Feed My Sheep

 John 21:1-19 / Easter 3 / May 4, 2025

 

Breakfast At Dawn
Mike Moyers

Whenever there is a bible study on this story,

the whole thing usually gets derailed

by the state of Peter’s clothing.

The text says that he’s fishing naked.

And then when he sees Jesus,

he puts on his tunic to swim over to Jesus.

Which would make swimming more difficult.

 

Now based on people’s preoccupation with this,

I have tried several times to make a sermon

about this topic, but I’ve got nothing.

I just want to warn you, that I’m not coming back to this,

and I also want to warn you DO NOT to look up

“fishing naked” on the internet.

Learn from my mistakes.

 

On with the sermon I was able to come up with.

 

So Peter and the rest of the disciples

have decided to go back fishing again.

This whole ministry with Jesus has apparently failed.

Their leader had suffered a horrible death.

He had risen as he said he would,

but they didn’t know what that would mean for them.

 

Peter had failed, denying Jesus three times.

The other disciples had run away.

One had betrayed him.

The risen Jesus surely wasn’t going to trust them again.

 

So, the best thing they could think to do

is to just go back to the same, back breaking,

soul-crushing work that Jesus had called him out of.

Peter probably thought that Jesus didn’t

want to see him again.

 

But then one morning,

there he was, out on the beach.

Not in anger or disappointment.

But with breakfast.

 

And with a simple question for Peter,

“Do you love me?”

 

Three times Peter denied Jesus.

And three times Jesus asks this question.

Do you love me? Simon son of John.

Notice Jesus uses Peter’s old name, the name that

Jesus changed when he called him as a disciple.

 

Simon, son of John. Do you love me?

Three times Jesus asks this of Peter

and three times Peter says yes, he does love Jesus.

And three times, Jesus calls Peter back.

Back into service and to the ministry

and to the way of Christ.

Simon Peter, do you love me?

Then feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.

 It’s an interesting way to call Peter to service.

 

What does Jesus mean to feed his sheep?

The sheep are obviously the people who followed Jesus

The ones who he went out into the streets to meet,

who hung on his every word, who went to him for healing,

who came to him as a last resort.

The poor, the sick, the forgotten, the sinners, the tax collectors,

the lost. These are the sheep.

But what does it mean to feed these sheep?

What did Jesus mean when he told Peter that?

 

When Jesus said, “Feed my sheep,”

He surely meant spiritual guidance,

but if he only meant that,

couldn’t he have just said “Guide my sheep”?

But he didn’t just say that.

Jesus meant feed. Put your hands into the food

bag and put it out there for the sheep to eat.

Feeding sheep is not just a spiritual concept.

Jesus was talking about care, concrete care.

 

He actually meant for Peter to literally feed the people.

Like Jesus showed them when he fed the 5000.

Giving food away to people, making meals for people.

Jesus was talking about food pantries like ours,

Like Christ’s Love Food Pantry, the Little Free Pantry,

and Back Pack Buddies and it’s also about

healing people, it’s about

being a shelter for homeless people.

Feeding sheep is about healing people.

It’s about providing people’s their basic needs

when they can’t provide for themselves.

 

Feeding sheep is about being the gospel,

in the world, in concrete and solid ways.

 

Let’s be honest:

If we look at the world today, the sheep are hungry.

Many for food—but also for dignity, justice, and belonging.

There are people being cast aside because of who they love,

the color of their skin, how they pray,

or what their bodies can or cannot do.

There are families broken by abuse,

people being detained and deported,

people shamed by their churches,

and elderly people dying alone.

Feeding sheep is about basic needs,

but It’s also about brining dignity

and honor to people who are hungry for it.

sometimes that means bringing their cause

out to the powerful and changing things.

Sometimes it means speaking up against

unjust laws and dismantling systems

that harm and exclude.

Sometimes feeding means legislation, advocacy, and protest.

 

Sometimes it means conversation and community.

Sometimes it means counseling, sometimes it means

just being a friendly face.

 

Feeding Jesus sheep means that the

The church should not just hover above in the ether.

It shouldn’t just share thoughts and prayers.

But should be involved, part of people’s lives,

and be incarnate in the world, like Jesus.

 

Jesus didn’t just say “pray for my sheep” or

“gather my sheep in church” or even just “love my lambs”

he said “feed them, tend to them, take care of my people”

 

This is Jesus call to the church.

And if the church isn’t feeding the sheep that need to be fed,

in some way shape or form, then it’s not being the church.

Do you love me? Jesus asks.

If we do, then the call is clear.

Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs. Feed my sheep.

 

Now at times that we might feel unworthy or unprepared

for this call, remember who received this call

that day on the beach,

Jesus entrusts this work to a broken man.

A person who failed him.

The one who didn’t get it right when it mattered most.

But Jesus still calls Peter back.

This is grace.

 

This call to feed sheep was a restoration

and a recommissioning.

Jesus wasn't just forgiving Peter;

it was Jesus trusting him again.

and calling him again—

not into a path of bravado or hierarchy,

and not into unlimited unquestioned power,

but into servant leadership.

 

And if Peter is enough, so are we.

Not perfect. Not polished.

Not always brave.

But beloved, and just ready to work.

We are called not in spite of our wounds

and failures, but through them.

 

Jesus doesn’t say, “Be impressive.”

Jesus doesn’t say, “Be certain.”

Jesus doesn’t say, “Have all the answers.”

Jesus says: do you love me?

Then Jesus says: Feed my sheep. Tend my sheep.

 Love the lonely.

Care for the sick.

Welcome the outcast.

Defend the vulnerable.

Affirm the despised.

Uplift the poor.

Stand up for the victims of injustice.

Work for peace.

Feed the hungry.

 

It’s not flashy work.

It’s not easy work.

But it is holy work.

 

And when we are tired or unsure or afraid—

Jesus meets us on the shore,

again and again,

with grace and breakfast and a gentle question:

 

Do you love me?

Then go. Feed my sheep.