Last week, as we were thinking about the account of the
disciples meeting in the Upper Room after the Resurrection, we were saying that
there was a ‘what next?’ or ‘where to start’ feel about some of these
passages covering the events after Jesus rose from the dead.
In today’s gospel, we have the disciples back in their old
stamping-ground and doing what came naturally to them. Peter says, “I am going
fishing.” The others respond “We will go with you.” Some commentators have
found all this a bit odd. The disciples have seen the risen Jesus, who appeared
at least twice to them, and said, on the second occasion, ‘As the Father has
sent me, so I send you.’ You would think they would be fired-up with
enthusiasm for spreading news about Jesus, but instead they retreat to Galilee
and seem to take up their old way of life. So is this a lack of faith, a desire
to return to the old ways, to find comfort in doing something they were good at
– or were they just hungry and needed to go fishing? Or were they so
overwhelmed by the immensity of the resurrection that they needed some ‘ordinary’
time together with normal conversation?
Whatever the truth might be, we’re reminded that it was by the
sea of Galilee, and in the context of fishing, that they first met Jesus. And
now they hear the same summons again, as Jesus calls them from the shore. One
thinks of the famous words of T.S. Eliot in his Four Quartets, where
spiritual explorers find at the end of their journey that they have returned to
the place where their journey began, and know it for the first time. But if
those first encounters with the disciples were recording a kind of honeymoon
period with Jesus, what today’s passage emphasizes is the calling to a deep
commitment ‘till death us do part.’ I what follows Jesus offers forgiveness,
challenge and commission.
But first, we delight in the account of the great haul of fish.
How specific the gospel writer is – 153 of them caught once the disciples had
cast the net on the right hand side of the boat. We’re probably being told
something here about the future of the Church. The Church will be as abundant as
a fisherman’s haul. And the Church is one with those in heaven who join in the
great song of praise recorded in today’s vision from Revelation. The irony is
that in the triumph of Easter, the Lamb that was slaughtered becomes the one
truly worthy of honour and glory and blessing, and that every creature in heaven
and on earth will join in the worship. There seems to be something important
about the Lamb’s slaughtered status, because Jesus stays with the lamb and
sheep theme in giving Peter his special commission as shepherd of the flock.
Peter, of course, let Jesus down with his three-fold denial on
the night of Jesus’ resurrection. But here is a second chance. When the
disciples cast the net on the right hand side of the boat, and immediately come
across a great shoal of fish, the disciple whom Jesus loved – John, we imagine
– tells Peter ‘It is the Lord.’ Without a moment’s hesitation Peter
leaps into the water to get to Jesus first. We remember a similar scene where
Jesus bids Peter to come to him across the water, and he foundered. This time,
Peter is successful. You could say that Peter ‘takes the plunge’. We are
invited also to take the plunge, not because we are rash, but because Jesus
beckons us to join him in a new life of adventure and hope.
But for Peter, there is a truth to be faced. After breakfast,
Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to say that he loves him – three times. Each
time he replies ‘yes’ Jesus gives him a task. Scholars have spent years
analysing the three commands Jesus gave Peter: Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep.
Feed my sheep. But perhaps it is enough for us to understand that Peter is being
given instruction to show pastoral care for Jesus’ flock. In this task, Peter
has to learn that the loving of Jesus is also about giving, not just about
getting.
And there is a bit of a sting in the tail, for that giving will
lead Peter to a place where he does not wish to go, when he will be bound and
taken. Did Peter stop to remember how he had said to Jesus at the Last Supper
that he was ready to die for him, only to desert him hours later? There is in
the traditions of the early Church the story of ‘Quo Vadis’ which some of
you may know. Peter was fleeing from Rome during the persecution of Christians
under the Emperor Nero, and he met Christ on the Appian Way, outside Rome. Peter
asked Jesus “Quo Vadis, Domine?” – Where are you going, Lord? Jesus
replied “To Rome, to be crucified again.” Jesus then vanished, leaving his
footprints in the road’s flagstone. Whereupon Peter turned round and went back
to the city, eventually meeting his martyrdom there. A church was built on the
site, known as the ‘Quo Vadis’.
So Peter was caught up in this cycle of forgiveness, challenge
and commission throughout his life of discipleship. And so it should be for us.
We’re challenged to do something with this great news of the resurrection and
of new life in Jesus. Every time we fail, forgiveness is there for us, and a
renewal of vision. St. Paul tells us that in this life, as our outer nature is
wasting away, our inner life is being renewed, because the
one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with him.
The story is told that, when Jesus returned to heaven, the
Archangel Michael barred his way. The archangel said, “How can you return to
heaven? Your work is not yet completed. There are many who do not know about or
who have not heard of your saving acts.’ Jesus said, ‘I have left my friends
to complete what I have begun.’ The Archangel was amazed, ‘Do you mean those
puny, often straying humans?’ ‘Yes,’ said Jesus, ‘I trust them and I
know that through following me they will bring my gospel to all the world.’
May we be equal to that expectation. A closing prayer:
Forgiving Lord, may I grow to love you with the certainty of
Peter; and with the courage that this love brings may I be willing to go where I
may not wish to go, to feed your sheep and care for your people. In the strength
of your Spirit.
Amen.