THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER C

[cappie]

In today’s gospel story of breakfast on the beach, we enter further into the Easter season, and working out what it means to have Resurrection in the world, the church, and in our lives.

After the graphic realities of Holy Week: bread broken, feet washed, thorns pressed into Jesus’ scalp, crosses raised, a body laid in a newly hewn grave. Easter, by contrast, is about an absence: the body is no longer in the tomb; and we are left to work out what that means.

Today’s story makes it clear that one of the functions of Resurrection life is restoration of relationship, and deep forgiveness.

This story provides a bookend to the Last Supper; this “First Breakfast” changes the trajectory for the disciples from grief and confusion to purpose and mission. Everything Jesus said to the disciples before his crucifixion is now coming to bear on the disciples, and their purpose.

But first, Jesus has some business with Peter Before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus told Peter that he would deny him, and sadly, his prediction comes true. Peter denies knowing Jesus. He is absent at the crucifixion. He is among the disciples who meet behind locked doors out of fear. Now Jesus speaks to him directly: “ Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?” Jesus asks him three times, and three times Peter affirms his love for Jesus. Each time, Jesus says: Firstly  “Feed my lambs”, then “Look after my sheep”,  then finally ‘Feed my sheep.”.

Peter is given the opportunity to undo his denial of Jesus with three affirmations of his love. Jesus tells him what to do with that love: feed the flock. Though the word “forgiveness” never appears in this story, it is nevertheless a critical theme. Peter, the impetuous disciple, gave in to fear, and failed to acknowledge Jesus, failed to stick around for the bitter end. Now Peter is given the opportunity to face his risen Lord and begin again. In the words of the hymn, “I come with joy to meet my Lord, forgiven, loved, and free; in awe and wonder to recall his life laid down for me.”

And this story offers some of the deepest implications of Resurrection for us: we are forgiven. We are invited to start over. We are completely loved. And we have a job to do. This isn’t only Peter’s story; it’s our story, too. When fear holds us back, love calls us forward. When we feel trapped by the way things have always been, Jesus invites us to cast our nets on the other side of the boat – change our perspective, in light of the Resurrection.

So, what does this mean for us?   If we understood ourselves to be completely forgiven, completely loved, and completely free, how would that change the choices we make about  work, money, or  relationships?

The light of resurrection, shining into us, invites us  to move away from the fears that bind us.

The implications of this story also resonate in our faith communities:   are we pointed forward, with the light of the Resurrection at our backs? If we are completely loved, completely forgiven and completely free, what does that imply about how we are to feed the flock?

We are called not only to proclaim God’s love, known to us in Jesus, but to act on it, setting aside fear, and   embracing love as the basis of every action we undertake.

God’s love, set loose in the world in the Resurrection, needs our hands and feet and hearts to make it concrete in our place and time. Like Peter, we’re invited to change our perspective, and cast our nets where the love of God is available for us and there’s plenty for everyone. Context is everything.

On that shoreline Peter is saying he would look the world in the eye, and he would never turn back. The challenge to us is the same as Peter; ‘Do you love me?’ If we do, will we love Christ enough to accept our own calling, modest as it may be, and follow him wherever it may lead ? Context is everything, but the question is the same.