Readings for the Third Sunday of Easter (Year C)
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on May 4, 2025.
A colleague of mine who taught graduate courses in theology said that Christian Spirituality is essentially a question; and that question is, “Do you love me?” It’s the question that Christ is asking you right now: “Do you love me?” The question that Christ asked of Peter, who had not long ago denied Jesus three times and abandoned him to torture and death. Just imagine your friends denying ever knowing you as they abandon you to excruciating torture and death. Then imagine rising from the grave and visiting them. What would you say to them? I imagine many of us would be inclined to say some harsh words, to shame and punish them and perhaps even to seek vengeance. Peter was deeply ashamed after denying Jesus and he likely had some profound personal fear about the possibility of the Risen Christ appearing to him since he completely failed him as a friend. But Jesus responds to his friends’ denial and abandonment not by punishing and condemning, but rather by cooking breakfast for them on the beach.[1] Then, after serving Peter his grilled fish sandwich, he asks, “Do you love me?” This vulnerable and disarming question is much like the disarming question that Jesus asks Paul in Acts: “Paul, why do you persecute me?”
If our answer is “No” to Christ’s question “Do you love me?” then he responds by saying, “Ok, well, I will keep praying for you,” just as he prayed for the Roman soldiers as they crucified him.
If we answer “Yes” to Christ’s question “Do you love me?” then he says to us what he said to Peter. Then he says, “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep. Care for the poor and vulnerable. Feed the hungry. Care for my flock.” If we love Jesus, then we show this love by caring for others. Conversely, if we say we love God but hate others, then we are liars (1 John 4).
Today’s Gospel is the same Gospel that was read at the funeral of Pope Francis, the successor to St. Peter as the Bishop of Rome. The Cardinal who preached at his funeral (Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re) said that feeding Christ’s sheep has been and will be “the constant task of Peter and his successors, a service of love in the footsteps of Christ.” And, I would add, that this has been and will be the invitation and expectation to all those who respond in the affirmative to Christ’s question “Do you love me?”
“Despite his frailty and suffering towards the end, Pope Francis chose to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life. He followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the Good Shepherd, who loved his sheep to the point of giving his life for them. And he did so with strength and serenity, close to his flock.”[2] Pope Francis served as a model for each of us to live our lives as a “Yes” to Christ’s question, to live our lives not in blasphemous self-aggrandizement (as some self-proclaimed followers of Christ are hellbent on doing), but living our lives in self-giving service to the children of God.
When asked what feeding the flock looks like in today’s world, Pope Francis said, “I believe…our goal is not to proselytize but to listen to needs, desires and disappointments, despair, hope. We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.”[3] This is how we, as individuals and as a church, embody our “Yes” to Christ’s question, “Do you love me?” And we do so not in our own strength, but in the strength of the One who gives himself fully to us at every moment of every day; the One who, even after we fail time and time again, responds with self-giving love and generosity by cooking us breakfast at the beach and reminding us why we do the work in the first place, because we love him.
I recently came across a song that creatively conveys the message of today’s Gospel as well as the self-giving and expansive spirit of Pope Francis. It’s by a singer/songwriter from Portland named John Silliman Dodge and it’s entitled “Breakfast with Jesus”:
I had breakfast with Jesus just the other day
I met him downtown at his favorite café
I had the pancakes, he had the eggs
You might be surprised what he had to say
First we eat, then we talk, first we eat, then we talk
I been around a long time, I’ve seen everything
Why you people don’t change it’s a crying shame
I keep saying the same thing again and again
Y’all trying on purpose to make me insane?
I don’t care if you’re a Muslim, a Christian or a Jew
A Baptist or a Buddhist or a cool Hindu
Don’t make no difference if you’re none of the above
The question’s the same, the answer is love
He finished up his coffee, snuffed out his cigarette
I said wait a minute Jesus, don’t go yet
I got a head full of questions I ain’t asked you yet
He just grinned, he shook my hand, this is what he said
Comfort the widow and feed all the kids
Visit the prisoner, forgive what he did
Love everybody like you say you love me
And for God’s sakes, buddy, turn off the damn TV
I’m having breakfast with Jesus
Now every week I’m down here at the same café
I sit at the same place and just wait and wait
Ain’t got no money ‘cause I gave it away
I feel like any second now he’s gonna walk in here and say
Howzabout breakfast with Jesus?[4]
May we be nourished by Christ this morning so that we can embody our “Yes” to the question he asks of you today.
[1] One of my colleagues in Boston says the essence of “Christianity is fried fish on the beach.”
[2] https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/read-homily-funeral-mass-pope-francis
[3] https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2013/10/01/another-day-another-papal-interview-francis-sits-down-with-atheist-founder-of-la-repubblica/
[4] https://johndodgemusic.com/track/4028219/breakfast-with-jesus
Grilled Fish Sandwiches
(John 21:1-19, translated by Daniel DeForest London)
1
After this,
Yesu revealed himself again
to the students
by the sea of Tiberiados.
He revealed himself like this…
2
They were together:
Simon Petros
and Thomas called Didymus
and Nathanael from Cana in Galilaias
and the sons of Zebedai
and two other students.
3
Simon Petros said,
“I’m going fishing.”
And they said,
“We’ll join you.”
So, they went out on their boat,
but caught nothing that night.
4
A few moments after sunrise,
Yesu stood on the beach,
yet the students did not know it was him.
5
So, Yesu called out to them,
“Children, have you caught anything?”
And they replied, “Nope.”
6
He said to them,
“Cast your net starboard,
and you will find what you’re looking for.”
When they cast their net to the right of the boat,
they caught so many ikthues
that they were barely strong enough to haul them in.
7
The student who received egapa from Yesu said to Petros,
“It is Kyrios!”
When Simon Petros realized it was Kyrios,
He threw on some clothes since he liked to fish naked,
and jumped into the lake.
8
But the other students came to shore on the boat,
dragging the net full of fish,
since they were not far from land, just about two hundred forearms in length.
9
When they came ashore,
they saw a pile of burning coals,
with grilled fish sandwiches,
laid out and prepared for each of them.
10
Yesu said,
“Bring some of the fish you caught.”
11
So, Simon Petros went up to the boat and pulled out the net,
which was full of one hundred and fifty-three fish;
and even with all that fish, the net did not tear.
12
Yesu said,
“Come and enjoy breakfast with me!”
And none of the students asked,
“Who are you?”
Because they all knew he was the Kyrios;
13
and so, Yesu passed out the grilled fish sandwiches
to each of them.
14
This was now the third time Yesu revealed himself to his students
after rising from the dead.
15
When they finished breakfast, Simon Petros was asked by Yesu,
“Simon Yoannou, do you love me?”
And he answered, “Absolutely, Kyrie! You know I have affection for you.”
Yesu said, “Feed my lambs.”
16
And he asked a second time,
“Simon Yoannou, do you love me?”
And he answered, “Yes, Kyrie! You know I have affection for you.”
Yesu said, “Be a shepherd to my sheep.”
17
And he asked a third time,
“Simon Yoannou, do you have affection for me?”
Petros felt vexed because he was asked a third time, “Do you have affection for me?”
And he said, “Kyrie, you know all things, so of course you know I have affection for you.”
Yesu said, “Feed my sheep.”
18
“Amen. Amen,” Yesu said,
“When you were young you would throw on some clothes and go wherever you desired,
but when you grow older, you will lift your arms as others clothe you and they will lead you where you do not want to go.”
19
Yesu said this to signify his death which would be a doxology to God.
And then he said to him, “Follow me.”
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 