Nourishing Faith – John 21:1-19

In the Gospel of Luke there is the poignant story of Peter and his reaction to the fact that he had denied his Lord three times just as Jesus had predicted.  Peter looks at Jesus and is overcome with emotion.

Now this story is not recounted by John in his telling of the gospel account but I believe that this event was quite well known and no doubt was still uppermost in Peter’s mind when he met Jesus on the beach following the resurrection. Certainly the resurrection of Jesus is a wonderful cause for celebration and to share a meal with Jesus was important to Peter but inside there are probably still feelings of anguish and grief.  Reflecting on that time before the crucifixion of Jesus, Peter came to realize how weak he truly was and how unprepared he was to really follow Jesus. And as the events of that last day played themselves out, Peter was no doubt racked by great swings of emotion as he would have chastised himself for his weakness and yet struggled to imagine how he would have responded differently.

True enough, he had remained with the others after the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. He had even run to the tomb to check out the story of the women who had told them that Jesus was raised from the dead.  But there still seemed to be a nagging doubt within him as to his suitability to even consider carrying on the mission of Jesus.  Even the gift of the Holy Spirit has not convinced him that he could still be a leader in the coming days – a rock on which the church could be built. How could a coward like him be worthy of being one of God’s ambassadors for the coming kingdom and the return of God in Christ?

But when Jesus appeared to the disciples while they were fishing, it was Peter who could not wait for the boat to reach land but jumped out and waded into the shore.

After they have all shared a meal, Jesus asks Peter a question: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”   Peter cannot say whether his love for Jesus is any greater than the other disciples. His answer is simple: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

A second time Jesus asks the question but this time he drops the end of the question and just asks if Peter loves him. The answer is the same: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  When Jesus asks the question again, Peter declares not only that the Lord knows that he loves him but that he knows this because he knows everything.

But through this trinity of questions, Jesus is affirming what he knows to be true about the heart of Peter.  Through this questioning as to whether Peter loves him, Jesus is encouraging Peter to acknowledge and accept that despite everything that has happened, that Jesus knows that Peter still loves him and even more importantly that Jesus loves and trusts Peter.

Jesus affirms to Peter that he still has a place in Jesus’ plans.  He wants Peter to feed the lambs, tend the sheep; feed the sheep.

As I mentioned earlier, Peter is often spoken of as the one who is the Rock, the one upon whom Jesus founded the church; but while one branch of the church adopted Peter in the physical sense, there is far more to make of Peter as the Rock in a spiritual sense. Peter is the closest example that we have to a disciple of Jesus who revealed his full humanity.  Peter is the one who deeply loves, who acts impetuously, who makes mistakes, who comes out with profound statements, who makes bold assertions.  He encompasses all of our human emotions and many of our human reactions to the divine.  He is anything but meek and mild and yet he can be that too.

Here Peter is being asked by Jesus not to found an organization with its own rules and procedures. Jesus is asking him to be a shepherd to those who will put their faith in God and who will seek to follow the will of God for their lives. As John described Jesus as the Good Shepherd, so Jesus calls on Peter to be a shepherd like him.  He asks Peter to take the role of Protector, Nurturer, Sustainer of the sheep and lambs.  Peter is to be a teacher and a guide. He is to love the lambs and sheep as much as he loves Jesus.  Certainly there will be a need for discipline but the discipline is to be exercised in love.

In the Acts of the Apostles we often read of Peter taking this responsibility seriously.  We learn of his struggles when he is challenged to know how to accept people who were not born in the Jewish tradition of faith in God. He struggles to reconcile how God can reach out to people well beyond what he understood from history. The result is that he learns to grow in his understanding of God but also learns more of what it means to feed the lambs and tend the sheep.

For so many people today, the church has become an institution that is full of rules and rituals. But as it has been shaped by its traditions and trappings, it has also become compartmentalized.  The emphasis on buildings and structures and procedures has led too often to losing    the heart of the faith and make it no more than window dressing.

And that is precisely what Jesus was trying not to do when he spoke to Peter. He did not want Peter to focus on building an institution but building up people. He wanted Peter to focus his time and attention on giving to people what they needed to live their lives in such a way that they felt nourished and filled.  This didn’t mean that Peter would always do or say what the people wanted to hear but it meant that he would be seeking to guide them in their lives so that their faith in God could be strengthened.  He was to encourage them to read the Word of God and learn the lessons Jesus taught that they might discover for themselves the true meaning of life.  He was to encourage them to seek for God in every moment of their lives.  He was to encourage them to be mindful of one another and conscious of their need to support one another.  And when they were following a path that could potentially harm them, he was to intervene and guide them on the right path.

I have said before that more than 90% of our lives are lived outside of the place where we gather as a community of faith. It was the rare occasions that people heard Jesus in the temple or synagogue teaching. Life lessons were shared where people were and when they needed to hear them because nourishing faith is not a once-a-week thing. It is a daily thing, even an hourly thing.  The story of who we are is not simply what we say or do inside these walls as a community of faith. The story of who we are is what we say and do outside of these walls.  If our faith is to be an active part of our daily living, we need to think of nourishing our faith every day.

No one feeds a lamb one day a week; no one would think of seeing if a lamb is safe one day a week.   Feeding and caring for sheep and lambs is a daily task.  And so is our faith.

Peter was called by Jesus not to found an organization but to nurture an organism.  He was called by Jesus not to be a rule maker but a nurturer and a guide.  In this time it is critical for us as communities of faith to recognize that the most important role we can have with each other is not that of gatekeeper but of shepherd.  I encourage each one of us to nourish our faith in God and to be an encouragement to one another as we live our lives seeking the will of God wherever we go.

AMEN