Feeding Fish and Sheep

            The week before I graduated from seminary, I preached my last sermon at my field work parish.  The text for the day was the story of the disciples fishing in the Sea of Galilee and Jesus greeting them from the shore.  I talked about how this was all about the forgiveness of Peter for denying Jesus three times.  Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him and Peter answered that he did, with increasing irritation because Jesus asked him so many times.  I built the story to its climax and then with great drama gave them the last line:  Feed my FISH! 

            What a wonderful joke and probably the most colossal sermon failure that I had ever seen or experienced.  There were at first small titters from one side of the congregation, and then the whole place erupted in laughter. I was horrified and had no way at all to save the moment except to laugh along with them, the point of the sermon irretrievable lost in the comedy of the moment. 

            I have always loved that gospel story because it reminds me of that terrible moment and gives me some humility if I ever begin to believe that I am a great preacher.  The story of the sermon is priceless in its humor and I have treasured it as an insight into my own vulnerability.

            That isn’t a bad thing to keep in mind as I continue to preach.  The Lord is always out there ready to remind me who it is who is ultimately in charge, and it isn’t me.  Over the years, I have come to see that Gospel lesson in a slightly different light.

            After the resurrection, the disciples hung around Jerusalem for a few days, then went to Galilee where Jesus had told them to go to wait for him.  Peter, always the active one, suggested that they all go fishing – go back to what they had been doing before they had been called by Jesus into the incredible ministry that they had all followed for three years.  Pentecost had not yet happened,  the Spirit had not descended on them, so they were without work and needed to be doing something, so seven of them went out on the Sea of Galilee to fish.  They had no luck at all, their nets constantly coming up empty. 

            This is when Jesus appeared on the shore and directed them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat.  After they recognized Jesus, they came ashore where their Lord had prepared a breakfast for all of them.  This is when Jesus began the conversation with Peter that is so important to this story:  Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Jesus asked.   Peter said to him, Lord you know that I love you.  Jesus said to him, feed my lambs!  A second time, Jesus said to him:  Simon, son of John, do you love me?  Peter said to him again, Lord, you know that I love you! Jesus said, tend my sheep!  Then a third time Jesus asked Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me?  Peter was hurt because Jesus had asked him a third time, and he said to him, Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you! Then Jesus said to Peter, feed my sheep!

            The three times that Jesus asked were of course times of forgiveness because Peter had denied him three times, but there was a larger reason for all of this.  These men were without purpose, had no direction.  Jesus was there to send them on their way to be the disciples that he had taught them to be.  Feed my Sheep is a direction.  It is what Jesus had in mind for all of them for the rest of their lives, and it is what they did. 

            It didn’t end happily for any of them.  They were in danger constantly, lived underground, fought the Romans and the Jews who opposed them and each of them except for John, died a death that could have been predicted.   But the Gospel was preached.  The resurrection of Jesus was proclaimed and Jesus’ sheep were fed with the love that was such a total part of His being from his birth. 

            That love still feeds us today and sends all of us into this world to feed the sheep who are without food and sometimes even hope.  That is why we are here as a church in this community.  We are here to be the people of hope for the hopeless and food for the hungry.  And like Peter, we are all forgiven for those terrible things that we have done that have failed our Lord.  God bless us, each of us, as we do what we can to make this story known.