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Sermon for the week of Easter 1
1 Peter 1:17-2:3 + John 21:15-22
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all dedicate the last chapter of their Gospels to the account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, summarizing His final instructions to His apostles in the rest of that chapter. But the last chapter of John’s Gospel is different. He devoted chapter 20 to Jesus’ resurrection, and to Jesus’ appearance to the apostles on Easter Sunday, and on the following Sunday, with Thomas there. But John devotes another whole chapter to the things Jesus did after His resurrection, including the beautiful interaction you heard a moment ago between Jesus and the apostle Peter.
John 21 begins with a miracle account. The apostles had gone to Galilee, as Jesus had instructed them, and while they were there, waiting for Jesus to appear to them, the fishermen among them (which was most of them) decided to go try to catch some fish. They fished all night and caught nothing, just like that one time a few years earlier, before they were called to follow Jesus full-time, after which Jesus went out in the boat with them and told them to let down their nets, and they caught a ton of fish. Well, this time, Jesus wasn’t in the boat with them. Instead, He appeared on the shore and called out to them, telling them to let down their nets on the other side of the boat, and, again, they caught a ton of fish. When they realized who it was who called out to them from the shore, Peter jumped out of the boat and waded to shore, excited to see Jesus again. Jesus had breakfast waiting for them, but He told them to bring some of the fish they’d caught and add it to the meal. That’s where this evening’s text picks up the story.
Jesus takes Peter aside to talk to him, not for the first time since He rose from the dead. He appeared to him alone on Easter Sunday afternoon. He appeared to him with the others on Easter evening, and again the following Easter evening. Now He’s just had breakfast with him. Still, there’s an elephant in the room, something that needs to be addressed.
Remember what happened just a couple of weeks prior to this—just a couple of weeks! Peter had stood in the high priest’s courtyard and loudly, willfully, and stubbornly had denied His Lord, in order to save his own skin. Remember that terrible moment when Peter was called on to confess Christ—simply to admit that he was a disciple and a friend of Christ—but he shrank back at that moment and refused to bear the cross.
Three times Peter had denied Jesus. So three times Jesus asks him: “Do you love me?” Three times, just like Peter had denied Him three times. But this time, each time, Peter confessed his love for Jesus, and received three times from Jesus the important command to “Feed My lambs, tend My sheep, feed My sheep.” “If you love Me, then I have a task for you, which will demonstrate your love for Me. Take care of My loved ones after I’m gone. Be a shepherd for them, as I am the good Shepherd. Be a pastor for My precious flock of Christians.”
But connected with that pastoral office was also a personal prophecy, given directly to Peter by Jesus: Truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.
John explains what Jesus was talking about. He said this in order to signify by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. And after He had said this, He said to him, “Follow me.” In other words, “Peter, you will get another chance to confess Me before men, and you will suffer for it, a death like Mine. But still I call on you, still I invite you, still I command you: Follow Me. Yes, you stopped following Me once. You wouldn’t follow Me to the cross on that Good Friday, as you so boldly (and arrogantly) proclaimed you would. But now I have restored you to My path, to that narrow road that leads to life, to repentance and faith. Now, if you are willing, shepherd the flock that I am entrusting to you and to your fellow apostles and ministers. Follow Me. And don’t turn aside anymore.”
It was at that moment that Peter turned around as they were walking along and noticed, walking behind them, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” which is how St. John refers to himself throughout his Gospel. With Jesus’ prophecy of Peter’s eventual death by crucifixion still ringing in his ears, Peter looks at John, and then turns to Jesus and asks, What about him?
There seems to be, perhaps, a sense of jealousy coming from Peter. What about him? Will the “one You love” not have to suffer? Will You let him off easy? What will be required of him?
Jesus answered, If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? As for you, follow Me. In other words, “It’s none of your business what I have planned for him. My plans and desires for each one of My followers belong to Me, not you. I know what My plans are. That’s all that matters. I will do what I see fit for each one. It’s not your place to compare your path with anyone else’s path, or even to know anyone else’s path. Your path is to simply follow Me where I lead you.”
This applies to so much in life! All our society can do today is compare one person’s plight with another. “You have privilege because of your race, or gender, or upbringing! You have privilege because you were born with more money than another, or with better parents, or a better home life. If I have to suffer, what about them?” Of course, that’s the way of socialism, and Marxism. But it isn’t the way of God.
God determines the role of each one—even the role of unbelievers, but especially the role of His children. He has His good plans and designs for each one, and they will not be the same for everyone. Oh, His love is the same, and His desire that everyone be saved applies to everyone. But some will have more here on earth, some will have less. Some will suffer more, some less. Some will be called to the glory of martyrdom, some will have to trudge longer through this vale of tears, suffering the slow death of old age and of witnessing the wickedness of the world as it spreads and flourishes.
That was to be John’s fate. He would watch his brother James be the first apostle to be put to the sword. He would watch the Church grow over the next sixty years, but he would also watch many of his Christian brothers and sisters be persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, and killed. He would watch false doctrine begin to creep into the Church. And he himself would be exiled to the island of Patmos in his old age for his preaching about Christ. Is that a better fate than being put to death at a younger age? Who are we to say?
Each of you here have your own calling to follow Jesus. You get on the path by admitting your sin, by confessing it, and then you need Baptism and the forgiveness that accompanies it to get on the path. You stay on the path by walking in daily contrition, and repentance, and faith, by continually confessing your sins to God. And that water of your one-time Baptism keeps washing and cleansing you every day. You follow Jesus by hearing and studying His word, by obeying His commandments, by loving your neighbor, and by confessing Him before men. You follow Him by hoping in Him, trusting in Him, and, yes, by enduring the world’s hatred, by suffering other earthly woes with patience, and by not shrinking back from the blessed cross, when you must choose between faithfulness to Jesus and saving your own life. You follow, wherever Jesus leads. And when it gets hard, you just take another step. Then another. Then another. And when you think you can’t take another step following behind Jesus, you pray for His strength, and He will give it. You cling to His Word, and it will hold you up. You run to His Sacrament, and He will feed you. And then you take another step. And when you’re tempted to stop following, tempted to forge your own path, then you remember how terribly that went for Peter, and you resist the temptation, and you stay on the path, and you take another step.
As for you, follow Me, Jesus says. Because no matter how exactly that following plays out in this life, you know the One whom you follow, and you know the place where He leads. Yes, He leads to the cross. But He also leads to resurrection, to light, and to life. He will light your path as you follow Him, and if you follow Him, you will never walk in darkness. Amen.
