INTRODUCTION
Do you remember the movie “Groundhog Day”? It was a movie about a TV weather man played by Bill Murry who has to go to Punxsatawney PA to make an news report on Punxsatawney Phil and his prediction for the coming of Spring. The character played byBill Murry is a terrible man. He’s self-centered, Pig headed, Obnoxious, just a down right jerk. The plot of the story is that as penance for his behavior the character has to repeat the same day over and over again, until finally he gets things right and life can then go on as it should. Have you ever wish that you could go back and redo a portion of your life? The chance to say or do something over again and again until you finally get it right. And if you couldn’t go back and correct your mistakes. Wouldn’t be nice if you could at least edit the problem parts out as if they never happened at all. When things are tough for me, I experience a longing to return to Vermont. My family lives there and the State holds some fond memories for me. I left Vermont in 1985 to go to Seminary to follow God’s call to ministry. After seminary there was Houlton ME for my first church, then Ft Drum NY as an Army chaplain during desert storm. From there it was to PA to serve as a hospital chaplain and then as pastor for the Millville Christian Church. And finally I arrived here, to New Hartford CT. And yet along my journey from Vermont to Connecticut, I have at times felt like cutting out all that has gone between there and here to go back and try it all again as if none of this had ever happened. Have you ever felt that way? Then welcome to the club, for at different times in our lives we have all followed Peter and this passage tells our story. Afterward, the gospel of John tells us, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: “Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” Sound familiar? Isn’t this also the way Jesus first encountered Peter?
Peter, what are you doing here? We could understand your behavior if you had gone fishing right after Jesus’ crucifixion. At that point you would of had ever reason for returning to your old occupation. Jesus was dead, crucified for all the world to see. And the disciples were themselves in danger of being arrested. There would have been no reason for Peter to hang around Jerusalem. But ever reason to simply disappear into the remote countryside. To return to the life you had before Jesus came into the scene. But more than three days have passed Peter since that terrible day of death. And Christ has risen from the dead. He has been seen by the women in the garden. He even appeared to you and the other disciples in the upper room. And by showing you all his wounds He convinced even doubting Thomas that he was now alive. So why have you gone fishing Peter? There’s no earthly reason for you to be here Or is there? Impetuous Peter, your mouth makes claims your spirit cannot fulfill. Was it not you Peter who was the first to call Jesus the Christ? And was it not also you who first denied him, not once, but three times. You claimed you would die for the Christ, but in the end you ran just like the others. You were willing to attack others to defend Jesus, But unwilling to die yourself beside the Christ. All this weighs heavy upon your soul, doesn’t it Peter? All those high hopes of a wonderous future when you were with Jesus have come crashing down, and now, with no reason to go forward, You go back to that thing you know best.
And so you’ve gone fishing. Perhaps you think if you just drift away, go off and pretend it never happened. You could then forget what you have done and what you have become. So all night you have labored at a task you know so well. That would be bad enough, but to make matters worse, you cannot succeed at the thing to which you has resigned yourself. But like that first time you met Jesus, your nets return to you empty. Empty nets like your empty soul calling out to you. Telling you it’s too late to go back to what you were. What’s done is done, there’s no going back. But neither can you go forward as long as you bear this weight of shame. And now, after a hard night, you see someone waiting for you on the shore. When he calls to you he directs you to “throw the nets on the other side” and suddenly you have a boat load of fish. And you know, you know immediately who it is. Still your impetious self, you shout “It’s Jesus” and jump into the water and swim to meet your Lord. Then after a quiet breakfast, its time to really cut bait or fish. Christ asks you those soul piercing questions. Three times you had denied Him, and so three times He will ask you, Peter, do you love me? What is this Jesus, no words of condemnation? No cursing Peter for his denial. No asking him about his failure? Say something Jesus. Say something before Peter bursts his heart from the stress of his guilt. Jesus speaks, Peter, do you love me? Love, why are you talking about love? All I can think about is how badly I failed you. Yes I love you. “Then feed my sheep.”
Why is Jesus acting like this? Why is he acting as if nothing bad has happened? Like he’s the one who has forgotten all that we did and all that we did not do? A second time, Peter, do you love me? Again with this question of Love. Won’t you get to the point, I’m dying here. Yes I love you. “Then feed my sheep.” Don’t you understand Jesus, I can’t follow you anymore. I blew it. I am not worthy to be your disciple. Just leave me alone. “Peter, do you love me?” God in heaven, a third time now. Can’t you leave it alone. You’re ripping my guts out here. You know all things Lord, You know I love you. “Then feed my sheep.”
Peter’s Cry
I strive towards light, just to end in darkness
I strive to give my best, just to end up with my worst
I strive to love my neighbor, just to end up coveting his possessions
I strive for a life of purity, just to end up in a life of sin
I cry to God, “How can you use me, I fail so much?”
His answer comes and with it peace,
“It’s for these very reasons my love,that I made you a child of grace”
You and me, we have all failed the Christ at different times in our lives. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We have all felt the crushing self-incrimination of Peter. And because of our failure, we can at times convince ourselves that we are unworthy to serve the Christ. For after all, now all we have to offer him is our weakness, our doubts, and our failures. The wonder of it all. O Beloved of God, the wonder of it all Is that God does not need our accomplishments. God does not expect us to champion His cause. The fact is that our human failings, our humbling, inglorious weakness is exactly what God seeks.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise; influential; or of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are”
In other words, God chose us. For Jesus isn’t interested in our ability or desire to be successful, but in our willingness to be used. For the Christ has already succeeded in overcoming the grave. He has already won the victory over sin and death. Because of this Christ’s call on our lives does not end at our failures. For Christ’s call on our lives leads us beyond the limits of our humanity to be embraced by the boundlessness of God’s love-filled grace. This is a truth that we find so hard to accept. For we live in a society that is fixated on success, that is addicted to idea of making a name for ourselves, making our mark on the world. God forbid that anyone should be marginal, slow, unwilling or unable to bear down and succeed. And we think that God also demands a perfect tract record, a long list of accomplishments and accolaides that we will bring to his throne. But what then will we do with those times when we fail? Those times when no matter how hard we work things just fall apart. What we are to do, is not to give up, not to lose heart. We simply are to turn them over to the Christ that He might have His transforming way with them.
Romans 8:28-30
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
For Christ is not done with us yet. He loves to take those times in our lives that feel like the shadow of death that He might turn them into Easter mornings filled with new hope of the resurrection. It may not sound terribly glorious, but it’s when we feel utterly useless, when we know it has all gone wrong that God is then free to make it all right. God predestined that we were to be conformed, not to our self-made image, but to the image of His son. That the power of Christ might be manifested in our lives. It is at those moments of failure in our lives that the risen Christ will appear and ask us, “Do you love me?” Not what have you done, not how have you failed, but “do you love me?” Can you believe it. He seeks our love. Not our success. Not even our faithfulness. But our love. Of all the things he could ask of us, it is our love that He wants. And love Him we do, because He first loved us. We love him because He accepts us, weakness and all. We love Him because, as Rodger Egbert liked to say, “God not only knows everything, but understands a lot better than we give Him credit for.” We love him because all he desires is our love. And we do love him. We call this the love of Christ. And so he bids us all, for the love of Christ, yes for the love of Christ, let us feed His sheep. Let us care for one another with the love of Christ. Love is to be the foundation for all we do for Christ. It is because of God’s love for us that Jesus came to redeem us from our sins. So as ambassadors for Christ we are to reflect His call to love. If love is all God asks. If love is all we have to share, it will be enough. But if we have no love, if we do not care enough to tend his flock. then all we offer in love’s place is nothing more than empty nets and all is in vain. Love is so important that the apostle Paul will dedicate an entire chapter to this subject in his first letter to the Corinthians.
“Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, or act unbecomingly; or seek its own, Love is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, Love rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; So faith, hope and Love abide, but the greatest of these is love.”
So if we had it to do all over again, would we? Maybe, but we don’t have to. For those who have placed their faith in the Christ find that all things have now become new by the Love of Christ made manifest in our lives. One night in New York, on Broadway, the great star Mary Martin was preparing to go on stage, as she had a 1000 times before, in Rodger & Hammerstain’s South Pacific. Just before she took stage a note was handed her. The letter was signed Oscar Hammerstein who was that evening on his death bed. The note was short. It simply said: "Dear Mary, A bell’s not a bell until you ring it. A song’s not a song until you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn’t love till you give it away." When the play was over the cast rushed her backstage and asked, "What happened? We’ve never seen you perform that way before?" Mary read to them Hammerstein’s note and said, "Tonight, I gave my love away." I can hear Jesus speaking to Peter in those words. Peter do you love me? Then Feed my sheep. Jesus was saying, “Peter you know the song. Sing it! Peter you’ve got the bell. Ring it! "Peter, love isn’t love till you give it away." Our risen Savior asks each and every one of us, “Do you love me?” Well, do you? Then Feed His Sheep.