Episode Transcript
Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of Grits in the Gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths and we are in the third week of Easter. This is the third Sunday of Easter. It is a beautiful time of year here in South Georgia. The pollen is almost gone. It is not too hot and there are flowers blooming. What a beautiful, beautiful time to be here in Viana. I hope that wherever you are is as beautiful as it is here. You will hear me speak about the table. It is a communion Sunday this week and I hope as always that you have a place that you get to have communion and fellowship with people that you love and care for. But I'm glad that you are here with me to hear this message that I have been given. Let us come now together in a time of worship. The Lord be with you and also with you. Today's Psalm is the 30th Psalm. It is full of exaltation and joy. It is reflective of the time that the disciples are living in after Easter. Here now the word of the Lord. I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and did not let my foes rejoice ever me. O Lord, my God, I cried out to you for help. Excuse me. And you have healed me. Lord, you brought up my soul from shield. Restored me to life from among those gone down to the pit. Sing praises to the Lord. O you his faithful ones and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved, but your favor, O Lord, you have established me as a strong mountain. You hid your face. I was dismayed to you, O Lord, I cried into the Lord. I made supplication. What profit is there in my death if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will tell you of your faithfulness, your reward, and be gracious to me. O Lord, be my helper. You have turned my morning into dancing. You have taken off my sack wall and clothed me with joy so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. The word of God, for us the people of God. Thanks be to God. Friends, as we come together this week to worship, let us remember those things that we believe. Friends, what do we believe? I believe in God the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ is only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. The third day he rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sinned at the right hand of God, the Father, Almighty. From thence, he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Let us pray together, dear Lord, we come to you today. So thankful that after your death and resurrection, you remained with the disciples to give them joy and hope and peace. And also to give them these words of inspiration for the church that we still are a part of today. Help us to learn to tend and feed your sheep. Here is now as we pray the words that your Son, our Lord and Savior taught us to pray, our Father who art in heaven, how would be thy name, thy kingdom come? Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Today's Gospel lesson is a continuation of the Gospel according to John, where the 21st chapter verses 1 through 19, here now the word of the Lord. After these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberius, and he showed himself in this way, gathered together where Simon Peter, Thomas, called the Twine, Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to him, we will go with you. And they went out and got in the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood at the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. He said to them, children, you have done fish, have you? And they answered him, no. He said to them, cast the net out 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. The disciple, who in 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 taken it off and he jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, where 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 bred. 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, the net was not torn. And Jesus said to them, come have breakfast. Now, none of the disciples dare asked him, who are you? Because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them. And he 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 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. And Jesus said feed my lands. 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. Jesus said to him, ten, my sheep. Jesus said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter felt hurt because he'd 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, 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 he would go, he would glorify God. After this, he said to him, follow me. The word of God, for us the people of God, thanks be to God. Would you pray with me? Do Lord, as I was given this message about mission and finding and tending and feeding sheep. Let the message that I was given and that was so precious to me, be heard and received by all who hear it today. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation and my heart be acceptable in my sight. Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. I'm in. I love summer. I grew up going to like Sinclair almost every weekend. We swam, we floated, we rode in the boat, we skied. I especially loved it when my cousins were all there. Their house was not too far by water from ours. And so when we were all there together, it was a blast. Every year my uncle, John, would have us over to their lake house, which was not much more than a trailer in the big screen porch. And he would have a fish fry. He caught all of the fish. He grew the best tomatoes. He made the best tush puppies. It made for an amazing plate of food. We look forward to that family fish fry every year. There were non cousins that would play in the lake all day together, eat an amazing plate of fried fish and then play cards until it was way past our bedtime. The food and the fellowship were one of the best parts of growing up. The disciples are grown men, but the excitement for this fish breakfast seems like it was just as high as it was for the high-end lane-wind Griffiths children at a fish fry. This story has some familiar elements. The disciples are back fishing after the death and resurrection of Jesus. They aren't catching anything. It's sound familiar. They're coming back to shore when they see someone on the beach. Cast your nets the other way the person tells them and they catch so many fish that the nets could hardly hold them. Okay, that's sounding really familiar. It is the bookend to the call of the disciples and the other gospels. Come and I will make you fishers of men. They all say. But in Luke we see an almost identical story. Luke 5 and 6 Simon in Luke 5 chapter 5 verses 5 and 6. Simon answers. Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't called anything, but because you say so I will let down the nets. When they had done so they called such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. No wonder Simon jumped ship when he relized the man that was telling them to cast out their nets again was Jesus. He was so excited that it could not wait for the boat to get back to shore. He puts on his cloak and jumps in the water to get back to the shore. 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 taken it off any jumped into the sea. That's my favorite part. Every one of the adults at Lake Sinclair would have been furious with us. If we had gotten so excited to see our cousins after we had a bath that we jumped out of the boat into the water to get to the dock faster. Simon Peter just couldn't help himself. But this time instead of calling Peter to follow him after a bountiful morning of fishing he calls him to a fellowship and a meal. He serves him bread and fish from their bountiful harvest. And then he gives them a new commandment. Because Jesus is about to ascend into heaven. He no longer needs his disciples to follow him on earth. He needs them to share the gospel and over a meal of locks and bagels at the shore of the sea where he called them to be disciples. He tells them to feed his sheep. He says, if you love me you will feed my lambs. As with any of Jesus' messages, I think there's a lot of layers to what he's telling them. I think he is showing them how to fellowship and build relationships with those who need feeding. By sitting and breaking bread together and literally feeding the disciples he was showing them what their next mission would be. A better way to get to know people, to show them that they are cared for and that they are valued and to feed them. Feed my sheep, Jesus says. For there are other ways to feed people too. By building relationships and showing them care, Jesus was also healing and feeding their spirits. The disciples had been through a lot. Their weeks had been filled with grief and joy. Sorrow and devastation. Exuberance and confusion had dotted their days. In last week's scripture we also read that there were so fearful that they had locked themselves away. I cannot even imagine the roller coaster of emotions they were feeling. So Jesus appeared to them the way he did making sure they had enough fish to sell and to eat to help sustain them. And that had to give them comfort and comfort along with the joy. He invited them to a meal, humble meal, a fish and bread. The same meal that they had shared many times before and the same fish and loaves that had been a part of miracles that were fresh on their minds. And as they eat eight with the one who brought them joy, he fed their spirits and healed their hearts. Ten to my sheep, Jesus commands. But of course it did not stop there. The commandment he gives them is the new movement of faith. The one that we are still called to today. Feed my sheep. In many different ways we are called to feed the sheep of the world. Our mission is to feed the bodies, minds and souls of those around us. Fellowship just like Jesus did with the disciples to build relationship and help heal people. Give them books to read and things to help them to make them healthy and safe, car seats and dentists and doctors that are scarce to a lot of people. A friendly face, a helping hand an ally and a friend is just as important as a meal. Jesus said, feed my lambs. John tells the stories of Jesus a little differently than the other three gospels. But I think the message is exactly the same with these three words as it is with the words of the great commission. Love God and love your neighbor. Go and make disciples. Feed my lambs. Ten my sheep. At their heart they are telling us to do the same action. Love means feeding. Love God and if you do then you will go out and tend to his sheep. Loving people means doing just that. I was finishing up one of my last papers for Camler and I was using this passage to illustrate our call to mission. I came across this quote from Henry now and I think it sums up the idea of the church being called to tend sheep better than I ever could. Even when it takes us places we don't necessarily want to go. The world says according to Henry now. When you were young you were dependent and could not go where you wanted but when you grow old you'll be able to make your own decisions go your own way and control your own destiny but Jesus has a different version of maturity. It is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go. Immediately after Peter has been commissioned to be the leader of his sheep, Jesus confronts him with the hard truth that the servant leader is the leader who is being led to unknown, undesirable and painful places. The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much but the way of downward mobility ending with the cross. This might sound morbid and masochistic but for those who have heard the voice of the first love and said yes to it. The downward moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and the peace of God, the joy and peace that is not of this world. For us in the summer's love and joy meant Ma'amful John tending to his flock of family, including grandchildren and nieces and nephews. He tended to us and fed us by fishing and then cooking his bounty for us all. It does not have to be a fancy breakfast of locks and bagels. It can be a simple meal that you use to show people love. It could be a plate of fried fish and fresh cut tomatoes. It could be a book and a basket that helps a child read. It could be a new car seat that keeps someone's baby seat. It could be a place to go and shop for things your family needs that has an open heart. Love has all kinds of forms. One way that Jesus showed his disciples that he loved them before his death was the time of fellowship they had at the table together where he reminded them to love God and love their neighbors. One that we remember together at our own table. That gift, a bread and wine feeds our souls and reminds us of what links Jesus would go to as he showed us the same love that we are called to share. We are his sheep and he fed our spirits with love and kindness. As we go throughout our week, let us go in fellowship. Let us honor the relationship that Jesus wants to have with us. And the one he asks us to share with the world with a simple meal that brings peace and joy. Amen. Let us find ways this way for fellowship for simple meals for feeding sheep and tending flocks for bringing peace and joy and mending of broken places. Because in life and death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.
