A Breakfast To Remember
John 21:1-19
by Jim Westmoreland
When Jesus first called his disciples they were fishing. In the gospel of Mark he said, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." "And immediately they left their nets and followed him." But, apparently, they didn't leave their livelihood of fishing for very long since we now find them back in the Sea of Galilee, fishing as they had in the past.
Jesus appears to the disciples on the shore but they did not recognize him. This happens after the resurrection. The disciples had been with Jesus for about three years. They witnessed his crucifixion and they were aware of his resurrection. They had been through many things together, listening to him teach, seeing him heal people and how he responded to the Jewish leaders as they came with their questions and accusations. So, now we find them doing what they were doing when He first appeared to them, fishing.
It's like nothing ever happened. Had they given up already? The Easter event is over and the disciples were confused and burned out. All they knew to do was return to fishing. It is no different for us. We have observed Lent in preparation for Easter. We celebrated Easter and Jesus' resurrection, but now Easter has passed, and it seems there is a let down. All of a sudden, it is as though nothing as changed, and we return to business as usual. Why? We continue our work to make a living, tend to our chores and survive in a complex world.(1)
It is difficult to experience the presence of Jesus when we are overwhelmed with the frustrations of life. The campus murders at Virginia Tech have consumed us, the suicide bombs in Iraq and there always seems to be a local murder just happening or coming to trial. We shake our heads and, sometimes, our faith feels shaken, and we wonder where God is. We search, we complain, we even weep. We long for answers and we hope for miracles.
When life becomes overwhelming it is always good to take a break. Fresh insights, new surroundings and exposure to new circumstances and new people can help us out of a slump. For the disciples fishing seemed like a worthy escape. But, their fishing expedition is not going well. They haven't caught anything. Then, a stranger calls to them through the dimness of pre-dawn light and tells them "to cast their net on the other side of the boat." It was Jesus, but they didn't recognize him. They did and the result was huge. Looking back, it seems so easy. It all makes sense, but, in the moment, how do we obey a strange voice that tells us to do something we don't want to do?
Now, skip to the end of our text for this morning and you have Jesus asking Peter three times, "Do you love me?" telling Peter three times to "Feed my sheep." It is an agonizingly awkward conversation between Jesus and Peter. We can imagine it as the questions of an insecure or offended girl friend, boy friend, husband or wife who is looking for assurance and asking, Do you love me?
Here, Jesus is face to face with Peter, who had insisted that he would never deny Jesus, but who did deny Jesus three times during the trial and the hours leading up to Jesus' crucifixion. It was a time when Peter's whole world was collapsing, and he was falling apart under the outward stress and his own inner conflicts.
Between this story of the disciples recognizing who Jesus was as they came back with their full catch of fish and Jesus' deep conversation with Peter was a breakfast. For Peter, it would be a breakfast to remember.
While still out in the boat John was the first one to realize who Jesus was. And when he told Peter, "It's the Lord!" Peter dove in and swam to shore to be with Jesus. "When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread."
And it was there, at a charcoal fire, the same kind of fire over which Peter had denied Christ three times; it was with grilled fish and bread, that Peter experienced forgiveness.
After breakfast, Peter and Jesus are talking and Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?" Not once but three times. "Do you love me?"
Three times, Peter answers, "Lord, you know I love you." The third time he's asked, Peter is hurt that Jesus keeps asking the same question, as if there were ever any doubt. Maybe the breeze shifted a bit and Peter got a good whiff of the charcoal fire, and his mind shifted to that other charcoal fire, the charcoal fire of denial. Then, he realized what Jesus was doing. Three denials, three questions, "Do you love me?" Three opportunities to receive and experience forgiveness.
And the resurrection is what made that forgiveness possible. Because of the cross and the empty tomb, Jesus was able to offer and give Peter forgiveness, thus insuring Peter's own resurrection of faith and service.(2)
At a breakfast that was so simple and common, something very powerful and profound was happening in Peter's heart. Can you imagine the load of guilt he had carried around with him? Especially after that bold boast that he would lay down his life for Jesus. I can't imagine carrying that load. It trapped and entombed him. But like Lazarus being called forth from the tomb, Peter is called forth from his tomb of guilt into a new resurrected life of faith with a simple question: "Do You Love Me?" accompanied by a side order of Bread and Fish. Something special and life-changing had occurred! That awful conversation by a charcoal fire and breakfast had become a breakfast to remember. For Peter, Jesus' forgiveness empowered his life and faith until he eventually died for his faith in Christ.
One of the ways that we show the world that Jesus has risen from the grave and lives within us is how we live as one who has been forgiven and who knows how to demonstrate forgiveness in the most painful and vulnerable parts of our lives.
If you ever tour Washington, D.C., be sure and go to all the traditional sites like the White House, the Smithsonian, and the halls of Congress, but don't miss the Lincoln Memorial. There is something about standing in the Lincoln Memorial and reading the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address which gives you goose bumps. One line in the Second Inaugural reminds you what a caring and compassionate man Lincoln was. He was speaking about the coming end of the War and he said: "With malice toward none; with charity for all."
Lincoln put this idea into practice on the day that news arrived in Washington that the war was over. A crowd gathered at the White House and a military band was playing some festive music. Lincoln stood on the balcony of the White House and spoke. Instead of lashing out against the South, he spoke of the horrors of war. He spoke of families getting back together. He spoke of a time of peace. Then he said, "In a few moments I want the band to play and I'm going to tell them what I want them to play." Of course, the band started getting the "Battle Hymn of The Republic" ready to play. This had been the theme song of the North throughout the Civil War. But Lincoln crossed them up. He stood there and said: "The band will now play the theme song of the people we have called our enemy. They are not our enemies any more! We are one people again. I want the band to play 'Dixie.'"
Historians say there was a long, awkward pause…(3)
When Jesus asks us, "Do you love me?" What do we need to remember in terms of our own shortcomings and failures? And when Jesus affirms us and our worth by giving us a ministry to do when he says, "Feed my sheep," will we step up and do it or will we politely refuse? To live in the power of the resurrection, we need our own breakfast to remember with Jesus. Amen.
Century Christian Church, April 22, 2007 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. Dr. Keith Wagner, "The Big One that Got Away," St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio.
2. Rev. Billy Strayhorn, "Fresh Grilled Forgiveness," First UMC in Joshua, Texas.
3. Illustration from esermon.com for April 22, 2007.