\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3Simon Peter said to them, \u201cI am going fishing.\u201d They said to him, \u201cWe will go with you.\u201d They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, \u201cChildren, do you have any fish?\u201d They answered him, \u201cNo.\u201d 6He said to them, \u201cCast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.\u201d So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, \u201cIt is the Lord!\u201d When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. 8The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 9When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, \u201cBring some of the fish that you have just caught.\u201d 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, \u201cCome and have breakfast.\u201d Now none of the disciples dared ask him, \u201cWho are you?\u201d They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, \u201cSimon, son of John, do you love me more than these?\u201d He said to him, \u201cYes, Lord; you know that I love you.\u201d He said to him, \u201cFeed my lambs.\u201d 16He said to him a second time, \u201cSimon, son of John, do you love me?\u201d He said to him, \u201cYes, Lord; you know that I love you.\u201d He said to him, \u201cTend my sheep.\u201d 17He said to him the third time, \u201cSimon, son of John, do you love me?\u201d Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, \u201cDo you love me?\u201d and he said to him, \u201cLord, you know everything; you know that I love you.\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cFeed my sheep. 18Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.\u201d 19(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, \u201cFollow me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo Love or to Be Loved\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Our gospel text today\u2014a post-resurrection story of a breakfast by the Sea of Galilee\u2014is a minor mystery for Bible students because it appears after the Gospel of John seemingly has ended. Chapter 20 ends with the statement that \u201cthis book\u201d was written so that the reader or hearer may \u201cbelieve,\u201d or come to faith in Jesus the Christ, God\u2019s Son and by that believing have eternal life. So, for chapter 21 to essentially begin \u201cbut wait, there\u2019s more\u201d is a tantalizing tidbit that Bible sleuths simply can\u2019t resist. Most of us know this story because it has at its core the \u201crehabilitation\u201d of Peter, who needs restoration after his awful failure on the night before the Resurrection. However, this story also points to another needed restoration or remedy.<\/p>\n As the story of Jesus told in John\u2019s Gospel builds to the events of the Passion, we are introduced to an anonymous disciple who becomes know as the \u201cbeloved disciple,\u201d or \u201cthe one whom Jesus loved.\u201d This beloved disciple is never directly revealed, but over the centuries the Church has developed the tradition that it is John who is the \u201cbeloved disciple.\u201d Without going down the rabbit hole of whether that is true or not, it is enough for us today to notice that there is\u2014how should we phrase this?\u2014a tension, a rivalry between Peter and this other disciple. A quick look at the career of this unnamed disciple in the gospel of John shows that the beloved disciple, who appears after the raising of Lazarus, is close at hand at the Last Supper (establishment of the Eucharist); is present at the foot of the Cross (does not run away during persecution); gets to the tomb of Jesus first, and, upon seeing it empty, believes; and here, at the fishing party\/breakfast, is the first to recognize the stranger as Jesus (recognizing Jesus\u2019 voice\/power\/presence). By contrast, Peter comes up short during the same time frame.<\/p>\n Now, while our lesson does not include it, this chapter ends with Peter questioning Jesus about this other disciple, and Jesus telling Peter, \u201cThat one is not your concern. Follow me!\u201d<\/p>\n I want you all to think about the fact that the Gospel of John, the gospel whom many know as the \u201cgospel of love,\u201d has, as Jesus\u2019 final spoken words, \u201cfollow me!\u201d<\/p>\n This is a vital word to us in a day and time when we all wish to believe that \u201clove\u201d is the only criterion that matters. Yes, we are called to love\u2014but we are called to love rightly, <\/em>to let love be partnered with hope and faith. Yes, we are to love\u2014but we are to love as followers of Jesus and be guided in learning the way of love from his example\u2014he who loved God above all. Yes, we are supposed to learn to love, but we are also supposed to learn that we are loved by Someone\u2014and that His love makes our ability to love rightly possible.<\/p>\n Jesus begins his restoration of Peter by asking a question that many commentators fret is vague or inadequate: \u00a0do you love me more than these? What are \u201cthese,\u201d we might say? Is this about the other disciples present there? Well, here we are at a breakfast made full, complete because of the word of the Lord. \u201cDo you love me, or do you love these things I provide\u2014the catch of fish, the breakfast itself? Do you love me, or do you love more these things of this world\u2014the life you had before, the tasks that you had mastered?\u201d Here, Jesus uses the famous \u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03c0\u03ac\u03c9, meaning love that is unconditional, even sacrificial\u2014the type of love God has for us. In return, Peter replies with \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03ad\u03c9, meaning fondness, a warm love or regard that comes from shared experiences among friends. From this confession of friendship and affection, Jesus tells Peter to care for the most vulnerable of the flock that belongs to the Lord. A second time: is your love unconditional? Peter again replies, you know I call you my friend. And again, a command: I want you to put yourself at risk and be shepherd for my sheep. A third time, yet here Jesus lowers the expectation: do you have \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03ad\u03c9, are you really my friend? Of course, for the third time, Peter declares he is the Lord\u2019s friend. In response, Jesus gives another command to care for the sheep.<\/p>\n Please notice: in response to Peter\u2019s assertions of love, Jesus calls for obedience\u2014go to those places I direct you; go to those people among whom I will be found.<\/p>\n By contrast, the beloved disciple goes to where Jesus is found, regardless of the potential consequences, because he is loved<\/em>. This is the only distinguishing mark we have of this otherwise anonymous disciple\u2014we are introduced to him as being in the Lord\u2019s love. \u00a0To put it plainly: the beloved disciple is the faithful one, the one who believes, the one who follows because he trusts Jesus\u2019 love for him. It does not matter if there is treachery afoot\u2014the beloved disciple wants to be where Jesus is. It is irrelevant that Jesus is dying, that there are soldiers everywhere, that danger is all around\u2014the beloved disciple goes to where Jesus is. It does not matter that the tomb is empty, that there is only silence\u2014the beloved disciple is confident that Jesus is risen. It does not matter that it appears to be a stranger on the shore\u2014the beloved disciple recognizes his Lord in the face of the stranger. And, to Peter\u2019s protestation about the one Jesus loves, the Lord\u2019s only reply is \u201cyou have no need to worry about him. Follow me\u2014so that you<\/u> can learn how much I love you!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Dear ones, that is our Lord\u2019s desire for each of us: to not count the cost, to not be afraid, to go wherever our Lord is found, to be ready to greet him every new morning because, knowing how much he loves us, we discover again and again that He loves us even more than that. As one of our saints here loves to remind me: it\u2019s like Augustine said: God loves each of us as if there is only one of us. Amen.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n \u00a9David H. Brooks<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 Pr.Dave.Brooks@zoho.com<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 Durham, NC USA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Third Sunday of Easter | 04 05 25 | A Sermon on John 21:1-19 | by David H. Brooks | \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,157,853,108,266,110,328,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-23560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-david-h-brooks","category-engl","category-kapitel-21-chapter-21-johannes","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23560"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23565,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23560\/revisions\/23565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23560"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=23560"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=23560"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=23560"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=23560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}