May 6, 2025 • 9 mins
In today’s Spiritual Foundation Episode, I talk about John 21: 1-19. I share how feed my sheep is both a literal and metaphoric command. I also share how we are called to find justice in food ministry done right.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Thanks for joining me on episode 1538 of the Inspired Stewardship
Podcast. Hello,
I'm Blaine Elkers and I challenge you to invest in yourself,
invest in others,
develop your influence,
and impact the world by using your time,
your talent and your treasures to live out your calling.
Having the ability to create the life you really want by
(00:22):
creating consistent habits is key.
And one way to be inspired to do that is to
listen to this and the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend
Scott Meter and the community that we are called to care
(00:43):
for. If we don't pay attention to the fact that not
everyone has enough to eat,
not everyone has a place to lay their head,
not everyone has equity of opportunity.
We are called to do this as Christians.
Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship
(01:05):
Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God
wants you to be,
then you must learn to use your time,
your talent and your treasures for your true calling.
In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast,
you will learn to invest in yourself,
invest in others,
and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
(01:34):
In today's Spiritual foundation episode I talk about John 21:1:19.
I share how feed my sheep is both a literal and
metaphoric command.
I also share how we are called to find justice in
food ministries done right John 21:1 19 says,
(01:58):
after these things,
Jesus showed himself again and the disciples by the Sea of
Tiberias. And he showed himself in this.
Gathered there together were Simon Peter,
Thomas, called the twin Nathanael of Canaan and Galilee,
the sons of Zebedee,
and two of his other disciples.
Simon Peter said to them,
I'm going fishing.
(02:18):
They said to him,
we will go with you.
They went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
Just after daybreak,
Jesus stood on the beach.
But the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them,
children, you have no fish,
have you?
And they answered him,
no. He said to them,
cast the net to the right side of the boat and
(02:38):
you will find some.
So they cast it,
and now they were not able to haul it in because
there were so many fish.
That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter,
it is the Lord.
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he put on his outer garment,
for he had taken it off and jumped into the sea.
But the other disciples came in the boat dragging the net
full of fish,
(02:59):
for they were not far from the land,
only about a hundred yards off.
When they had gone ashore,
they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it and
bread. Jesus said,
to them,
bring some of the fish that you have just caught.
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full
of large fish,
153 of them.
And though there were so many,
(03:19):
the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them,
come and have breakfast now.
None of the disciples dared to ask him,
who are you?
Because they knew it was the Lord Jesus came and took
the bread and gave it to them and did the same
with the fish.
This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the
disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When they finished breakfast,
(03:40):
Jesus said to Simon Peter,
simon, son of John,
do you love me more than these?
He said to him,
yes, Lord,
you know that I love you.
And Jesus said to him,
feed my lambs.
A second time.
He said to him,
simon, son of John,
do you love me?
And he said to him,
yes, Lord,
you know that I love you.
And Jesus said to him,
(04:00):
tend my sheep.
He said to him the third time,
simon, son of John,
do you love me?
And Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third
time, do you love me?
And he said to him,
lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you.
And Jesus said to him,
feed my sheep.
Very truly,
I tell you,
when you were younger,
(04:20):
you used to fasten your own belt and go wherever you
wished. But when you grow old,
you will stretch out your hands and someone else will fasten
a belt around you and take you where you do not
wish to go.
He said this to indicate the kind of death by which
you would glorify God.
After this,
he said to him,
follow me.
This story in John is a powerful message of Jesus to
(04:47):
Simon Peter and the other disciples.
A gift that he gave them of a bountiful catch.
There's interesting things in here.
The fact that they've been fishing all night and hadn't caught
anything. And here,
at the break of dawn,
when they shouldn't be able to catch anything,
Jesus blesses them with a big catch.
The fact that Jesus asked Peter three times,
(05:10):
do you love me?
Reversing the fact that Peter had denied him three times before
his death,
before he was put upon the cross.
Jesus also is charging Peter with responsibilities,
including that last one,
feed my sheep.
It seems to be emphasizing the importance of Christians taking care
(05:33):
of others.
And yes,
there's a metaphorical kind of message here of feeding them with
the word of God and giving them the gospel.
And those things are vitally important.
But I also think Jesus was giving a literal message of
caring for others,
tending to their tangible needs for food,
safety, community,
(05:54):
and These sorts of things.
I think oftentimes as Christians,
we look at feeding people with the Word,
which again is vital and important.
But we don't recognize the fact that we also need to
feed people in a literal sense.
We need to have a sense of justice and belonging to
(06:15):
connect all people.
This is what stewardship is really about.
It's about caring not just for yourself,
but caring for your neighbor.
And your neighbor,
remember, is everyone.
We're all tied together,
those of us that are human and those that are not.
Even wider than just the humankind,
we need to care for the environment and the people around
(06:37):
us. This call to action that Jesus gave back here is
still something that we need to do today.
And yet we ignore it all too often.
We look at the short term gains for things.
We look at how we should just take care of something
immediately. Even sometimes when we are actually caring for other people,
(06:59):
we do it in a way that is a short sighted
way. Now don't get me wrong,
I don't think there's anything wrong with churches having a meal
or feeding other people.
But sometimes we do it in a way that doesn't actually
add dignity to those people,
that doesn't actually help them.
We look at ourselves as coming in as the saviors from
outside who know all the answers and don't recognize the fact
(07:23):
that the people that are there actually have their own ideas
about what needs to be done.
We don't look at them as a part of the party
that's doing the exchange.
We look at them as someone just receiving a blessing.
And the truth is,
when we do that,
when we have that selfish attitude,
(07:44):
we probably aren't really serving justice as fully as we can.
We probably aren't really looking at the systems and the processes
and the wider circle of things that is creating the inequality
in the first place.
In the Kingdom of God,
if all people are equal and if we are to do
here on earth as it is in heaven,
(08:06):
we should be striving towards justice and equality all of the
time. And yet we don't ask ourselves that question.
How can we act with justice to feed those folks around
us, both human and non human?
How can we take care of the earth and the community
(08:26):
that we are called to care for if we don't pay
attention to the fact that not everyone has enough to eat?
Not everyone has a place to lay their head,
not everyone has equity of opportunity.
We are called to do this as Christians.
Thanks for listening.
(08:53):
Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.
As a subscriber and listener.
We challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen,
but act on what you've heard and find a way to
live your calling.
If you enjoyed this episode,
do me a favor,
go over to facebook.com
(09:15):
inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and mark it that
you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can
connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving
you to the best of our abilities with time and tips
there. Until next time,
(09:37):
invest your time,
your talent,
and your treasures.
Develop your influence and impact the world.
Thanks for joining me on episode 1538 of the Inspired Stewardship
Podcast. Hello,
I'm Blaine Elkers and I challenge you to invest in yourself,
invest in others,
develop your influence,
and impact the world by using your time,
your talent and your treasures to live out your calling.
Having the ability to create the life you really want by
(00:22):
creating consistent habits is key.
And one way to be inspired to do that is to
listen to this and the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend
Scott Meter and the community that we are called to care
(00:43):
for. If we don't pay attention to the fact that not
everyone has enough to eat,
not everyone has a place to lay their head,
not everyone has equity of opportunity.
We are called to do this as Christians.
Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship
(01:05):
Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God
wants you to be,
then you must learn to use your time,
your talent and your treasures for your true calling.
In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast,
you will learn to invest in yourself,
invest in others,
and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
(01:34):
In today's Spiritual foundation episode I talk about John 21:1:19.
I share how feed my sheep is both a literal and
metaphoric command.
I also share how we are called to find justice in
food ministries done right John 21:1 19 says,
(01:58):
after these things,
Jesus showed himself again and the disciples by the Sea of
Tiberias. And he showed himself in this.
Gathered there together were Simon Peter,
Thomas, called the twin Nathanael of Canaan and Galilee,
the sons of Zebedee,
and two of his other disciples.
Simon Peter said to them,
I'm going fishing.
(02:18):
They said to him,
we will go with you.
They went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
Just after daybreak,
Jesus stood on the beach.
But the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them,
children, you have no fish,
have you?
And they answered him,
no. He said to them,
cast the net to the right side of the boat and
(02:38):
you will find some.
So they cast it,
and now they were not able to haul it in because
there were so many fish.
That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter,
it is the Lord.
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he put on his outer garment,
for he had taken it off and jumped into the sea.
But the other disciples came in the boat dragging the net
full of fish,
(02:59):
for they were not far from the land,
only about a hundred yards off.
When they had gone ashore,
they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it and
bread. Jesus said,
to them,
bring some of the fish that you have just caught.
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore full
of large fish,
153 of them.
And though there were so many,
(03:19):
the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them,
come and have breakfast now.
None of the disciples dared to ask him,
who are you?
Because they knew it was the Lord Jesus came and took
the bread and gave it to them and did the same
with the fish.
This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the
disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When they finished breakfast,
(03:40):
Jesus said to Simon Peter,
simon, son of John,
do you love me more than these?
He said to him,
yes, Lord,
you know that I love you.
And Jesus said to him,
feed my lambs.
A second time.
He said to him,
simon, son of John,
do you love me?
And he said to him,
yes, Lord,
you know that I love you.
And Jesus said to him,
(04:00):
tend my sheep.
He said to him the third time,
simon, son of John,
do you love me?
And Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third
time, do you love me?
And he said to him,
lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you.
And Jesus said to him,
feed my sheep.
Very truly,
I tell you,
when you were younger,
(04:20):
you used to fasten your own belt and go wherever you
wished. But when you grow old,
you will stretch out your hands and someone else will fasten
a belt around you and take you where you do not
wish to go.
He said this to indicate the kind of death by which
you would glorify God.
After this,
he said to him,
follow me.
This story in John is a powerful message of Jesus to
(04:47):
Simon Peter and the other disciples.
A gift that he gave them of a bountiful catch.
There's interesting things in here.
The fact that they've been fishing all night and hadn't caught
anything. And here,
at the break of dawn,
when they shouldn't be able to catch anything,
Jesus blesses them with a big catch.
The fact that Jesus asked Peter three times,
(05:10):
do you love me?
Reversing the fact that Peter had denied him three times before
his death,
before he was put upon the cross.
Jesus also is charging Peter with responsibilities,
including that last one,
feed my sheep.
It seems to be emphasizing the importance of Christians taking care
(05:33):
of others.
And yes,
there's a metaphorical kind of message here of feeding them with
the word of God and giving them the gospel.
And those things are vitally important.
But I also think Jesus was giving a literal message of
caring for others,
tending to their tangible needs for food,
safety, community,
(05:54):
and These sorts of things.
I think oftentimes as Christians,
we look at feeding people with the Word,
which again is vital and important.
But we don't recognize the fact that we also need to
feed people in a literal sense.
We need to have a sense of justice and belonging to
(06:15):
connect all people.
This is what stewardship is really about.
It's about caring not just for yourself,
but caring for your neighbor.
And your neighbor,
remember, is everyone.
We're all tied together,
those of us that are human and those that are not.
Even wider than just the humankind,
we need to care for the environment and the people around
(06:37):
us. This call to action that Jesus gave back here is
still something that we need to do today.
And yet we ignore it all too often.
We look at the short term gains for things.
We look at how we should just take care of something
immediately. Even sometimes when we are actually caring for other people,
(06:59):
we do it in a way that is a short sighted
way. Now don't get me wrong,
I don't think there's anything wrong with churches having a meal
or feeding other people.
But sometimes we do it in a way that doesn't actually
add dignity to those people,
that doesn't actually help them.
We look at ourselves as coming in as the saviors from
outside who know all the answers and don't recognize the fact
(07:23):
that the people that are there actually have their own ideas
about what needs to be done.
We don't look at them as a part of the party
that's doing the exchange.
We look at them as someone just receiving a blessing.
And the truth is,
when we do that,
when we have that selfish attitude,
(07:44):
we probably aren't really serving justice as fully as we can.
We probably aren't really looking at the systems and the processes
and the wider circle of things that is creating the inequality
in the first place.
In the Kingdom of God,
if all people are equal and if we are to do
here on earth as it is in heaven,
(08:06):
we should be striving towards justice and equality all of the
time. And yet we don't ask ourselves that question.
How can we act with justice to feed those folks around
us, both human and non human?
How can we take care of the earth and the community
(08:26):
that we are called to care for if we don't pay
attention to the fact that not everyone has enough to eat?
Not everyone has a place to lay their head,
not everyone has equity of opportunity.
We are called to do this as Christians.
Thanks for listening.
(08:53):
Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.
As a subscriber and listener.
We challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen,
but act on what you've heard and find a way to
live your calling.
If you enjoyed this episode,
do me a favor,
go over to facebook.com
(09:15):
inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and mark it that
you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can
connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving
you to the best of our abilities with time and tips
there. Until next time,
(09:37):
invest your time,
your talent,
and your treasures.
Develop your influence and impact the world.
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