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Christ is risen! Hallelujah! This morning’s text is the last that we’ll hear about Christ’s post-resurrection appearances. We know he was on the earth for 40 days after his resurrection and before his ascension. And then 10 days later, on the 50th day, Pentecost occurred. But today in our pericopal readings, this is the last reading that has to do with post-resurrection occurrences because there really aren’t, frankly, very many. Okay?
So in the text, when we began, it said, “and after this.” After what? It’s referring to last week’s reading when Thomas came and Jesus appeared to them, showing Thomas his hands and side, and as an innocence, reinstates Thomas and the others in their faith.
So this morning is kind of interesting. Take a moment to think about this. For three years of your life, three intense years—a Lutheran Christian sermon. The tax collectors gave up tax collecting and others gave up their former life and for three years intensely followed Jesus. He set the command every day, telling them what was going to happen, telling them how it was going to be done, teaching them, bringing them along, showing them, revealing himself to them, miraculous things happening. For three years, you didn’t have to think about what you were going to do that day. You knew what you were going to do, and if you didn’t know, you were going to be led and shown what you were going to be doing.
And then, no more. Now Jesus isn’t around. And the readings that we have heard show that they ended up being together, locking the doors for fear of the Jews. Now the very thing that they had been so used to—this almost repetitious and familiar life—shattered and gone. And now what do you do?
Well, Jesus appeared to them, but he didn’t appear to them every day. He didn’t appear to them every day. What do you do? So Peter had the bright idea—let’s go fishing. Now why fishing? No, it wasn’t because it was some quaint thing to do, but it was very familiar to Peter, wasn’t it? When you and I get out of sorts with a routine, we need to find a new routine, and we go back to familiar routines. Very familiar for Peter to go back out on that boat. And he invites his buddies to come along with him. Very familiar to throw the nets out.
And you and I have to think in terms that Peter and those other ones were playing things through their minds. Because that’s how God’s Word works in your life, isn’t it? When He shatters predictability in your life, you all of a sudden are giving God your complete and total undivided attention. And He’s reminding you of these various things that He’s accomplished in your life prior to and during. And He’s reminding you of what you have to look forward to and nothing to fear.
So what was being done in these disciples’ lives as they were fishing? Now think about this, too. Of all the times that Jesus could have come upon them, and of all the events that could have been recorded, John records them fishing when Jesus breaks into their world again. For Peter, that began three years prior, didn’t it? When he was walking the beach and he said to Peter and Andrew, “follow me.” And they left their nets and followed him. It said that James and John left their nets and their dad and followed him.
Now Luke adds a very interesting aspect to that event when Jesus broke into their lives and called them as apostles and disciples. Luke adds that they had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. And Luke adds, Jesus says to them, “throw the net on the other side,” and Peter argues, remember? “We’ve been fishing all night, Rabbi, but because you said throw it on the other side, all right, I’ll throw it on the other side.” And he throws it on the other side. And they catch so much fish that their nets actually break.
And what does Peter say? Luke records that Peter says to Jesus at that moment, when Jesus enters Peter’s life for the first time, “Lord, depart from me. I’m a sinful man.” And now, look at what’s being done in their lives. Just like when it all began, He comes to them again. Just like then, they had been fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything, so here. Just like He told them to throw it on the other side of the boat, He tells them here, “throw it on the right side of the boat.”
Different, though—just like then, their nets broke. Here, their nets didn’t break. Yeah. Then Peter said, “depart from me for I am a sinful man.” Here, Peter says, “It’s the Lord.” He throws on his cloak and jumps into the water, going to Jesus rather than away from him.
Well, the miracles don’t stop there. When they get to the shore, what does Jesus already have done for them? Not just a fire, but coals, which means the fire had to have burned for a while. So a miracle of a fire full of coals like that. Fish caught, cleaned, and cooked. Bread. Oh yeah, He didn’t go down to H-E-B and pick up a loaf because they were open 24-7. He miraculously made and baked bread fresh. Jesus fed them. He was the host, again, of a meal for them. He provided for them in the catch of fish, again.
This is amazing. This is really being gracefully carried by the Lord, isn’t it? He makes it very clear when He brought them into His midst—they were chosen. They were called by God to follow Him. He made it very clear throughout their three years, “I will provide for you.” He made it very clear that in spite of their arguing among one another, who’s the greatest—in spite of them fleeing from Him in the garden—He claims them as His own and does not turn His back on them. That’s being gracefully carried along by the Lord.
That would be some of the things they would have thought of before Jesus appeared and told them to throw the net on the right side of the boat. But now that they had seen the miracle of the great catch, the miracle of the fire, fish, and bread, and Him inviting them to His presence, finding them in their out-of-the-routine daily life—that’s being gracefully carried by the Lord.
They finished their meal. Now it’s interesting. At the end of the text, which is all that got stuck in the bulletin for this week, it said this is the third time that He had revealed Himself to them. And in fact, if you look at the text, the word revealed occurs three times—twice at the very beginning and once at the end of the text in your bulletin. Wow. Coincidence? No, not at all. Makes it very clear what God is trying to show you as well.
So, after having let them revel in their catch—large fish, 153, didn’t break the net—after they had their bellies full, and everybody is looking at Jesus because He hasn’t spoken, the text doesn’t have Him saying anything, He turns and looks at Peter and says, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Now the other ten are going, “Who? He did not ask me. Man!” Because when He asks Peter, think about this—He’s not just asking Peter as if the others don’t need to be asked the same question. He’s asking Peter as the representative of those and says, “Do you love me?” Hint, hint—all you all.
And though they may have gloried that He didn’t ask them, the question still stuck to them. And notice that He says, “more than these.” Why? It would be as if Jesus was saying, “Peter, given everything that has taken place, remember? And given everything that’s taken place, especially right before my crucifixion, remember, cock-a-doodle-doo?” and all of this that has taken place—does your love really exceed that of these? Because wasn’t it you who said, “Though they may all turn away, not I, Lord, not I”?
And He really is asking you: Given everything that you have said, given everything that you may claim to have done—do you really love Him more than anybody else in this congregation or in this world that is His follower? Do you really love Him more than the believing patient who’s in a coma? Do you love Him more than the infant within the mother’s womb like John?
Now, according to man’s judgment, our willpower is our glory. Look at how we reflect upon and praise people who have strong willpower. “Oh, you’ve eaten so well for so long! Look at all the weight. That’s strong willpower!” Look at how you’ve exercised faithfully! Look at that! You’re in great shape. Look at how you have changed, disciplined your life with these various things. Oh, we laud and glorify people like that.
So your willpower, Peter. You said, “All may fall away, but not me, Lord.” Not me. He’s really asking you and me: “Not me, Lord. Not me. All the others can be that way, but not me.” Your willpower may be your and my glory, but it ends up damning us in the end, doesn’t it? The only glory we have is really resting resignedly in the will of the Lord for us. Resting resignedly in the will of the Lord for us. That’s God’s glory. And then if He’s glorified, we are too.
Now, think about Peter’s actions prior to the crucifixion. Prior to the crucifixion, Peter wanted nothing to do with following a crucified Lord. Remember, he argued with Him. “Lord, may it never be,” and Jesus tells him, “Get behind me, Satan. You have not in mind the things of God, but the things of man.” Peter did not want to follow a crucified Lord. And nevertheless, Jesus was crucified.
So then how did Peter’s actions stand in light of his Lord being crucified? You heard Paul’s call in the first reading and how the Lord told Ananias, “He will have to suffer much on account of my name.” You heard at the end of the Gospel reading how Peter had gloried in the fact that he could do this or that and dress himself such and so. He will find himself being led to his own death that he will have no control over.
Now how about you? God leads you down paths that you and I don’t want to choose necessarily. Why? But He chooses them for us because we’re His children. He’s the loving Father. Do we balk at following a crucified Lord? Because we know if He was persecuted and suffered, and we’re baptized into Him and His death and resurrection, then can we really expect anything different for us? Or do we? Peter did. Do you?
The question, “Do you love me?” was saying to Peter also this: “Peter, are you ready to love me as I am, as I have revealed myself to you? Or do you only want to love me as you have created me to be?” Do you love the Lord because of how He has revealed Himself to be to you? Or do you love the Lord because of how you and I have created Him to be? That’s the question. It’s not just a simple, “Do you love me?” “Yeah, I love you.” All is well and good.
It’s implying a whole host of other things in this conversation. Because your and my struggle is loving God as He is. Because He reveals Himself to us in many and various ways through the Scriptures and the sacraments, but He reveals Himself as God, and we’re not. And the things that we argue with God about, we learn to love God as He is, not as we wish Him to be. That’s our struggle. That was Peter’s struggle.
So when Peter finally responds, and God uses Peter, good old Peter, he responds the third time, and notice the response is different than the other two because Peter finally says, “Okay, Lord, you got me.” He says, “Lord, you know everything.” That is a very humbling way of saying, “Lord, you know. You know I tried to love you as I wanted to love you, the way I thought you should be, and you showed me differently. Lord, you know that I would say very bold and brash things, telling you that I love you, and I failed miserably. What else do I have to stand on, Lord?”
That’s the beauty of Peter’s response. He doesn’t cite all of his examples to prove to Jesus that he loves him. He doesn’t say, “Lord, you know that I love you because I left all of my nets and all of my business on the side of the sea to follow you. Does that not prove it to you? Lord, you know that I love you because I put up with all of this for three years following you. Doesn’t that prove it to you enough?”
Yes. Isn’t it interesting in our marriages what we point to? Actions. Oh, well, great. Willpower says if we do all those actions perfectly, then everything’s fine. But let us not do things once. Forget to be kind once. Forget to be polite once. And we’re reminded, aren’t we? We remind our children, and they sure do remind us. We ought not to point to our actions. Peter didn’t. Peter pointed to God’s action in himself.
Peter said, “Lord, you know everything. You know my failures, and that’s all I have to offer are my failures. You know that, and you still love me. That’s what matters. You love me. You chose me. You put me in your midst, and you claim me now. You’ve sought me out. And to show these others and me, you ask me not once, not twice, but thrice, so that they know, and I know, and so that you know God loves you and takes you back and claims you as His child, in spite of all of our actions that we can point to, or words that we can say we said or not. That’s the beauty.
Now, at the very end of this, what does Jesus say? Kind of ironic. He tells them, “Okay, basically, Peter, you’re going to die. John’s not going to die. Live with that.” And then He says to Peter and to the others, “Follow me.”
Are they hard of hearing? Did they forget the initial call when Jesus said “follow me” at the sea three years prior? Do we need to be reminded daily as well? Well, what is it that we need to be reminded of? What we need to do? Know of what God has done. That’s what we need to be reminded of.
Jesus in this beautiful miraculous thing is showing them, “Look, I tell you what to do, you obey, I will bless it. Throw the net on the right side, there will be fish. You who cannot provide for yourself, I will provide for you. Look at how I provided for you for those three years. Look at how I’m providing for you this morning. I will provide for you no matter what, even to your death. It’s me. Not about you. It’s me. It’s not about you,” is really what Jesus is saying.
We began talking about how and why they went fishing. When you and I are contemplating a change in our life, because God has brought this change into our life, whatever that change may be, we typically reflect upon God some, but where our sinful flesh is always reflected upon our own sinful flesh. And we’re thinking, “Well, what did I do? Why am I going through this? What future do I have? Why is God allowing this? And what does God want us to continually be brought back to?” It’s about me. It’s not about you.
Paul was told, “There are many things you’re going to have to suffer on my sake, but I will never turn my back on you. I will always claim you. I will always provide for you. I will always sustain you.” That is being gracefully carried by the Lord. This entire text is about being gracefully carried by the Lord.
But it’s not just about Peter and the eleven—or ten in this case—being carried gracefully by the Lord. It’s about you. It’s about you being gracefully carried by the Lord in spite of you. It’s about you being claimed as God’s child in spite of you. And it’s about you being given promises to depend upon and continually call upon and let God do His work with you however He wishes to do it, resting resignedly in the grace and mercy of God. That’s being gracefully carried by the Lord.
In the name of the resurrected Lord Jesus, amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
