Mt. Carmel Baptist Church
April 22, 2007

John 21:1-19
1 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way.
2 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.
3 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.
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”
11 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.
12 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.
13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
15 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.”

16 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.”
17 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.
18 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.”
19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

This story begins with what I think is a beautiful image. Seven of the disciples have been out fishing – because, after all, they were fishermen, and they had to work for a living – but they haven’t been having much success. So Jesus, who they don’t recognize at first, tells them to throw their net on the right side of the boat, and they’ll catch something. And they do. They caught so many fish they couldn’t even haul them into the boat. And when they come ashore, there Jesus is, and he’s already fixing breakfast. Fish, for breakfast.

The great science fiction writer Ray Bradbury talks about this very scene in his novel “A Graveyard for Lunatics.” Bradbury’s main character is a screenwriter, and as he writes a screenplay about Jesus he’s fascinated by the image of sparks crackling and flying up from that charcoal fire by the side of the lake. It’s been years since I read the novel, but that image has stuck with me as well, and every time I read this passage I can see those sparks flying up, and hear that crackle, and practically taste that grilled fish.

The last time we read about the disciples having a meal with Jesus, it was a supper – the end of the day, and the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. But this meal is breakfast – the beginning of the day, and the beginning of a new kind of ministry.

Jesus has someone in mind to take a central role in that new kind of ministry, and he happens to be a fisherman, one of the people to whom Jesus is giving fish for breakfast. His name used to be Simon, but now everyone calls him Peter.

When the disciples were pulling in their huge catch of fish, the disciple Jesus loved – who most people identify with John, the author of this gospel – tells Peter that the mysterious man on the shore must be Jesus. Peter can’t wait for the boat to get to shore. He covers himself up and jumps into the water.

I don’t know about you, but I think Peter strikes a chord with me that’s different from any of the other disciples. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, it’s Peter who is gung-ho, who makes a great show of his loyalty to Jesus. And yet it’s Peter who sometimes falls flat on his face. When Peter wants to build tabernacles for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter gets scolded and put in his place. When Jesus predicts his own death, and Peter reacts to this prediction by saying what amounts to “God forbid,” Peter gets scolded and put in his place. When they try to arrest Jesus, and Peter whips out his sword, Peter is scolded and put in his place. Peter makes mistakes, and that makes Peter someone we can relate to. And yet, Peter is destined for great things, and that makes Peter someone we can look up to.

Peter is part of Jesus’ inner circle. He is obviously someone that Jesus loved, very dearly. And he is obviously someone Jesus trusted. Jesus entrusted his mother to John, but he told Peter in Matthew 16:18 that he, Peter, was the rock on which Jesus was going to build the church. It was Jesus who gave Simon the name “Peter,” which means “rock.”

But for a rock, Peter didn’t seem very strong or very stable at times. On the night of Jesus’ arrest and trial, Peter, as predicted, denied three different times that he even knew Jesus.

The joy of Jesus’ resurrection caught Peter and the other disciples by surprise, but in time, it’s easy to imagine that Peter was plagued by remorse about his denials. And that sets the stage for our Bible passage today. Jesus asks Peter if Peter loves him – three times, the same number of times as Peter’s denial.

In our Bibles today, Jesus’ question is the same all three times it’s asked: “Do you love me?” But as you may have already known, the Greeks had three different words for “love” — agape, meaning a total, self-giving love; philos, meaning brotherly love or friendship; and eros, meaning romantic love. In the original Greek – and the earliest manuscripts we have of the Gospels are in Greek – Jesus uses “agape” the first two times he asks the question, but “philos” the third time. Some commentators say that’s not significant, but others say it is. It’s as if Jesus asked “do you love me,” and then “do you love me,” and then the third time he asked “don’t you even like me?”

Peter keeps giving Jesus the right answer — “Lord, you know I love you.” So why does Jesus keep asking the question?

This is not a casual conversation. This is not two teenagers agreeing to be BFF – best friends forever. This is Jesus Christ, fully human and yet fully God, making sure that Peter knows what is being asked of him. Jesus is forgiving Peter for his denials but at the same time trying to prepare him for the task ahead.

Our Catholic brothers and sisters believe that Peter was the first Pope – that the responsibilities laid on Peter’s shoulders weren’t just for him but were a job description which has been filled by many others through the years. It is not true that Catholics believe the Pope to be infallible 24 hours a day. Their church tradition holds that the Pope is infallible only when he makes certain statements. Those statements are said to be “ex cathedra,” or “from the chair,” which means that the Pope is speaking from the chair, or the throne, or the position, first held by Peter.

You and I, as Protestants, don’t believe in that exact system. And I think it’s important for us to note that Peter’s fallibility didn’t end with Jesus’ ascension. In Galatians 2, Paul recounts having a standoff with Peter over the issue of whether Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians should fellowship together.

We read in Acts that Peter had, with God’s inspiration, been one of the first to share the Gospel with Gentiles. But now, some years later, Paul accuses Peter of not being willing to eat with Gentile Christians, and of not wanting to offend the Jewish Christians who believed that the Jewish laws should still apply. Paul says that Peter “drew back and remained separate” from the Gentiles out of fear, and Paul calls that hypocrisy. This Peter who doesn’t want to offend the powers that be does not sound like the hotheaded Peter we read about in the Gospels, somehow, but perhaps time and responsibility had changed him. In any case, I think it’s a sign that Peter, even though he was a key figure in the new church, still wasn’t perfect. Nor are any of us.

But Jesus isn’t asking Peter if he’s perfect. He’s asking Peter if Peter loves Jesus. Jesus, as Peter himself points out, already knew the answer. But I think God sometimes asks us questions like that for our own enlightenment rather than his.

For a while in the 1980s, I was a volunteer for a crisis telephone line. We were taught a technique called active listening. It involves not only listening carefully to what the caller was saying, but asking questions at each point. We were cautioned against giving any sort of advice – we were just volunteers, after all, and all we really knew about the situation was what we were being told by the caller, which might or might not be reliable. But by getting the caller to talk about the situation, sometimes the caller would talk himself or herself through the problem and into a solution – or at least a better understanding. Our questions helped the caller to find an answer. Sometimes God, or people who God is using, ask us questions like that.

The key question for which Peter needed an answer is “Do I love Jesus?” Is there any more foundational question to the Christian faith?

Jesus knew the answer to that question. He wanted to make sure that Peter knew the answer to that question – not just the right thing to say, but the truth inside. It could be that Peter was still struggling with the answer to that question. It could be that, as joyous as Peter had been to hear about Jesus’ resurrection, his guilt was still keeping him separate from Jesus.

And if the answer to that question, “Do you love me?”, is “yes,” then the proper response to it is “feed my sheep.”

Feeding Jesus’ sheep sounds nice, and warm, and fuzzy. It sounds fun, even. But the stakes of this particular job interview are much, much higher. On the day of Pentecost, Peter began feeding Jesus’ sheep by sharing the Gospel message with them. He fed Jesus’ sheep by healing the lame beggar at the temple. He fed Jesus’ sheep by boldly proclaiming the Gospel message even while he was on trial. Remember, this was the man who, a few months earlier, had denied even knowing Jesus, and now he’s putting himself at risk by proclaiming Jesus to the ruling council and the High Priest. He fed the sheep when he was in prison for the sake of the Gospel, and he fed the sheep when an angel freed him from prison.

Jesus told Peter that when he grew old, he would stretch out his hands and be tied up and taken where he did not wish to go. As the writer of the gospel explains, Jesus was prophesying that Peter would be led to his execution.

The Bible does not tell us the time, place or manner of Peter’s death, but there are some references to both Peter and Paul being executed during the time of Nero, about AD 64. There is a traditional story which has been handed down – and no one knows for sure if this is true or not – that Peter was sentenced to be crucified but asked to be crucified upside down, since he did not consider himself worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus.

Feeding Jesus’ sheep is not without cost. Sometimes, depending on your surroundings and the situation, doing the right thing will make you subject to ridicule, to being ostracized, to being looked down upon, or even – like the apostles – to death itself.

But whenever we answer the question “Do you love Jesus?”, the answer to that question forces us to feed Jesus’ sheep. If we love him, we must love the people that are dear to him. And that means everyone. Sharing Jesus’ love and concern with the world means doing the right thing, even when it’s difficult, or dangerous. Doing the right thing can feel like a rope around us, like being led somewhere that we don’t want to go.

But if we love Jesus, we also have to know that Jesus loves us, and will give us the strength to bear any trial or any struggle. If we love Jesus, we know that we will make mistakes but that his love will endure.

Like Peter, we may become annoyed when Jesus asks us that question, again and again, and expects us to answer with our lives and not just with our words.

“Do you love me?” Jesus asks.

It’s the most important question we will ever answer.