Morning Prayer and Sermon
3rd Sunday of Easter Year C
May 4th, In the Year of our Lord 2025
Christ the king Episcopal Church
Feed my Sheep
The third time that Jesus appeared to his disciples after the Resurrection, was by the Sea of Tiberius (also called Galilee) where Peter and a few of the 12 were gathered. They were a team who hungered for more news of Jesus, but Peter in particular may have had doubts. He had denied the Lord three times and could have wondered if he was fit to do anything in Christ’s service. Something we may, at times, believe about ourselves. When we let the standards of the world define us or we doubt ourselves, we must look to Jesus. We find our true identity in our personal relationship to Him, no one else defines us. Jesus says we are:
Redeemed and forgiven (Eph. 1:7). A new creation in Christ (2nd Cor. 5:17). A child of God (John 1:12). Chosen before the Foundation of the World (Eph. 1:4). His friend (John 15:15).
Believers must never doubt God’s love for us, and our standing with him, that is the work of Satan and his fallen angels. His very name means accuser!
Now let’s consider how things are with Peter and the disciples, in the early formation period of the Christian Church. Peter had resumed his fishing business and decided that he would take his boat out again. Just like today, people like to eat fish, and if he caught some, they would all have fish to eat as well as bread. They joined Peter in his boat. They caught no fish all night. I rarely fish but have twice fished from a boat, in the ocean off Alaska, a wonderful experience. On one occasion we fished all afternoon, led by a Captain who knew where the fish were, and caught nothing. We were not happy.
Peter and the disciples would not be happy at this point. And returning to shore at daybreak, they saw a man on the beach. It was Jesus, but they did not recognize him. He said to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” They answered him, “No.” They must have been shouting because they were 100 yards offshore. Jesus then told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” (John 21:5, & 6) He did not say, go back into the deeper waters of the Sea, just cast the net on the right side of the boat where they were. Not knowing who it was, a normal reaction may have been ‘O Sure.’ But he must have spoken with ‘authority,’ for they did so. And they were overwhelmed by the number of fish they caught. John’s Gospel even gives a count: 153 large fish. Tilapia, Catfish and others are regularly fished out of the Galilee.
St. John, who, in his Gospel always referred to himself as the disciple whom Christ loved, was the first one to recognize Jesus and told Peter, “It is the Lord.” Simon Peter must have been wearing only a loincloth, so he put on his robe and jumped into the water and swam to shore. The others’ followed in the boat with the fish. Jesus was waiting with bread and fish, cooking over hot coals, for them when they landed. “Come and have breakfast.” Sometimes food must come first. Mohandas Gandhi, once said, “Feed a man and then ask of him virtue.”
“Jesus let them all eat first, when they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
Yes Lord, he said, you know that I love you.
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
It seems that Peter did not understand that Jesus was referring to a different kind of food.
Again, Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you truly love me?”
Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time. “Do you love me?” He said, Lord you know all things; you know that I love you.” “Jesus said, feed my sheep. I tell you the truth when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you, and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, follow me! (John 21: 15-19)
Peter the bold, was the first of the disciples to declare our Lord Jesus to be the Messiah, with these words, “You are the Christ, Son of the Loving God!” Jesus had replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of John, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[ loosed in heaven.” (Matt.16:16-20)
Peter had denied Christ three times when challenged that he was a disciple of Jesus, so our Lord determined that he must affirm his commitment to Jesus and the ministry three times.
Jesus would also use this occasion to strengthen Peters calling. He would be the leading guide and teacher of the early church. God has plans for each of us. His Kingdom plans for you and I may need a bit of redundant explanation to get through to us. Our natural reticence can even require a miracle to overcome. If something extraordinary does take place, the Holy Spirit will confirm in our heart if it is from the Lord. We can feed sheep.
As St Paul advised, “the peace which passes all understanding shall garrison your hearts through Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 4:7)
Saul, a traveling judge and executioner of Christians was knocked off his horse and blinded, then after 3 days, filled with the Holy Spirit and later taken into the desert. For three years he was given unique revelations by the resurrected Christ. Saul the avenger, became Paul, servant of Jesus Christ. The Lord had produced a new person. Their personal relationship made him utterly certain that God loved him and had prepared for him a different life. The Apostle could say with the Psalmist, “I was going down to the grave …You LORD, with your favor, made me as strong as the mountains.” (Psalm 30:3, 7) Paul fed Sheep.
Paul through preaching and the written word would bring uncountable millions to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we let go of the control of the hours and days of our lives, and put them into the hands of Jesus, who knows what we might do.
Our need for a primary relationship to God is, by his design, the most fundamental part of us. Love for ourselves, our husband or wife, our children, our extended families, our friends, our neighbors, those we have good work relationships with … are so important. In some ways they give us a reason to start each day. But our need to know, love, and be led by Jesus day by day is the reason we were created. I close with these words of the wise:
‘Thou hast made us for thyself O Lord, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.” Augustine of Hippo
“There is a God-shaped vacuum, in the heart of each man, that cannot be filled by any created thing but only by the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” Blaise Pascal
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in the world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for a better world.” C.S. Lewis
God be Praised, Jesus is Lord!
Joseph J. Munoz
Professor Emeritus
Feather River College
Quincy California