Third Sunday of Easter C

The Third Sunday of Easter C

Transcribed from a sermon given on

April 18, 2010 at

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

By the Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

Hallelujah – Christ is risen!

Congregation:  The Lord is risen indeed!  Hallelujah!

Please be seated.  I can’t say that enough; I just love having a chance to say that during Easter season.  It’s been two weeks now since Easter – since we celebrated the Resurrection – and the readings today look at what it’s like to live as people of the Resurrection.  What is our relationship with Christ now that he’s been raised from the dead? 

The gospel reading from John is the last story in the Gospel of John.  In fact, it’s sort of a postlude, because in John’s Gospel, right before this he explains why he wrote the book and summarizes it. Then this is tacked on at the end.  Some scholars think that it was probably added by John’s followers or that it was something he wrote at another time which was added. 

But it is clearly written by the same author as the writer of John’s Gospel. It uses the same language as the Gospel. And has the detail that you might find from someone who was there at the time it happened – from an eyewitness.  Details like 153 fish, or that Peter put on his clothes.  This feels like something that actually happened. 

Let’s think about what the setting is for this.  A couple of weeks ago – we don’t know exactly how long; a week, two weeks – we’re not sure exactly how long – the disciples had been with Jesus, and there had been the triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  The one who they’d been following was seen as the Messiah there was cheering and great celebration. 

And then they had that last poignant dinner with Jesus. During dinner Jesus looked at Peter and said, “You will betray me three times.”  To which Peter, being the person he is consistently in the gospels, said, “No, not me!”  And yet later that night, when Jesus was arrested and was being tried, three times people came up to Peter and said, “You were part of that crowd, weren’t you?”  He said, “No, I don’t even know the guy.”  And then the cock crowed and Peter realized what he had done.  Imagine how you would feel if you had a friend that you also felt was the most wonderful person that had ever lived; that you saw as being a great teacher; that you were their right-hand man; and then you denied you even knew him.  It must have been terrible for Peter. 

Even when Jesus appeared to the disciples and showed up in the upper room, and they saw that he was alive, that he wasn’t dead, but that he was alive again, there must have been a part of Peter that wondered, “How do I relate to him now, after what I’ve done?  Will he still love me?  Will he still want to be in relationship with me?  What do I say?”  Well, some time has passed, a little bit of time has passed, and they’ve gone from Jerusalem up to Galilee.  The Sea of Tiberius is the Roman name for the Sea of Galilee, and that’s where, before this whole thing started, Peter and John and James and probably some of the other disciples were fishermen.  They basically had gone home, and they didn’t know what to do. 

If any of you have ever had an experience where you’ve had a real peak experience – maybe you went to Cursillo or some other type of retreat, or you were reading a book, or something happened at church that you had some kind of peak experience where you knew God in a whole new way.  And then the next day it’s like, “Okay.  Now what do I do?  Well, I guess I get up and I go to work.  I don’t know what else to do.”  So Peter, not knowing what to do, says, “Let’s go fishing.”  He wasn’t saying, “Let’s go fishing,” like “Let’s take a day off.”  He was saying, “Let’s go back to work.  Let’s go back to the office.”  And sure enough, the others say, “Sure, we’ll go fishing with you.” 

They go out, and all night long they’re fishing and they don’t catch a single fish.  A frustrating time.  Sometimes it feels like that after you’ve had a profound experience of God - you go back to work and it feels kind of empty, like nothing is working quite right.  Or maybe if you’re at a time when you’ve kind of walked away from God and nothing works quite right in your life.  It’s all sort of empty.  Going through the paces – like fishing all night but not catching anything. 

Maybe while he’s having this frustrating experience of not catching any fish, he might be remembering an earlier time - another day when he was fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything.  The day in which Jesus came to him and said, “Put the net out on the other side.”  Then, in the early dawn they make out a figure on the coast, on the beach, on the shoreline.  They can’t tell who it is because there’s not enough light yet.  Then the voice comes, “Children,” which is an interesting way for a stranger to greet you.  “Children, you haven’t caught any fish, have you?”  You can almost hear the humor and the laughter, like, “You’re trying to catch fish without me?” Right?  “You haven’t caught anything, have you?  Throw it in on the starboard side.” 

And they did that, and they got a huge catch – so much they couldn’t even pull it into the boat.  And the disciple that Jesus loved, it clicked for him.  This happened before – that’s got to be Jesus!  Nobody else could do that.  When the disciple Jesus loved says that, Peter goes, “Wow, yeah – it’s Jesus!”  He’s always the one who’s most impetuous so he jumps in and swims over to the shore. 

Now it is a really odd thing for us to think that you’re in a boat and you put on your clothes before jumping into the water.  But this is different.  He was naked; they were working naked.  This is Israel, it was dark, it was hot, they’re messy, so they take their clothes off.  It would be kind of like a group of guys gathered at one of their friends’ house, and they’re putting in a new patio.  And it’s a hot day, and it’s hot, sticky, messy work, and they’ve been drinking a few beers.  They all have taken off their shirts, because - you know – they’re all sweaty. Their shirts are off, and they’re putting down the patio, and all of a sudden the wife says, “Hi, honey.  Your boss just showed up at the front door.”  Well, you know as the guy is running into the house he’s going to grab his shirt and put his shirt on because he doesn’t want to greet his boss shirtless, hot, and sweaty.  That’s what Peter was doing.  He wasn’t about to greet his teacher, his Lord, naked. 

And of course he wasn’t putting on a suit jacket that would be destroyed by the water.  It was all natural fiber, used to being in the water, no big deal.  He’s a fisherman.  So he swims up, and the others pull the boat in.  What he discovers is Jesus has already got a fire going.  He’s already got some fish frying.  He already has some bread baking.  He’s prepared breakfast for them.  Where did he get the fish?  It doesn’t say.  He wants to have a meal with them.  And it probably reminds them of the time when Jesus took a couple of loaves and a few fish and fed 5,000 people.  So they’re going to have a meal together – they’re going to have breakfast together, and Jesus is abundantly providing. 

But it’s interesting – Jesus also says, “Go get a couple of the fish you caught.”  This is going to be a potluck.  The disciples are able to add something as well.  Then they see what a magnificent catch they have, and they share, and they sit, and they eat.  It must have been wonderful for the disciples to have that kind of informal friendship again that they had shared with Jesus during his ministry, to just be with him, and just be in his presence.  To eat with him; to share the bread.  But Peter was probably still feeling bad inside.  He was probably still carrying some guilt.

So Jesus took him aside and said, “Peter, do you love me?”  He says, “Of course I love you.”  “Then feed the babies – take care of the little ones.  Peter, do you really love me?”  “Yes, Lord, of course I love you.”  “Well, then, feed the sheep.  Take care of the older ones.  Peter, do you love me?”  And Peter, he’s getting frustrated being asked a third time,  “Of course I love you.  You know everything.”  “Feed my lambs.  Take care of people.”  And this – this is how Jesus provided reconciliation for Peter.  This is how Jesus let Peter know that he was forgiven and still in relationship and still valued by Christ. The he still wanted him to do the ministry. 

Notice the forgiveness was not, “Okay, Peter, grovel – you really blew it.  I’ll forgive you.”  It was a mercy that was overflowing.  It was a mercy that was expressed in a way so that Peter could feel whole again, and feel in right relationship again.  It was an extraordinary expression of Christ’s love and mercy.  And then he said the same thing he’d said to Peter those years before on the seaside: “Follow me.” 

The other readings today have other expressions of God’s extraordinary mercy and grace.  In that first reading is about Saul, the person who becomes Paul and writes most of the letters that are in the Bible.  He establishes many churches becomes probably the most effective evangelist ever. 

But before that, he had been persecuting the Christians.  He was on his way to arrest people and bind them and bring them back to Jerusalem to stand trial.  You can’t do much worse than that in terms of the church.  He was persecuting Christians.  And Jesus appeared to him – not in fury, not in anger, but in love.  He just asked him a question: “Why are you doing this to me?”  What grace – what amazing mercy and grace that Christ offered Paul the opportunity to change! 

In the Psalm we read today, the psalmist had obviously had a close relationship with God, and then something had happened to it.  Maybe he did some kind of sin; maybe he pulled away.  But in some way, his heart got separated from God.  And then there was forgiveness and reconciliation, and he sings a song of praise for that – for that healing, merciful grace. 

In the reading from the book of Revelation we hear about what happens in heaven.  In heaven, what we get to do is sing.  Now I know for the choir and maybe some of you here, think of the best time you’ve ever had singing.  Maybe you were singing a hymn that just knocked your socks off.  Or maybe it was some contemporary music playing on the radio; Christian music you were singing along with.  Or during the Easter service, where you’re just belting out and you just don’t care whether anybody else is singing. Or maybe nobody’s around, you are just praising God, and you feel this sense of worship and praise and joy just welling up inside of you and being expressed. 

Imagine the best possible moment of expressing your love for God, and doing that for eternity.  That’s the vision of heaven.  So that’s the nature of our relationship after Easter, a knowledge of and expression of thanks for this incredible mercy and love of Christ. 

In just a couple minutes we are going to be baptizing Olivia Ann, and there’ll be a new member of the body of Christ.  One of the things we’ll do at that baptism is I will put oil on her, and I will say, “You are sealed as Christ’s own forever.”  That means she will have a relationship with Christ forever.  She will be surrounded by that love and mercy of Christ forever. 

When she’s learning to walk, Christ will be there every time she falls down.  When she’s learning to talk, Christ will celebrate.  When she gets to be a teenager and she starts to question whether God exists or not, Christ will be right there. And when she gets to a point in her life where, like all of us, she will do or say things that hurt other people or hurt herself, Christ will be there also, forgiving, holding her in his mercy and love.  If she walks away from Christ and wants to pretend that there’s nothing there – if she ends up being an antagonist to the church and is like Saul, and critiquing the church, Christ will be there with her.  Whenever she opens her eyes and welcomes Christ into her life, he will hold her in his arms and welcome her home.  He will be there with her in the good times and bad.  He will hear all her cries and all her joy. His mercy and his love will surround her.  And even when it comes time for her to die, Christ’s love and mercy will be there to hold her and bring her to heaven, where she can join in that wonderful chorus of angels.  And so, Olivia, you have a wonderful future ahead. 

Of course all of us have that love and mercy of Christ surrounding us, and that’s what the Resurrection is all about.  The Resurrection is not about an empty tomb.  The Resurrection is not solely about the fact that some people long ago saw Christ alive.  The Resurrection is the fact that we know Christ is with us, resurrected, present right now in our own lives.