Preaching notes for Sunday, April 19 - John 21

SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2020

Read John 21:1-18

Here are Preaching Notes for the day.  We will live-stream at 10:30 a.m. this Sunday via Facebook, then it will be available after that online - look for the link on Church website. 

Gospel of John Sermon Series: That You May Believe

"The Last Breakfast"

INTRO: Binge Watching Lately?

            I'm not sure when the phrase "binge watching" became popularized, but I suspect it is at its highest point of relevance. In the time given as we 'shelter in place,' Netflix and Amazon Prime and all kinds television stations and cable channels have come to prominence. I have carefully listened for recommendations. My family has our own shows that we favor. Most recently it has been The Great British Bake Off. It is a British television baking competition in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, attempting to impress a group of judges with their baking skills, with a contestant being eliminated in each round, and the winner being selected from the contestants who reach the finals.  The first episode was aired in 2010 on less mainstream channels and has since become hugely popular.  The series is credited with reinvigorating interest in baking throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, with shops in the UK reporting sharp rises in sales of baking ingredients and accessories.  I love 'Bread Week,' and the pastries, and, and, and... I want to try a meat-pie so badly! 

            Amateur bakers: some finishing up high school, others in retirement. Each show has an introductory round, a technical challenge, and then a showstopper. The technical challenge is a recipe (from one of their judge's very own recipes) that they have never seen before.  ...They do their best. But the other two recipes for the week's episode are ones that they have been able to practice.  Knowing the theme for the week (bread, cakes, for example), they develop, practice, and refine their recipe.  They bring their best and execute it for the judges.  Very fun to watch (it is hard not to get hungry).

            The disciples have spent three full years with the master chef. They have gotten to watch the best, taste the best, have been encouraged and taught and challenged to follow His recipes. They have become amazing amateur chefs. But when Jesus departs, when their teacher is put to death, crucified, dead and buried... even after His resurrection, they are lost.  They do not have a recipe for what to do next.  Some of you are great bakers and don't follow recipes any more for foods that are made often and your favorites, but these disciples act like they have never seen an oven before.  They are reminded of just how amateur they are compared to the Master Chef and the Kitchen is closed in his absence. 

Peter as FAILED BAKER (he's gone back to fishing)

·         John says that out of all those resurrection appearances this is the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples. Some time has passed since appearing to Thomas and the others - we know more than a week. How much more might be up for grabs.

·         Seven of the disciples are there: Peter, James and John, two others unnamed. Nathanael is along, and Thomas the twin is there as well. They go out to fish at night, and they catch nothing (I’ve fished with those guys).

·         In the early morning hours, a person on the seashore calls out, “Children, have you any fish?” "No" is the answer.

Acting like failed bakers - they have left the kitchen and gone back to fishing... and now are failed fishermen as well.

Our familiarity with FAILURE

·       A book called, The Book of Failures is filled with all kinds of failures that people have made.  For example - in the late 60''s early 70's Arthur Pedrick patented 162 inventions, but not one of them was ever taken up commercially.   Among his greatest inventions were a bicycle with amphibious capacity, and an arrangement whereby a car might be driven from the backseat. The grandest scheme of Mr. Pedrick was to irrigate the deserts of the world by sending a constant supply of snowballs from the polar regions through a network of giant pea shooters.

·       A favorite story in the book was about an elderly lady in South London who called a group of firefighters to rescue her cat from a tree. The fire fighters were otherwise occupied but members of the British Army responded (as arranged) to respond instead. After rescuing the cat, they backed out of her driveway, driving right over her cat!

Epic failure for Peter in particular...

·         Peter was one of the most intimate, trusted followers of Jesus. Jesus personally called him to come and follow him. Peter spent three years with Jesus by his side, listening and learning from his teaching, witnessing his miracles, watching every move that Jesus made. He was personally mentored and molded for a life as a fellow baker.

·         Yet on the evening of the last supper - Jesus pulled Peter to the side. He told Peter that he was about to be betrayed, turned over to the authorities, and crucified. But on the third day, he would rise again. He told Peter to take heart, to not lose faith as those events began to unfold. The other disciples would need his leadership, his courage, his strength.

·         And Peter looked Jesus in the eye, and said, "You can count on me. I will never let you down. Others might, but not me. I’m your man. I would lay down my life for you.” But Jesus looked right back at Peter, and said, "Would you really? Before the dawn comes, before the rooster crows in the morning, you will disown me three times." Peter was stunned -probably got his feelings hurt s he does in our passage today.

·         He probably resolved even deeper in his heart that he would never, ever, turn away—that he would show Jesus how faithful he could be. But he did.  He did turn away and deny knowing Christ.

·         He was even among the group that first heard the women coming back from the tomb on Sunday morning, claiming that it was empty. He heard the rumor that Jesus was alive again; that God had raised him back to life. He was present on those two Sunday nights in the Upper Room when Jesus appeared to the disciples. He saw Jesus extend his hands and let Thomas examine the nail prints.

·         But at this point no recipe comes to mind.  His souffle has fallen.  His biscuits are burned.  He simply tells the others, "I'm going fishing..." and they follow him.  Well... he did prove to be a leader... six others follow him.

Then Jesus makes him a Baker again... John 21:7-9 says,

7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

·         And the way that John writes heightens the sorrow of the moment - the only other place that the phrase charcoal fire appears is when Peter denied Christ (John 18:13-27), standing in the courtyard in the middle of the night - right before the rooster crows. What a bitter reminder that must have been for him. Every where he turns, his failure confronts him.

·         Jesus asks him three times:

15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

16Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

17The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

18Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

·         The words that Jesus asks of Peter are interesting: Do you agape me? You've probably been hanging around the church world long enough to know that agape love is the highest form of love. The Greek used four different words for love, and this one is not an emotional response; it is less about feelings and more about choices and volition. Agape love is a commitment to loving regardless of what comes - it is unselfish. It is a choice that I make to care for you and your needs unconditionally.  It is the word most often used of God's love for us. Jesus says: Peter, do you agape me?

·         Peter replies: Yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you. Phileo is the word for brotherly love (like Phila-delphia). I've heard it said that in this story, Jesus is trying to ratchet up Peter's level of commitment. But that theory doesn't have much strength because Jesus' third question he asks: Peter, do you phileo me?

·         In John, phileo and agape are sometimes used interchangeably. To be fair to Peter, he may be saying: It is not just the volitional commitment of my heart. Lord. We've been together for three years. We are bonded. You are like a brother to me. This goes deep with me, Lord.  But the steeper his love - the deeper his failure. 

·         The point is that agape love is not simply an impulse generated from feelings.  Rather, agape love is an exercise of the will, a deliberate choice. This is why God can command us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44; Exodus 23:1-5). He is not commanding us to “have a good feeling” for our enemies, but to act in a loving way toward them.

·         The world equates love for a person as having strong feelings toward them or feeling strongly about that person. Jesus defines love in terms of obedience. Jesus asked Peter three times, one for every time Peter denied him.  Three different times, so we don't miss the point, Jesus is saying: If you love me, you will care about what I care about. That's how I'll know.

·         You've heard about the Last Supper - this is the last breakfast, and it too is important.  Jesus called all his disciples to manifest their love by keeping his commands (John 14:15). But if Peter loves Jesus and still wants to follow him to death (John 13:37), then he may demonstrate that love by carrying out this particular command to care for Jesus' flock, even to the point of giving his life for the sheep (John 10:11).

"Do you love me more than these?"

15...Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"

·         "These," what does that mean? My first thought is that Jesus is talking about the other disciples. But is Jesus really going to launch a love contest when they already argue about who will be the "greatest in the kingdom?"

·         And don't forget that weird number in this story: 153.  Such an exact number for that pile of slimy, scaly fish. Jesus is saying: Peter, do you love me more than net full of fish - the fisherman's dream?

·         What are the fish in your life? Are they your own dreams, your desire for comfort, or some sin that you've chosen over the fullness of Jesus? I want you to hear Jesus say: Do you love me more than those fish? Doesn't really matter if we do not know the specific reference being made, "These?" -- it is the same question to each of us, " Do you love me more than those these - whatever these may be?"

"Restore" (Peter) - by definition: to bring back (a previous right, practice, custom, or situation); reinstate.

·         Why would Peter jump off the side of the boat and run to meet Christ? In a sense this has happened efore. In Luke 5 Jesus is ministering to the crowds with his back to the sea. The crowds are pressing in him. Standing in the shallows of the water, he sees fishermen mending their nets. He says: Would you put me in your boat and row me out a little bit so I can finish teaching?

·         They agreed, rowed Jesus out a little bit, he finished his teaching, and the crowd dispersed. He then turned to the fishermen and he said: How's fishin'? They replied: It stinks! We fished all night and caught nothing. He said: Let's ride out just a little ways farther, and cast your nets on the other side of the boat.

·         When they did, the net was so full of fish that it began to break with the weight of them. At that moment, Peter falls on his face before Christ and shouts, "Depart from me! Woe is me! I am a sinner!"

·         Peter is so struck by Jesus' authoritative teaching—and by the person whom the fish obey—that he cries out as a repentant sinner. As Jesus always does to the repentant sinner's cry, he gives not a word of judgment, but the motion of mercy. He says: Peter, get up. Follow me. From now on you will no longer be a fisher of fish, but you will become a fisher of men.

·         A fisher of men - that is what Peter was supposed to be doing.  Get to baking Peter!

            And throughout this, did you notice how Jesus addressed Peter? He didn’t call him “Peter.” He called him “Simon, Son of Jonah.” It was formal. Solemn. Intensely serious.

            What was so serious to Jesus? The question he asked Peter. He didn’t ask, “What were you thinking!” Not, “Are you sorry for what you’ve done?” Not, “Do you promise that this will never happen again?” He asked, “Do you love me?  Then feed my sheep."

Recipe for FEEDING sheep

·         Hear the dialogue between Jesus and Peter again, If we love him then we must...

15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I

love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

16Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

17The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

18Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

·         "Feed my lambs," Jesus says in verses 15 and 17. The Greek word used here is first a very specific word, boske, meaning to graze her feet on growing grasses.  We have a responsibility to feed others.  In verse 16, Jesus uses a different word, instead of boske, he says, "take care of my sheep."  The word in verse 16 is different - it is the Greek word, pomiane, which is a much broader term. This ministry of feeding is multi dimensional. It is all dimensions of shepherding a flock.  Taking care of the sheep/people, is watching over them, talking to them, gathering them together (as we can), visiting them, putting clothes on them, protecting them from waves of harm and danger, praying with them, listening to them, helping them in difficult times. "Simon, son of John, do you love me? Tend/feed my sheep."

·         At the start, the Christian church was all about that. If you read from Acts 2 you get the very first glimpse of the early church. It says that the original church met primarily in people's homes, devoting themselves to God's teachings, praising God, eating with glad and sincere hearts, and giving to anyone as they had need. I like whatever similarity you derive from the early Church and our present Stay in Place culture - it can be done. It should be done. We are to take care of the flock.

Peter will be a British Baking Champion - he makes it to the final round

19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

·         Verse 19, “Jesus said this to indicate....” " Indicate" - this word in the Greek is often translated as 'signs' or 'miracles.' The Gospel of John loves that language of signs... A form of this word is in the purpose statement of this Gospel: “These signs (indications that He is God) are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life in his name” (John 20:31). Verse 19 could be translated as, "Jesus said this to SIGNify the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God."

·         The task of shepherding the flock entrusted to Peter draws on Jesus' role as the Good Shepherd who guides the sheep to pasture and protects them from predators (John 10:1-18). Jesus subsequently foretells Peter's destiny, by his death, Peter will glorify God, even as Jesus' death on the cross glorified God (John 17:1, 4). The description of Peter "stretching out his hands" and being led by another where he does not wish to go probably alludes to the practice of tying a condemned person's arms to the crossbeam, which he then carried to the place of crucifixion. According to tradition, Peter died by crucifixion during the persecution of Christians under Nero's reign in the A.D. 60's. By the time John was written, Peter had kept his vow to follow Jesus, wherever that path might lead, even unto death.  Tradition also says that Peter found himself unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord, so he insisted that he be crucified upside down (thus an unlike manner). One symbol used of Peter is an upside down cross. 

Putting this all together - an Illustration of "Baking"

            The late Dr. Fred Craddock tells the story of the first time he ever went to talk to a pastor about something that was personal. It was very difficult, he said, to do that. He and some fellows were working at a box factory, and one day they went downtown to get a hot dog or hamburger for lunch. He still had on his nail apron and they had on theirs, because that's what they did - they drove nails to make those boxes.

            As they were walking down the street, they passed a blind man on the sidewalk with a guitar and a sign that read, "I'm blind, please help me." He had a little tin cup taped to the neck of his guitar. Well, the three of them decided they were going to play a trick on this man, so they reached into their apron and took out several nails, and each of them very noisily deposited them in that tin cup. The blind man said, "Thank you, thank you very much. May God bless you. Thank you very much."

            Craddock said that that incident began to eat at him - it had been an ugly and a terrible thing to do, and he simply could not get rid of it. So he did what people do in desperation. He went to see his pastor. He confessed what he had done, and the pastor sat behind his desk and said, "Are you aware that this country is at war?" because this was during the last days of the Second World War. "People are dying by the hundreds every day; soldiers have been away from their families for years. We don't know how this whole thing is going, people dying, starving. And you are worried about nails in a blind man's cup?" And the pastor sent him away.

            But Fred's problem would not go away. Finally, he went to see his youth pastor, a very wise woman by the name of Mignonne. He told her what he had done, and she told him that it was, indeed, a terrible, terrible thing to do, and that she felt the pain of it even as he did. And then she said, "God forgives you for that, but why don't you, next week when you have your lunch hour, why don't you go to that same blind man and tell him what you did, and ask him to forgive you, and then, if you have a nickel or a dime or a quarter, give it to him." And Craddock says that is exactly what he did, and the poor man forgave him. "I know how it is," the man said. "Lots of boys are full of mischief."

·         His story Illustrates two things: First, There is only one recipe for restoration and it goes through God's mercy. In this story it looked liked confession - the assurance of forgiveness was a big deal and came only after the sin was acknowledged.  Jesus' resurrection was a victory over sin and death and not a path we could have blazed for ourselves -thus only through God's mercy.  And Second, the love shared with the blind man proceeded from his love for God. It flows/proceeds only in that direction.  That is a timeless recipe for all of us. If we love Jesus, then we will feed his sheep.

This is the Recipe for Feeding SHEEP because it is time for us to do some baking...

·         It is important to note how Jesus frames the first part of the question. He asked Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" The important message to Peter here is the motivation for Christian vocation, or feeding sheep, has its roots in our love and devotion to Jesus Christ. Jesus does not ask Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love the sheep?" or "do you love the members of the church in Jerusalem?" As you and I know, the sheep are not always easy to love. In this text, Christ instructs us that none of us can faithfully and diligently prepare for and fulfill His high calling upon our lives as faithful bakers, recipe followers of Christ, unless we look beyond a person's personal merits, and our own shortcomings.

·         It is not easy to serve men and women from totally different social, economic, and historical backgrounds. Some are weak; some are strong. Those who are strong may not be gentle. Those who are gentle may be slow. Those who are not slow may be hard to teach. Therefore, you and I would not persevere and in our sheep feeding and shepherding task unless the love of Christ were our motivation.

The Show-Stopper recipe -- we will only persevere in our sheep feeding and shepherding tasks if the love of Christ is our motivation.

·         Feed my Sheep...Lets substitute a few other appropriate words in there for Sheep: Neighbor, crazy uncle, stir crazy child, spouse who lacks confidence, teacher, mean guy down the street, coworker, best friend, customer, boss, political ranter, parents, our 'EX'es...

·         That list could get longer and longer, couldn't it? Now let's make it  even a little bit harder. Let's use actual names... Feed my sheep. Feed Stephen. Feed Amy. Feed Allison, Tommy, Paul, Jane, Lori, Betsy, Fred, William, Gayle, Jake, Linda, and Rose…

"FRIEND, DO YOU LOVE ME? FEED MY SHEEP!"