Sermon 4/17
Today we have one of my favorite Easter stories…
It starts with our impulsive
friend Peter….he’s ready to go fishing again…things didn’t turn out they
way he wanted, so it’s back to fishing….he’s going back to the old life as if
nothing happened…
They have no luck. No fish. From the shore, Jesus yells out,
“try the other side” and without recognizing him, they follow his advice. And they
catch fish….lots of fish..153 LARGE ones…Despite many attempts by commentators
to explain this number, to be honest, no
one really knows….
The disciple who loved Jesus calls out It’s the Lord! and impetuous Peter does
this counter intuitive thing and puts on
his clothes to jump into the water…so are these fishers fishing naked? Why does he not want Jesus to see him naked?
The fact is, Jesus has seen him naked. That is, he has seen the real
Peter, just as he is, over and over again.
And so the others drag the fish in…
The next is my favorite part…I call it breakfast on the beach…
Try to imagine this…it’s early morning…..sun coming up….can
you smell how it smells on the beach? (I know the Sea of Galilee is fresh
water, but I smell salt..) Can you
smell the charcoal fire? The fish being grilled? The smell of fresh bread? It’s almost as
sensual as that other John story where Mary anoints Jesus…and the smell of the
ointment fills the room..
And like Mary Magdalene hearing her name, this eating
together is so familiar, they know him! It’s in the familiar….what he did most often was break
bread with his friends…like we did on Palm Sunday with Pastor Jeanie and
her volunteers from Sacramento and our friends from Theatre Dzieci…he
was every bit as present at that lunch as when he is when we take communion…
NOW it gets interesting…the 3 questions from Jesus to Peter…why
3? Well, one traditional answer, to make up for his 3 denials…BUT….in Greek
(and I’m not one who believes you have to know Greek to fully understand the
Bible…with disciplined study and the Holy Spirit, you’ll get what you need to…) Jesus uses agape and Peter answers with fileo. Jesus is trying to get Peter to up his game ...from friendship to unconditional
love...and when Peter doesn’t give
in, Jesus finally comes back with fileo and Peter answers with fileo...He
meets Peter where he is ….friendship not a bad place to begin…and the
instruction? Feed my sheep..
Them there’s this business about the difference between
being young and old…right now, in my life, I’m struck by the similarities between infancy
and old age…that dependency.. as my mom
works to recover from her stroke.. and my new grandson. Roko…both in need of
others to help then with the most basic needs….
And Jesus ends with Follow
me…
What’s at stake here is knowing….how
do we know? What do we know? How did the disciples know?…Mary…knew by voice….the
others…by breaking bread…(except the
one who loved him, who knew him by by love…)
How does Jesus know Peter loves him? He will know when Peter feeds his sheep…
God first knows us
before we know God, like Jesus knew Peter…with
all our shortcomings, our failures, our gifts…
We’re called to know,
but more to trust…
Not to believe but
to follow…
That’s our Easter challenge this year….to simply follow….
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