Feed my Sheep

Easter 3 at Stewkley

Gospel John 21.1-19

Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the first and the last, says the Lord, and the living one; I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.
All Alleluia.

When the Gospel is announced the reader says

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “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.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

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.

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. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

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. I tell you the truth, 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.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

When I was a kid we had a large round net on a long rope, and used to drop it over the side of the Cobb in Lyme Regis. The bait was a decomposing and very smelly kipper, which was secured with string just above the net. The idea was to dangle the net after midnight, and haul in prawns or even the occasional small lobster. Then as a family, we’d take our haul back to the house we had rented, tip the catch into boiling water, and enjoy the freshest shrimps you’d ever tasted. It was exciting, easy, and meant staying up late.

Fishing is not my thing. Mostly it’s too boring. Sitting by a canal all day in the rain, catching the occasional carp you can’t even eat, is not for me. If I had to fish, I’d prefer prawns at midnight to any number of hours of preparation, waiting and eventual disappointment. But that’s what some of the disciples experienced in our gospel reading for today.

Why were these disciples fishing? After all, this was the fourth time Jesus had appeared to them or to Mary Magdalene since his crucifixion. Yet they remained in hiding for quite some time, and then decided to return to their previous occupation and earn some money. You can just imagine the scene. There they are, behind closed doors in an upper room, bored. Peter, their leader, suddenly has enough. “I’m going fishing” he says. “We’ll come with you” the others reply.

This was not what Jesus had in mind. The Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s gospel is to go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching them about everything Jesus commanded them to do. Not give up, and go fishing. To be fishers of women and men, not fishers of fish.

Perhaps it was no coincidence when Peter and his companions worked all night and caught nothing. Bored, demoralised, and frustrated they approached the shore. There was something familiar about the man who greeted them. Have you no fish? He asked, somewhat ironically. Go out again, and this time do something completely unconventional. Cast your net out on the wrong side of the boat.

John is very precise about all the details in his gospel account. So theologians have speculated for centuries about the significance of the 153 fish they caught. 153 is a special number. Add every number between 1 and 17 together, and you get 153. Add factorials 1! 2! 3! 4! and 5!—you get 153. Arrange a triangular collection of balls from 1 at the apex through 2, 3, 4 balls and so on up to 17 in the bottom row—and there are 153 balls. Apparently you can even add together the value of the Greek letters in Mary Magdalene’s name and you get 153—but that’s too Dan Brown for me.

My explanation is radical. I think there were 153 fish. Simples, as the meercat would say. But that’s not the point of the story. The fact was that the disciples had almost given up, yet Jesus was waiting for them. Not with words of condemnation or disappointment, but with breakfast cooked on a fire.

And Peter, who denied him three times was not berated. No, Jesus just asked him—three times—to reaffirm his love for him. Then, after Peter gets tetchy, Jesus tells him to “feed my sheep” and to follow him.

Standing where he does, and waiting for his disciples to return frustrated, cold and disappointed, Jesus is calling them back to the fold. The symbolism is unmistakeable. Don’t fish for fish—fish for women and men—and if you do so in my name and with the authority and power of the Holy Spirit, you will haul in abundant success, just as the 153 fish were safely landed and did not break the net. And when we go astray, or take the easy, familiar way, rather than the more challenging, harder and more risky path, there is Jesus standing there, with encouragement and no blame, to call us back and set us once again on the right road.

Make no mistake—this account of Jesus on the shore is a Eucharistic event. There might be no wine, only fish. But just look at the wording Jesus uses when he invites his disciples to “come and have breakfast.”
“Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.”

Once they had had communion with Jesus they received a recommissioning from him. They are reminded who they are and what they were originally called to be. They are challenged to get back in the boat and try again—in more ways than one.

Supposing we apply this for a moment to ourselves and our church. Following the call of Jesus means for us putting our nets back into the water even when we are tired and have had no success. Casting our net on the wrong side of the boat opens up some creative discussions we can have as to what church and mission might look like when we follow Jesus’ commands unquestioningly, and when that means doing things the way we have never done them before. It’s an end to inertia—it’s a liberating approach that calls us to follow him, and not to stay comfortably, year in year out, doing the things we have always done before in ways we have always done them. Amen