Simon, Do You Love Me?

 John 21:1-19 / Easter 3 / May 1, 2022

 

Have you ever promised to do something and then failed at it?

Maybe you promised someone you’d be some place,

then you didn’t show up.

Maybe getting and keeping a certain job, getting a degree,

Maybe it was not getting angry all the time, or being on time,

or maybe that you’d be faithful.

Or maybe it was a project you didn’t complete,

that you ignored our couldn’t actually do.

 

We’ve all had this experience of letting others down,

or letting ourselves down at one time or another.

Some of us to more serious degrees than others.

I think it’s a feeling we’ve all had at one time or another.

I know I have.

Breakfast at Dawn
Mike Moyers

 

Peter knew that feeling that day on the lake.

Peter had made a promise to Jesus in front everyone

at that last meal they had together.

Proudly, almost smugly, he said he would lay down his life for Jesus.

 

I’m sure he meant it when he said it.

His head and his heart were filled with bravado,

and security in his own will and ability.

I’m sure he felt the loyalty and dedication to Jesus

and he felt gratitude to Jesus for trusting him.

 

Jesus had picked Peter out. He called him

out of the monotonous, soul-crushing

and debt-ridden life of commercial fishing and

called him into a life of abundance, grace, risk,

spiritual depth, wonder, and service to others.

 
I’m sure that Peter was feeling gratitude about that

when he made that promise to Jesus.

I’m sure that he meant it when he said:

“I will follow you to death.”

 

Of course, Jesus knew better.

Jesus knew human frailty and fear, and he knew Peter.

He told Peter that he would deny even knowing Jesus.

Not once or twice, but three times before the cock crowed.

 

And sure enough, that’s what happened.

After Jesus was arrested, when Peter was identified

as one of Jesus disciples, Peter denied it three times.

He didn’t follow Jesus to his death,

even at the threat of merely being identified,

he ran he hid, he denied.

He wouldn’t even admit he knew Jesus to a powerless servant girl.

 

And this whole thing was probably

running through Peter’s head every time he

saw the resurrected Jesus.

Sure, he was excited about seeing Jesus,

but he was probably also thinking:

“Jesus knows how I failed him and everyone.

Jesus knows what a chicken I am.

Jesus knows how I don’t deserve the life

and the responsibility and position he gave me.”

 

So Peter and the others decided to go back to fishing.

Back into the soul crushing, dead-end life that they came from.

With Jesus dead and them all failures at following,

what else were they supposed to do?

It was all Peter knew how to do

It’s probably all he thought he deserved.

 

And they’re in the middle of returning to that life

the risen Jesus calls out to them from the shore again.

 

Now according to the story,

Peter is fishing without clothes on and, for some reason,

when he sees Jesus he decides to put his clothes on

to swim to the shore, which I think would weigh him down.

 

In the bible studies I’ve been involved in on this,

this always gets a lot of attention.

I had been thinking I would like to preach on that,

but I couldn’t find a whole lot of substance there.

But trust me, do not look up “fishing naked” on the internet

and expect that you’re going to find something about this story.

 

Regardless, Peter is obviously excited to see Jesus.

And after they eat breakfast together Jesus talks to Peter alone.

Surely, the weight of Peter’s failure was hanging between them.

 

Notice that when they talk,

Jesus doesn’t call him “Peter”, the name Jesus gave

him when he became his disciple.

he calls him by his given name,

“Simon, son of John” his name in his old life,

the life that he’s decided to return to.

 

He asks Simon son of John a question,

“Do you love me more than these?”

Now what Jesus meant by “these” we’re not sure.

We can’t really tell from the English,

 

But we can tell the Greek word “these” that Jesus uses is neutral,

which means that it wasn’t referring to people, but to things.

So Jesus is asking Simon if he loves Jesus more than

he loves these things.

Maybe Jesus means the fish, or the

boats and the job of his old life.

Maybe it doesn’t matter.

 Because Simon, son of John says,

“Of course, you know I love you.”

And Jesus gives him a simple reply,

a simple request: “Feed my lambs.”

 

Three times Peter denied Jesus.

Three times Peter chickened out,

And three times Jesus asks him the question, “Do you love me?”

And three times Simon says he does . . .

And that is all Jesus needs.

Sometimes and apology doesn’t include the words “sorry”

and forgiveness doesn’t include the words “I forgive you”

 

Jesus calls Simon out from his old life again

“Feed my lambs”, “Tend my sheep”, “Feed my sheep”

Three times, Jesus calls Simon back into ministry with him

back into the life of abundance and wonder, spiritual depth

to leadership and service.

 

Three times, Simon son of John is more than forgiven by Jesus,

He is called out again, to be Peter, the Rock.

Once Peter was dead, but Jesus raised him up.

Feed my sheep. Follow me.

 
We are all as fallible as Peter,

we have been scarred, and broken, and lost.

We’ve all gone confident into something, just to fail,

or get scared, or become disillusioned, or bored, or weak.

 

We might think that the best thing for God to do

would be to let us go, let us crawl into a hole

and find someone else who’s better or more qualified.

But the truth is, we are God’s entire ministry plan

We are it. There is no back up.

There is no other option for God. There are no alternatives.

No other less-fallible super-humans waiting in the wings.

 

God has put all his trust into people like Peter.

And God has bet everything on us.

We are God’s whole plan. All God has are

fallible, weak, fearful, often selfish humans.

 

And yet we are called back into service again and again.

Called to care for this world and the things in it.

To feed the lambs and the sheep and be God’s people.

 

As broken and as faulty as we can be, God will use us.

Maybe we feel like we’ve let God or others down.

God sees past all that, and just sees our potential.

 

God just needs is our love.

And everything else will come out of that.

 

As many times as we mess up

and don’t live up to our own expectations,

we are called to a life of abundance, depth and service to others

We are called over and over into a new life with God.

 

Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.

Jesus says, follow me.