Do you remember the story? This is what the Motion Picture Association of America is asking. The summer is here and it is full of summer blockbusters, but interestingly, some of the biggest movies are sequels. We have Cars 2 and Pirates of theCaribbean4 and Harry Potter 7.5. The motion picture industry knows us well. They know that when there is a downturn in the economy, and entertainment dollars are scarce, we will flock to what we know and what we have enjoyed in the past. The movie industry is banking, literally banking millions of dollars that we have remembered the story. Toy Story 3 was released 10 years after Toy Story 2. Tron Legacy eclipsed that by releasing a sequel 20 or so years after the first chapter of the series.
How is it that we have remembered a story from 20 years ago that we would be interested in hearing more of the story? Our nature is divided. There’s part of us that feels uncomfortable unless the story has a definitive ending. We want the good guys to win, the bad guys to loose, and we want the Death Star to explode, never to be rebuilt. But there’s also part of us that craves the next chapter. We know that life doesn’t always end like it does in the movies. We know that our heroes wake up the next morning waiting for the next adventure. The same holds true in scripture. I’ve always wondered what happened the next day when the prodigal son awoke. After giving him rings for his fingers and a fatted calf, did the father also give the prodigal and brand new pair of work boots? Jesus tells the rich young ruler that he lacks one thing, to sell everything, give to the poor, and follow. The man walks away sorrowful, but we don’t know whatever happened to him. Did he walk away in sorrow because he wouldn’t follow? Did he walk away sorrowful because he was about to sell all of the possessions he dearly loved?
Our text today is a sequel of sorts. More appropriately it’s an epilogue. Jesus shows his wounds to Thomas and Thomas replies, “My Lord and My God!” The next few sentences say, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” It’s a fitting ending. Jesus is triumphant, the disciples believe, but don’t close the book yet. Chapter 21 begins saying, “After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples.” You mean, there’s more? Of course there is. Even though the Gospel ends in triumph and great belief, the reader is left asking, “What am I to do?” Our Christian journey doesn’t end with faith. It begins with God’s Prevenient Grace which leads us into God’s justifying grace in Jesus on the cross, which drives us into Sanctifying Grace, the work of the Holy Spirit. Our story doesn’t end with confession, and neither does John’s.
John 21 begs us to remember the story and to put that story into action. Jesus again showed himself to the disciples. Remember the story. This is not the first time Jesus reveals himself. “Gathered together were Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John, and two other disciples.” How would you like to have been remembered as one of the other two disciples who were there, but remember the story! Jesus’ ministry began when two unnamed disciples asked where he was staying.
Simon Peter encourages the disciples who are there to go fishing, in other words, to go back to their day jobs. Peter has been to the Easter service. He has seen the lilies and hydrangeas, he has heard the trumpets and the Hallelujah Chorus, but things are back to normal now. They load up the boat and they go fishing, and it was night. Remember the story. The fact that it’s night is not a novelist description. John throughout the Gospel shows that when darkness abounds there is confusion and mourning, Nicodemus meeting with Jesus under the cover of darkness, Mary weeping at the darkness of a garden tomb. It should come to no surprise to you that they caught nothing. They were fishing for the wrong catch without the help of the light. In him was life and the life was light and the light shined in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
Just after daybreak Jesus stood on the beach, the Gospel reports . . . don’t you just love the picture John is creating? Just after daybreak . . . Jesus stood on the beach and the disciples did not know it was him. Remember the story! After the Resurrection, Mary mistook Jesus for a gardener. Jesus cried out to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” So they cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they caught more fish than they knew what to do with. The Beloved Disciple says, “It is the Lord,” and Peter puts on some clothes and jumps in the water. Now . . . what an odd detail, unless . . . you remember the story, and this one goes way back. God gives to the man and the woman a garden, and they could eat of any tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They ate from the forbidden tree and their first act following their disobedience was to hide their nakedness because they were ashamed. Peter who recently denied having even known Jesus, sees his Lord on the Lakeshore and immediately clothes himself. Then he jumps into the water. He doesn’t wait for the boat to come in with the fish. He jumps into the water, submerging himself. Remember the story! What are you doing, Jesus. Why are you washing my feet? Unless I wash you, you have no share in me. Then wash all of me. No, I only need to wash your feet. Peter, with his denial fresh in his mind dunks his whole body in the water, water which he hopes will wash away his clothed shame.
Jesus was there cooking breakfast, preparing for them fish and bread. Remember the story. Jesus multiplied the fish and the loaves, and through the abundance of God there were twelve baskets left over. The fish Jesus was preparing did not come from their catch. It was already there. That is so true of God’s Prevenient Grace. A meal had already been set for them, and they were simply asked to eat and be filled. Our story says that after breaking the bread, “This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to them.” In the breaking of the bread, Jesus is revealed.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these.” Remember the story! When Jesus first met Simon he named him Peter. He seems to have lost that title, at least, for now. When Jesus says, “Do you love me more than these,” we’re not sure what “these” are. I imagine that Jesus might be pointing to the burning charcoals. The last time Peter was around charcoal is when he was warming himself in the courtyard while he was denying Christ. Do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than power or preservation or status? Do you remember these burning coals? The coals with which I used to burn Isaiah’s lips to make them clean? The coals I now show to you so that you might be clean? “You know that I love you,” Peter replies. Jesus answers, “Go and feed my sheep.” I am the Good Shepherd Jesus once said, and now he is entrusting Peter with this great responsibility.
Jesus asks him to feed his sheep once for each time that Peter denied Jesus. I wonder what the world would be like if we answered our doubts and our denials with good works. It is easy to respond with good works when we are faithful and times are good. I wonder what it would be like if when we are faced with doubt or anger or frustration that we respond with good works anyway. Lord, you know I love you, but I’m just so angry . . . go and feed my sheep. Lord, you know I love you, but I’m doubting . . . go and feed my sheep. Lord, you know I love you, but that guy who claims to be a Christian . . . go and feed my sheep.
The Gospel ends with a call to action. It is why the next book in the New Testament is the Acts of the Apostles. It’s not the devotion or the discipline or the orthodoxy, it is the Acts, the Actions of the Apostles. It is the story of a community of faith who spread the word, ate together, shared all things together, and began a revolution which is still transforming the world. It is the mission statement of our church. We are called to make disciples for the transformation of the world. Remember the story. Jesus’ ministry began with two unnamed disciples. I imagine that you might know two people who need to know the love and grace and mercy of God. Remember the story, and remember that you are a part of that story. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.