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Today’s gospel reading is from the last chapter in book of John – it is the very end of the story and really, its more like an epilogue than anything else. An epilogue is often added to a story to tie up some loose ends, answer some remaining questions, or just to complete some thoughts that remain from the main story. The main story of Jesus in John’s gospel ends with the marvelous confession from Thomas that we heard last week. He sees the resurrected Jesus and proclaims, “My Lord and my God!” John says that entire purpose of his book is for people to make this same confession and thus have life in Jesus’ name. Hopefully you can see why this epilogue is needed. Once someone comes to believe in Jesus, then what? Do things just go back to the way they were before? What difference does believing in Jesus make? What are we supposed to do once we’ve come to believe? Then what? Thankfully our little gospel epilogue is pretty clear. As believers in a crucified and resurrected Jesus, we are supposed to be focused on two things: fishing and shepherding. So let’s take a look at the fishing stuff first because that comes first in our story. Sometime after the resurrection, the disciples go back up to Galilee and I guess they weren’t quite sure what they were supposed to be doing, so Peter says, “Hey guys, let’s go fishing.” Everyone agrees and so they fish all night long. Apparently, 3 years on the road with Jesus has made them lose their touch. Under Peter’s direction, they don’t catch anything. A little while later, Jesus is on the shore and shouts to them to throw their nets to the other side of the boat. And when they do this, they almost catch more fish than they can haul in. Well, what I think becomes abundantly clear from this story is a basic principle that we can apply to everything that we do here as a church and in the rest of our lives. What this little story teaches us is that often times, why we do something is more important than how we do it. When they fished because Peter wanted them to, they caught nothing. But when they fished because Jesus told them to, they caught tons. Same boat, same lake, same nets – the only difference was why they were doing it – because it was their own idea or in obedience to Jesus. Not long ago, I was told of a conversation that happened just before one of our area Lutheran church closed down. Members of this congregation were speculating, “If everyone in church just invited 3 more people, we’d be okay. If everyone who was already here just put in 3% more in their offerings, we’d be able to survive.” Why did they want more people at church? Was it to reach more people for Jesus? No – it was so THEY could survive. You know, we’re putting on this new addition and I think we need to remind ourselves why we are doing it. Is it so that our current members will have a place to play basketball? No – the reason we are adding this new addition is that so new ministries can happen – things like an afterschool program, a daycare, a different kind of worship service, classrooms for Christian education. It’s the same building and yes and we will be able to play basketball…but I guarantee all the people who have been working so hard on the building project, like Doug Mayhew, Eileen Nickisch, Richard Vieth, Bob Schreiber, and Jay Brown, and all of you who have been giving to the capital fund campaign for the last year will be vastly disappointed if the best thing we do with the new gym is to play basketball in it. We always need to remind ourselves that we are not building this building for ourselves, but rather for Jesus, just like those disciples who only caught fish when they fished in obedience to Jesus. And like the disciples, fishing for new Christians takes a lot of work from everyone. Somehow I don’t think they would’ve caught nearly as many fish if they’d just had an ad in the yellow pages or a really great web site. Fishing is a lot of work and it involves all of us, and what probably matters more than anything is why we are actually fishing for people. I heard a great story the other day. Two men got shipwrecked on an island, and agreeing that they had no other options, they decided to pray to God. However, to find out who’s prayers were more powerful, they divided the island in half and agreed to stay on opposite sides. The first thing the first man prayed for was food. The next morning, he woke up and saw a beautiful fruit tree had appeared. The other man’s parcel of land remained barren. After a week, the first man got lonely and prayed for a wife. The next day, there was another shipwreck with only one survivor, a woman who happened to swim to his side of the island. On the other side there was nothing. Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, and more food. These were all given to him, but the other man’s part of the island remained bare. Finally, the first man prayed for a ship so that he and his wife could leave. The next morning, there was ship docked at his side of the island. So he decided to board the ship with his wife and leave the other man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings because obviously none of his prayers had been answered. As the ship was about to leave, a big voice came from the heavens, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?” The man answered God, “My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them. His prayers weren’t answered, so he doesn’t deserve anything.” “You are mistaken!” replied God. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.” “Tell me,” said the first man, “What did he pray for that I should owe him anything?” God said, “He prayed that all of your prayers may be answered.” The intentions behind our actions matter greatly. When we fish for new Christians, we need to fish for Jesus – not for ourselves. Now, the second thing that we are called to do after we come to believe in Jesus is Shepherding. Whereas fishing is focused on the outside world, shepherding relates more to the internal growth and nurturing of those who are already in the church. Lutherans tend to be much better at shepherding than they are at fishing. I think the most important point of this shepherding part of the story is how Jesus treats his shepherds. Peter, you know, wasn’t always Mr. Dependable – he had denied Jesus three times at the crucifixion and undoubtedly broke our Savior’s heart. Yet, here was Jesus, feeding Peter, cooking him breakfast, treating him like a son, and forgiving him. And the way he forgives Peter gives Peter a chance to make up for the three denials by making three commitments. We learn from this that our God is a God of 2nd chances. I think there’s even a Veggie Tales song about that. But our God gives Peter a second chance. And if you heard our 2nd lesson, God gives Saul a 2nd chance also. As we are called to shepherd God’s sheep and to nurture and care for one another, each one of us is given 2nd chances, and even 3rd and 4th and 5th chances. When God knows that we love him and we have the right intentions, God will give us the grace and strength to make it through. Here’s the catch though, if you really want to call it a catch…our 2nd chance may not mean it’ll be any easier. Peter’s 2nd chance took him to a cross. Saul’s 2nd chance took him to prison, to beatings, to riots, to stonings, to shipwrecks, and eventually to death. Feeding sheep is much harder than it looks and, like fishing, it requires a great commitment and a willingness to endure discomfort to really make it worthwhile. Mark Alan Powell, a seminary professor and author of “Loving Jesus” tells this story in his book about his encounter with a young Christian at a Christian rock concert. The guy had spiky hair, an earring, and tattoos, yet he was singing and praising God will all his might at the concert, very clearly in love with God. So Powell starts talking with him about church. Yes, he loves Jesus with all his heart, but he had yet to find a church where he fit in. Most churches, he said, were like black and white TV, like Ozzie and Harriet – they were boring, the music they sang wasn’t like the music on the radio, and he thought the church should just lighten up. Powell couldn’t help himself, so he asked him, “Do you love Jesus?” Absolutely, with all my heart. “Would you die for Jesus?” Yes, I think I would. So Powell replied, “So you would die for him, but you won’t spend one hour a week and be bored for him?” Our God is a God of 2nd chances, but those 2nd chances don’t always come easily or without a certain level of commitment. For the next three or four minutes, I’d like for you to take out the part in the Weekly labeled “Sermon notes.” I’m going to put three questions on the screen that I would like for you to answer in that section or on anything else you can find to write on. The three questions are this. 1. Do you really believe that Jesus rose from the dead? 2. What is one way you could fish for Jesus this week? 3. What is one way that you could feed Jesus’ sheep this week? I know that there are lots of people in this congregation who like to actually fish and enjoy the outdoors. And I have to say, I don’t know a single shepherd or sheep farmer here in St. Charles. But, I think that God is calling us all to be both fishermen and shepherds. When we fish for people, let’s fish for the sake of Jesus. And when we take care of God’s sheep, let us feed those sheep as people who have been forgiven and fed ourselves by the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for us. Amen.
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