Grace to you and peace from Christ who is risen indeed and who greets us with the breath of peace…AMEN.
These texts are amazing! I’ve been thinking this week: this is kind of text I’d want to have at my funeral! (Have you ever thought about that? What are the biblical texts that you want the world to hear and know…)
This has got to be one of those...and coupled with Saul’s conversion!!?
Let’s look at this text of Jesus on the beach. First, I’ve got to show you this: [story, then apron — “Biblically mandated BBQing”]
[Also the story of fish (fresh caught rainbow trout) for breakfast up in the Rocky Mountains!]
This text taps into the best stuff of life: the morning, food, fellowship, the water’s edge, a bbq, and of course Christ sitting right there with us.
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OK, let’s get into it: I would call this post-resurrection scene, maybe the title of this sermon “The Undoing”.
There are multiple layers of “un-doing” happening here. That is, something that happened before Christ’s death and resurrection is being “undone” now:
For example, there’s the “undoing” of the night meal (the last supper of betrayal). All the brokenness of the night, the scattering of the disciples that we marked and embodied here at BLC on Maundy Thursday (running out), it’s undone in this scene...with breakfast.
“Come have breakfast,” Jesus says. What does the psalmist say? “Weeping spends the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
Have you ever had a terrible night, but in the morning, as you watch the sun come up, it’s like you can breathe again?
Sometimes a “terrible night” can be literal; usually it’s a metaphor. Perhaps it’s a whole season or years at a time, maybe its a tragic event, or comment or person that simply haunts you to no end it seems, a voice in your ear that presses down on your whole being. Failure at night: Peter: “We’ve caught nothing.” Grief can be a long, terrible night. Addiction can be a terrible night. Recovery can be a long, terrible night. Pent-up-anger and bitterness at the way things have turned out...can “crash at your place” and keep you tossing and turning for way too long. Weeping, pain, sorrow, anger, fear spends the night.
But then, the “sun comes up”. The night is undone. And that joyful invitation from Jesus: “Come have breakfast.” How is Christ inviting you to breakfast this new day?
First it’s the invitation, the gathering. The reversal or un-doing of the scattering. Come back together, i.e. re-member (remember?)…
And then it’s food! The undoing of hunger. The undoing or the breaking of the fast.
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But there’s more undoing in this text, when we look at Peter. There’s the undoing of the paralysis of sin…
Despite Peter’s shame about what he’s done. He still goes to Jesus. This is so good!
Peter of course denied Jesus 3 times, remember? Imagine the shame, the guilt, the burden he’s carrying. That’s symbolized in this story by him putting his clothes on and jumping into the water. Did you catch that? Kind of weird. It says he was naked — naked fishing — but when Jesus invites him to breakfast, he puts his clothes on and Forrest Gumps it into the sea to swim back to Jesus.
The Gospel of John layers everything with meaning and intention: and the intention here is that we associate Peter’s shame to the shame and embarrassment of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Remember when they eat the fruit, and suddenly they knew they were naked? And hid themselves? That’s Peter, putting his clothes on when Jesus finds him. He’s ashamed of what he’s done!
But! He goes to Jesus anyway! And not just gently wanders his way: no, he goes diving into the sea! So rich! He swims back to Jesus.
What’s that look like for you? How might you “swim back to Jesus” these days, friends? Put the clothes on, cover up if you must, but dive in: crash into the waves, or let the current take you back to the shoreline, back to the meal, the fire, the Christ.
So more undoing. Even though Peter has shame, it’s not going to stop him. It’s not going to paralyze him.
This is an amazing thing too: post-resurrection something happens, and the disciples no long stay locked up or frozen.
Think about that for a second: I mean, these disciples who started out on Easter evening locked behind the closed doors for fear become the radical proclaimers of the Gospel throughout the ancient Mediterranean, risking everything, life and limb to share the good news of Jesus! What happened?
What kind of conversion took place? What switched? We’re starting to see that with Peter here. (Paul in the First Lesson.) The sin is not going to stop them.
I love those stories of coaches and teachers who were labelled “problem kids” when they were younger. Maybe that’s some of you. In some ways, it’s all of us: the same ones who drove their coaches and teachers crazy, grow up to become the very best teachers and coaches. Something happened. The past, the parameters, the definitions and labels are not going to stop them.
Christ is calling us out of the boat. And Peter goes! Something switched in him.
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Finally, this undoing happens at the end of our text. Peter is wearing the sopping wet clothes of his guilt and shame when he comes ashore, but then we have this dialogue. “Peter do you love me?” Yes. “Feed my lambs.” “Peter do you love me?” Yes. “Tend my sheep.” “Peter do you love me?” Yes. “Feed my sheep.” 3x. Do you know the undoing that’s happening there?
Jesus is forgiving Peter’s denial! Jesus is undoing his guilt.
The resurrected Christ has undone sin and death itself! So we can lighten up. Take those cold, soppy, sea-stinky rags off, and have some food, warm yourself, know that you are loved. And now, go and share that love with others.
For this forgiveness is for you too. Thanks be to God, AMEN.
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