John 21:1-25

I preached today on the above passage. I thought you might like this story that formed the bulk of my sermon.

Peter Tells His Story

Peter was old, nearing the end of his life. He had travelled more widely and known so much more than he had ever expected to. All he had expected from himself was to run a little fishing business on the sea of Galilee, something he could pass onto his children. But his life hadn’t worked out like that. He had no regrets, he had lived a full and rich life and now he wasn’t afraid to die. Someone brought him a meal, he said “stay with me a while, I would like the company.” And so this stranger sat while Peter ate. Between mouthfuls, Peter began to tell him the story of another meal, long ago.

“I want to tell you about the last meal I had with Jesus.”
“You don’t need to,” said the stranger, “I overheard you telling old Sam next door about how you and your Jesus fellow got together one night for a final supper – you’re full of stories you don’t need to keep repeating them.”
Peter replied “This was a different meal, that was the supper we shared with Jesus before he died. This was breakfast after he’d risen from the dead. You remember me telling you about that?”
The guard nodded a reply. “How could I forget, you’ve told me every day you’ve been here.”

Jesus, risen from the dead, greets his disciples

Peter continued, “It’s not an understatement to say that when Jesus returned to us, he shocked and surprised us. He came back once to most of us disciples and spoke with us. Thomas wasn’t with us that time and so when he protested that he didn’t believe us, Jesus came back again – as if to personally reassure him. I guess I don’t blame Thomas. It’s a hard thing to believe – someone rising from the dead. I can see right now that you are having a hard time believing me.”

“The first time we saw Jesus after he returned, he gave us such a final farewell that I was convinced we would never see him again. But that wasn’t the last time he would surprise us. The final time he came, it was a surprise for me more than any of the others.”

Gone Fishing

“We hadn’t been sure what to do when Jesus left, we’d all been with him for three years and we’d been with him as he preached and healed and did all those sorts of things that he did. But none of us knew what to do next, we were at a loss, so I decided that the best thing for me to do was to go back to what I knew well. We were down by the lake at that time, and I still had a boat so I thought I may as well use it, then at least we would have something to eat. I thought that time out on the lake might give me time to clear my head, but that wasn’t to be, all the others wanted to come too. I guess it was just a relief to be doing something again, we’d spent too long locked away indoors.”

“It was great to have Jesus come back to us, to know that he had risen from the dead – that was amazing. But somehow it wasn’t enough for me just to see him briefly, I wanted to spend so much more time with him, just like we had before. And there was one other thing too … those meetings we’d had with Jesus after his death were great but there was some tension too.”

“There were some great times with Jesus, and some times I was on top of things, I somehow understood things before anyone else, and occasionally, when he thought I didn’t see, I would see Jesus smiling thoughtfully when I was doing something good. But there were other times too, times when I got it wrong, and the biggest mistake I ever made was still hanging between Jesus and me. After he was arrested, I was so scared that I would be next that I denied that I even knew him. In an hour, I went from being belligerent and wanting to fight for Jesus to being a coward, scared to even speak his name. I couldn’t follow him, I wasn’t hungry enough to know God that I would follow him to death. 3 times I denied him and each time I did, I felt as if I was the one hammering nails into my Lord. I wanted to see Jesus again one last time to let him know that now I was ready. I had only been without him a few days but those few days were like a famine, I was desperate to be on good terms with God again.”

“We took the boat out onto the lake at night. Again and again we dropped the nets, only to pull them back up – empty. As the first light began to rise over the horizon, we headed for shore. There was no point carrying on, we were all tired and hungry, but there would be no fish for us today. Then, as we approached the shore we saw a figure on the banks, he was silhouetted against the rising sun so we couldn’t see his face. He called out to us, asking if we’d caught any fish. When we replied that we’d not caught a thing, he suggested throwing the net over the right side of the boat one last time. It seemed an odd suggestion but we tried it anyway – after 3 years with Jesus we’d become used to following odd suggestions. We pulled on the nets and were amazed to find them teeming with silvery fish. John, my friend, was looking not at the flapping fish in the nets but at the figure on the bank. “It is the Lord” he said and that was enough for me, all I needed to hear. I was so desperate to see him that I plunged into the water and waded ashore to greet him, dripping wet as I was! I warmed myself at the fire Jesus had already started and noticed that he already had his fish slowly cooking above the coals.”

Breakfast in the Open Air

“We had a wonderful breakfast. We were out there in the fresh air, just us and our Lord, and we had time to talk. There was wonderful conversation; it was just like it was in the beginning – everyone pressing Jesus for answers about where he’d been and what it was like. There was just one thing I wanted to know and I would find out soon enough. After we ate, Jesus and I had the strangest conversation.”

Do You Love Me?

“Do you love me more than these?” Jesus asked
“I didn’t even think about it, it was an automatic reaction; ‘Yes Lord’, I said, ‘You know that I love you.’ It was as automatic as saying amen at the end of a prayer, as automatic as saying ‘I’m fine thank you’ when someone asks you how you are. It was the expected right answer. I needed to think about it a bit more before I could be sure it was the true answer.”

“Jesus replied to me saying “Feed my lambs.” Jesus often came out with these weird analogies. He didn’t have any flocks, he wasn’t a real shepherd, but I remembered him saying something once about being the good shepherd. If he was the shepherd, who were his sheep? It must be us disciples. He must be asking me to make sure the other 11 were looked after.”

“I was still mulling this over when Jesus said to me again “Do you truly love me?” This time I was ready for the question and more determined to give it a proper answer, I felt the note of hurt in Jesus voice, and I remembered that he had cause to doubt my love for him. I had been the one to say I would die defending him and I was the one who had not even wanted to be associated with him when he really needed a friend.”

“I thought about the things he’d done for me and the times we’d spent together. The things I’d given up for him had always been worth it. This time I was sure and I said “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” Again, Jesus asked me to take care of his sheep. I suddenly realised that he had been asking more than I thought. He wasn’t just asking that I look after my friends, Jesus’ sheep were the whole nation. He was asking me to take care of the whole nation! Now I began to feel scared. Surely this was beyond me.”

“A third time, Jesus asked me if I loved him. I was hurt this time, but the note of pain that had been in Jesus voice had gone. I thought I had answered as fully and completely as I could have done the last time he asked me. I said “You know all things, you know that I love you.” As I answered that third time, something changed inside me. I had rejected Jesus three times, and now I had affirmed him three times. I felt forgiven. I don’t know how I knew that but I did. I knew that Jesus had forgiven me.”

“Again, Jesus asked me to feed his sheep. My mind cast back to the time Jesus had been talking about this shepherding thing, and I remembered that he had said something about having other sheep that were not in this place. Surely I wasn’t supposed to look after the whole world? Was I?”

Peter’s Hunger for God

“I don’t know why Jesus chose me. There were others in the group who were more intelligent, others who were less emotional than I was – they would have made better leaders. I was rash and hasty, always jumping into things with both feet and making a mess. I mean, look at me now! If I’d had any measure of self control I wouldn’t be in this prison. But I can’t help telling people about Jesus, no matter how much trouble it gets me into.”

“Perhaps that’s why Jesus chose me, because I was more emotional, because in those meals with Jesus, I took in more than food, I was drinking in God’s presence. Perhaps Jesus chose me because I have a huge appetite for God, needing to go back again and again and to Jesus to let him fill me up with life. It was a long time between that last supper with Jesus on the very night I betrayed him and that breakfast on the banks of the lake and I never want to be away from God like that again – so I pray regularly, I worship, I eat meals with my friends and we remember Jesus. I try my best to do as Jesus asked me to, to look after the sheep in all of his pastures.”

“Follow Me”

“That’s a good story”, said the prison guard.
“It is, but it’s not over yet.” Peter replied. “The last thing Jesus asked me to do was to follow him. That was something which just a few days before I had not been willing to do. By following him, I’m certain he meant that I would die as he did. Dying is not an easy thing to do, but I have hope because I know my Lord was raised from death, and so, when I follow him, it will not be the end for me either. It is today isn’t it” Peter asked the guard. “Yes.” He answered sadly. “I have taken many men to their death, but never one so calm as you.”

And so the soldier dressed Peter, took him by the arm and led him out of the cell.

In the following days, the church in Rome had another believer come to them, determined to find out more about what kind of man it is that can offer forgiveness, what kind of man can rise from the dead and what kind of man can inspire such loyalty in his friends.