s will even when it contradicts our own will, but more basically than that, it means keeping our hearts and minds open to allow God to show us what his will for us is. It means allowing God to work in us and through us, so that ordinary, everyday life may be transformed into something extraordinary. Living the Gospel means living in the community of fellowship with all believers, and with those who don’t believe, because they are the ones who need the Gospel the most, in both word and deed. Living the Gospel means reaching out to those whom the rest of the world has passed by, so they may know that God has not passed them by.
There are a lot of people in the world who are hungry, in body, soul, or mind. Some need food, others comfort, others just the knowledge that someone cares about them. All of them need to hear and see the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus Christ has redeemed us from our sins. They hunger for the Bread of Heaven, and thirst for living water. Some of them are in other countries, and some are right here in our own community. We cannot help all of them, but we can still help some of them. We can help by volunteering, by telling our stories, by listening. By going outside our comfort zones and talking with people we would normally ignore. By remembering that everyone you meet, no matter how different or strange they are, no matter what they’ve done, is a child of God just as you are.
When all of God’s children know His steadfast love and grace, when all of His children know His Good News, through both word and deed, then we will have fulfilled our Lord’s command to feed his sheep.
I Love Jesus
Date: 2007-06-06 10:41 am (UTC)From: (Anonymous)Peace Be With You
Micky
Re: I Love Jesus
Date: 2007-06-08 05:17 am (UTC)From: