Learning to Fish in a New Place

John 21: 4-18

Sermon preached at the pastoral installation of Bob Goss

MCC in the Valley, Los Angeles CA

 

What a privilege it is to be with you and my good friend Bob Goss on this joyous occasion of Bob’s installation as Senior Pastor of MCC in the Valley!  I was quite honored when Bob asked me to preach the installation sermon, and not a bit surprised when he chose this text from John’s gospel for the occasion.

This is an appropriate text for several reasons. The Beloved Disciple is the first to recognize the Risen Christ on the shore.  I know from working with Bob on several writing projects that the Beloved Disciple is one of his favorite biblical characters.  In his writing, Bob has explored the relationship between Jesus and this Beloved Disciple—often identifying with the Beloved Disciple in his own relationship with the Queer Christ.

But the one that catches and holds our attention is Peter.  I told Bob on the phone the other day that the real reason he chose this text was because Peter is naked….Well, naked or clothed, Peter is the central character in this story.  And it is Jesus’ charge to Peter to feed and tend the flock that is the most obvious focus for a sermon to be preached at a pastoral installation.

Those are important words Jesus says to Peter and we will get to them later, but I want us to notice that our reading stopped just shy of what I believe to be the most important verse in the story.  In verse 19 we read:  “After this—after all this—the miraculous catch of fish, breakfast on the shore, the conversation about feeding the sheep--Jesus said to Peter, ‘Follow me.’”

I believe this story is about a renewed call to ministry.  It is an invitation by the Risen Christ to learn to fish in a new place.

This passage is reminiscent of an earlier miraculous catch of fish in Luke’s gospel.  In that story Jesus got into Simon Peter’s boat for the first time.  He instructed Peter to put down his nets in deep water.  At first Peter objected.  He and James and John had been fishing all night and had caught nothing, but he obeyed Jesus and when they raised the nets there were so many fish the nets were almost breaking.

Peter was amazed…and scarred to death.  In that story he says to Jesus, ‘Go away from me.”  To which Jesus responds, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”  We are told in that story that Peter left everything and followed Jesus.  That was Peter’s initial call to ministry.

Now here at the end of John’s gospel we find Peter and some of the other disciples, once again, ‘gone fishing.’  After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus they had to return to something familiar as they attempted to sort out and make sense of what these events meant for their lives.  Perhaps they needed to gather once more in a place that was familiar and physically work out some of their thoughts and questions by doing something they knew by heart:  fishing.  Maybe this familiar place was where the risen Christ could meet them best.  In Celtic spirituality there is the notion of ‘thin places.’  Places in creation where God is most accessible, where the boundaries between this world and the world of the Spirit are more fluid.  Fishing was a thin place for the disciples.

On this fishing trip, the Risen Christ calls to them from the shore—cast your nets on the other side of the boat.  After another miraculous catch of fish, Peter like a fish himself, jumps in the water to swim to shore.  Caught forever by the Risen Christ.  When he and the other disciples get to shore Jesus invites them to put some of their catch on the charcoal fire and it is Peter who hauls the net ashore.  Just in case we have missed that this is really a story about Peter’s renewed call to ministry, the writer of John’s gospel reminds us by using a specific word for ‘haul.’  It is the same word Jesus used two other times in this gospel to describe drawing people to himself.  Peter—the naked Peter who throws on some clothes and flops like a fish into the water—hauls the bursting net out of the boat—and in the hauling is caught forever by the Risen Christ.

Bob, you have had a distinguished career and ministry as Jesuit Priest, Queer activist, university professor, scholar, writer and MCC clergy.  Hear again the call of Jesus, “Follow me.”

Feed God’s flock by preaching an unhindered gospel.  Teach and equip those in your care so that they might grow into the full measure of their ministry and calling.

Tend God’s people with compassionate listening and your pastoral presence at important junctures in their lives.

Be a visionary shepherd that names this congregation’s potential and mentors them to their best selves.

When you feel lonely or discouraged remember the conversation Jesus had with Peter.  “Do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord you know I love you.”

“Then feed my sheep.”

This conversation is repeated three times like a Zen koan.  (Being a scholar of Buddhism, I figure you can appreciate that.)  Let this conversation be your pastoral koan.  Don’t get bogged down in trying to prove your love to Christ or to this congregation.  Know that we are love because God has first loved us.

 

          In the midst of traumatic life events the Risen Christ has called you back to what you know best.  The Risen One calls you to fish on the other side of the boat.  The lake is deep.  It has far richer resources than you can imagine.  It is never completely fished out, not for any of us.  We only need to learn to let our nets down in a new area to rediscover the riches.

          And when we do, we pull up our nets full of fish again and suddenly we realize the presence of the divine in our lives.  That is the way a renewed call to ministry works.  It isn’t something you generate inside yourself.  It occurs whenever your nets, that have been empty, begin to come up full again.

May MCC in the Valley be a deep lake for you.  May pastoral ministry be a ‘thin place’ for you.  A place where you are caught once again by the Risen Christ.  A place where you return to something you know by heart.