Sermon Tone Analysis

Overall tone of the sermon

This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.55LIKELY
Disgust
0.48UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.57LIKELY
Sadness
0.18UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.32UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.72LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.7LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.68LIKELY
Extraversion
0.3UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.97LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.68LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
TITLE:  Love Me –– Feed My Sheep                   SCRIPTURE:  John 21:1-19
 
 
Our Gospel lesson today starts with the words, "After these things."
After what things?
After Christ's crucifixion and resurrection!
After his first appearances to the disciples!
Those things took place in Jerusalem.
We call Jerusalem the Holy City, and there's a sense in which that's true –– but it's also true that most of Jesus' ministry took place in Galilee –– not in the big city, but in the hinterlands –– in the sticks.
Galilee is where people responded most favorably to Jesus.
Jerusalem, the big city, is where Jesus' enemies lived.
Jerusalem is where they killed him.
So "after these things" that took place in Jerusalem, the disciples went back home to Galilee –– to the place where Jesus had healed and taught and had drawn great crowds.
When the disciples went back to Galilee, they went fishing.
It wasn't sports fishing!
It was business fishing!
They were fishermen –– that's what they did for a living –– that's how they got their food.
But on this occasion, nothing was biting.
Or, to be more exact, nothing was swimming into their nets.
But then several remarkable things happened.
A stranger appeared on shore, and said, "Children, you have no fish, have you?"
I don't know if you've ever spent any time around professional fishermen, but they tend to be pretty rugged.
The first remarkable thing that happens here is that this stranger calls these fishermen "Children" and they let him get away with it.
There's a possibility that the Greek word translated "Children" here could be translated "Guys."
That would go down better with a bunch of fishermen.
At any rate, they answer, "No."
They aren't catching anything.
So the stranger says, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some."
So the next remarkable thing that happens here is that the fishermen don't tell the stranger to go jump in the lake.
No, they haul in their nets and toss them over the right side of the boat.
Perhaps they think the stranger has seen a school of fish under the water.
At any rate, when they do what the stranger tells them to do, they catch so many fish –– one hundred fifty three big ones –– that they can't even haul in the net.
That was when one of the disciples recognized the stranger.
"It is the Lord!" he shouted.
"It is the Lord."
At that, Peter jumped into the lake –– to swim to Jesus, I suppose.
You never knew what Peter would do next.
Once the fishermen got to shore, Jesus had a charcoal fire ready to broil some fish.
The only other time a charcoal fire was mentioned in this Gospel, it was when Peter was denying Jesus.
Peter was standing by a charcoal fire when he denied Jesus.
Now Jesus, by another charcoal fire, is going to give Peter a chance to redeem himself.
Jesus and the disciples broiled some fish and ate some breakfast.
Then Jesus singled out Peter and asked, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"
In other words, "Do you love me more than these other disciples?"
"Do you love me most of all?"
Peter responded, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you."
That was true.
Jesus did know that Peter loved him.
So Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
Then he asked the question again, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
 
Peter said again, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you."
So Jesus said, "Tend my sheep."
And then Jesus asked again, "Do you love me?"
And Peter responded, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."
And in that little exchange between Jesus and Peter, we can find everything we need to know about what it means to be a Christian..
 
First, we can learn from the question that Jesus asked –– "Do you love me?"  Jesus could have asked any number of questions.
He could have asked, "Did you remain faithful?"
–– but he didn't.
He could have asked, "Did you deny me?" –– but he didn't.
He could have asked, "Did you run away?"
–– but he didn't.
Jesus asked three questions, but they really boil down to one:  "Do you love me?"
I find that wonderfully encouraging.
Jesus was catching Peter at his low point.
Peter had denied Jesus three times.
He had run away.
He had lost faith.
He felt terrible.
But Jesus didn't rake Peter over the coals.
He didn't criticize him for his failure.
He asked only one question:  "Do you love me?"
The reason that I find this so encouraging is that I, too, have failed Jesus.
And so have you.
If Jesus wanted to air our sins in public, we would be terribly embarrassed.
If Jesus demanded a clean and pure life from us, we would be hopelessly lost.
But Jesus doesn't ask, "What have you done?"
He doesn't ask, "Have you been good?"
He doesn't ask for a list of our accomplishments.
He doesn't ask how many commandments we have violated.
He asks only, "Do you love me?"
I find that encouraging, because I can do that.
I can love Jesus.
I am not sure how well I've done the rest of it, but I love Jesus.
If that's the only test that I have to pass, I can pass it.
And so can you.
You can pass the test too –– because you can love Jesus.
If Jesus required us to be truly holy –– or to serve in high church office –– or to read the Bible every day –– or never to have an impure thought –– or never to have violated the commandments –– if Jesus required those things, we would be lost.
But Jesus asks only, "Do you love me?"
We can do that.
When Peter answered that he loved Jesus, Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
Lambs are baby sheep ––adolescent sheep –– sheep that aren't yet fully grown –– sheep that need special care and feeding –– sheep that need someone to teach them how to grown up rightly.
Lambs need someone to keep them from running out in front of a car.
They need someone to make sure that they eat right and get enough sleep.
If we love Jesus, we will do what we can to feed his lambs.
We will do what we can to love and protect and feed and teach the children in our care.
We try to do that at this church.
We love our children, and provide a Sunday school where they can learn about Jesus –– and youth groups where they can have fun with other kids in a faith environment and vacation bible school and other such things.
Jesus is speaking to us when he says, "Feed my lambs."
He is speaking to you.
Give some thought to how you might answer that call –– how you might contribute to the well-being of the children and youth of this congregation –– of this community.
Ask yourself how you might become a blessing to children in other parts of the world who are desperately needy.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9