May 5, 2025 • 46 mins
Pastor Ian Graham looks at the story of Jesus' resurrection breakfast with his disciples on the beach of the Sea of Tiberias.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello friends, my name is Ian.
It's a joy to be with you today.
I don't know if you've beenpaying attention to some of the
wider trends that are occurring,but in places like the UK and
Australia there's been asignificant shift in people
showing up to church andoftentimes renewal movements are
driven by young people.
(00:21):
I served in youth ministry for10 years of my life at a small
little church in Pennington andit was a profound joy, and one
of the things I identified aboutthat time and why it was so
filled with joy is because highschool and middle school
students actually change, noshade thrown to the adults here.
(00:41):
I sincerely mean that.
But there is this liminal timeas these students are going
through their lives and sort ofdiscerning the first glimpses of
what will become of them, thatthey are interested in who is
Jesus and what is he doing.
So that was a profound gift,and oftentimes what we see is,
when church attendance does seemto significantly change, it's
(01:03):
driven by that subset of people,and in the UK this is certainly
happening.
The church attendance amongst18 to 24-year-olds over the last
six years has quadrupled.
Now we're talking about a smallsubset still.
In 2018, it was 4% of thepopulation of that subset so
like very small.
Now, if math majors in herequadruples, that's 16%, but
(01:29):
still significant.
Right and again, that's usuallythe story that's told.
But in Australia, something veryinteresting is happening.
The change and the shift is notbeing driven by young people,
but by people that are moreadvanced in wisdom Australians
age 55 and older.
(01:49):
Now, in these cosmopolitanplaces that are often attractive
for migration, what you oftenhave is a renewal of the church
from places that are far-flung.
So this happened in the UK inthe 80s and 90s.
There was a significant renewalof the church because people
were moving, especially toplaces like London, from all
(02:09):
over the world, and what youhave are these really faithful
people from places like Asia andAfrica moving to the UK and
saying we've been followingJesus for a long time, would you
like to come?
And so often the church renewalhappens in that way, and here
in Princeton we've seen so muchof that and we're grateful for
that.
But something in Australiathat's so interesting is that
(02:30):
amongst this subset of thepopulation, often called boomers
, people 55 and over, you'reseeing this dramatic increase in
church attendance Between 2016and 2021, the number of
Australians aged 55 and over whochanged from no religion to
Christianity, increased by 48%to nearly 195,000 people.
(02:53):
Again, if you spend any time inchurch, one of the things that
you have to overcome is thatsense of apathy and malaise that
people can actually change.
I run into this in my own life,where I'll interact with people
daily and I have to keep thatvision, which is really Jesus'
vision, because Jesus has aheart for this person.
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Jesus is drawing them tothemselves, but sometimes in my
interactions I'm like thatperson will always kind of be
that way and especially aspeople grow old, that sediments
and it stratifies.
And to see this kind ofsignificant shift in Australia
is remarkable.
Sociologist Peter Berger tracedwhat he called the
secularization story andessentially, if we were to boil
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down that story, the story ofsecularism is that as our
knowledge of science andtechnology increases, that
religion and the need for itwill be pushed to the margins.
So the most bare basic versionof this story is the ancients
used to think that thunderstormswere the product of the angry
gods and now we know that it'scaused by friction in the
(04:00):
atmosphere and all sorts ofother factors, and so that idea
that, as science explains thatit minimizes the need for
religion.
And in the 60s, berger wrotesignificantly that this would be
kind of a boulder rollingdownhill.
It was irreversible.
But Berger kept doing research.
He kept paying attention to thetrends and, as with any wise or
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intelligent person, what hebegan to see as he assessed the
data was that the data wastelling him he was wrong.
And do you know what wise andintelligent people do?
When data tells them adifferent story than they've
been telling?
They change.
It's remarkable.
You mean you don't have to beso stringently like I am right,
I will never change course.
No, you don't to be sostringently like I am right, I
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will never change course.
No, you don't.
You can change your mind.
You can say I have newinformation.
And Berger realized that, thoughoften his thesis was true at an
institutional level, that at anindividual level it just wasn't
holding true, that people werestill encountering life's
biggest questions.
Is there a God?
(05:05):
If so, who are they?
Who am I?
What am I here for?
What is living?
What is dying?
And they're coming to thesequestions and they're finding
that often these places that wetry to put this immense amount
of meaning don't have answers tothose questions.
Amount of meaning don't haveanswers to those questions, we
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see a convergence of a lot ofthings going on, and I think we
as Ecclesia, as a church here inPrinceton, are uniquely
positioned for what I think arejust the glimpses of what God is
going to do here in the UnitedStates, here amongst churches
like ours and I say all thisbecause I want to be a part of
it.
I hope you do too.
Here at Ecclesia, we are thisbeautiful mosaic of young kids
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which we saw them leading us inworship here at the front just a
moment ago of college students,yes, but also not just young
kids and college students,people that just live here and
have young kids, or people thatare empty nesters.
When we come together, it is amiracle.
Like take a moment and lookaround, look who you're sitting
next to.
(06:15):
Like maybe you're sitting nextto a friend or a family member,
but for the most part, you haveto ask yourself the question why
am I in the room with thisperson?
And I would lead you to anotherquestion, which is why I'm
going to listen to a talkinghead for 15 to 30 minutes.
I don't do that anywhere.
You can ask yourself thatquestion later.
It's a strange thing thathappens when we gather together.
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It's nothing short of a miracle.
There's no reason we should allbe in the room together other
than the fact that Jesus is Lordand he's risen Now.
You may not believe that, andthat's okay too If you're here
and you're like.
I don't subscribe to that.
This is meant as sort of aglimpse and an invitation to
what life in the kingdom lookslike, and it has to be
believable in the faces that youencounter.
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But it is a miracle that we'rehere together and I think as we
see what God is doing, thesestreams that are converging in
the wider world, we also see forus an invitation of what God
might be wanting to do in us.
Elizabeth Oldfield, who was withus on Tuesday for a talk here
at the Arts Council, asked thequestion what kind of people are
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required at the end of theworld, and she used that term
end of the world not in thesense of the literal end of the
world, and she used that termend of the world not in the
sense of the literal end of theworld.
So I'm not going to invite youto set your watches and
calendars to tell you that Iknow when Jesus is coming back,
when all is going to end.
None of that.
Jesus tells the disciplesthat's not for us to know, it's
not our concern.
But she used that term end ofthe world in the sense of the
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apocalyptic.
Apocalyptic from the Greekapocalypsis means to reveal.
It means unveiling that whichwas previously hidden.
It's not just about end timesand zombies and chaos.
It's about seeing to the rootof things.
What kind of people are neededat the end of the world?
And what I want to do today isas we turn to our story here,
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which is one of my favoritestories in the scriptures in
John 21,.
What I want to do today is aswe turn to our story here, which
is one of my favorite storiesin the scriptures in John 21,.
What I want to do is sort ofinvite us to hold two different
layers at one time, and thefirst, I'm going to give you all
of it right at once.
You can take a picture of it.
You can kind of save that forlater, something hopefully to
contemplate, to pray about, like, yes, lord, would you do this?
(08:25):
But the dynamics of a move ofGod.
If God is on the move, thenwhat kinds of things are
happening?
First, we see the miraculouspower of God that that which is
happening is inexplicable insome ways, and there's nothing
more miraculous than a lifechange.
I love what the recentlydeceased Pope Francis said.
It's one of my favorite quotesbecause it's so simple and so
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beautiful.
Jesus came to save us from thelie that people can't change.
I mean, come on right.
And there's something soprofound about somebody who is
more advanced in years, who'sseen a lot, still saying at some
point in their life I trust you, jesus, but we see the
miraculous power of God.
We'll see that today in John 21.
The second the lifting of shamethat people oftentimes.
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When God engages in renewal,the first response that people
have is to confess their sins,and what they find in that
confession is not the whole roomturning to them like you did
what.
What they find is freedom.
What they find is that inunburdening themselves from that
brokenness, they find grace.
At the same time, we seecommissioning and responding
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with obedience.
Jesus doesn't just invite us toreceive the life that he has
for us, he invites us toparticipate in what he's doing
in the world.
Jesus says come to me all youwho are weary and heavy laden.
And he says two things.
Next he says I will give yourest, which is beautiful.
But he also says my yoke iseasy and my burden is light.
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A yoke was an agricultural toolused to join oxen together for
plowing fields.
So Jesus is saying I willunburden you from all the lies,
all the distortions that youhave been living under the
crushing weight under, and atthe same time, I'm going to
invite you to join me as I makeall things new.
Last, we see, knowing ourselvesas beloved by God.
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How can there, where there'sconfession of sin, how can there
, where there's confession ofsin, how can there, where
there's this reorienting of ourlives, how can there be this
pervasive joy?
It's because god's love isreally that good, and we'll see
what that looks like.
So we have this kind of macro,wider angle perspective.
What I want to do, then, is isscale down into the micro.
(10:40):
As we enter john, chapter 21.
If you have a bible, you canturn with us over there or we'll
have the words for you on thescreen.
I'm going to invite you.
Let's hear the word of the Lordtogether, john 21.
After these things, jesus showedhimself again to the disciples
by the sea of Tiberias, and heshowed himself in this way
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Gathered there together wereSimon Peter, thomas, called the
twin Nathanael of Cana, andGalilee, the sons of Zebedee and
two others of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them I'mgoing fishing.
They said to him we will gowith you.
Now we're not told why Peterand these other disciples, after
having seen the risen Jesus inJohn, chapter 20, returned to
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their fishing nets.
It could be as simple as theyneeded to earn money, and this
was the vocation and the skillthat they knew the best.
Peter, when he was called byJesus, was a fisherman, as we'll
see in just a moment.
It also could be a commentaryon their particular wavering
about what was to come,particularly Peter's, his sense
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of self, his sense of calling.
From the standpoint of John'snarrative, peter was a part of
the revelation of the risenChrist in John, chapter 20.
So he's seen Jesus alive, butthe last time we've sort of seen
and heard from Peter, he isdenying that he even knows Jesus
.
We see this prior to Jesus'death on the cross.
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So, yes, peter and the otherdisciples have seen the risen
Jesus, as John will tell us ontwo previous occasions, and
Peter, like the other disciples,has heard the word of peace
that Jesus has both for thedisciples and the entire world.
This is what heaven has to sayto earth.
Peace shalom.
Peter's return to his nets maybe the sign of a crisis of
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vocation.
Perhaps he's going back to whatis comfortable.
Perhaps he's asking himself thequestion how can he serve Jesus
if he has denied him?
So we have, first of all, acrisis of vocation, and a crisis
doesn't have to be negative.
Crises encounter us and theybring us to an inflection point,
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a time of considering, ofchanging.
And for many of you, you're onthe forefront of a sort of
crisis of vocation and you'reassessing, you're discerning
where are my gifts needed?
Where are they obvious?
What should I major in?
What sort of line of workshould I do?
And I'll tell you this theanswer for everybody is not
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private equity.
Okay, but the reality isthere's nothing wrong with that.
But I find sometimes it's likethat's the answer, nothing wrong
with that.
But for those of us who maybehave been down the road a little
bit again, those of us maybe alittle more weathered, a little
more cracks in our faces,there's a different kind of
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crisis of vocation.
That often happens.
We get down the road and westart asking ourselves the
question what does all this meanNow?
Oftentimes we've talked aboutthis before we put far too much
import and meaning into our paidwork.
Plain and simple.
We over-index on that becausethat is a statement that we have
some value in America andthat's not the biblical sense of
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vocation.
But for many of us we've hadthe experience either a job was
lost, a road that we werewalking down was closed to us,
or we're like I want to get offthis road as quickly as possible
, please.
And there's a different kind ofcrisis of vocation that enters
in.
I think this is where we seePeter.
To some extent, he's beenwalking down the road with Jesus
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for three years and now he'sarrived at this inflection point
.
And what do we see him doing?
He's going back to his nets,that which is somewhat
comfortable for him.
So we frame this story.
Questions of vocation, surely,but also Peter having denied
Jesus, knowing that he's aliveand not knowing how to stand
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before him.
We have questions of shame.
How will I stand before my Lordwhom in the hour of trial I
falter?
Verse 3.
They went out and got into theboat, but that night they caught
nothing.
Fishing in this culture tookplace overnight, often from dusk
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till dawn If you really want toget into the idiosyncrasies of
scholarship and biblical studies.
But I know there's many peoplehere in Princeton that study
very significant things that arevery minute.
There's a whole book on ancientfirst century Jewish fishing
practices.
You could read it.
I commend it to you.
But if you're really into itlike where does this stuff come
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from?
People have began to study like, okay, well, how would these
disciples have fished?
They would fish from dusk untildawn.
They would use different kindsof dragnets to snare the fish.
But these were professionalfishermen.
Their whole existence ispredicated on the fact that they
are good at catching fish.
Right, they have some knowledge.
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They're putting that to use andwe see that all night they have
fished and they have caughtnothing.
In Luke, chapter 5, we have avery similar story to our story
for today.
The disciples have beensimilarly working all night and
caught nothing, beginning to seea bit of a pattern here.
Maybe we consider a differentline of work.
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But Jesus comes to them at dawn, and Jesus was such a genius,
he was so brilliant.
And I don't know if you've beenon the water, but there's those
little coves that you can be inand the water has this way of
amplifying sound over it, andJesus, oftentimes, when he would
teach in the scriptures, wouldjust set out on a little boat.
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He would be in the water andthe people that were listening
to him would be in a little cove.
Just a little naturalamplification.
Jesus, the author of all things, kind of knows how things work,
and he would teach from there.
And so these disciples have beenout all night.
Jesus comes to them on theshore.
They're surely exhausted.
They've been awake all night.
They're feeling defeated.
Jesus says hey, would you mind,can I borrow your boat and you?
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You row out maybe 100 yards andwe'll have a little chat with
these folks that are gatheringon the shore.
And the sub was like I guess so.
And so they put out with Jesusinto the water, and as Jesus
finishes teachings, he says hey,you know what if we tried to
fish again?
Again, fishing didn't takeplace at daytime, it wasn't the
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time where the fish werecongregating.
Also, too, how would you likeif the pastor came to your job
and was like hey, have youconsidered trying it this way?
I'm like, yeah, guy, go back toyour books and your coffee,
please trying it this way.
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I'm like, yeah, guy, go back toyour books and your coffee,
please.
So Jesus, with all of his grandknowledge, says what if we
tried again?
And Peter tries to push backMaster, we've worked all night
long, caught nothing.
Yet if you say so, I will letdown the nets.
Verse 6 of Luke 5.
When they had done this, theycaught so many fish their nets
were beginning to burst, so theysignaled their partners in the
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other boat to come and help them.
And they came and filled bothboats so that it began to sink.
But when Simon Peter saw it, hefell down at Jesus' knees,
saying Go away from me, lord,for I am a sinful man.
Sounds like Isaiah here, isaiah6.
As Isaiah encounters thepresence of the Lord in the
temple, woe is me, for I am asinful man amongst these sinful
people.
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And yet at exactly thatrealization, there is a way made
, there's invitation.
We have to see this.
Jesus doesn't just reveal hisprofound holiness so that we can
be set aside cowering.
He invites us, as Peter tellsJesus, please.
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I don't know who you are, butthere's something profound
happening here.
We see that Jesus at one andthe same time says do not be
afraid, from now on you will becatching people.
When they brought their boatsto shore, they left everything
and followed him.
When they had brought theirboats to shore, they left
everything and followed him.
In Luke 5, their initialresponse to Jesus' word
invitation was to leaveeverything, their boats and
their nets and to receive Jesus', call to fish for people.
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Now we see Peter and the sonsof Zebedee who are also there in
Luke 5, back trying to justfish, and the text tells us they
caught nothing.
We often try to do this in ourlife with God.
We receive a call, aninvitation to live by faith, to
serve the Lord, to expect thathe will do abundantly more than
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we can ask or imagine.
And then we come to thesedifferent crossroads in our
lives and we're tempted toshrink back to what is
comfortable, what is known andwhat is manageable.
And the subtle commentary ofJohn is this Our skills, no
matter how prodigious they maybe, in light of God's call, will
no longer serve us.
These professional fishermencaught nothing, verse 4.
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And since Luke 5.
So they cast it and now theywere not able to haul it in
because there were so many fish.
The disciple whom Jesus lovedsaid to Peter it is the Lord,
yes, our ways of managing ourworld, our circumstances, our
lives will no longer suffice orsustain.
They caught nothing.
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But Jesus speaks a better word,a word of abundance, of
extravagance and provision.
Now, I don't know if you've hadthis experience.
Maybe you've gone fishing atthe shore overnight, perhaps
you've spent a night on thewater.
But even in warm places, I grewup in a very hot climate.
Sometimes we spent a long timein the lake, even at night.
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Sometimes it would get a littlecold, and we see that Peter and
these fishermen have beenfishing all night in Tagba,
which is the village that'sassociated with this story, on
the banks of the Sea of Galileeor the Sea of Tiberias in our
story.
The temperature today is likethe lows are in the 60s, the
water temps somewhere in theupper 60s, which is not that
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warm, and the highs can get intothe 80s and 90s in the warmer
months.
So we do have quite a rangehere.
But you've probably had thatexperience of being out on the
water.
In the night it got quite cold,and now the sun is coming up.
Oftentimes one of the fishermenwould have to jump into the
water to make sure the netsweren't getting tangled.
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In this style of fishing and thesun is coming up and we can
presume, because we're told inverse 7, that Peter is naked.
He has removed his outergarment.
The word used there is the wordgymnos, where we get our word
gymnasium, because historicallya gymnasium was a place where
predominantly men would gatherand were mostly unclothed and
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naked.
So Peter is not clothed.
The sun is rising, he'sprobably been cold all night and
he's finally starting to warmup.
Now he hears a voice from theshore.
Peter no doubt a bit coldhearing the voice, feeling the
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warmth of the sun on his skin.
When Simon Peter heard that itwas the Lord, he put on his
outer garment, for he had takenit off.
He was gymnos gymnos in theGreek.
He jumped into the sea, but theother disciples came in the
boat dragging the net full offish, for they were not far from
the land, only a hundred yardsoff.
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If you were going to get intothe water, don't you normally
remove clothes?
Yes, I understand that Peter'sdown to his undergarments.
He's not completely in the nudehere.
He's been working fishing andculturally a man would not go
about in his undergarments.
But if you sort of think aboutthe life of the disciples and
all the time they've spenttogether.
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Surely Jesus has seen Peter inthis state before?
They spent a lot of timetogether.
So why does John tell us thisspecific detail?
It could be nothing and Ialways want to put that
possibility before you, but as Iread it I'm like hmm.
In Genesis, chapter 2, the texttells us that the man and the
woman in the shalom andextravagance of the garden are
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naked in the Greek translationof the Old Testament called the
Septuagint, the same word gumnosand are unashamed.
The Greek translation of theOld Testament, in chapter 3,
tells us that the man and thewoman, upon eating from the tree
for which they were forbiddento eat from, realize that they
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are gymnos naked and they hidefrom God.
They sew together figs andleaves to cover themselves up
and when the Lord goes walkingthrough the garden in the cool
of the evening, they hide.
And God asks that ever graciousquestion where are you?
And they call out from thebushes over here.
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Why are you hiding?
Oh, we hid because we werenaked.
Who told you that you wereGymnos Naked?
To my mind, john is such amasterful storyteller that this
dynamic and Peter's response,especially when we consider that
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Peter puts on his outer garmentTo swim Is causing us to pay
attention.
Think about just your culturalassumption of what people wore
in Jesus' time.
Maybe you've watched the Chosenright.
People were wearing longflowing robes, right Like not
exactly swimming attire.
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Why does Peter, when heperceives that it might be Jesus
calling to them from the shore,why does he put on his clothes
to jump into the water for acouple hundred meters swim?
And how do we do this with God?
At some level, we often knowthat God is the only place we
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can find healing, relief for ourshame, and yet we spend so much
time trying to pretty ourselvesup to come into his presence or
to fix that which we can andsay, okay, see God, you're
soaking wet after your swim.
Hey, I'm here, and Jesusdelights in any attempt we make
back towards him because he hasgone the whole way.
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But I'm telling you, friends,jesus had seen Peter in that
state before.
I don't think he needed to puton his outer garments and
belabor himself for this swim.
I think he could have just comeas he was.
But Peter wraps himself andapproaches the Lord soaking wet
Verse 9.
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When they had gone ashore, theysaw a charcoal fire there with
fish on it and bread.
Jesus said to them bring someof the fish that you've just
caught.
So Simon Peter went aboard andhauled the net ashore full of
large fish.
It's really funny to me thatJesus has fish and he's already
cooking.
He's like oh yeah, bring somemore of your fish too.
You can participate in thismeal also.
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Jesus said to them come andhave breakfast Now.
None of the disciples dared toask him who are you?
Because they knew it was theLord.
Jesus came and took the breadand gave it to them and did the
same with the fish.
This was now the third timethat Jesus appeared to the
disciples after he rose from thedead.
This was now the third timethat Jesus appeared to the
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disciples after he rose from thedead.
Do you have a smell that alwaysbrings you back, a smell that
maybe you have happy memoriesassociated with?
Perhaps you grew up in ahousehold that was safe and
comfortable.
Perhaps somebody in your housebaked bread, mom or dad and that
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smell of being in a bakeryalways brings you back home.
I can still sort of conjure thesense memory of Courtney, my
wife and I just started datingin high school.
I can still remember what thatsmelled like.
I also remember the smell ofmiddle school and this is for
the elder millennialsAbercrombie Woods, just
everywhere, just so much.
Some of you are younger, it'sAxe Body Spray.
That was my time in youthministry, but you have smells
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that bring you back.
Neuroscientists have made muchof the connection between the
sense of smell and our memories.
Dr Murthy, in a Harvard study,says this smells are handled by
the olfactory bulb, thestructure in the front of the
brain that sends information tothe other areas of the body's
central command.
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For further processing, odorstake a direct route to the
limbic system, including theamygdala and the hippocampus,
the regions related to emotionand memory.
The olfactory signals veryquickly get to the limbic system
.
If that all sounded like jargonfor you, let me just translate
that your sense of smell is asuperhighway to your emotions
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and, like everything, marketershave taken this information and
capitalized on it.
Everywhere, from hotels tosneaker stores, are rolling out
signature scents that, accordingto researchers, scented
environments have been shown toreduce typos made by office
workers I'm not seeing that tobe true but Improve the
perception of product quality,increase purchase intent,
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average unit sales and durationof a retail visit or stay among
consumers and boost thewillingness of consumers to pay
more for a product.
Have you been to the GraduateHotel over in Princeton?
They're pumping in that.
I don't know if it's like Hyattor Marriott scent, but it is
there along with the Yacht Rockand I don't know why they chose
that, but that's what they chose.
Maybe they're trying to get ridof people like me who are
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squatters and just go work inthere.
Nike's signature scent wasinspired by, among other things,
the smell of a rubberbasketball sneaker as it scrapes
across the court and a soccercleat in grass and dirt.
I love these marketing meetingsand I would like to be a part
of one, because you're meetingwith Nike.
So we're going to have a smell.
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Yes, it's going to smell like abasketball sneaker going across
hardwood.
Like what does that mean?
It's like, yeah, that's whatthat means.
You know what that means.
If you've ever been camping orspent the evening by a campfire,
you know one of the mostpersistent scents is campfire.
I don't know about you, butwhen I've been by a fire, I'm
(29:32):
delighted by the smell.
I like it.
Or if I've been smoking a largehunk of meat, that's great, but
I'm also very self-consciousabout that smell.
For the rest of it I'm likemaybe not everybody likes this,
or I also worked in restaurantsfor a long time and you just
walk out of there smelling likethe place and you're like, oh,
very self-conscious about that.
But as Peter approaches Jesus onthe beach soaking wet from his
(29:55):
couple hundred-meter swim, thefirst thing that he smells is a
charcoal fire.
There are only two times theword for charcoal is used in the
New Testament.
The second time is in our texttoday.
The first is found in John 18.
As Peter is standing by anotherfire, as a young girl asks
(30:18):
Jesus, you aren't one of hisdisciples too, are you?
And Peter says no, I'm not.
Verse 18 tells us it was coldand the servants and officials
stood around a fire.
In the Greek that says charcoalfire.
So verse 18 is the first timecharcoal is used.
They had made to keep warm.
And then, very plainly, it saysPeter was also standing with
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them warming himself.
What do you suppose Peter'sneurobiology and emotional
memory are doing right now as hesmells this fire?
As he arrives on this beachsoaking wet, do you think
they're telling him good storiesabout what he's done?
No, have you ever experiencedthis?
(31:04):
A shame rises in you as you arereminded of your failings, as
you're reminded of the way youfailed a person that you dearly
love, and there's nothing youcan do about it.
It is just part of theinscribed history lived between
you.
Brene Brown describes shame asthe intensely painful feeling or
experience of believing that weare flawed and therefore
(31:26):
unworthy of love and belonging.
It would seem that Jesus istaking Peter on a super highway
right back to his shame.
Why would he do that?
You know, I've often noticedthe charcoal fire.
That stuck out to me.
That's one of those biblicalstudies 101 things People
connect.
They're like charcoal fire John18, charcoal fire John 21.
(31:47):
Look at what Jesus is doing andit is really beautiful.
But I frankly didn't reallyever pay attention to what Jesus
is cooking over the fire.
He's got bread and fish there.
He even took some fish from thedisciples said, hey, bring some
of yours.
In John 6, when thousands werein need of something to eat,
jesus fed them with bread andfish.
Even as Jesus is leading Peteron this journey, this winding
(32:12):
journey, there's this subtlepreview of the extravagant grace
that he already has preparedfor Peter, verse 15.
When they had finishedbreakfast, jesus said to Simon,
peter, simon, son of John, doyou love me more than these?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
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Jesus said to him feed my lambs.
A second time he said to himSimon, son of John, do you love
me?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
Jesus said to him tend my sheep.
He said to him the third timeSimon, son of John, do you love
me?
Peter felt hurt because he saidto him the third time do you
(32:55):
love me?
Peter's a man, he's like Jesus.
You know I've already answeredthat, of course.
He said to him Lord, you knoweverything, you know that I love
you.
Jesus said to him feed my sheep.
Peter famously denied Jesusthree times.
How many times does Jesus askthe question do you love me?
(33:17):
Three times.
And Peter in that moment can'tsee the symmetry of that which
is happening.
He doesn't realize what Jesusis doing, that the invitation
for Peter is no longer tofishing, it is to shepherding,
it is to joining Jesus in whathe is up to in the world.
Jesus then says to Peter hesays Very truly I tell you, when
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you were younger you used tofasten your own belt to go
wherever you wish, but when yougrow old, you will stretch out
your hands and someone else willfasten a belt around you and
take you where you do not wishto go.
And then John tells us exactlywhy Jesus said this.
He said this to indicate thekind of death by which he would
glorify God.
And after this, jesus says tohim follow me.
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Jesus' first question to Peterdo you love me more than these?
What is he referencing?
We don't know.
Is he referencing the fishing,his career, his friends, his own
sense of control or comfort?
Perhaps all of it?
But this really is the questionthat Jesus puts to us here
today.
In the same sequence, jesusoutlines that Peter, who used to
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be able to set his own agenda,now will be tied up and led.
And it's so beautiful that, asJesus outlines what will become
of Peter, he's saying you willlive a life that looks like mine
and you will die a death thatlooks like mine.
(34:40):
Famously and traditionally,peter when it was deemed that he
would be crucified.
When he received that sentence,he said I'm not worthy to be
crucified in the same manner asmy Lord.
And traditionally, peter wascrucified upside down and it was
a death that glorified God.
And when John talks about glory, he's always talking about
suffering.
He's talking about the way thatGod is working, even when it
seems like the dark is thedarkest.
(35:01):
But the call for Peter is notto fish, not to return to that
which is comfortable, not to goback to that which you can
manage, but to receive Jesus'scall to more.
And I love the way Peter'slater writings seem to suggest
that this conversation markedhim for the rest of his life.
First Peter, chapter fivewritings that represent Peter's
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later life with Jesus.
He says this to the churchwatching over them, not because
you must, but because you arewilling, as God wants you to be,
not pursuing dishonest gain buteager to serve, not lording it
(35:47):
over those who entrusted to you,but being examples to the flock
.
And when the chief shepherdappears, you will receive the
crown of glory that will neverfade away.
That image of a shepherd hasmarked Peter indelibly.
It doesn't mean that everythingis going to be up and to the
right from that point forward.
If you read Galatians, paulconfronts Peter to his face and
says you are undermining thegospels.
(36:09):
Peter has fits and starts in hislife with Jesus, but what we
see is that Jesus is drawing him.
Follow me, receive myinvitation, receive the life
that I have drawn out for you.
And Peter, throughout thecourse of his life, walks that
road of faith.
But here we see Peter, maybe ina bit of his still immature,
(36:32):
nascent self.
He turns and saw the disciplewhom Jesus loved, who was
sitting there.
Traditionally we associate thisperson with John, the writer of
the gospel.
He was the one who wouldrecline next to Jesus at the
supper and said Lord, who is itthat's going to betray you?
When Peter saw him, he said toJesus Lord, what about him?
You ever had that in your lifewith God?
(36:53):
Well, what about them?
Seems like things are goinggreat for them.
Jesus said if it is my willthat he remain until I come,
what is that to you?
Follow me.
We see that Peter is stillcompeting, in some ways, still
envious, still racing to thetomb and coming in second, still
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thinking that he could be oneof the hundred who beat up the
gorilla.
But Jesus' invitation holdsstrong.
Follow me.
Throughout John's gospel, johnhas referred to himself as the
beloved disciple.
Have you ever been aroundsomebody that actually talks in
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the third person?
I haven't.
I mean Ian hasn't.
How insufferable do you have tobe right.
And throughout this wholegospel, john, the writer of the
gospel, has been referring tohimself in the third person as
the disciple who Jesus loves.
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His whole reality is defined bythe love of Jesus.
His whole reality is defined bythe love of Jesus and, as
insufferable as we may deem,talking in the third person for
John is a glimpse of the kind oflife that Jesus has designed
for us.
His sense of the love of God isso all-encompassing that when
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he looks at Jesus he feelsuniquely special in all of the
universe, that, consideringevery person who's ever walked
the earth, the earth and theLord's all the fullness of John
looks at Jesus and he sees thathe is the one special in God's
sight.
And I'm telling you this,ecclesia, this is not something
(38:42):
that he deems as his specialproperty.
It's an invitation for us thathis life, so defined by the love
of God, can be ours as well,that we can consider ourselves
the disciple whom Jesus loved.
This is not meant to be a title, but an invitation.
Henri Nouwen, the Catholicmystic and writer, has a whole
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reflection on this, called theLife of the Beloved, and I offer
just a sampling of it to youtoday.
I encourage you to read it.
But he says you have to keep onmasking the world about you for
what it is Manipulative,controlling power, hungry and,
in the long run, destructive.
The world tells you many liesabout who you are, and you
simply have to be realisticenough to remind yourself of
(39:25):
this.
Every time you feel hurt,offended or rejected, you have
to dare to say to yourself.
These feelings, strong as theymay be, are not telling me the
truth about myself.
The truth, even though I cannotfeel it right now, is that I am
the chosen child of God,precious in God's eyes, called
the beloved from all eternityand held safe in an everlasting
(39:49):
belief.
My son Sully, my daughters Evieand Rory, and, to some extent,
silas, now has started to diptheir toes into athletics and
performance.
One of the things I say to themoften, because I want them to
know that I don't care how theyperform, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't change the way Ifeel about them and, beyond that
(40:11):
, it doesn't change the way thatGod feels about them.
And so the simple question Iask them is what's the most
important thing about you?
And the little answer we'vecome up with is that the most
important person in the world,aka Jesus, god, holy Spirit,
loves me, and that will be true.
Whether you win, you lose,whether you mess up, it doesn't
(40:34):
matter, because that is theabsolute truth of who you are
and nothing that you do in thenext few moments is going to
change any of that.
Teresa of Avila was a famousCarmelite, a nun, a mystic, and
one day, as she was ascendingthe stairs in the abbey where
she lived, she saw a vision of abeautiful young boy.
She realized that this childwas not just any young boy.
(40:58):
It was a vision of Jesus as achild.
And the child asked her, asshe's descending those stairs,
who are you?
And Teresa, looking at thisyoung boy, said I am Teresa of
Jesus.
But then the young boyresponded then I am Jesus of
Teresa.
And I wonder if we could be sobold today.
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I am Ian of Jesus and Jesus, asI echo his affection and love
saying the same, I am Jesus ofIan.
And that is the absolute truthof who we are.
And what often gets in the way,what erodes our sense of the
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love of God, what erodes oursense of what he's called us to
do?
It's shame.
We come to the charcoal fire.
Our sensory memories fire andwe remember we come to the
charcoal fire.
Our sensory memories fire andwe remember that we messed up.
And what we fail to hear in themidst of that is Jesus is
saying yeah, yeah, yeah, I knowthree times you messed up.
Every time I'm just asking you,do you love me?
(42:12):
Which really is just Jesusasking do you receive my love?
Do you see that you are lovedand can you echo that response
with your own love?
Do you see that you are lovedand can you echo that response
with your own love?
Our own shame, our inadequacytries to tell us that we are not
deserving of God's love.
And, as we know, as Nouwen says, that the world itself is full
(42:34):
of scripts, of lies anddelusions that are destructive.
But, as Jesus says in John'sGospel, it's not just that,
there is an enemy, the father oflies, that tells us lies about
ourself and tries to keep us inthis place.
Every move that we make towardsGod, he's whispering at the
same time yeah, that's not.
I mean, that's not who you are,I mean that's for other people.
(42:58):
We know what you've done, weknow who you are, we know the
kind of lane you like to live in, right On the shores of Tagba,
israel, the church of theprimacy of St Peter.
The Franciscans have erected astatue that depicts this scene
that we have been describingtoday.
We see, if I'm putting thatpicture up, if you're back there
(43:21):
, thanks, or maybe it's frozen,that's okay too.
Oh, yes, we got it.
Excellent.
We see Jesus.
He's quite large compared toPeter.
Even though he's standing, he'ssignificantly larger, and
artists will often do this toconvey something true the grace
(43:41):
far outweighs the failure.
And we see Jesus bequeathingthis shepherd's staff to Peter,
and Peter is kind of caught inbetween.
It's almost like he's inchingup to receive this blessing, but
he's also kind of turning away.
But he's taking hold of it.
And I wonder, as we contemplatethis, jesus is just asking each
(44:09):
one of us do you love me?
I'm going to invite the worshipteam forward and I wonder,
ecclesia, if you'd be so bold toreceive the good news that you
are the disciple that Jesusloves, the good news that you
are the disciple that Jesusloves.
That's not a product of yourown doing.
It's not something that you canmanifest or make happen on your
(44:30):
own.
It is the gift of the graciousGod who has given his life for
you and I wonder if you wouldreceive his call that Jesus
gives to Peter tend my sheep,serve my kingdom, take part in
what I am doing, because it isso much better than the fishing
you're trying to go back to.
You caught nothing.
(44:51):
Good job, I've got more for you, and it may be a more that's
defined by suffering, it may bea more that's defined by walking
by faith, but it is infinitelybetter.
We pray, holy Spirit, come God,would you, in all of your
kindness and your tenderness,lord, in the confines of our
(45:14):
hearts, lord, minister to us.
God, for those of us who needto hear this word, perhaps for
the first time, that we areloved by you with a love that is
infinite, inexhaustible andunshakable, god, a love that far
outruns our failure, not bydenying it, not by minimizing it
(45:37):
, but by truly meeting it withall of your power, your presence
and your self-giving love.
Can we see the asymmetry ofgrace, lord, that, as many times
as we have failed, lord, youhave infinitely poured out
yourself.
God, and you are just asking usdo we love you, god?
(45:58):
Give us grace to respond.
Yes, we love you, god.
Give us grace to respond.
Yes, god, for those of us whowould be honest with ourselves,
that we've gone back to a lifewith you that has all the
markings of a life with you, butis a life that we can manage
and is comfortable.
God, would you draw us awayfrom the nets that we can manage
, god, towards the flock that ismuch more unruly.
(46:20):
That we would heed your call tofeed your sheep.
Lord and God, could we insertour names into that sentence,
with all the boldness of a childof the King that I am, ian of
Jesus, and to hear the graciousword that precedes it and echoes
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it, that that means that Jesusis Jesus of the end, and it's
true for each one of us heretoday.
Lord, help us to receive thelife that you have for us.
We pray these things in yourname.
In the name of the Father andthe Son and the Holy Spirit, we
pray amen.
Hello friends, my name is Ian.
It's a joy to be with you today.
I don't know if you've beenpaying attention to some of the
wider trends that are occurring,but in places like the UK and
Australia there's been asignificant shift in people
showing up to church andoftentimes renewal movements are
driven by young people.
(00:21):
I served in youth ministry for10 years of my life at a small
little church in Pennington andit was a profound joy, and one
of the things I identified aboutthat time and why it was so
filled with joy is because highschool and middle school
students actually change, noshade thrown to the adults here.
(00:41):
I sincerely mean that.
But there is this liminal timeas these students are going
through their lives and sort ofdiscerning the first glimpses of
what will become of them, thatthey are interested in who is
Jesus and what is he doing.
So that was a profound gift,and oftentimes what we see is,
when church attendance does seemto significantly change, it's
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driven by that subset of people,and in the UK this is certainly
happening.
The church attendance amongst18 to 24-year-olds over the last
six years has quadrupled.
Now we're talking about a smallsubset still.
In 2018, it was 4% of thepopulation of that subset so
like very small.
Now, if math majors in herequadruples, that's 16%, but
(01:29):
still significant.
Right and again, that's usuallythe story that's told.
But in Australia, something veryinteresting is happening.
The change and the shift is notbeing driven by young people,
but by people that are moreadvanced in wisdom Australians
age 55 and older.
(01:49):
Now, in these cosmopolitanplaces that are often attractive
for migration, what you oftenhave is a renewal of the church
from places that are far-flung.
So this happened in the UK inthe 80s and 90s.
There was a significant renewalof the church because people
were moving, especially toplaces like London, from all
(02:09):
over the world, and what youhave are these really faithful
people from places like Asia andAfrica moving to the UK and
saying we've been followingJesus for a long time, would you
like to come?
And so often the church renewalhappens in that way, and here
in Princeton we've seen so muchof that and we're grateful for
that.
But something in Australiathat's so interesting is that
(02:30):
amongst this subset of thepopulation, often called boomers
, people 55 and over, you'reseeing this dramatic increase in
church attendance Between 2016and 2021, the number of
Australians aged 55 and over whochanged from no religion to
Christianity, increased by 48%to nearly 195,000 people.
(02:53):
Again, if you spend any time inchurch, one of the things that
you have to overcome is thatsense of apathy and malaise that
people can actually change.
I run into this in my own life,where I'll interact with people
daily and I have to keep thatvision, which is really Jesus'
vision, because Jesus has aheart for this person.
(03:14):
Jesus is drawing them tothemselves, but sometimes in my
interactions I'm like thatperson will always kind of be
that way and especially aspeople grow old, that sediments
and it stratifies.
And to see this kind ofsignificant shift in Australia
is remarkable.
Sociologist Peter Berger tracedwhat he called the
secularization story andessentially, if we were to boil
(03:36):
down that story, the story ofsecularism is that as our
knowledge of science andtechnology increases, that
religion and the need for itwill be pushed to the margins.
So the most bare basic versionof this story is the ancients
used to think that thunderstormswere the product of the angry
gods and now we know that it'scaused by friction in the
(04:00):
atmosphere and all sorts ofother factors, and so that idea
that, as science explains thatit minimizes the need for
religion.
And in the 60s, berger wrotesignificantly that this would be
kind of a boulder rollingdownhill.
It was irreversible.
But Berger kept doing research.
He kept paying attention to thetrends and, as with any wise or
(04:24):
intelligent person, what hebegan to see as he assessed the
data was that the data wastelling him he was wrong.
And do you know what wise andintelligent people do?
When data tells them adifferent story than they've
been telling?
They change.
It's remarkable.
You mean you don't have to beso stringently like I am right,
I will never change course.
No, you don't to be sostringently like I am right, I
(04:44):
will never change course.
No, you don't.
You can change your mind.
You can say I have newinformation.
And Berger realized that, thoughoften his thesis was true at an
institutional level, that at anindividual level it just wasn't
holding true, that people werestill encountering life's
biggest questions.
Is there a God?
(05:05):
If so, who are they?
Who am I?
What am I here for?
What is living?
What is dying?
And they're coming to thesequestions and they're finding
that often these places that wetry to put this immense amount
of meaning don't have answers tothose questions.
Amount of meaning don't haveanswers to those questions, we
(05:31):
see a convergence of a lot ofthings going on, and I think we
as Ecclesia, as a church here inPrinceton, are uniquely
positioned for what I think arejust the glimpses of what God is
going to do here in the UnitedStates, here amongst churches
like ours and I say all thisbecause I want to be a part of
it.
I hope you do too.
Here at Ecclesia, we are thisbeautiful mosaic of young kids
(05:54):
which we saw them leading us inworship here at the front just a
moment ago of college students,yes, but also not just young
kids and college students,people that just live here and
have young kids, or people thatare empty nesters.
When we come together, it is amiracle.
Like take a moment and lookaround, look who you're sitting
next to.
(06:15):
Like maybe you're sitting nextto a friend or a family member,
but for the most part, you haveto ask yourself the question why
am I in the room with thisperson?
And I would lead you to anotherquestion, which is why I'm
going to listen to a talkinghead for 15 to 30 minutes.
I don't do that anywhere.
You can ask yourself thatquestion later.
It's a strange thing thathappens when we gather together.
(06:37):
It's nothing short of a miracle.
There's no reason we should allbe in the room together other
than the fact that Jesus is Lordand he's risen Now.
You may not believe that, andthat's okay too If you're here
and you're like.
I don't subscribe to that.
This is meant as sort of aglimpse and an invitation to
what life in the kingdom lookslike, and it has to be
believable in the faces that youencounter.
(06:59):
But it is a miracle that we'rehere together and I think as we
see what God is doing, thesestreams that are converging in
the wider world, we also see forus an invitation of what God
might be wanting to do in us.
Elizabeth Oldfield, who was withus on Tuesday for a talk here
at the Arts Council, asked thequestion what kind of people are
(07:20):
required at the end of theworld, and she used that term
end of the world not in thesense of the literal end of the
world, and she used that termend of the world not in the
sense of the literal end of theworld.
So I'm not going to invite youto set your watches and
calendars to tell you that Iknow when Jesus is coming back,
when all is going to end.
None of that.
Jesus tells the disciplesthat's not for us to know, it's
not our concern.
But she used that term end ofthe world in the sense of the
(07:41):
apocalyptic.
Apocalyptic from the Greekapocalypsis means to reveal.
It means unveiling that whichwas previously hidden.
It's not just about end timesand zombies and chaos.
It's about seeing to the rootof things.
What kind of people are neededat the end of the world?
And what I want to do today isas we turn to our story here,
(08:03):
which is one of my favoritestories in the scriptures in
John 21,.
What I want to do today is aswe turn to our story here, which
is one of my favorite storiesin the scriptures in John 21,.
What I want to do is sort ofinvite us to hold two different
layers at one time, and thefirst, I'm going to give you all
of it right at once.
You can take a picture of it.
You can kind of save that forlater, something hopefully to
contemplate, to pray about, like, yes, lord, would you do this?
(08:25):
But the dynamics of a move ofGod.
If God is on the move, thenwhat kinds of things are
happening?
First, we see the miraculouspower of God that that which is
happening is inexplicable insome ways, and there's nothing
more miraculous than a lifechange.
I love what the recentlydeceased Pope Francis said.
It's one of my favorite quotesbecause it's so simple and so
(08:47):
beautiful.
Jesus came to save us from thelie that people can't change.
I mean, come on right.
And there's something soprofound about somebody who is
more advanced in years, who'sseen a lot, still saying at some
point in their life I trust you, jesus, but we see the
miraculous power of God.
We'll see that today in John 21.
The second the lifting of shamethat people oftentimes.
(09:09):
When God engages in renewal,the first response that people
have is to confess their sins,and what they find in that
confession is not the whole roomturning to them like you did
what.
What they find is freedom.
What they find is that inunburdening themselves from that
brokenness, they find grace.
At the same time, we seecommissioning and responding
(09:31):
with obedience.
Jesus doesn't just invite us toreceive the life that he has
for us, he invites us toparticipate in what he's doing
in the world.
Jesus says come to me all youwho are weary and heavy laden.
And he says two things.
Next he says I will give yourest, which is beautiful.
But he also says my yoke iseasy and my burden is light.
(09:56):
A yoke was an agricultural toolused to join oxen together for
plowing fields.
So Jesus is saying I willunburden you from all the lies,
all the distortions that youhave been living under the
crushing weight under, and atthe same time, I'm going to
invite you to join me as I makeall things new.
Last, we see, knowing ourselvesas beloved by God.
(10:19):
How can there, where there'sconfession of sin, how can there
, where there's confession ofsin, how can there, where
there's this reorienting of ourlives, how can there be this
pervasive joy?
It's because god's love isreally that good, and we'll see
what that looks like.
So we have this kind of macro,wider angle perspective.
What I want to do, then, is isscale down into the micro.
(10:40):
As we enter john, chapter 21.
If you have a bible, you canturn with us over there or we'll
have the words for you on thescreen.
I'm going to invite you.
Let's hear the word of the Lordtogether, john 21.
After these things, jesus showedhimself again to the disciples
by the sea of Tiberias, and heshowed himself in this way
(11:03):
Gathered there together wereSimon Peter, thomas, called the
twin Nathanael of Cana, andGalilee, the sons of Zebedee and
two others of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them I'mgoing fishing.
They said to him we will gowith you.
Now we're not told why Peterand these other disciples, after
having seen the risen Jesus inJohn, chapter 20, returned to
(11:27):
their fishing nets.
It could be as simple as theyneeded to earn money, and this
was the vocation and the skillthat they knew the best.
Peter, when he was called byJesus, was a fisherman, as we'll
see in just a moment.
It also could be a commentaryon their particular wavering
about what was to come,particularly Peter's, his sense
(11:48):
of self, his sense of calling.
From the standpoint of John'snarrative, peter was a part of
the revelation of the risenChrist in John, chapter 20.
So he's seen Jesus alive, butthe last time we've sort of seen
and heard from Peter, he isdenying that he even knows Jesus
.
We see this prior to Jesus'death on the cross.
(12:11):
So, yes, peter and the otherdisciples have seen the risen
Jesus, as John will tell us ontwo previous occasions, and
Peter, like the other disciples,has heard the word of peace
that Jesus has both for thedisciples and the entire world.
This is what heaven has to sayto earth.
Peace shalom.
Peter's return to his nets maybe the sign of a crisis of
(12:35):
vocation.
Perhaps he's going back to whatis comfortable.
Perhaps he's asking himself thequestion how can he serve Jesus
if he has denied him?
So we have, first of all, acrisis of vocation, and a crisis
doesn't have to be negative.
Crises encounter us and theybring us to an inflection point,
(12:55):
a time of considering, ofchanging.
And for many of you, you're onthe forefront of a sort of
crisis of vocation and you'reassessing, you're discerning
where are my gifts needed?
Where are they obvious?
What should I major in?
What sort of line of workshould I do?
And I'll tell you this theanswer for everybody is not
(13:21):
private equity.
Okay, but the reality isthere's nothing wrong with that.
But I find sometimes it's likethat's the answer, nothing wrong
with that.
But for those of us who maybehave been down the road a little
bit again, those of us maybe alittle more weathered, a little
more cracks in our faces,there's a different kind of
(13:42):
crisis of vocation.
That often happens.
We get down the road and westart asking ourselves the
question what does all this meanNow?
Oftentimes we've talked aboutthis before we put far too much
import and meaning into our paidwork.
Plain and simple.
We over-index on that becausethat is a statement that we have
some value in America andthat's not the biblical sense of
(14:03):
vocation.
But for many of us we've hadthe experience either a job was
lost, a road that we werewalking down was closed to us,
or we're like I want to get offthis road as quickly as possible
, please.
And there's a different kind ofcrisis of vocation that enters
in.
I think this is where we seePeter.
To some extent, he's beenwalking down the road with Jesus
(14:26):
for three years and now he'sarrived at this inflection point
.
And what do we see him doing?
He's going back to his nets,that which is somewhat
comfortable for him.
So we frame this story.
Questions of vocation, surely,but also Peter having denied
Jesus, knowing that he's aliveand not knowing how to stand
(14:48):
before him.
We have questions of shame.
How will I stand before my Lordwhom in the hour of trial I
falter?
Verse 3.
They went out and got into theboat, but that night they caught
nothing.
Fishing in this culture tookplace overnight, often from dusk
(15:09):
till dawn If you really want toget into the idiosyncrasies of
scholarship and biblical studies.
But I know there's many peoplehere in Princeton that study
very significant things that arevery minute.
There's a whole book on ancientfirst century Jewish fishing
practices.
You could read it.
I commend it to you.
But if you're really into itlike where does this stuff come
(15:30):
from?
People have began to study like, okay, well, how would these
disciples have fished?
They would fish from dusk untildawn.
They would use different kindsof dragnets to snare the fish.
But these were professionalfishermen.
Their whole existence ispredicated on the fact that they
are good at catching fish.
Right, they have some knowledge.
(15:52):
They're putting that to use andwe see that all night they have
fished and they have caughtnothing.
In Luke, chapter 5, we have avery similar story to our story
for today.
The disciples have beensimilarly working all night and
caught nothing, beginning to seea bit of a pattern here.
Maybe we consider a differentline of work.
(16:13):
But Jesus comes to them at dawn, and Jesus was such a genius,
he was so brilliant.
And I don't know if you've beenon the water, but there's those
little coves that you can be inand the water has this way of
amplifying sound over it, andJesus, oftentimes, when he would
teach in the scriptures, wouldjust set out on a little boat.
(16:33):
He would be in the water andthe people that were listening
to him would be in a little cove.
Just a little naturalamplification.
Jesus, the author of all things, kind of knows how things work,
and he would teach from there.
And so these disciples have beenout all night.
Jesus comes to them on theshore.
They're surely exhausted.
They've been awake all night.
They're feeling defeated.
Jesus says hey, would you mind,can I borrow your boat and you?
(16:57):
You row out maybe 100 yards andwe'll have a little chat with
these folks that are gatheringon the shore.
And the sub was like I guess so.
And so they put out with Jesusinto the water, and as Jesus
finishes teachings, he says hey,you know what if we tried to
fish again?
Again, fishing didn't takeplace at daytime, it wasn't the
(17:17):
time where the fish werecongregating.
Also, too, how would you likeif the pastor came to your job
and was like hey, have youconsidered trying it this way?
I'm like, yeah, guy, go back toyour books and your coffee,
please trying it this way.
(17:37):
I'm like, yeah, guy, go back toyour books and your coffee,
please.
So Jesus, with all of his grandknowledge, says what if we
tried again?
And Peter tries to push backMaster, we've worked all night
long, caught nothing.
Yet if you say so, I will letdown the nets.
Verse 6 of Luke 5.
When they had done this, theycaught so many fish their nets
were beginning to burst, so theysignaled their partners in the
(17:59):
other boat to come and help them.
And they came and filled bothboats so that it began to sink.
But when Simon Peter saw it, hefell down at Jesus' knees,
saying Go away from me, lord,for I am a sinful man.
Sounds like Isaiah here, isaiah6.
As Isaiah encounters thepresence of the Lord in the
temple, woe is me, for I am asinful man amongst these sinful
people.
(18:19):
And yet at exactly thatrealization, there is a way made
, there's invitation.
We have to see this.
Jesus doesn't just reveal hisprofound holiness so that we can
be set aside cowering.
He invites us, as Peter tellsJesus, please.
(18:41):
I don't know who you are, butthere's something profound
happening here.
We see that Jesus at one andthe same time says do not be
afraid, from now on you will becatching people.
When they brought their boatsto shore, they left everything
and followed him.
When they had brought theirboats to shore, they left
everything and followed him.
In Luke 5, their initialresponse to Jesus' word
invitation was to leaveeverything, their boats and
their nets and to receive Jesus', call to fish for people.
(19:02):
Now we see Peter and the sonsof Zebedee who are also there in
Luke 5, back trying to justfish, and the text tells us they
caught nothing.
We often try to do this in ourlife with God.
We receive a call, aninvitation to live by faith, to
serve the Lord, to expect thathe will do abundantly more than
(19:25):
we can ask or imagine.
And then we come to thesedifferent crossroads in our
lives and we're tempted toshrink back to what is
comfortable, what is known andwhat is manageable.
And the subtle commentary ofJohn is this Our skills, no
matter how prodigious they maybe, in light of God's call, will
no longer serve us.
These professional fishermencaught nothing, verse 4.
(20:08):
And since Luke 5.
So they cast it and now theywere not able to haul it in
because there were so many fish.
The disciple whom Jesus lovedsaid to Peter it is the Lord,
yes, our ways of managing ourworld, our circumstances, our
lives will no longer suffice orsustain.
They caught nothing.
(20:28):
But Jesus speaks a better word,a word of abundance, of
extravagance and provision.
Now, I don't know if you've hadthis experience.
Maybe you've gone fishing atthe shore overnight, perhaps
you've spent a night on thewater.
But even in warm places, I grewup in a very hot climate.
Sometimes we spent a long timein the lake, even at night.
(20:50):
Sometimes it would get a littlecold, and we see that Peter and
these fishermen have beenfishing all night in Tagba,
which is the village that'sassociated with this story, on
the banks of the Sea of Galileeor the Sea of Tiberias in our
story.
The temperature today is likethe lows are in the 60s, the
water temps somewhere in theupper 60s, which is not that
(21:12):
warm, and the highs can get intothe 80s and 90s in the warmer
months.
So we do have quite a rangehere.
But you've probably had thatexperience of being out on the
water.
In the night it got quite cold,and now the sun is coming up.
Oftentimes one of the fishermenwould have to jump into the
water to make sure the netsweren't getting tangled.
(21:33):
In this style of fishing and thesun is coming up and we can
presume, because we're told inverse 7, that Peter is naked.
He has removed his outergarment.
The word used there is the wordgymnos, where we get our word
gymnasium, because historicallya gymnasium was a place where
predominantly men would gatherand were mostly unclothed and
(21:55):
naked.
So Peter is not clothed.
The sun is rising, he'sprobably been cold all night and
he's finally starting to warmup.
Now he hears a voice from theshore.
Peter no doubt a bit coldhearing the voice, feeling the
(22:17):
warmth of the sun on his skin.
When Simon Peter heard that itwas the Lord, he put on his
outer garment, for he had takenit off.
He was gymnos gymnos in theGreek.
He jumped into the sea, but theother disciples came in the
boat dragging the net full offish, for they were not far from
the land, only a hundred yardsoff.
(22:38):
If you were going to get intothe water, don't you normally
remove clothes?
Yes, I understand that Peter'sdown to his undergarments.
He's not completely in the nudehere.
He's been working fishing andculturally a man would not go
about in his undergarments.
But if you sort of think aboutthe life of the disciples and
all the time they've spenttogether.
(22:59):
Surely Jesus has seen Peter inthis state before?
They spent a lot of timetogether.
So why does John tell us thisspecific detail?
It could be nothing and Ialways want to put that
possibility before you, but as Iread it I'm like hmm.
In Genesis, chapter 2, the texttells us that the man and the
woman in the shalom andextravagance of the garden are
(23:21):
naked in the Greek translationof the Old Testament called the
Septuagint, the same word gumnosand are unashamed.
The Greek translation of theOld Testament, in chapter 3,
tells us that the man and thewoman, upon eating from the tree
for which they were forbiddento eat from, realize that they
(23:42):
are gymnos naked and they hidefrom God.
They sew together figs andleaves to cover themselves up
and when the Lord goes walkingthrough the garden in the cool
of the evening, they hide.
And God asks that ever graciousquestion where are you?
And they call out from thebushes over here.
(24:05):
Why are you hiding?
Oh, we hid because we werenaked.
Who told you that you wereGymnos Naked?
To my mind, john is such amasterful storyteller that this
dynamic and Peter's response,especially when we consider that
(24:27):
Peter puts on his outer garmentTo swim Is causing us to pay
attention.
Think about just your culturalassumption of what people wore
in Jesus' time.
Maybe you've watched the Chosenright.
People were wearing longflowing robes, right Like not
exactly swimming attire.
(24:47):
Why does Peter, when heperceives that it might be Jesus
calling to them from the shore,why does he put on his clothes
to jump into the water for acouple hundred meters swim?
And how do we do this with God?
At some level, we often knowthat God is the only place we
(25:11):
can find healing, relief for ourshame, and yet we spend so much
time trying to pretty ourselvesup to come into his presence or
to fix that which we can andsay, okay, see God, you're
soaking wet after your swim.
Hey, I'm here, and Jesusdelights in any attempt we make
back towards him because he hasgone the whole way.
(25:33):
But I'm telling you, friends,jesus had seen Peter in that
state before.
I don't think he needed to puton his outer garments and
belabor himself for this swim.
I think he could have just comeas he was.
But Peter wraps himself andapproaches the Lord soaking wet
Verse 9.
(25:54):
When they had gone ashore, theysaw a charcoal fire there with
fish on it and bread.
Jesus said to them bring someof the fish that you've just
caught.
So Simon Peter went aboard andhauled the net ashore full of
large fish.
It's really funny to me thatJesus has fish and he's already
cooking.
He's like oh yeah, bring somemore of your fish too.
You can participate in thismeal also.
(26:15):
Jesus said to them come andhave breakfast Now.
None of the disciples dared toask him who are you?
Because they knew it was theLord.
Jesus came and took the breadand gave it to them and did the
same with the fish.
This was now the third timethat Jesus appeared to the
disciples after he rose from thedead.
This was now the third timethat Jesus appeared to the
(26:35):
disciples after he rose from thedead.
Do you have a smell that alwaysbrings you back, a smell that
maybe you have happy memoriesassociated with?
Perhaps you grew up in ahousehold that was safe and
comfortable.
Perhaps somebody in your housebaked bread, mom or dad and that
(26:57):
smell of being in a bakeryalways brings you back home.
I can still sort of conjure thesense memory of Courtney, my
wife and I just started datingin high school.
I can still remember what thatsmelled like.
I also remember the smell ofmiddle school and this is for
the elder millennialsAbercrombie Woods, just
everywhere, just so much.
Some of you are younger, it'sAxe Body Spray.
That was my time in youthministry, but you have smells
(27:22):
that bring you back.
Neuroscientists have made muchof the connection between the
sense of smell and our memories.
Dr Murthy, in a Harvard study,says this smells are handled by
the olfactory bulb, thestructure in the front of the
brain that sends information tothe other areas of the body's
central command.
(27:42):
For further processing, odorstake a direct route to the
limbic system, including theamygdala and the hippocampus,
the regions related to emotionand memory.
The olfactory signals veryquickly get to the limbic system
.
If that all sounded like jargonfor you, let me just translate
that your sense of smell is asuperhighway to your emotions
(28:06):
and, like everything, marketershave taken this information and
capitalized on it.
Everywhere, from hotels tosneaker stores, are rolling out
signature scents that, accordingto researchers, scented
environments have been shown toreduce typos made by office
workers I'm not seeing that tobe true but Improve the
perception of product quality,increase purchase intent,
(28:28):
average unit sales and durationof a retail visit or stay among
consumers and boost thewillingness of consumers to pay
more for a product.
Have you been to the GraduateHotel over in Princeton?
They're pumping in that.
I don't know if it's like Hyattor Marriott scent, but it is
there along with the Yacht Rockand I don't know why they chose
that, but that's what they chose.
Maybe they're trying to get ridof people like me who are
(28:49):
squatters and just go work inthere.
Nike's signature scent wasinspired by, among other things,
the smell of a rubberbasketball sneaker as it scrapes
across the court and a soccercleat in grass and dirt.
I love these marketing meetingsand I would like to be a part
of one, because you're meetingwith Nike.
So we're going to have a smell.
(29:10):
Yes, it's going to smell like abasketball sneaker going across
hardwood.
Like what does that mean?
It's like, yeah, that's whatthat means.
You know what that means.
If you've ever been camping orspent the evening by a campfire,
you know one of the mostpersistent scents is campfire.
I don't know about you, butwhen I've been by a fire, I'm
(29:32):
delighted by the smell.
I like it.
Or if I've been smoking a largehunk of meat, that's great, but
I'm also very self-consciousabout that smell.
For the rest of it I'm likemaybe not everybody likes this,
or I also worked in restaurantsfor a long time and you just
walk out of there smelling likethe place and you're like, oh,
very self-conscious about that.
But as Peter approaches Jesus onthe beach soaking wet from his
(29:55):
couple hundred-meter swim, thefirst thing that he smells is a
charcoal fire.
There are only two times theword for charcoal is used in the
New Testament.
The second time is in our texttoday.
The first is found in John 18.
As Peter is standing by anotherfire, as a young girl asks
(30:18):
Jesus, you aren't one of hisdisciples too, are you?
And Peter says no, I'm not.
Verse 18 tells us it was coldand the servants and officials
stood around a fire.
In the Greek that says charcoalfire.
So verse 18 is the first timecharcoal is used.
They had made to keep warm.
And then, very plainly, it saysPeter was also standing with
(30:41):
them warming himself.
What do you suppose Peter'sneurobiology and emotional
memory are doing right now as hesmells this fire?
As he arrives on this beachsoaking wet, do you think
they're telling him good storiesabout what he's done?
No, have you ever experiencedthis?
(31:04):
A shame rises in you as you arereminded of your failings, as
you're reminded of the way youfailed a person that you dearly
love, and there's nothing youcan do about it.
It is just part of theinscribed history lived between
you.
Brene Brown describes shame asthe intensely painful feeling or
experience of believing that weare flawed and therefore
(31:26):
unworthy of love and belonging.
It would seem that Jesus istaking Peter on a super highway
right back to his shame.
Why would he do that?
You know, I've often noticedthe charcoal fire.
That stuck out to me.
That's one of those biblicalstudies 101 things People
connect.
They're like charcoal fire John18, charcoal fire John 21.
(31:47):
Look at what Jesus is doing andit is really beautiful.
But I frankly didn't reallyever pay attention to what Jesus
is cooking over the fire.
He's got bread and fish there.
He even took some fish from thedisciples said, hey, bring some
of yours.
In John 6, when thousands werein need of something to eat,
jesus fed them with bread andfish.
Even as Jesus is leading Peteron this journey, this winding
(32:12):
journey, there's this subtlepreview of the extravagant grace
that he already has preparedfor Peter, verse 15.
When they had finishedbreakfast, jesus said to Simon,
peter, simon, son of John, doyou love me more than these?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
(32:33):
Jesus said to him feed my lambs.
A second time he said to himSimon, son of John, do you love
me?
He said to him yes, lord, youknow that I love you.
Jesus said to him tend my sheep.
He said to him the third timeSimon, son of John, do you love
me?
Peter felt hurt because he saidto him the third time do you
(32:55):
love me?
Peter's a man, he's like Jesus.
You know I've already answeredthat, of course.
He said to him Lord, you knoweverything, you know that I love
you.
Jesus said to him feed my sheep.
Peter famously denied Jesusthree times.
How many times does Jesus askthe question do you love me?
(33:17):
Three times.
And Peter in that moment can'tsee the symmetry of that which
is happening.
He doesn't realize what Jesusis doing, that the invitation
for Peter is no longer tofishing, it is to shepherding,
it is to joining Jesus in whathe is up to in the world.
Jesus then says to Peter hesays Very truly I tell you, when
(33:39):
you were younger you used tofasten your own belt to go
wherever you wish, but when yougrow old, you will stretch out
your hands and someone else willfasten a belt around you and
take you where you do not wishto go.
And then John tells us exactlywhy Jesus said this.
He said this to indicate thekind of death by which he would
glorify God.
And after this, jesus says tohim follow me.
(34:00):
Jesus' first question to Peterdo you love me more than these?
What is he referencing?
We don't know.
Is he referencing the fishing,his career, his friends, his own
sense of control or comfort?
Perhaps all of it?
But this really is the questionthat Jesus puts to us here
today.
In the same sequence, jesusoutlines that Peter, who used to
(34:20):
be able to set his own agenda,now will be tied up and led.
And it's so beautiful that, asJesus outlines what will become
of Peter, he's saying you willlive a life that looks like mine
and you will die a death thatlooks like mine.
(34:40):
Famously and traditionally,peter when it was deemed that he
would be crucified.
When he received that sentence,he said I'm not worthy to be
crucified in the same manner asmy Lord.
And traditionally, peter wascrucified upside down and it was
a death that glorified God.
And when John talks about glory, he's always talking about
suffering.
He's talking about the way thatGod is working, even when it
seems like the dark is thedarkest.
(35:01):
But the call for Peter is notto fish, not to return to that
which is comfortable, not to goback to that which you can
manage, but to receive Jesus'scall to more.
And I love the way Peter'slater writings seem to suggest
that this conversation markedhim for the rest of his life.
First Peter, chapter fivewritings that represent Peter's
(35:24):
later life with Jesus.
He says this to the churchwatching over them, not because
you must, but because you arewilling, as God wants you to be,
not pursuing dishonest gain buteager to serve, not lording it
(35:47):
over those who entrusted to you,but being examples to the flock
.
And when the chief shepherdappears, you will receive the
crown of glory that will neverfade away.
That image of a shepherd hasmarked Peter indelibly.
It doesn't mean that everythingis going to be up and to the
right from that point forward.
If you read Galatians, paulconfronts Peter to his face and
says you are undermining thegospels.
(36:09):
Peter has fits and starts in hislife with Jesus, but what we
see is that Jesus is drawing him.
Follow me, receive myinvitation, receive the life
that I have drawn out for you.
And Peter, throughout thecourse of his life, walks that
road of faith.
But here we see Peter, maybe ina bit of his still immature,
(36:32):
nascent self.
He turns and saw the disciplewhom Jesus loved, who was
sitting there.
Traditionally we associate thisperson with John, the writer of
the gospel.
He was the one who wouldrecline next to Jesus at the
supper and said Lord, who is itthat's going to betray you?
When Peter saw him, he said toJesus Lord, what about him?
You ever had that in your lifewith God?
(36:53):
Well, what about them?
Seems like things are goinggreat for them.
Jesus said if it is my willthat he remain until I come,
what is that to you?
Follow me.
We see that Peter is stillcompeting, in some ways, still
envious, still racing to thetomb and coming in second, still
(37:15):
thinking that he could be oneof the hundred who beat up the
gorilla.
But Jesus' invitation holdsstrong.
Follow me.
Throughout John's gospel, johnhas referred to himself as the
beloved disciple.
Have you ever been aroundsomebody that actually talks in
(37:35):
the third person?
I haven't.
I mean Ian hasn't.
How insufferable do you have tobe right.
And throughout this wholegospel, john, the writer of the
gospel, has been referring tohimself in the third person as
the disciple who Jesus loves.
(37:56):
His whole reality is defined bythe love of Jesus.
His whole reality is defined bythe love of Jesus and, as
insufferable as we may deem,talking in the third person for
John is a glimpse of the kind oflife that Jesus has designed
for us.
His sense of the love of God isso all-encompassing that when
(38:20):
he looks at Jesus he feelsuniquely special in all of the
universe, that, consideringevery person who's ever walked
the earth, the earth and theLord's all the fullness of John
looks at Jesus and he sees thathe is the one special in God's
sight.
And I'm telling you this,ecclesia, this is not something
(38:42):
that he deems as his specialproperty.
It's an invitation for us thathis life, so defined by the love
of God, can be ours as well,that we can consider ourselves
the disciple whom Jesus loved.
This is not meant to be a title, but an invitation.
Henri Nouwen, the Catholicmystic and writer, has a whole
(39:04):
reflection on this, called theLife of the Beloved, and I offer
just a sampling of it to youtoday.
I encourage you to read it.
But he says you have to keep onmasking the world about you for
what it is Manipulative,controlling power, hungry and,
in the long run, destructive.
The world tells you many liesabout who you are, and you
simply have to be realisticenough to remind yourself of
(39:25):
this.
Every time you feel hurt,offended or rejected, you have
to dare to say to yourself.
These feelings, strong as theymay be, are not telling me the
truth about myself.
The truth, even though I cannotfeel it right now, is that I am
the chosen child of God,precious in God's eyes, called
the beloved from all eternityand held safe in an everlasting
(39:49):
belief.
My son Sully, my daughters Evieand Rory, and, to some extent,
silas, now has started to diptheir toes into athletics and
performance.
One of the things I say to themoften, because I want them to
know that I don't care how theyperform, it doesn't matter.
It doesn't change the way Ifeel about them and, beyond that
(40:11):
, it doesn't change the way thatGod feels about them.
And so the simple question Iask them is what's the most
important thing about you?
And the little answer we'vecome up with is that the most
important person in the world,aka Jesus, god, holy Spirit,
loves me, and that will be true.
Whether you win, you lose,whether you mess up, it doesn't
(40:34):
matter, because that is theabsolute truth of who you are
and nothing that you do in thenext few moments is going to
change any of that.
Teresa of Avila was a famousCarmelite, a nun, a mystic, and
one day, as she was ascendingthe stairs in the abbey where
she lived, she saw a vision of abeautiful young boy.
She realized that this childwas not just any young boy.
(40:58):
It was a vision of Jesus as achild.
And the child asked her, asshe's descending those stairs,
who are you?
And Teresa, looking at thisyoung boy, said I am Teresa of
Jesus.
But then the young boyresponded then I am Jesus of
Teresa.
And I wonder if we could be sobold today.
(41:29):
I am Ian of Jesus and Jesus, asI echo his affection and love
saying the same, I am Jesus ofIan.
And that is the absolute truthof who we are.
And what often gets in the way,what erodes our sense of the
(41:50):
love of God, what erodes oursense of what he's called us to
do?
It's shame.
We come to the charcoal fire.
Our sensory memories fire andwe remember we come to the
charcoal fire.
Our sensory memories fire andwe remember that we messed up.
And what we fail to hear in themidst of that is Jesus is
saying yeah, yeah, yeah, I knowthree times you messed up.
Every time I'm just asking you,do you love me?
(42:12):
Which really is just Jesusasking do you receive my love?
Do you see that you are lovedand can you echo that response
with your own love?
Do you see that you are lovedand can you echo that response
with your own love?
Our own shame, our inadequacytries to tell us that we are not
deserving of God's love.
And, as we know, as Nouwen says, that the world itself is full
(42:34):
of scripts, of lies anddelusions that are destructive.
But, as Jesus says in John'sGospel, it's not just that,
there is an enemy, the father oflies, that tells us lies about
ourself and tries to keep us inthis place.
Every move that we make towardsGod, he's whispering at the
same time yeah, that's not.
I mean, that's not who you are,I mean that's for other people.
(42:58):
We know what you've done, weknow who you are, we know the
kind of lane you like to live in, right On the shores of Tagba,
israel, the church of theprimacy of St Peter.
The Franciscans have erected astatue that depicts this scene
that we have been describingtoday.
We see, if I'm putting thatpicture up, if you're back there
(43:21):
, thanks, or maybe it's frozen,that's okay too.
Oh, yes, we got it.
Excellent.
We see Jesus.
He's quite large compared toPeter.
Even though he's standing, he'ssignificantly larger, and
artists will often do this toconvey something true the grace
(43:41):
far outweighs the failure.
And we see Jesus bequeathingthis shepherd's staff to Peter,
and Peter is kind of caught inbetween.
It's almost like he's inchingup to receive this blessing, but
he's also kind of turning away.
But he's taking hold of it.
And I wonder, as we contemplatethis, jesus is just asking each
(44:09):
one of us do you love me?
I'm going to invite the worshipteam forward and I wonder,
ecclesia, if you'd be so bold toreceive the good news that you
are the disciple that Jesusloves, the good news that you
are the disciple that Jesusloves.
That's not a product of yourown doing.
It's not something that you canmanifest or make happen on your
(44:30):
own.
It is the gift of the graciousGod who has given his life for
you and I wonder if you wouldreceive his call that Jesus
gives to Peter tend my sheep,serve my kingdom, take part in
what I am doing, because it isso much better than the fishing
you're trying to go back to.
You caught nothing.
(44:51):
Good job, I've got more for you, and it may be a more that's
defined by suffering, it may bea more that's defined by walking
by faith, but it is infinitelybetter.
We pray, holy Spirit, come God,would you, in all of your
kindness and your tenderness,lord, in the confines of our
(45:14):
hearts, lord, minister to us.
God, for those of us who needto hear this word, perhaps for
the first time, that we areloved by you with a love that is
infinite, inexhaustible andunshakable, god, a love that far
outruns our failure, not bydenying it, not by minimizing it
(45:37):
, but by truly meeting it withall of your power, your presence
and your self-giving love.
Can we see the asymmetry ofgrace, lord, that, as many times
as we have failed, lord, youhave infinitely poured out
yourself.
God, and you are just asking usdo we love you, god?
(45:58):
Give us grace to respond.
Yes, we love you, god.
Give us grace to respond.
Yes, god, for those of us whowould be honest with ourselves,
that we've gone back to a lifewith you that has all the
markings of a life with you, butis a life that we can manage
and is comfortable.
God, would you draw us awayfrom the nets that we can manage
, god, towards the flock that ismuch more unruly.
(46:20):
That we would heed your call tofeed your sheep.
Lord and God, could we insertour names into that sentence,
with all the boldness of a childof the King that I am, ian of
Jesus, and to hear the graciousword that precedes it and echoes
(46:41):
it, that that means that Jesusis Jesus of the end, and it's
true for each one of us heretoday.
Lord, help us to receive thelife that you have for us.
We pray these things in yourname.
In the name of the Father andthe Son and the Holy Spirit, we
pray amen.
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