I wonder how feel about the beach. I have a complicated relationship with beaches. I love walking along them, the vast horizons and the sea breeze. I enjoy sea swimming. But. To say that I don’t like sand would be an understatement. When I arrive in glory, God and I are going to be having a bit of a conversation about sand, and particularly its insistence on being really sticky and difficult to wash or brush off until you get in the car, when it magically loses all its adhesive properties and spreads itself liberally everywhere. And, to be honest, I’m not that keen on just sitting there in the sun either – I like to be doing something. Anyway, that’s just me – you will have your own thoughts on beaches. It would be boring if we were all the same.
Today we find Jesus on the beach. Twice. It’s a lake beach, rather than a sea beach, and he’s not on a sun lounger, or making sandcastles, he is having conversations, teaching people, and doing miracles – signs of his authority and generosity.
I don’t know what your usual pattern of Bible readings here is, I know that in the Anglican tradition, we don’t often read two gospel readings in the same service, and there’s some good reasons for that. One of unintended consequences, though, is that sometimes we miss the opportunity to compare and contrast two gospel passages, like the ones that we’re looking at today, which bookend Jesus’ time on earth with this friends and followers, his disciples.
To give us a way in to our exploration this morning, I’d like to look at two of the things that Simon says, and one thing that Jesus says.
Let’s begin with Simon:
“Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets”
I wonder if you’ve ever had that feeling in your life that you’ve been working hard, that you’ve been putting the effort in, that you’ve invested in relationships, but nothing seems to be bearing fruit. It can be frustrating, can’t it. If it goes on too long it can gnaw at our hope, our faith. As far as we know, this hadn’t been a long term failure to catch fish for Simon, but you can imagine that if it did continue night after night, it would have been catastrophic for someone whose family’s livelihood depended on him making a catch. I wonder how many bad nights he had to have before he started to worry.
It can be particularly galling when you know what you’re doing, but things still aren’t coming together, and then someone who knows nothing about it starts making “helpful” suggestions. Or maybe that’s just me.
That is the headspace that Simon is in. He’s tired, probably frustrated, maybe despondent. And then Jesus asks him to do something. First he asks if he can borrow Simon’s boat. That’s not such a big ask – Simon’s not doing anything else with it, and Simon, presumably, says yes to Jesus.
And then comes a bigger ask – “put out your nets again.” Simon is not so keen this time, but trusts Jesus, so does it anyway, and is rewarded with a huge catch.
Simon’s first “yes” to Jesus is a small one. The second is much bigger. It is a choice of obedience and trust when the request didn’t make sense, and when Simon really didn’t feel like it. And here’s the thing. Obedience is only really obedience when it leads us to do something that we wouldn’t have done anyway, and which we probably don’t want to do. Trust is only trust when it involves a level of vulnerability and risk. I wonder what Jesus might be asking us to do that doesn’t make sense to us, and which seems risky. Are we willing to say, with Peter, “But because you say so, I will let down the nets”
The second thing that Peter says that I would like us to consider this morning is his exclamation in reaction to the huge catch. Peter falls on his knees and says:
“Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man”
It seems to me that what we have here is one of the most damaging aspects of shame. Simon saw the power and authority of Jesus, knew that he wasn’t worthy of Jesus, and was ashamed. And his response to feeling ashamed was to try and send Jesus away.
This is exactly the same reaction as we find in the account of Eden. In Genesis 3 we read that Adam and Eve ate of the tree that God had commanded them not to eat, saw themselves in a new light, and were ashamed. And what did their shame lead them to do? They hid from God when God came to spend time with them in the garden.
Shame can cause us to try and hide from God, to try and send God away. The irony is, that the only way that our shame to be dealt with is to invite God to come and deal with it for us. Either it’ll be something that we have no need to be ashamed of, in which case the Holy Spirit will reassure us, comfort us, and heal us of that shame. Or, there will be something that we should rightly be ashamed of, and the Holy Spirit will enable us to experience and own God’s forgiveness, won for us by Jesus on the cross. Either way, we do not need to be ashamed, and the best thing we can do with a feeling of shame is to bring it to God.
We see an example of Jesus dealing with Simon’s shame in the conversation on the beach after the resurrection. Simon comes to this conversation full of shame. He let Jesus down, by deserting him and then denying that he knew Jesus whilst Jesus was on trial for his life. Three times he had said, “I don’t know him.” Jesus deals with Simon’s shame by asking three times, “Do you love me”, giving him three opportunities to reaffirm his love.
There are a couple of other things that I think are worth noticing. Simon swam towards Jesus. The reinstatement hadn’t happened yet, and so the chances are Simon was still carrying shame, and yet he swam towards Jesus. He didn’t run away, or hide. He swam towards Jesus. When we are ashamed of something, the only way to deal with it is to go towards Jesus.
The other thing to notice is that it was a painful process for Simon. As Jesus repeatedly asked Simon whether he loved him, Simon was upset as he was brought face to face with the deep consequences for their relationship that his betrayal had caused. Dealing with things that have caused us shame may very well be painful, but the end result is freedom and reconciliation.
And now, one of the things Jesus says:
“Follow me.”
Jesus said this to the disciples before they even were his disciples, and to one of his best friends as he was preparing to leave him on earth, to carry on the work of the Kingdom. It is the recurring theme of the gospels, and the continuing command and invitation to all. “Follow me”
It seems to me that everything else that Jesus says is summed up in these two words.
“Can I borrow your boat” – “Follow me”
“Don’t be afraid.” – “Follow me”
“Cast your nets on the other side” – “Follow me”
“Come and have breakfast” – “Follow me”
“Do you love me?” – “Follow me”
As we hear that invitation this morning will we, like them, without a word, rise up and follow him?
I’d like to draw my reflections on these episodes together with a poem inspired by them.
Lake laps, people press
in to listen to Jesus
Knotting nets, Simon sits
there on the shore by Jesus
Boat borrowed, words woven
over the waves, teaches Jesus.
Next lesson, “Draw deeper,
put out your nets.” says Jesus
“Nowt all night.” Simon snips,
“Yet, for you, I will, Jesus.”
Full of fish, nets strain.
He falls at the feet of Jesus.
“Leave, Lord.” Simon’s sin says.
“Fear not, follow me.” calls Jesus.
Three years pass.
Lake laps. Simon circles
back, “I’m going fishing.”
Fellow followers
join the trip, “We’ll go with you.”
Day dawns, stranger shouts,
“Children, nowt all night?” “No.”
“Yet you will find fish
if you cast nets to the right.”
Full of fish, nets strain.
Eyes open, “It is the Lord.”
Simon swims shorewards.
Others bring boat, nets behind.
Huge haul, grace gifted.
“Come, have breakfast.” says Jesus.
Bread broken, fish filleted,
Jesus feeds them all.
Jesus asks Simon,
“Do you love me” Once, twice, thrice.
“Yes.” “Yes.””You know, yes.”
“Feed and tend my lambs, my sheep.”
Simon sees someone
else. Asks, “Lord, what about him?”
“What is that to you?”
“You follow me.” calls Jesus.
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