"The Risen Lord Restores His Fisherman and Shepherd" (Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter)

In last Sunday’s Gospel we heard about Jesus appearing to his disciples on Easter evening and again a week later. In today’s Gospel we hear about a third such appearance of Jesus to a group of his disciples. So this is a good time for us to ask why: Why does Jesus manifest himself to his disciples repeatedly during these forty days from his resurrection to his ascension? The most obvious answer, simply, is to show that he is alive, that he really has risen from the dead. Christ’s resurrection shows that he who died on the cross now is risen from the dead and that the sacrifice for sin he made on the cross was sufficient to remove the curse of death. Showing himself to his disciples, with the marks of his wounds in his now risen body, makes the connection for the disciples that the crucifixion was not a defeat but rather a victory, that it was indeed God’s plan for solving the sin-and-death problem. The resurrection appearances underline for the apostles the centrality of the death and resurrection of the Savior in the good news they are sent out to preach.

So far, so good. But I think there’s another dynamic at work in these resurrection appearances, as well. And that is, in a word, restoration. Jesus has some restoring work to do, and he does it on these occasions when he appears to his disciples. Again, we ask why: Who needs to be restored? And what had they done that they need restoring?

All the disciples, really, needed to be restored. For they all had deserted their master in his hour of trial. They all had fled, fearing for their safety. Then they all had failed to believe Jesus’ promise that he would be raised on the third day. So they all were in need of restoration, forgiveness, absolution, the assurance of their Lord’s acceptance, and his calling them back to faith before he sends them out into mission.

We saw that last week, didn’t we? First on Easter evening, Jesus greets his fearful disciples with a reassuring “Peace be with you.” Likewise a week later, when he appeared to them again, this time with the disbelieving Thomas present, Jesus spoke his word of peace to Thomas and called him back to faith.

So also today. Today the focus will be on Peter, or more precisely on Jesus doing his restorative resurrection work on Peter, his most well-known disciple. Of course, this will have implications for us, too. We will see ourselves through the lens of this story of Jesus and Peter. Today, then, “The Risen Lord Restores His Fisherman and Shepherd.”

Remember when Jesus rose from the dead, the angel at the tomb sent word to the disciples, via the women, that Jesus would go before them to Galilee and there they would see him. Well, now, after at least a week in Jerusalem, the disciples are back up in Galilee, where many of them had come from. Seven of them are together on this occasion. A number of them had been fishermen when Jesus first had called them and they left their nets and their boats and followed him. So that’s what they revert to, as they’re kind of chilling out and awaiting further instructions. Peter, the natural leader, says, “I’m going fishing,” and the others decide that sounds like a pretty good idea and they say, “We’ll go with you.”

So these professional fishermen work all night, in a lake they know very well, but they end up catching nothing. Now it’s very early in the morning--hmm, where have we heard that before?--when they see someone standing on the shore. The stranger on the beach talks to them and tells them to cast their net again and they will find some fish. Now normally why should they listen to such crazy advice from someone they don’t know, a hundred yards away, when they’re the professionals, they’re right there in the boat, and all their professional skills haven’t gotten them anything? But even so, there’s something about this man’s voice, something in this man’s voice, a ring of authority--they’ve heard this voice before, and they go ahead and do what he says. What happens? A miraculous catch of fish! Again. This had happened before, on this same lake, with this same man with the voice. Now it dawns on the disciples, literally dawns on them: “It is the Lord!”

Peter can’t wait. This most impetuous of the disciples girds his garment around him and casts himself into the sea. He’s got to be the first one there, of course. But maybe it begins to dawn on him, something else about that previous catch of fish. On that occasion, the awe of Jesus doing this, his divine authority, contrasted with Peter’s sense of his own inadequacy and failure and sinfulness, hit Peter like a ton of bricks, and he fell to his knees and confessed, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” At that time Jesus forgave him and reassured him and told him of his new direction in life: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

Well, that was then. But this is now. As Peter is reaching shore, maybe he is reminded of that previous incident and especially of more recent incidents, when, if he’s honest with himself, Peter would once again have to confess, even more bitterly, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” If that’s not enough, there’s something else that would remind him. When he gets to the shore, there lying before him is a charcoal fire. Peter had seen such a fire not too long ago. In fact, the only other time the word for “charcoal fire” is used in the New Testament, it involved Peter. That charcoal fire was in a courtyard, the high priest’s courtyard, on that night--yes, that night. On the night when Jesus was betrayed, the night he was also denied. And it was Peter who had done the denying. Jesus had been arrested and taken to the high priest’s house, and Peter had followed and was standing in the courtyard, curious to find out what would happen, yet afraid to make it known that he was one of Jesus’ followers. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” “No, I’m not.” Yes, you are!” “No, I’m not!” “Yes, you are one of his disciples!” “I tell you, I don’t know the man!” It was a chilly night, that night in the courtyard, and there was, yes, a “charcoal fire,” and Peter was standing by it, warming himself, when he denied his Lord.

That was then, this is now. And now, here on the beach, there is another charcoal fire. What will Peter say this time? Will he deny his Lord again? Jesus himself now will ask the questions. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Ouch. Peter must have remembered when he had as much as boasted that he did love Jesus more than all the other disciples: “Even if they all fall away because of you, Lord, I will never fall away!” Oh, really, Peter? Do you love Jesus more than all these others do? You denied him, remember? So now that prideful boast of comparison is gone from Peter’s lips. Yet now in humbled contrition, Peter knows that it is only in Jesus that he will find forgiveness and hope, and so Jesus’ question calls forth a confession of faith: “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

Surprisingly, perhaps, Jesus follows this up by giving Peter a commission: “Feed my lambs.” Well, maybe not so surprisingly. On Easter evening Jesus had followed up his absolution of peace with a word of commission to the disciples: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Now he’s doing it again, this time individually with Peter, reassuring him of forgiveness, restoring him before sending him out on mission.

A second time Jesus asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Even apart from comparison with others, Peter must now ask himself if he even had shown any love at all for his master. Does he love Jesus? Well, not in a boastful way, as though he had a love for the Lord that was strong and constant and generated on his own. No, Peter realizes that he had failed on that score. But as a beggar who has nothing of his own and yet knows where to find bread, Peter knows it is to Jesus that he must cling: “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” There comes another reply of acceptance and commission: “Tend my sheep.”

But now a third time, a third questioning: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter is grieved, it says, because the Lord asks him this a third time. But now think back to that night in the courtyard, that other time by a charcoal fire. Peter had been asked--guess what--three times about his love for Jesus, and three times Peter had denied his Lord. And when the rooster crowed, and Peter realized what he had done, he was grieved at that time too and wept bitterly.

That was then, this is now. Why is Jesus putting him through this again, again with the questioning? What is he trying to do, humiliate Peter? No, he is restoring Peter. Before Peter had been asked three times and he failed and denied. Now Peter is asked three times and he is given an opportunity to confess his faith and his love for his Savior. Jesus is restoring Peter.

And he’s doing it publicly, in front of the others. In case there was any doubt, any resentment among them toward this disciple with the most bravado and bluster, who had claimed to love Jesus more than they all did--now Jesus is publicly restoring and reinstating Peter in their presence. And he’s doing it for Peter’s own sake, as well, in case there was any lingering doubt in his mind about whether the Lord really would have him back after his miserable failure.

So Peter answers: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” And now a third commissioning: “Feed my sheep.” The risen Lord fully restores his fisherman and shepherd. He’s got some fishing for Peter to do. He’s got some shepherding for Peter to do.

Yes, Peter, from now on you will indeed be fishing for men, hauling them in with the net of the gospel. The gospel net will haul them in, lots of them, from every tribe and language and people and nation. And it will all be the Lord’s doing, not the results of your own so-smart techniques and expertise. It will be his voice, his authority, his direction, that will haul the fish in.

Yes, Peter, from now on you will have some shepherding to do. You will be an undershepherd of the Good Shepherd, Jesus. These are his sheep, his lambs, his flock. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for these sheep--yes, you folks here, sitting in the pews here today. You are the sheep, the lambs, for whom Christ died. And he gives you undershepherds, pastors, like Peter and all his successors, down to this present day, to lead and guide and feed you in the pleasant pastures of his forgiveness and love. Grazing in the grace, you are.

So, Peter, feed and tend and shepherd these sheep and lambs. But know this, Peter: Just as the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, so will his undershepherds. You may gird your garment around you now, but there will come another day will someone else will “gird” you, bind you, wrap a rope around you and lead you where you do not want to go. That’s what happened, you know. Some 35 years later Peter was led to his death, death by crucifixion in the city of Rome. But Jesus will have girded Peter with strength, the reassurance and the strength to do what Jesus now calls him to do when he says, once again, “Follow me.”

Today, my friends, today we have seen ourselves through the lens of Peter. Have you denied and failed your Lord? If you’re like me, if you’re like Peter, you have done this many times--more than three, I’m guessing. But guess what? For as many times as you have failed, for as many times as you have failed and faltered in your discipleship--for all those times and more--here is Jesus standing on the beach, ready to restore you and reassure you and forgive and accept you! The risen Lord is restoring you today!

He laid down his life for your restoration back to God. Jesus Christ let himself be arrested on that chilly night; he was betrayed and denied and was hauled off to unjust trials and a shameful death. He laid down his life for you, to take away all your sins, to pay the price for all your failures before God and your denials. And that was enough. The blood he shed, the holy precious blood of the Son of God dying on your behalf, this is enough to cover all your failures. This is enough to remove even the sting of death. Christ has won the victory over sin and death and now he shares the results with you!

Today Jesus’ undershepherd is feeding you, his sheep and lambs, with the good and nourishing word of the gospel. Children, do you have anything to eat? Oh, yes. Our Lord provides. Receive Christ’s life-giving, life-restoring word of forgiveness and acceptance. And Jesus will send you out on whatever missions you have in your life, to faithfully carry out your vocation as husband, wife, father, mother, child, worker, citizen, whatever. And together, redeemed, restored, forgiven, we as Christ’s church will carry out our mission in the world, as our Lord directs and guides and empowers.

Our risen Lord is in the restoration business. Today, my friends, today he is restoring you!

John 21:1-19 (ESV)

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 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.

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on 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 of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

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.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved 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. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

“Today, my friends, today we have seen ourselves through the lens of Peter. Have you denied and failed your Lord? If you’re like me, if you’re like Peter, you have done this many times—more than three, I’m guessing. But guess what? For as many times as you have failed, for as many times as you have failed and faltered in your discipleship—for all those times and more—here is Jesus standing on the beach, ready to restore you and reassure you and forgive and accept you! The risen Lord is restoring you today!”

Thank you Charles. For me, a timely message.

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