“Love Wins”
John 21:1-19
Let’s go back three years before our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
Jesus had gone out and selected 12 men.
They were your average everyday kind of guys...and Jesus found them doing your average everyday kind of things...
...and when Jesus found them He said to them “Follow me,” and they dropped their nets...
…or tax booths or whatever…
...they dropped everything they were doing...
...they left everything they had loved...
...everything that was familiar to them...
...and they did it...
...they followed Jesus!
And in following Jesus, they saw some very amazing stuff.
They met a lot of interesting people.
And they began to notice that their priorities had begun to change in some of the most radical of ways.
The things that used to seem important to them...
...well, those things weren’t quite so important anymore.
Instead, what was becoming most important was listening to Jesus teach, helping Jesus minister to the masses, following Jesus wherever the Spirit led.
And as time went by they became more and more convinced that Jesus was exactly who He said He was: The Son of God. The Messiah.
They might not have understood exactly what that meant and what dimensions that would take, but they came to believe it more than anything else in the whole world.
And throughout the Gospels we are shown Peter who assumes that Jesus needs the perfect, the best, the smartest, bravest, and larger than life super-disciple!
And so, he works hard to make himself that.
Peter is the one who asks the BIG questions, makes confident declarations and brash decisions…
…and even tries to protect Jesus with a sword.
Like Peter, have you ever tried to put on your best show for Jesus—the bravado, the promises, the right answers, the brave face?
Eventually, though, the truth comes out, doesn’t it?
Crumbling under pressure, Peter lies to protect himself.
Far from being perfect, Peter is overcome by fear and it leads him to a place he never wanted to go—never dreamed he would go.
In John Chapter 13, when Jesus is telling the disciples about His upcoming death, He says to them, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
To which Peter asks Him, “Lord why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
“Then Jesus answered, ‘Will you really lay down your life for me?
Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
Peter never would have believed it...if only, if only it hadn’t come true.
Peter had failed Jesus.
And so, Peter is buried in shame, embarrassed that he isn’t who he wants to be, or who he thinks others want him to be.
And this becomes a kind of tomb for Peter.
He had failed…and everyone knew it—especially Jesus…
…how could he go on?
He had proved himself to be a sham.
So, when we meet Peter at the beginning of our Gospel Lesson for this morning…
…even though Jesus has already appeared to the disciples…and thus to Peter twice…
…Peter is a broken, crushed man.
Nothing mattered anymore.
Life had lost its luster.
Have you ever found yourself feeling this way?
Have you ever failed the Lord so miserably that you thought He could never, never ever forgive you?...
…and even though people have told you over and over again…that Jesus forgives you…
…you still cannot forgive yourself?
Is there anyone here this morning who has disqualified themselves from the race due to some indiscretion?
Do you ever feel as if you simply have too much baggage to follow Jesus?
Do you ever feel, that, you are somehow…just not good enough to make it?
I have a feeling that this is how Peter felt on the morning of our Gospel lesson when he had decided to go back to doing the same thing he had left behind three years earlier.
I think Peter felt so lost and confused that he fell back into his old way of doing things…fishing for fish.
Peter was really feeling low, for that is always how it is when, after having experienced LIFE...Real and radical and transforming LIFE through following Jesus...we return to what had kept our interest, our attention, and our love a long time ago…
…in another life…
…before we met Christ...
…for once we become new creations in Christ all things do become new, and we never truly love the old life, the old ways again!!!
We will never be happy that way or at peace.
But you know, we may sometimes fail Jesus but Jesus never fails us!
Jesus never gives up on us no matter what!
For LOVE...Pure and undefiled, unconditional LOVE never gives up!
“Love never fails,” as Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13.
And that is what Jesus IS—LOVE made flesh.
So, even though Peter and the disciples are out in the boat fishing, and not having a very successful time of it Jesus is watching them from the shore.
Even though they had returned to their old ways...Jesus had not left them.
And as Jesus always does...He calls out to them.
And as is so often the case for us, the disciples did not realize it was Jesus.
I wonder how many times Jesus calls out to us, and we do not even know it is the Risen Christ!
Jesus called out to the disciples who were in the boat: “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,’ they answered.”
It is notable that in the Bible, the disciples--professional fishermen please remember--who probably could have had their own fishing show had it been the 21st Century, never catch a single fish without Jesus!
Not a perch.
Not a minnow.
Not a guppy!
And now they are back, reclaiming what they had left behind...until, until Jesus shows up and turns life on its ear again!!!
And this time the Risen Christ is cooking breakfast!!!
He is providing them with a meal.
When Peter and the disciples had finished eating, while the fire continued to glow Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
…more than your nets
…more than your fear and doubt…
…more than your broken ego…
…more than your old ways of doing things?”
“Simon, son of John, do you truly love me?” Jesus asked him three times.
“you know...” Peter says; and again he says, “you know.”
And then in a kind of desperation Peter says: “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
And with these words the light switch flicks on and Peter realizes just how much he really does love the Lord…despite his own failures…despite it all.
And if Peter, a mere human…
…a failure…
…can love the Lord with all his heart…
…well, don’t you suppose it becomes a bit easier for him to believe that the God Who IS Love…
…Loves him even more than that…
…and forgives him…
…really, really forgives him?
Peter is reconciled to God when he realizes just how much God loves him and just how much he loves God.
And isn’t this the way it is for all of us?
Do you know how much God loves you?
Do you know that no matter what you have done, God can and will forgive you?
And if you are willing to accept that forgiveness for yourself, you will be set free to live…to really, really live!!!
The administrator of the largest psychiatric hospital in London once said:
“If the people here only knew what it means to be forgiven I could dismiss half of them at once.”
You know, Jesus knew everything about Peter—everything was laid open for all to see.
Peter was not a super disciple.
He was not perfect.
He was just a person, a faulty, imperfect person like everyone else.
And that is a humbling experience.
In his book “New Seeds of Contemplation,” Thomas Merton said that “humility consists in being precisely the person you actually are before God.”
And he goes on to say that this kind of humility is what makes a saint.
It’s being the person we actually are—not hiding behind the pretty painted picture of who we pretend to be, and not buried in the tomb of shame of who we are not—but honest, free, failures and gifts and all, right here in the open.
And I think this is why this is a perfect time for Jesus to invite Peter---yet again—to join Him in His work, the work of the Good Shepherd in this moment.
It is not the bravado Peter that Jesus is asking to do this work.
Nor is it the bravado Peter who is responding.
That Peter would have been a terrible shepherd.
No one clamoring to be the best, bravest, most admired volunteers to feed sheep.
But this Peter—this real, humble, loved, forgiven, joyful Peter—he will make and excellent shepherd.
Do you feel comfortable being yourself—naked and laid bare before Jesus—and loved all the same?
Jesus says to Peter and to us….
“Go ahead and throw all that old baggage off the train!
You love Me, and I know it.
You are forgiven.
Start acting like it.
Get over it and on with it.
Feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep.
It’s hard work.
It will take all your efforts for the rest of your lives.
You are really going to go through it.
The world might even hate you because of it.
You may die for the cause of it, but you love me and you can’t just fish for fish any more.
I have made all things new!”
“Follow me!”
My friends, along with Peter and all who have gone ahead of us--God has called US—you and me--to be a part of the greatest journey imaginable!!!
May we never take it for granted, nor pass up the opportunity to be part of God’s BIG Plan for you, for me, for Red Bank United Methodist Church…
…and for all those men, women and children who surround this place of worship who do not yet know what it means to be loved and to be forgiven no matter they are, what they have done, no matter what!!!
Following Christ is total commitment!!!
And there will be times we will fail.
But you know what?
Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker.
Failure is a delay, not a defeat.
In Jesus’ eyes, our failure is a temporary detour, not a dead-end street!!!
David, Israel’s greatest king, “a man after God’s own heart,” failed.
Moses, the giant among the Israelites, giver of the Law, deliverer of the people, failed.
Jacob, the father of Israel, failed;
Isaac, the son of promise, failed.
Abraham, the patriarch of Israel, father of the faithful, prototype of those who are called righteous through faith, failed.
Even our first parents…Adam and Eve, in their human perfection, failed.
The apostle Paul failed; Peter failed; every one of the twelve apostles failed.
Who hasn’t failed?…
…other than Jesus?
But do we love Him?
Will we follow Him despite ourselves?
Do we believe He can accomplish some pretty amazing things…even through the lives of you and me?
Look what Peter ended up doing!
Read the Book of Acts, and see how God used a miserable failure like Simon Peter to change the world!!!
We have all failed many times.
Although you may not remember, you fell down the first time you tried to walk.
You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim.
And did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat?
Probably not.
But the heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs, also strike out a lot.
So, follow Jesus.
Fish for people.
Serve through the Food Pantry.
Welcome the 90 Preschool families who bring their children to this building 5 days a week.
Come to Wednesdays in the Park and meet our neighbors.
…and invite them to Red Bank United Methodist Church where you will take part in loving them, feeding them, taking care of them…
…for there is no greater calling in all the world!
And some fine day in the future, when we all get to heaven, there will be a corner of that expansive place where all the nations of the world are gathered—believers of every race and situation, believers who have suffered and laughed, and especially believers who have failed Christ, denied Christ, deserted Christ at some point in time, which, in truth, is all of us.
It will be a virtual sinner’s reunion.
We’ll be there together; staying at that mansion that somehow accommodates everybody.
Some of us will be gathered on the porch at first light, sipping coffee.
And others will be squinting toward something…Someone.
For there will be a man in the distance grilling fish over a fire.
He’s wearing a chef’s cap.
And He is waving and calling: “Come. Come and have breakfast.”
When that happens no one will have to tell us.
We’ll just know.
We’ll know it is the Lord!
And what a day of rejoicing that will be!!!
Amen.
