Back at the Beginning
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As we continue these first few weeks after Easter we have this great opportunity to hear stories of Jesus appearing to the disciples after he has risen from the dead. This story we hear today is the second to last story found in John’s gospel and the one after it is a continuation of the last appearance that Jesus makes to the disciples.
What I have
Today we find the disciples at the sea fishing. What are they doing? Why has Simon gone full circle with his life? Just last week we heard how Jesus appeared to the disciples behind the closed and locked doors. We see how Jesus blessed them and breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit so what are they doing back at the beginning? It doesn’t make sense. Jesus has given them this great gift and this great task to go out into the word to spread the good news and here they are sitting in their boats doing exactly what they did before they met Jesus.
As you can probably guess the text we have before us is one of those instances. But before we really get into the text and the discrepancies that we have we need to look at the word and understand what we lose in the translation. In the English language we have just one word for love. So no matter what we love, whether it is a significant other or a certain type of food or drink we all use the exact same word for it. Which is why when someone says that they absolutely love that mouth-watering hamburger, then you hear someone else reply with the response, “well if you love it so much then why don’t you marry it?” There is no way to differentiate our love for a hamburger from the love of a close friend, to a love of a significant other in our lives.
I suppose you can’t entirely blame them though. Perhaps it was all too new and too overwhelming for them. Perhaps it seemed like to much to handle without Jesus actually by their side to help them in their ministry. What would you do? What do you do? When you are overwhelmed with life, or with a new job or anything that is new? Do you not sometimes go back to what is comfortable? Do you not go back to what you know to do? To what you have been trained to do your whole life? Simon Peter and some of the other disciples were fisherman for a good part of their lives and so in a way amidst all of this difficulty and lack of understanding they go back to fishing which is the one thing they know how to do.
In Greek there are actually 4 different words for love and they all express different kinds of love for different situations. The first kind of love is eros love which is the love that is a romantic type of love. This is the kind of love you have between you and a significant other. This the kind of love that is expressed when two people want to spend their lives together.
What is it that you default back to when you don’t know what to do? Where do you find yourself going or doing when you don’t know what to do? How do you see yourself relating to the disciples in what they are doing? Do you run or hide when you feel God calling you or asking you to do something?
The next kind of love is storge. This kind of love is expressed within a family. I think there is no denying that there is a special bond that people feel when they are a part of a family. So when a person says that they have storge for someone it is the love that they have for another member of their family
Well as they return to their comfortable lifestyle of fishing and making a living by knowing what will put food on the table Jesus appears to them again trying to help them understand what it is they are really supposed to do with their lives. Jesus does this by reminding them of a couple of things. The story reminds us of a story from where Jesus tells the disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat after not catching anything all night long and they catch so many fish that the other boat has to come and help them so the nets do not break. Even though this story doesn’t appear in John’s gospel we see that John reminds us last week that not all stories of Jesus are written in here, though people may have heard them.
The third kind of love is philia. Philia is the kind of love that is expressed between two people that expresses a close bond to one another. In the Christian community it typically refers to the love that we have for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. It is also referred to as friendship love or brotherly love. You might say that this kind of love is also seen when we talk about people being a grandparent who isn’t actually related to us. Or when you hear people talk about this person being a brother from another mother. It is that close bond and connection you have with another person.
Jesus also as he sits and waits for the disciples to come to shore after catching all the fish we then see that with him by the fire are fish and bread. This story brings us to remember the feeding of the 5,000 which appears in all the gospels including . Jesus reminds them not only of the story in which he called them to be his disciples through the fishing nets, but now he reminds them that with their help and in their ministry they were able to feed thousands of people through bread and fish. He is helping them remember all the incredible ministries they did with and through Jesus.
The final kind of love is
Finally we have the encounter between Jesus and Peter which again helps the disciples move away from what is comfortable and into the world of ministry in which Jesus has called them to be in. We have this three time exchange between Peter and Jesus about whether or not Peter loves Jesus and how that love needs to be translated into the care for the people of this world. Jesus is helping Peter and us to understand that loving Jesus isn’t about loving Jesus. Loving Jesus and fishing on their boats ins’t enough. Loving Jesus means that Peter needs to go out and tend Jesus’ sheep and feed Jesus’ flock. Love for Jesus is equal to and synonymous with serving people. After all isn’t that what Jesus did in his life? He didn’t just tell people he loved them and that God loved them. He showed them. He cured them. He fed them. He made them whole.
Perhaps more obviously this encounter between Jesus and Peter also has another purpose. When Jesus asks him a third time we see that Peter is hurt by this constant nagging at him about his love for him. The hurt most likely comes from the fact that when Peter answers him a third time that Jesus should know that he loves him, it probably brought up the reminder that just a short time before that he had denied him three times and how he was being confronted with that low point in his life by the one he denied. But by confronting that moment Jesus gives him this opportunity to undo that by proclaiming his love for him and then using that love to go out and serve the world in Jesus’ name.
That is a message for Jesus and for all of us. In the low and difficult moments of our lives, in the times when we forget about God and the love that Jesus has for us, Jesus comes to us, reminds us through various ways that he has never left our side. He reminds us that his love is always there. Whether it is through him being there while you are fishing or having a meal with others, or whatever way it was that maybe you first met God, Jesus is there to remind you of that relationship and let you know that no matter what that relationship isn’t going anywhere. If you return to the comfortable or back to the beginning times, Jesus is there for you and with you. No matter what Jesus is there offering us love and grace and forgiveness and reminding us to follow him. And that through following him we have been given the greatest gifts both in this life and in the life to come. This is God’s love for Peter and for all of us. Coming to us, seeking us, and loving us all the days of our lives. Amen.
Amen.