Do you love me? Feed my sheep!

III Sunday Easter John 21:1-19 At that time, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way. Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee's sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We also will come with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They answered him, "No." So he said to them, "Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something." So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish. When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you just caught." So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come, have breakfast." And none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they realized it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." He then said to Simon Peter a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." Jesus said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."

There is no story of the actual Resurrection of Jesus. The Gospels relate stories of Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection, but there are no eye witness accounts of what happened at the tomb on Easter Morning. We can only imagine what Jesus’ resurrection was like, the body coming to life, rising from the grave, leaving behind the cloths that he was buried in. We know that the Resurrection was not a rescucitation, by that we mean that Jesus didn’t just come back to life. He wasn’t like a corpse in the morgue that was declared dead and now has life in him again. No, we believe that after the resurrection Jesus was different. He still had a corporal body that could be touched, he could still eat and drink, but now he seemed to be able to appear and disappear at will. He could be in two places at once. We do have several stories of Jesus’ appearances to his followers after his resurrection. Imagine what it must have been like, Jesus appearing to his followers. Probably harps and horns announcing his arrival, long flowing garments of course all white and Jesus glowing like a Sun, like the Son of God that he was. NOPE! There is none of that quite the opposite in fact. Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene and he is so common that she thinks he must be the gardener. Then he appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, just like any traveler on the road. But of all the stories of Jesus’ appearance after his resurrection the one in today’s Gospel, the account from John is the most human. Jesus appears and he is making breakfast for his disciples. Imagine him if you will. The sun is just breaking so it is hard to make out who he is and he yells to the disciples, “did you catch anything boys?” They respond nothing and he says, “try the right side of the boat.” They figure they’ve nothing to lose. Sure enough they make a huge catch of fish and the disciple whom Jesus loves immediately recognizes Jesus and Peter jumps into the water anxious to see Jesus. When they get to shore Jesus is there and he has started a fire. There is more light now so they can clearly see Jesus. Of course he is wearing the robes that everyone wore at that time. It was probably dirty and he was wearing sandals or he was barefoot. Jesus is making breakfast for the disciples. Jesus is feeding his followers. No, no trumpets and Angels, no flowing robes and Jesus descending dramatically from the clouds. No, Jesus has started a fire and he is making breakfast for his disciples. How many times have you said to the people you love, “come, breakfast is ready!” “Dinner is served!” How many times have you come home from a long day of work fighting the traffic, you come home exhausted and someone you love places a plate of food in front of you. The disciples had worked all night long. They were out fishing, trying to make a living. They were tired and hungry, they obviously hadn’t showered and cleaned up. And Jesus is there, just another one of the guys getting breakfast for the people that he loved. That is the kind of God that we have. A God that is concerned about us. A God that loves us so much that he feeds us. A God who walks with us. Of course it is only natural to think of the Eucharist when we think of Jesus’ feeding us. But for a moment try not to think of the Eucharist in terms of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, or in terms of the Basilica of Guadalupe here in Mexico, or even of our own beautiful church. Try to think of the Eucharist in terms of your own humble kitchen and imagine yourself preparing breakfast for your family. Imagine your mom putting breakfast on the table for you. Such is Jesus love for us. This week the cardinals gathered in Rome will begin the conclave. The 135 or so of them will be locked into the Sistine chapel and they will begin to choose our next pope, they will chosing the 267th sucessor to St. Peter and today’s Gospel is as good a gospel as one could choose for this momentous ocassion. What does Jesus do? He calls Peter aside and he asks him do you love me? He asks him three times reminding Peter that he denied Jesus three times. All 135 of those men locked into the Sistine Chapel have sinned. There is not a one who is perfect, just as Peter wasn’t but Jesus asks Peter the only question that matters. “do you love me?” I could think of a lot of other questions that Jesus might have asked Peter. “Do you promise that you won’t betray me again?” Will you be more modest in your claims about following me now?” “Now, that you have denied me are your ready to amend your life?” “Now do you see why I had to wash your feet?” “Well , big mouth, are you ready to take over?” But Jesus doesn’t ask any of those questions. Jesus is interested in only one thing, Jesus is only interested in the person Peter who stood before him. It didn’t matter what Peter had done in the past. Jesus was ready to forgive and to lead Peter into the future. Jesus has only one question for Peter and it is so important he asked it three times. “do you love me?” that is the only question that should be put to the next Pope. “Do you love Jesus?” If he says yes, that is all that matters. Of course it doesn’t end there. No, after Jesus is sure that Peter loves him he tells him to feed us. To feed his sheep. That is the only thing that the new pope needs to do, is to feed us. Jesus doesn’t say, “Judge my sheep.” He doesn’t say, “Separate the goats from the sheep, the good from the bad.” He doesn’t say, “Make sure to keep the gays and the divorced out of the communion line.” He doesn’t say take care of the good ones first and then worry about the bad ones last. Jesus says to Peter. Do you love me? If you do then you will feed my sheep. We have the right to ask the cardinals the same thing. “Do you love Jesus? Then feed us your sheep.”