Sermon for Easter 3

Easter 3
April 18, 2010
John 21:1-18
Followship

In the name of the risen Lord Jesus, amen. I love the story of Thomas. I love the race that Peter and John engage in to see who will get to the tomb. I’m a morning person and delight in the dew of the grass, the way deep dawn succumbs to the first light of the sun. I love the women who go to the tomb in deep dawn to show their love for their Lord. But I might love this Gospel story more.

It is often brought to our attention that we blow it. We mess up. We fail. We make poor decisions and have lapses in judgment. In short, we make mistakes. That reality makes the second chances all the sweeter, all the more joyful. In this beautiful lesson from the end of John’s gospel we uncover the truth that Jesus loves those whom he calls so much that even when they blow it, when they fail him, when they deny him, he doesn’t deny them, he doesn’t fail them, he doesn’t blow them away. Rather Jesus bids them to come again to his merciful arms. Jesus is the Lord of second chances.

The disciples, seven of them, went fishing in a familiar spot. It was the Sea of Galilee, aka the Sea of Tiberias, aka the Sea of Genessaret. The same body of water with three different names. Peter, the bold denier of Jesus was there. So too was the skeptical Thomas. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who competed to see who would have the greatest seat in heaven, were also in the boat. Nathanael, the true child of Abraham, who acknowledged Jesus as King of Israel, was there as well. And two others, unknown by name, but known as students of Jesus the rabbi, known as followers of Jesus the way.

These fishermen were having no luck. Perhaps they had forgotten how to fish while they were accompanying Jesus in his ministry. In this story we could call them bad fisherman, just as we could call them weak and lousy as disciples. In the passion narratives of the Gospels, the disciples do not come off as very good.

Yet…YET…the risen Lord is good. He appeared to the disciples and gave them what the disciples couldn’t produce on their own. Jesus gave them peace. Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave them the power to forgive or retain sins.

The disciples were human beings, people who wrestled with health and wholeness and sickness and brokenness. Peter was broken, and he still needed help. Even when doing something he was supposedly good at, Peter needed help.

Peter was living his life without Jesus. So were the others in the boat. They returned to their old way of life. And that way of life was void of the One who was the way, the truth and the life.

We are familiar of a life lived without Jesus. We’ve seen friends and family members going through life without a clue as to what is really important. We’ve looked in the mirror and have seen our directionless life. We make a lot of money and pretend that we are happy. We pretend life is satisfying because that life is filled with all sorts of gadgets and trinkets. We know how this life will wind up. What we think is satisfying and pleasurable leaves us less than satisfied and our lives are plunged into pain and there is no pleasure.

We choose jobs, dates, and spouses without considering God’s will for our life. We chase after toys, good times, promotions and raises with real eagerness and dedication. Yet when it comes to hearing God’s Word and responding to God’s call, we are indifferent. We worship our work, work at our play, and play at our worship.

But the Lord appears to Peter and his brothers with great mercy. There is some unfinished business for Jesus and he comes to his disciples once again. Jesus eats with them. And that is why this is my favorite Easter story. Jesus eats with his beloved disciples.

When you eat with someone, you accept them. At one point someone asked you out to dinner and you had to choose whether or not you accepted the offer. When you eat with someone, you accept them. Who did our Lord eat with? Zaccheus. Tax collectors. Prostitutes. Sinners. Pharisees. The disciples. Us.

Jesus accepted his disciples. He knew their fear. He knew their failures. He knew their uncertainty, their dejection, and Jesus came to them. He gave them direction on where to cast their net and there was a miraculous catch of fish. And on the seashore and he ate with them. He loved his disciples. He loved them, not because they were disciples, but because they were his. He loved them and put them to use.

We heard this morning in the Acts lesson that God could use even someone like Saul of Tarsus, whom God used to carry the name of the Lord before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. God could use someone like Peter, who had the chance to speak up on behalf of Jesus yet couldn’t rise to that opportunity.

Jesus had already told the disciples what they could do. He breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit and sent them out to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins. On the seashore, Jesus speaks to Peter in front of the others on how to do this.

Three times Peter had denied Jesus. Today, three times Peter expresses his love for Jesus. And three times Jesus tells Peter, feed my lambs, tend my sheep.

Jesus brought the disciples back. He restored them to their place as he ate with them, as he broke the bread in their midst, as he accepted them and transformed them. He reminded them they were no longer fishers of fish but fishers of men.

Fellowship was restored and it was transformed by what Jesus said next- Follow me. Fellowship becomes followship. For we respond to the call of God by following. We are not leading, pointing to ourselves, reinventing the Christian wheel, but we are following. We are serving. We are pointing to the cross, to the tomb, to the great blessing of God in our lives.

We are given a fresh start, a second chance. Again and again and again and again we fall. We fail. We blow up and we blow it. Jesus restores us. He eats with us as he is the host at the great communion party.

Every Sunday we are blessed with the opportunity to admit just how big a failure we are and every Sunday we receive the word and cling to the truth that for the sake of Jesus Christ we are forgiven and set free from all that enslaves us.
Jesus welcomes us again and again and again to follow him and tend his sheep. We have fellowship with the Lord and we are enlisted to follow him. There is followship.

Even though we at times have been embarrassed, slow, afraid to admit before others that we are followers of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ is never embarrassed of those he calls his disciples. We are restored through fellowship with him. The risen Lord Jesus calls broken disciples to come and be filled with his Word, to be made whole in order to go into this world and bring that healing Word to others. SDG