WATCHING AND WORKING

Dr. Richard J. Henderson April 25, 2004

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Psalm 30 (responsive)
John 21: 1-19

Introduction

Two women meet at a funeral. They haven't met before and at the reception after the funeral service they sit together and begin to talk about their lives. "You're married?" "Oh yes, we met at..." and she goes on to tell her story.

"Do you have children?" the same woman asks, and the other goes into the miraculous way in which she and her husband were able to adopt a child. In telling the story of her life - with all its pains and setbacks as well as all its joys and thrills - this woman reveals a life in which it's obvious that God has been moving, and she is aware of God's actions.

The woman who has been asking about her life leans back in her chair and comments, "It's clear that your life has been blessed. God has touched your life over and over again." The woman responds, "I've been through some harrowing experiences. But, yes, I have known that God is with me. Well, not all the time, but looking back, God has always been in my life."

The other woman turns her head and begins to think back over her own life.

"Has God been moving in my life too?" It is a question that will stay with her for weeks.

How is God seen in our lives?

I

After Jesus' death and resurrection the disciples are back to work. For Peter, James, and John, and a few of the others it meant back to the fishing nets. Easter had come. They experienced the resurrection of Jesus. They now believed that Jesus had risen from the dead, and now they had returned to their jobs - fishing.

They get up early, just as the sun crawls above the horizon. From their fishing boats they see someone on the shore. He's calling to them. They head into shore and as they get closer they can see that it is Jesus. Peter jumps from the boat and swims in. He wants to get to shore first.

On the shore they see Jesus has started a fire and prepared some breakfast for them. They all sit together on the beach and eat breakfast.

Jesus has revealed himself to them. Not only has he shown them that he is raised, but in this form he even eats breakfast with them.

II

You and I aren't as lucky as the disciples; Jesus doesn't come to us in bodily form and share a meal with us. He does show himself to us. We can see God at work in our lives if we are aware enough to notice the wonders that happen around us.

Like the women talking at the funeral we can see in our lives, and in the lives of others, how God works through us everyday. The woman at the funeral went away asking herself how God might be moving in her life. As she looks back over her experience she begins to wonder, "Could God be at work in my life?"

She thinks back to amazing coincidences and asks herself, "Was that God's hand?" She will begin to see things she never realized before.

III

God comes to us in worship experiences on Sunday morning, but most of the time God speaks to us during the week. Like those first disciples God touches our lives when we are going about our regular work. What could be less spiritual than being at work fishing? Yet Christ's appears to them at that point, and they are aware enough to respond.

God is seen in moving experiences and emotional times, but God also reveals himself in the unique events of everyday life. God comes to us. It's not that we find God - God reveals himself to us. Christianity is a revealed religion - that is, God comes to us, we don't search and eventually find God

Several years ago, at a low point in my ministry when I was wondering why in the world I was a minister, I was sitting in the room just through the glass door in the fellowship hall. I was in a meeting. Is there anything less spiritual than a meeting? During the discussion a woman walked in to the narthex and began reading the bulletin board. I noticed her and wondered what she was looking for. My first thought was that she had come here thinking this was the night that AA met.

It wasn't. She walked around the narthex noticing information on the tables. Finally I got up and walked out to ask her if I could help. She said, "I hope so. I need someone to talk to." She was really upset about her life and her relationship with God. She said she came to the church hoping it would be open and that someone would be there she could talk to.

We sat down and talked for a long time. I think I helped her. When I went home that night, I understood why I was a minister. Was it a coincidence that she showed up that night? Was it a coincidence that the church was open and I was sitting in a meeting?

Sometimes God shows up right in the middle of everyday life.

IV

After Jesus and the disciples have breakfast together Jesus asks some odd questions. He turns to Peter and asks, "Do you love me?" Peter is baffled but answers, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

Then Jesus says, "Feed my lambs."

Feed your lambs? I'm a fisherman. Peter is still wrestling with that question when Jesus again asks, "Do you love me?" "You know I love you."

"Tend my sheep."

Then a third time, "Do you love me?"

Now Peter is frustrated. What is going on here? He answers, "You know everything, you know that I love you."

"Feed my sheep."

We don't know if Peter even realizes that just as he had denied Jesus three times, he has now confessed his love for Jesus three times. He has replaced his denial with affirmation. But Jesus is also giving him work to do. Not only is Jesus reaffirming Peter's faith, he is giving him a job to do.

"Feed my sheep."

In this experience at the shore Jesus not only reveals himself to the disciples, he gives them work to do. They will no longer be fishermen; they are now going to care for God's people. It isn't enough that the disciples believed that Jesus has risen from the dead, they need to act on what they know. Jesus is saying don't just believe I've risen, follow me. Don't just celebrate the resurrection, feed my sheep. Don't just think - do.

V

Feed my sheep. What does that mean for you? How in your life can you feed Christ's sheep? Who is there you are able to care for? How can you help God's people in your world?

I think of the woman telling her story at the funeral. Just by telling her life story, and how God has moved in her life, she has opened another person to the reality of God and the ways in which God can move.

I think of the Prime Timers in our church and the marvelous way they care about, and care for each other. That is feeding Christ's sheep. I think of the people in this congregation who listen to one another's heartache with understanding, and genuine care. I think of the dedicated people who go to the soup kitchen in Detroit and serve God's children who are desperate for the basic necessities of life.

You know best what Jesus' words, "follow me," mean in your life. You understand ways in which you can feed Christ's sheep. How will those words make a difference for you?

Conclusion

We all know the story of the Prodigal Son. I like the ending to that story that the great preacher, Ernest Campbell, added. You know the son demands his inheritance and then goes off into a far land and squanders all his money. He ends up in the worst place a young Jewish man could be - standing in the slop feeding pigs. There he realizes that his father's servants are far better off than he is, so he goes back to his father, not as a son, but as a servant.

As he approaches, his father runs out to greet him, gives him a ring and sandals, which mean he is accepted as a son. It is a wonderful, warm reunion.

Then Campbell imagines the son walking around his father's farm with his ring and sandals, saying over and over again, "I'm home. I've seen my father's love, and I'm back home." This will go on for a few days and then his father will shout to him, "We're really glad you're home, son. Now grab a hoe and get to work!"

Christ reveals himself to us, shows us his love; he also puts us to work - "follow me." "Feed my sheep."

Amen.

©Richard J. Henderson 2004