Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter
Failing, Feeding and Following
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
I spent a lot of time this week thinking about failure, or, to be more specific, about my failures. How over the years I have failed myself, my spouse, my friends and colleagues and my Lord.
Today’s Gospel text from St. John got me thinking about failure. So did a wonderful sermon by Bishop William WiIlimon that I listened to this week.
Let me explain:
It is now two weeks after Easter Sunday, both in our calendar today and, most likely, even in the time of today’s Gospel lesson some 2,000 years ago. The disciples should be celebrating – Jesus has not only risen from the dead, but he has appeared twice in their midst these last two Sunday evenings. Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
But, instead, we have today’s Gospel lesson this 3rd Sunday of Easter, a rather odd message to hear during what should be a joyous Easter season. We are presented, now just two weeks after Easter, we are presented with a gospel lesson that is full of failure.
You would think that Easter should be the joyful victory of God, not a sad defeat. And yet defeat permeates this Sunday’s gospel. Gospel may mean “good news” but this story is full of the bad news of failure.
With this Sunday’s gospel lesson, we come to the very end of the Gospel of John. And failure permeates every aspect of this story.
First, it certainly appears that the disciples are assuming that Jesus’ mission has failed. Their walk with Jesus appears to have ended terribly. So, what do the disciples do, they trudge back to what they were doing before Jesus called them to be his disciples. They return to fishing, and not for people, as Jesus had called them to do, but for fish.
Maybe they just did not know what to do with themselves. After standing by and watching Jesus humiliated and crucified on Good Friday, it must feel like it is over. Back before they arrived in Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday, back then, as the Jesus movement had gained momentum, they had hopes that Jesus was indeed, the anointed one, the Messiah who would redeem Israel.
But, at least on this day, it appears that the disciples feel they have failed. You can just imagine the disciples thinking that, well “you just can’t fight City Hall,” as they say. The people have turned against us. The Romans have all of the arms. There is nothing left for us to do, so let’s go back to what we know: fishing.
And this text is even more odd because John has already just given us accounts of the risen Christ appearing to the disciples when they were behind locked doors. Christ has spoken to them, Christ has appeared to them. And the disciples’ collective response? They have gone back to fishing!
The disciples appear to have walked away from the resurrection. They have been personally been met by the risen Christ and what do they do, well, you know, they go back to fishing.
And, in another failure, as today’s text tells us, their fishing did not go much better for them than their discipleship. This group of disciples have been fishing all night, and what do they have to show for it? Nothing. Their empty nets must have seemed to them like a symbol for just how they felt.
Empty. Failed. Defeated.
Peter, the lead disciple, is among the group. Peter personally embodied their collective failure. Back on Maundy Thursday, Peter had promised to remain steadfast and to stand with Jesus, even when the going got rough. Well, you know how long that lasted. Peter ended up denying Jesus three times and breaking down in tears at the failure of his resolve.
It is interesting to note that when Peter denied Jesus, in the courtyard in the middle of the night, when the woman had questioned him, Peter was not so much denying Jesus as denying that he was Jesus’ disciple. And to be sure, with his repeated denials, he certainly does not act much like Jesus’ disciple.
Fortunately, as today’s Gospel lesson continues, some very good news emerges. Jesus has clearly come to the waterfront and made breakfast to find Peter. Jesus ignores Peter’s past failures and comes to Peter, seeks him out and re-calls him. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Now, Jesus calls Peter three times, calls Peter to love him and then gives Peter the assignment of feeding his beloved sheep. Despite Peter’s past failures, Jesus puts Peter in charge of his flock, asking Peter to attend to, feed, and keep the sheep of Jesus pasture. Jesus puts Peter in charge of his church on earth.
Peter denied Jesus three times back in the dark twilight of that dark Friday. Now, three times Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” And three times Peter answers in the affirmative. Yes! Yes! Yes, I love you!
I do not think Jesus is so much quizzing Peter as repeating his question in order to reassure Peter. When Jesus asks, “Do you love me?” Jesus seems confident that Peter’s answer will be “Yes!” Though Peter has disappointed himself and his Lord and failed at being the perfect disciple, Jesus never doubts Peter’s love for him.
Of course, just because you dearly love Jesus, that does not mean that you will never disappoint yourself or Jesus. Yet the important thing is that Jesus returns to Peter, engages him, and commissions him to lead his church.
Now, we, you and I, really are not that much different than those first disciples. At least I am not that much different. Following Jesus is often not easy. And often I do not follow Jesus very well. And, I fail.
However, there is an important lesson for us in this account of Jesus breakfasting with the disciples on the beach. If we thought Easter and the risen Christ meant that Jesus has thereby erased all discouragement, frustration and failure from the world and from our lives, well we know that is not so. Even after Easter, even after the resurrected Christ comes and stands right in front of us, it is still possible to misunderstand, to fall away, to allow the everydayness of life to overcome our joy at the miracle of Easter.
And yet the good news is that Jesus does not let this be, does not let us be. He comes to us where we are, Jesus seeks us out in the routine of our everyday lives. There Jesus speaks to us, reassures us and once again calls to us, calls us to “Follow me.”
Jesus will not let us walk away from him or his resurrection, shrug our shoulders and go back to our everyday routine. He comes to us. The risen Christ appears. He not only appears to us, but he also calls to us. And, Jesus assigns us his work to do. “Feed my sheep.”
How we will do this will differ for each of us, how we will carry out Jesus’ command to “feed my sheep.” What Jesus expects you and I to do varies for each of us but each of us is here under his invitation, Jesus’ command to “Follow me!”
I hope that in your times of failure, those times when you are not the follower of Jesus you intend to be, in those times when believing in Jesus is difficult for you, or when you are disappointed by the results of your labors, or facing some failure in your own lives, in all of those times, I hope that you will remember this story, this post-Easter story and take heart.
Our failure does not negate God’s love for us in Jesus Christ. It does not negate our continued call to follow Jesus, to live out Jesus’ teaching.
Peter failed miserably in his life as a follower of Jesus, denying Jesus three times in public. And yet, Jesus called Peter to feed his sheep, to lead his church on earth. Out of Peter’s failure came the Church of Jesus Christ.
And the same is true for you and for me.
In the midst of all of our lives, both failures and successes and everything in between, Jesus keeps showing up to us in our lives, Jesus keeps encouraging us, and keeps saying to us, each of us, even when we fail in this life – Jesus keeps saying to us that despite our weaknesses and failure, Jesus’ love for us continues forever. Jesus still has big plans for us and still says to us continually, “Follow me!”
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Dr. William H. Willimon).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, April 4 & 5, 2019
