Third Sunday in Easter: Breakfast on the Beach

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Community Garden tulips

On the first of May, the Third Sunday in Easter, I preached for my friends at Beverley Church of Brooklyn. Here's what I had to say:

So here we are. It’s the 3rd Sunday in Easter,  We’re officially six weeks into spring now.  The sun is out, but it’s still cool. But we’ve been through the cherry blossom season and  now the  tulips are out in full force brightening our day with their cheerful array of color.

89th Street Community Garden

The Five Boro Bike Tour is streaming up Adam Clayton Powell, Jr Boulevard about 6.5 miles in.  And workers all over the world are celebrating May Day, which actually ironically commemorates the Haymarket uprising in Chicago in a country that shifted Labor Day to September out of fear of communism.

Dr. Fauci has announced that we are no longer in  pandemic mode and have now entered intro the endemic stage but people we know are still getting covid. Masks are no longer “required” but well, you know? Looks like we’ll have to figure out how to live with covid. And the Ukrainian people are still under siege but are holding on with courage and determination. 

It’s the third Sunday in Easter.  And today we’ve got another of my favorite resurrection  stories…the one I call  breakfast on the beach, Now remember…Jesus has already appeared twice to these guys appearing out of nowhere through locked doors, showing the marks of his resurrection still visible on his resurrected body, And still, still, they are not yet ready to believe. 

They are so not ready that six of them, half of the original disciples, have decided to go back to their old line of work, go back to fishing. As if to say well, that certainly  didn’t work out, let’s  just  act like it never happened. 

They’ve been out all night with no luck. Jesus is there on the beach. He calls out to them to put the nets out  on the other side and what do you know, the nets are bursting. The one that Jesus loved, (still not sure about  that) says it’s the Lord…and Peter, the one with no impulse control, puts his clothes back on and jumps in to the water to swim to shore.

Now stop right there. This has never made sense to me.  If you’re going to swim, I’d think you’d want to be naked. Take your clothes off. And Peter puts his on. But then someone suggested this to me. Peter was always the one to make big bold  promises, like I will never leave you, I’ll be with you to the end, only to deny Jesus three times in the end. This is important.  Think how he must have felt. How ashamed he must  have felt.  How resistant to believing the resurrection he is that he’s gone back to his old work. Fishing. And then he sees Jesus on the beach.. He feels the shame. He’s like Adam in the garden when he realizes he is naked. So he puts his clothes in before jumping in.  The one who once couldn’t handle walking on water doesn’t want to have Jesus see him naked.  But even though he is ashamed, he still goes….

And now back to Jesus.  And I love this part. He’s on the beach.  He’s got a charcoal grill fired up.  And there’s fish on the grill. Stop there.  Close your eyes…see that. But feel it and smell it too, Feel the morning sea breeze on your face. Feel the breeze coming off the water to you. (Well, actually it’s lake water…)  Smell the charcoal. And the smell of fish on the grill.  Take that in. Let that surround you.

Okay.  When they get to shore with their  amazing catch, (and don’t even ask ..no one’s sure about what the number 153 is all about.) And Jesus says, “Come, have breakfast…” and they knew it was him.

John Shelby Spong, former Episcopal  Bishop of Newark, believed that this  was the first resurrection experience. That the disciples had gone back to their old work and as they sat on the beach, breaking bread, sharing food, like they had done with him,  so many times, (remember the bread and fishes story, feeding 5000 and more?) They looked at each other and knew, just knew, that he was with them, not dead, alive in them and would always be there. And so they share their breakfast of fish and bread.

Then there’s this mazing exchange with Peter.  Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him,  And three times Peter says of course I love you. With each response Jesus says, feed my sheep and then tend my lambs and then feed my sheep.

Three questions…three affirmations to follow three denials. 

But did you know that in Biblical Greek, the conversation comes off a bit differently?  The first time Jesus uses the word agape, do you love me with self-sacrificing full out love? And Peter responds, with filios, which is to say, I am your friend. Second time, Jesus uses agape again.  And Peter uses filios again.  I love you as a friend. Finally, the third time, Jesus uses filios as well, and Peter says You know I am your friend. And when Jesus says feed my sheep, he is saying that’s love enough. 

Traditionally, scholars have used this as a way to oh, make Peter not look so good. Jesus is asking for self-sacrificing love and all Peter can offer is friendship, as if  this is a fault.  

I’ve known this story and preached  on this story for over 45 years. And this time I saw something I never saw before. Like I said, Peter was the guy with no impulse control. The one who will alway make the big bold statement, the grand sweeping promises.  But not this time. This time, for the first time in all his exchanges with Jesus, Peter does not over promise. He is honest and clear about what he can do. And can’t do. He has come to understand his own limits.  And I am convinced that it is because of that, the he has finally come to understand what he  can and can’t do that Jesus makes him the rock on which the church will stand. He can finally be trusted. Then Jesus more or less tells him how his days will end. 

Okay, so what’s in this for us? I think the bottom line is something like this. That like Peter, we become most helpful when we can finally accept ourselves as we are. Know our limits. Understand what we can and can’t do That  we won’t promise to do what we won’t do.   And once we have done that , we are finally prepared and ready to feed his sheep, tend his lambs, feed his sheep.  

Jesus’ last words to Peter are Follow me. Not believe in me, follow me. Any of you out there who have trouble with believing, don’t worry about that. Just put your feet on the path and follow.  The rest will follow. And for those out there who say you love Jesus, that in itself is as empty as an immature Peter promise. If you love Jesus, know what the content of your love is.  Know what the capacity of your love is. Know what you are capable of. Know what you can and can’t do and then by God do it.  Feed the sheep. Tend the lambs. Feed the sheep.  Let those with ears to hear, hear. 

Amen

After I preach, I sing my version of 'O Good Shepherd, feed my sheep..

John 21: 1-19

1After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon 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.

4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." 6He 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. 7That 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. 8But 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.

9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 11So 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. 12Jesus 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. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15When 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." 16A 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." 17He 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. 18Very 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." 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."