Sheep Don’t Eat Fish
A sermon based on John 21:1-19
by Rev. Randy Quinn
Several
years ago now, Ronda and I took a short vacation in Washington, DC where we have
some family friends. Larry and Eleanor served as wonderful hosts for us, giving
us guided tours of the area and taking us to their favorite restaurants.
One day we went to visit their
daughter in a suburb of Washington. On the way, we drove along what was
obviously a new freeway.
Larry explained that it wasn't
really new; it had been expanded and had only recently been reopened to
traffic. He went on to explain that the purpose of the expansion was to add an
“HOV Lane”, you know, one of those carpool lanes for "high occupancy vehicles."
That's when I noticed the signs.
The diamonds were painted on the
roadway with that paint they use that raises them; but they were covered over
with black paint. There were also signs on the median that were covered over
with black cloth.
Larry explained that because the
construction had taken so long, drivers ran a protest of the HOV lanes and
ignored it. So many people ignored the HOV signs, in fact, the state patrol
couldn't enforce it. So they covered the signs.
I was reminded of those signs this
week when I read about Peter.
Peter had been one of the first
disciples (Jn. 1:35-42). He was, by most accounts, the leader among the twelve.
Jesus had called him "Peter", the Rock, because of his insight into who Jesus
was (Mt. 16:13-19). But Peter was also the one who would specifically deny
Jesus (Jn. 18:15-18, 25-27).
On Easter Sunday, Peter comes to
believe in the resurrection; but here he is, some time later, returning to what
had been familiar: fishing.
Had he covered over the signs of
Christ in his life?
Had Jesus made no impact on him?
Did the resurrection mean nothing?
After a certain period of time,
Peter seems to return to 'life as usual.'
Three years with Jesus had made no
apparent difference in his life. He goes back to fishing, the very thing he had
been doing when Jesus called him to follow him the first time (Mt. 4:18-19).
I suspect we're all a little like
that, though, so I shouldn't give Peter such a hard time. After any
life-changing event, we are all tempted to go back to our normal routines. It's
safer. It's familiar.
What's new may be exciting, but
it's also frightening.
We do that when we go to classes
and learn new ways of doing old things, for instance. We come back all excited
and then find it so difficult to employ what we learned that we return to our
old habits.
On more than one occasion, I’ve
heard new mothers talking about going back to work within a month of giving
birth. They see no reason to change what they had been doing just because there
was a baby in the house! (They learn later how difficult it really is to
maintain a good balance between work and home.)
Unfortunately for most people
becoming a Christian, or being a Christian, generally has little impact upon our
lives. There isn't much difference between how we live and how our neighbor
lives. We try to be good. We try to be honest. We try to care for each
other. We even try to be generous.
But statistically, surveyors
cannot tell the difference between people who go to church in our society and
those who don’t. We all experience the same likelihood of divorce and traffic
violations as well as disease and accidental deaths.
The resurrection has apparently
made relatively little difference in our lives.
And that is the ultimate tragedy
of the Christian faith today. We have become like Peter who goes fishing. We
have all but forgotten what God has done for us, what God has called us to be,
and what God has called us to do. And when we are made aware of it, we cover
the signs and ignore them, rather than allow change to happen in our lives.
But Easter is the major
event in history.
Easter is what defines all
history.
Easter is what defines the future.
Easter is what defines the
present.
Easter is why we are here today.
It’s why we worship on Sunday every week of every year; yet we too often ignore
its implications for us and for our world.
The event of Easter, the
resurrection, is a changing point in history. It is a shift of paradigms, a
change in the way we understand the world. It changes the way we see
everything. It is the beginning of the Kingdom of God, the ultimate revelation
of God, the start of an entirely new framework for life.
I have long had a fascination with
maps. Maps of all kinds. Street maps, topographical maps, world maps . . .
even ocean charts. Before I was married, I had a wall in my apartment that was
covered with maps. I had a large world map, some backpacking maps, and a map of
the state as well as a map of the city in which I lived.
Ronda still thinks I'm a little
strange because every once in a while I'll take out our atlas and 'read it' for
a while. No trip in mind, no specific place to look at; I’m just reading the
maps.
When I was in the Navy, I used to
spend hours looking at and studying the ocean charts we had. (You may or may
not realize that maps of oceans are referred to as charts. And you may or may
not be surprised to learn that most ocean charts have very little land on them,
just lines marking latitude and longitude and some numbers marking the known
depths at certain points.)
When nothing was going on, I would
look at the chart we were using to determine our current position or take out
one we had in our files.
I'd find myself wondering about
the numbers. How did they determine that depth? What was it like to be on the
ship that very accurately determined its position and then just as accurately
made a sounding at that point? (I’ve since been on one of those ships and it is
really quite a feat to keep track of your exact location as well as the exact
depth at that particular location.)
But the most fascinating charts to
me were of the Arctic Ocean.
As you probably know, most of the
Arctic Ocean is covered by ice. Only submarines and icebreakers go there. So I
would wonder about the soundings on that map, soundings that very clearly were
the path of a U.S. submarine under the polar ice cap. I can only imagine that
there were similar maps on Soviet ships using the soundings that their
submarines had taken.
But the surprising part of these
maps was the latitude and longitude lines. You would expect it to look like a
bull's eye, with the North Pole at the center and the longitude lines meeting
there with the rings around it being the lines of latitude.
But what I actually saw was a
series of squares.
Cartographers know that it would
be nearly impossible to keep accurate records of your position in a bull's eye
type map. So they created an artificial East Pole and an artificial West Pole.
So it looks as though the North Pole is on the equator.
The Easter event changes the way
we see the world. It's like creating an East Pole in our lives.
Peter sees the truth of this new
paradigm when Jesus calls him to 'feed his sheep.' Peter is no longer a
fisherman; he is a shepherd. He has a new task in life, a new purpose in life,
a new reason for living. He is to tend the sheep of Christ.
And sheep don't eat fish.
He must leave the past behind and
follow Christ.
And so must we.
Christ has called each of us to be
in ministry. Some are called to preach, some to teach, and some to provide
music. Some are called to raise children; some are called to build buildings or
provide food by farming. Some are even called to fish so we can eat.
Some of us are called to be like
Ananias who went to the blinded Saul and brought a word of grace (Acts 9:17).
We too, may be called to reach out in love to another human being who may not be
well liked by those around us.
I knew for a long time that I had
been called to the ordained ministry, but I ignored it. I treated my calling
like the HOV signs that were covered over.
But I also know that when I
finally responded to that call in my life, it was like changing the lines on the
map. Everything began to make sense. It wasn't as dramatic as the change that
happened to Paul perhaps, but it was a genuine shift of paradigms.
I don't know what God has called
you to do or to be. But I do know that God has called each of you. You can
ignore it and go fishing because that's what you know - or - you can respond to
the call to "tend sheep" in whatever way God has called you to tend them.
When that happens, every morning
will feel like Easter morning.
Every day will be defined by what
God has done in our world and in our lives.
When that happens, we will begin
to live our lives like Easter people and live out the proclamation we’ve made
for three weeks in a row now:
Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Amen.
