Reading, Sermon and Prayers for the third Sunday of Easter

READING John Ch 21 v 1 – 19

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

SERMON

So how are your spiritual soul’s this morning? ok…. feeling fine? Perhaps not feeling fine? Faith feeling strong or weak? Feeling down?…

Have you ever felt like you let somebody down? It’s not the best feeling in the world is it? Especially when you had said how they could depend on you.

You wouldn’t let them down. But you did. I have just finished reading a book written by Craig Bromfield titled “Be God, Love Brian”. It talks of a boy from Southwick , a depressed area in Sunderland. He meets up with Brian Clough and an unlikely friendship is formed. A friendship in which the boy is taken within the inner circle of Brian Clough’s family. Within the book can be found friendship, love, betrayal, sadness and huge regret. I strongly recommend the book.

To disappoint someone hurts, but to disappoint the One who laid down His life for you, that’s painful, that really hurts.

The disciple Peter’s life was one of ups and downs. After boasting that he would never leave Jesus, Peter watched from a distance as Jesus is led away. Peter followed at a distance, close enough to see Jesus, but not to close to be seen with Jesus.

And as Jesus was being tried in the Kangaroo court of the High Priest, Peter stood outside and chose to warm himself by the fire, and three times he was recognised, three chances he had to make a bold stand for his Lord, and three times he blew it. And when the cock crowed, scripture says, that Peter wept bitterly.

Yet three days later, the woman came with news of the amazing. The tomb is empty, Peter is elated, and Jesus appears to Peter and the others.

I wonder what must have been going through Peter’s mind. Imagine it this way, suppose you witness a crime, and the barrister who just happens to be your good friend, calls on you to give evidence. Your evidence can make or break the case. Yet you are afraid to do so and even though others are counting on you, you refuse to testify due to fear. The barrister manages somehow to win the case and you are glad that the criminal is behind bars. Yet how will the barrister, your good friend view you now. Will he still call you friend, or was your act of cowardice too much?

It is possible to imagine this is how Peter must have felt. He was glad that Jesus was alive, but how would their relationship be? Had Peter gone to far away to return? Perhaps we can put our self in Peter’s place this morning.

We may have at some time gone away from God and now we wonder, can God still love me after all that I’ve done. Is there still a place and purpose for me in His kingdom?

Let us look at the event in this morning’s gospel reading where Jesus appears to the disciples for the third time and confronts Peter with a fireside chat.

There are similarities here between Peter’s first calling to follow Jesus and today’s account. Both occurred on the Sea of Galilee, both times Peter couldn’t catch a thing, both times Jesus told him to throw his nets into the water and both times there is this miraculous catch.

Sometimes when you have fallen, it’s good to go back to where it all began. A return to the starting point once more. And in our gospel reading Jesus is going to offer Peter another starting point, a second chance to make things right.

After sharing a meal together, Jesus turns to Peter. And in full view of all the other disciples, Jesus confronts Peter. Peter was full of doubts concerning where he now stood with his Master. I suspect he feared the day when Christ might say something like, “Peter, why did you deny Me?”

Yet our Lord had too much compassion to push the knife of guilt any deeper into Peter’s heart. Rather, His goal was to remove Peter’s guilt, to perform deep soul-surgery and effectively cut out the ache from Peter’s heart.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” Notice the name change.

Jesus doesn’t refer to Peter as Peter “the Rock”, simply as Simon. The title of Peter no longer apt. A rock is strong and above all dependable, and Peter had been anything but dependable.

“Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” which is a reference to Peter’s boast in the upper room where he stated that even if everybody else fled he never would. Peter had been boastful, and Jesus was asking, “Simon, are still willing to make that claim?”

And Peter wasn’t. He responds by saying, “”Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” No comparisons, no boasting on how his level of commitment was superior to anybody else’s. Peter through his mistake had learned humility and he realized that maybe he wasn’t as strong as he thought he was.

There may well have been times when we have underestimated just how strong our faith is. We probably have all thought at times that if I went through a tragedy, I couldn’t handle it… yet when the time comes you realize that your faith was stronger than you had thought. But at the same time, we often overestimate our strength and our need for others and for the strength of God’s Spirit.

Peter was sure that he would never do what he did. But Peter was overconfident and he soon learned that he wasn’t as strong as he thought, and because of his mistake, Peter was humbled and became honest about his spiritual condition.

And this is most evident in the word exchange between Peter and Jesus. The Greek language is a more exact language than the English language. That’s why often it’s hard to translate certain passages in the Bible. And an example is here.

In Greek, there are three words for our word love. The first is Eros which is a physical love, and is where we get our word erotic from. The second kind of love is known as Phileo; which means brotherly love. We can compare it to the word “like”. The final kind of love is known as Agape love, and this is the unconditional, self-sacrificing love. It means the complete devotion to someone.

Here in the text, Jesus says, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me.” And the word He uses for love there is the word Agape. Well, Peter responded in an honest fashion. He knew that his actions didn’t match that kind of devotion, and that he wasn’t quite there; so Peter responds by saying, “Lord, you know that I love you.” But the word he uses for love there is Phileo. So to paraphrase this text, “Peter, do you love Me 100%, more than anything else?” “Lord, you know I like you.”

Peter was simply being honest. He wasn’t quite at that level of love yet. He was honest and tells the truth, how often are we honest about our spiritual condition? Honesty about the strength and health of our spiritual condition is important, but how often are we truly honest about our condition? Ask a person how they are doing and rarely will you get an honest response.

A woman sits at home while her husband is busy at work. She is surrounded by three screaming children in a house, that even after a full day of cleaning, is still a shambles. Her husband rarely is home, he has his career and she has her home, and though she would never complain about the wonderful family God has blessed them with, she secretly fills unfilled, unmotivated, and unappreciated. When her husband arrives home and says, “Hi Dear, how are you doing?” Her response is…“Fine, just fine.”

A man named Ken sits talking to his friend. He has been passed over for a promotion for the third time, his career has stalled and with the company reorganising, he fears being laid off. Yet when his friend asks, “So, Ken, how are things at work?” Ken responds by saying, “Fine, just fine.”

A Christian arrives to church on Sunday morning. And as he enters the church, he feels that God is a million miles away. He no longer has the urge to pray any longer for God’s word. He has an illness and deep inside he feels as though God has betrayed him. He is mad and at times a stray thought or two has crossed his mind that maybe, just maybe there is no God. Yet on Sunday morning, when the preacher asks the question, “How is it with your soul this morning?” the man replies, “…Fine…just fine.”

Let me share something with you my brothers and sisters…, I am the King of I’m fine. Unless you really get to know me, my stock answer is I’m fine! But beware of the face of a clown who is always happy and fine but are they really fine? And using a verse from a poem entitled Tears of a Clown; “Now if there’s a smile on my face, Don’t let my glad expression give you the wrong impression. Don’t let this smile I wear make you think that I don’t care”.

So how is it with your soul this morning? Is it “fine”? Don’t pretend your relationship with Christ is fine if it’s not. And it’s okay to admit that. And here within church, this is the place to say that.

The church is not just a place of ‘fine… just fine’ people; it’s a place of hurting people in need of grace and assistance. And we come together to help each other grow in the faith and grow closer to God, but we need to admit that we need that help.

So no matter how bad our past may be, Jesus stands not only ready to forgive, but also to restore. He can restore us and use us for His glory and for great things for His kingdom.

And that if we are going to be restored then we must be honest about our spiritual condition. Some of us here today may not be “fine” in their faith. We may lack at times a commitment to Jesus and to His Church. So the first thing we need to do is to admit that. Admit that our relationship with Christ is not what it should be and then allow Christ and His church to bring us to the point where we need to be.

And let us recognize that when we are honest with God, be prepared for God to be honest with us. God is not a fool. And if we come to God saying, “I just don’t feel close to You,” be prepared to hear, “Well, I haven’t heard from you in a while. I’ve been here, where have you been?” God will strike directly at the root of the problem and that is not always an easy thing for us to take.

So finally let me ask you this morning, ‘how is it with your soul? Honestly. How are you doing? If you are not fine, whether it be spiritually, physically, or even emotionally, pray for your situation and let God meet you there.

Allelua, Christ is Risen….. He is risen indeed. Amen

PRAYERS

Let us pray to the Lord, by whose grace we are led in the paths of righteousness.

Strengthen your Church in the desire for true fellowship. Make us one in heart and mind, so that we may share the riches of your grace with all.