(Dale Lucas catches a “big one” while at Mission Camp at the
Hope Conference and Renewal Center)
Same-Old, Same-Old? Or Perhaps, Something New
by Bishop Chris Giesler
The scene in our Gospel lesson moves the reader from Jerusalem back to the village of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This is home for a handful of the disciples. Jesus had moved from Nazareth to Capernaum as he began his public ministry. It is here that Jesus called Andrew, Peter, James, and John, asking them to leave their nets, their profession, and their family to join him on this three-year journey that would wind up with Jesus being crucified on a hill outside the walls of Jerusalem. In the 20th chapter of John, the resurrected Jesus does appear to his disciples in the locked room where they are hiding in fear. And now, a handful of them have returned home. What else does one do after a chapter in your life seems to have come to an end? You return to what you know best, so Peter says, “I am going fishing.” And the others join in.
The writer of John’s Gospel goes to great lengths to describe in detail what is going on as this story unfolds. Here, the author notes:
- The time of day is just after daybreak.
- A rather detailed dialog between Jesus and those in the boat
- The boat was just a few hundred yards from the shore
- The fact that after Jesus gave them the command, they cast their net on the right side of the boat.
- The fact that Peter had to get dressed to leave the boat, stating that he was, in fact, naked
- The fire that Jesus had set was from charcoal
- The exact count of fish was 153, and they were large
- The fact that this is now the third time that Jesus is appearing to these men
- The detailed back-and-forth dialog between Jesus and Peter
- The hint about the manner of Peter’s death
Some Bible scholars note that Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” three different times. Is this to give Peter a chance to perhaps atone for denying Jesus three times on the night before the crucifixion? I guess it could be. But I see this chapter as more than a chance for Peter to clean up his mistakes and close this chapter of his life. To me, this is the beginning of the next chapter. Peter’s first impulse after returning home is to go fishing and retake the profession where he has once thrived. But Jesus has something else in mind for Peter – being a shepherd. While Peter wants to go back to an old pattern of life, Jesus is calling him to a new one. Peter was thinking fisherman – Jesus is thinking shepherd.
Jesus asked, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.”
As we sit two weeks out from the glow of Easter morning, is anything new? The pews are undoubtedly a little less full today than two weeks ago. By now, things are settling back into a familiar pattern. Let’s not do that. Is Jesus calling to us from the shore as we toil at our day-to-day work, “Child, have you come up empty again?” Jesus might not be calling you to a new job, but perhaps a new way of looking at life from the perspective of love, mercy, grace, and peace. Something that our world knows little of right now. Where might Jesus be calling you to feed and tend those at the margins, those who are rejected, those who suffer, those who need a word of grace?
