Finding Faith ... in Jesus asking us again and again if we love him

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodical authorized minister. The journey together these past seven years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on May 4, 2025.

This week's gospel text: John 21:1-19

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 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. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them, and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 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. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had finished breakfast, 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.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” 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.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to 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.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

The message:

Tell me if you’ve ever had this happen to you …

You’ve had this acute spiritual moment in your life … an awakening of the Holy Spirit in you that you know for certain has changed how you will act, believe and experience faith in your life … forever.

Maybe it was one of those big revivals … like those famous preachers hold. … You know those traveling revivals that fill big arenas. The Joel Osteens … or Joyce Meyers kind. 

You go there for a night of worship, praise and music … and you leave the stadium thinking I am a changed person. I have been moved by the Holy Spirit tonight. … I have touched and seen the very beyond!

Or for some of you … maybe it was when you were a little younger. …Bible camp can feel that way, right? … You go off for a week in the wilderness with a bunch of other kids. And you sing and make crafts and learn some scripture … and it is a phenomenal experience.

You leave that camp thinking that even as a youngster you finally understand what this faith thing is … and you’ll be forever changed when you get home.

Or maybe it happened when you were a little older? … Maybe you’ve been on a mission trip? … Or … or maybe you’ve been lucky to attend a National Youth Gathering! 

A week away witnessing and experiencing firsthand a lift-changing experience! … I’ve been fortunate enough now to go on two of these with our youth, and it’s a special moment when -- at some point in the week -- you see that spark come alive in them!

This list could go on. … There’s maybe an infinite number of these experiences we could list. … And they’d probably be different for each of us.

But I think there is a similarity in them all. … And that similarity is the thing that eventually happens to all of us.

And you know what that thing is? … Daily life. … Right?

You get back from your big Joyce Meyers revival you went to in the Cities. Or come home from Bible camp. Or return from this amazing experience at the Youth Gathering.

And you step back into normal life. … You return to all of your same ol’ obligations.

Maybe it’s life back on the farm. … Or you return to the same job, the same school … the same daily schedule. 

Work, kids, chores, homework, bills, animals to care for, crops to tend to. … Car repairs and clogged drains and that nasty flu bug you caught will grocery shopping.

And day by day, one piece of the routine … to the next … and you feel the fire you experienced at the sound of Joyce Meyers’ gravelly voice telling you to go forth and live into your faith … well, that fire slowly burns to an ember … and maybe even eventually goes out. Right?

Because the challenge with being human is that it is very … VERY difficult to live with that level of fire in your belly every single day.

We are a people, after all, who love routines … and feeling comfortable … and being at ease. 

And in those moments … coming out of that high pressure experience of witnessing the Holy Spirit … experiencing some kind of expression of God. … Well, it feels like you’re going to remember that forever, right? … Like, what possibly could take the edge off witnessing God!

Well, we know what can … life. … Everyday life … that brings with it challenges and routine and expectations. … All of that can take the edge off those experiences of when we feel that we’ve broken through the veil between this life and the Kingdom of Heaven.

And Faith Family … that is what today’s gospel text feels like to me. … Does that sound like a fair characterization?

Remember that this gospel is taking place after Jesus' crucifixion … after his three days in the tomb … and the disciples now don’t know what to do. … So they have already returned to their daily lives. 

Look, they're already back by the sea … and have returned to their occupation of fishing. … And I suppose … who could blame them, right?

Imagine having been hand picked by Jesus. … And for three years you follow him throughout the countryside watching him teach and heal and feed and perform miracles wherever he goes. 

Watching him stand up to the religious elite and tell them they’re missing the point.

Watching him stand up to the entire Roman Empire and tell the caeser and all of his minions that its exploitation of people and the land is not divine.

Watching Jesus raise people from the dead! Right?

And then your beloved teacher, leader and savior is plucked from you and killed … and he is gone. … Gone forever in your human understanding of death.

And I have to imagine that you begin to think, “Now what do I do?”

Well, I think … even after how heady life must have been those three years … well, I think you can’t blame the disciples for sliding back into their former lives? … Right?

I mean that is what was comfortable. … And presumably they all had to eat and needed a place to live … and none of this was being provided for now that Jesus was gone. 

So the disciples fell back into their daily routine. … They went back to doing what they knew. … After all, so many of the disciples had been fishermen.

And day by day … the routine settled in … and the fire they once had to carry the gospel forth to all the nations … slowly dissipated. … And without Jesus present, in the flesh … well, it was harder to maintain that fire.

And I think all of this sounds perfectly natural … because who could blame them? … Put ourselves in their shoes, and if we’re honest, we’d likely have done the same thing. … Went back to what we knew.

But that’s where today’s gospel becomes exciting. … Right Faith Family? … Because we know what comes next.

Jesus comes to them right in the middle of the doldrums of their work night. … He shows up when they haven’t been able to catch any fish and tells them, “Hey, drop your net on the right side of the boat there.” … And the nets fill up instantly. … So many fish they can’t even haul the nets into their boat.

And in that moment, the disciples again see that they’re in the midst of the presence of God. … And they are ecstatic! 

Simeon Peter is so beside himself … that he jumps in the water and swims ashore! 

Jesus is back! … How exciting! … And he brings them ashore, feeds them a plentiful breakfast and then pointedly asks Simon Peter … “Do you love me?”

And we know from the gospel, that Peter says of course. … But Jesus rebuts him with, “Feed my lambs.” … a cycle that repeats two more times.

Do you love me? Yes. Tend my sheep. … Do you love me? Yes, of course! … because Peter is exasperated by this point. And, Jesus finally says, “Feed my sheep.”

Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.

In other words, Peter -- and the rest of you disciples -- what are you doing here? … Back at the sea?

I took you from the sea to make you fishers of men. … And then just because I died … like I told you I would … you run back here to what you know. … Because it’s comfortable?

That’s not how this works friends, Jesus is telling the disciples. Just because I’m not present; just because I’m not here to set the agenda; just because you’ve lost that buzz you possessed when I was here practicing my ministry. … Well, that’s not reason enough for you to run straight back here to fish in the sea.

Nah, you need to get hinders out there! Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. … If you are disciples, then get out there and show it!

Faith Family, this is our challenge as faithful people. Right? … This is the challenge of being Easter people who live in a post-Easter world.

We know the high of Easter! … We show up with our Easter best on to celebrate the day Christ is risen! … And then in the days after … well, we kind of return back to what we know, don't we? … We head back to sea to fish.

And that is the very challenge that we are presented with in today’s gospel, Faith Family. 

Every Sunday we gather here to hopefully get reenergized in our faith so that we can live it out … out there.

Our challenge is … how do we sustain that commitment; how do we keep that fire in the belly; how do we keep from going back to the routine … because we are called to feed Jesus’ lambs and tend and feed his sheep.

And so my question to you today, Faith Family, is what are you doing to keep your faith life sharp?

How do you take that life-giving Sunday morning feeling that hopefully you get here … and take it with you into your Monday through Saturday?

Jesus asks us again and again if we love him, Faith Family, and in that question he’s issuing us an invitation not to just return to the sea the rest of the week.

Rather he’s asking us to follow him and bring this Easter life to others as well.

And that is the Good News for this Third Sunday of Easter, May 4, 2025. Amen.