Reverend Marci Scott-Weis, MDIV

Let’s take a look at the very last story in John’s Gospel because it echoes so many critical themes that flow throughout John. The disciples have returned to their day jobs and it is in the ordinariness of that life where Jesus again shows himself, kind of like how he showed up in the ordinariness of a wedding or at a well getting water or around a table.

Before Jesus appears, the disciples are fishing at night and they catch nothing….but when the sun rises and Jesus appears, all of a sudden, there is a bounty of fish, so many that the nets are groaning in their weight, bursting in their abundance! That net is so full that they have to ‘haul’ and ‘drag’ it in! And just like at the wedding in Cana or the feeding of the thousands, when it was thought that there wasn’t enough to go around, abundance appeared with Jesus!

And like in most of the other resurrection stories, Jesus’ followers don’t initially recognize him. Jesus has risen but at the same time, he is somehow different. And it isn’t until the encounter, the conversation, the connection, the dialogue that they recognize Jesus. It is after that display of abundance and relationship when the disciples recognize Jesus.

Now when Jesus first met his disciples way back at the start of John’s Gospel, he invited them to ‘come and see’ and here at the end of the story, he invites them to ‘come and eat’. And just like in the story of the feeding of the thousands, Jesus is doing the feeding himself. Nourishment comes from his hands.

Well after the meal, Peter is again questioned about whether or not he is a disciple of Jesus, just like he was right before Jesus was executed. Except this time, Jesus does the questioning. In the Synoptic Gospels, when Peter is questioned before Jesus’ death, it is about whether or not he ‘knows’ Jesus. In John’s Gospel, when Peter is questioned before Jesus’ death, it is about whether or not he is a ‘disciple of Jesus’.  And Peter denies that he is, three times. In our reading today, Jesus turns to Peter to asks him about his discipleship and how that needs to be lived out, wrapping that question in the language of love.

‘Do you love me’ Jesus asks Peter? Three times Peter denied Jesus before he died in John’s Gospel. Three times Jesus will ask Peter this question, ‘do you love me?’ And each time that Peter affirms that love, Jesus will clarify for Peter what it means to love him.  Feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep. And one final plea…follow me!

Our resurrection story ends not with Jesus forgiving Peter, that isn’t the point here. It ends with Peter being challenged to imagine discipleship in an entirely different way.  Jesus is asking Peter to take on the role of the Good Shepard when Jesus can’t.  Jesus is asking Peter to serve as a witness to Jesus in the world through loving with the entirety of his being and with all of his actions.  And Jesus is reminding Peter that there is a cost to that witness of love.

When I was in Rome several years ago, my daughter and I stumbled into a random church that wasn’t on our list of ‘must see’s’. But we saw a crowd heading in, so we followed. We found out that in that church was one of Michaelangelo’s most famous sculptures, the one that he created of Moses. And it  was magnificent! And perhaps the closest you can get to any Michaelangelo sculpture….

But off to the side of that famous sculpture was a small alcove lit up with candles that were surrounding a glass case. Inside that case was a set of very rusty, very ancient shackles or chains. The placard on the case said that they were the chains worn by Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem and then in Rome prior to his execution.

Were they actually Peter’s chains? I can’t say.  They were clearly ancient and history and tradition has it that Peter was imprisoned in Jerusalem, executed in Rome and probably crucified. It turns out that the church that houses both that famous Moses sculpture and those chains is an ancient one. It was rebuilt from an older foundation as early as the year 432, for the sole purpose of housing those chains.

As the crowd gathered around the Michaelangelo sculpture, I found myself drawn to that small alcove, alit with candles, illuminating those rusty ancient chains. I sat there alone for quite a while, held in the sacredness of that space, present to the vast history of pilgrims who had come to see those chains over the centuries. Of all of the majestic and spiritual sites there are to see in Rome, it is that small case with those ancient rusty shackles, lit up by candles, that has stayed with me the most!

John’s Gospel ends by reminding Peter what it means to love Jesus. It isn’t about dogma or creeds. It isn’t about beliefs; Jesus doesn’t ask Peter to confess an understanding of Jesus. It isn’t about building a church; Jesus doesn’t ask Peter to create a hierarchy of bishops and popes. It isn’t about judgement or sin or an atoning meaning of his death; Jesus doesn’t ask Peter to understand him as the Christ who died for the sins of the world. Jesus asks Peter to love him. And in loving him, Jesus asks Peter to care for the least of these in this world, to feed, to care, to tend, to heal, to call back into community, to follow him!

Three times Jesus asks Peter, ‘do you love me?’ And in throwing down that gauntlet to Peter, Jesus poses that question to us as well. ‘Do you love me?’ And if we are so bold as to answer yes, then we are also called to care for the least of these in this world, to feed, to care, to tend, to heal, to call back into community, to follow him! To love Jesus, to be a disciple of Jesus means that God relies on us to be that witness in the world, with the entirety of our beings, to love lived out by following Jesus.

A challenging and risky call indeed! Being a disciple of Jesus means that we are called to risk standing against ALL uses of power that are not informed by love, truth and justice and instead lead to cruelty and oppression. I think we can all acknowledge that it is probably way more comfortable to stay back at the cross than to take the resurrection seriously. Because when we stand up as a resurrected people, we have to figure out what we need to give up in order be a follower of the resurrected Christ. When we stand up as a resurrected people, we have to figure out what we need to risk in order be a follower of the resurrected Christ.

For Jesus it was his life. Same for Peter ultimately. He was crucified in Rome a few decades after Jesus. He was imprisoned. He was shackled and chained. All because he responded, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  All because he followed Jesus and fed and cared for God’s people.  All because he served as a witness to Jesus in the world by loving with the entirety of his being and with all of his actions.

‘Do you love me?’ Jesus asks, not just to Peter a long, long time ago, but to each of us here today….knowing that if we respond yes, it means that we will be called to care for the least of these in this world, to feed, to tend, to heal, to call back into community, to love!

‘Do you love me?’ Jesus asks, not just to Peter a long, long time ago, but to each of us here today….knowing that if we respond yes, it means that we will witness to Jesus in the world by loving with the entirety of our being and with all of our actions.

‘Do you love me?’ Jesus asks, not just to Peter a long, long time ago, but to each of us here today. May we find the courage to answer yes!

May it be so, may it be so, may it be so….Amen