Sunday, May 3, 2026

Scripture: John 21:1-19

Sermon Title: “Freely Forgiven”

Jesse and I really enjoy going out to eat. I think one of the things we missed the most during the pandemic was eating out at restaurants. I don’t think we went out to a restaurant for an entire year. When I have friends or family in town visiting, one of the things I am most excited about is taking them to some of our favorite restaurants. Whenever anyone comes to visit, I want to make sure they enjoy eating good food. Whenever we travel, we’re excited to find a good restaurant. There’s something about eating good food.  

You may have heard that my favorite restaurant in town is Tango’s. It’s an Argentinian restaurant on Ridgewood. They have all sorts of things, but I’m boring, so I always get the empanadas. Last week we went there for a staff appreciation lunch, and it was a lot of fun sharing this restaurant with those on staff who had never had Tango’s before. A big thank you to the church for treating us to this staff lunch. And a big thank you to Joan Monte for treating us all to flan and panquequefor dessert. It was a delicious meal.

Yet as much as I like to go out to eat, good food doesn’t have to come from a restaurant. There is something about sharing a meal together, whether it’s at a restaurant or from the comfort of your dining room table at home. There’s something about the conversation that happens around a table breaking bread together. At the table when we break bread together, we often end up breaking down walls and barriers as well. We break down stereotypes. I’d like to hope this is also what we’re doing twice a month when we gather around the tables for Dinner Church on Monday Evenings, or when WOW meets once a month, or Disciple Bible Study has dinner together as well.

Now in Jesus’s time, they weren’t going to fancy restaurants, they were breaking bread around people’s tables in people’s homes. Remember, Jesus was often criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners.  

And now here in this morning’s scripture, Jesus is breaking bread again. And this time, Jesus isthe one doing the cooking. Jesus is cooking a simple meal over a campfire.  

We have been in a series called “Easter Encounters,” looking at the encounters Jesus had with people after the Resurrection. We looked at Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit onto the disciples, Jesus appearing to Thomas, and now here today we’re looking at Jesus appearing to a bunch of the disciples, and specifically Peter.  

In today’s chapter of John, we see some of the disciples are fishing. The disciples are returning to their old way of life. Jesus has been crucified and they have seen him resurrected, but I think they still don’t understand what the future holds. What does resurrection even mean for them?  

Maybe you too find yourself asking this question. “What does resurrection mean for me and my life?”

The disciples have returned to their old way of life. Fishing which is all they know.  It’s easy to go back to what we know.

But in the early morning, while they are fishing, Jesus appears to the disciples.  He’s standing on the shore asking them if they have caught any fish. They haven’t.

Jesus tells them to throw their net to the other side and they will find some. So, they do, and they are unable to haul in the large number of fish.

And then they realize it is Jesus speaking to them.  

This scene reminds us of when Jesus first called the disciples, many of them were fishing. And they left their nets and boats to follow Jesus. They left everything behind to follow Jesus.  

It also reminds us of the time they couldn’t catch anything, and Jesus sent them out to deep waters and their nets were overflowing. Again, their nets are overflowing because they stopped doing their own thing and listened to Jesus.  

Jesus is reminding them of this again. He is reminding them of their call to fish for people. He is reminding them that he is not done with them.

We shouldn’t be surprised at all if we know anything about Peter that of course Peter jumps into the water to swim to Jesus.  

And when all the other disciples get to the shore, they see that Jesus has prepared a meal. Jesus has some burning coals, with fish, and bread. Perhaps another reminder of the time Jesus fed the five thousand with just 5 loaves and 2 fish.

So many memories of the disciples with Jesus are probably coming to mind as they see Jesus and share a meal together. So many things they probably want to reminisce about. So many questions they probably want to ask Jesus about.  What’s next for all of them? What does resurrectionmean for them?

And I imagine for Peter, he has an even greater question for Jesus, “Can you forgive me for what I’ve done?” Can you forgive me for denying you not just once, but three times?”

It’s interesting, because in John’s Gospel, Peter denies Jesus around a charcoal fire, and now Jesus is cooking around a charcoal fire. Maybe reminding Peter of his denial. Maybe putting Peter back in that very moment of his denial of Jesus. But this time he has a chance to be redeemed.

Have you ever really messed up? Maybe did something that you were ashamed or embarrassed about or felt guilty about. Maybe something little like yelling or speaking in anger to your children or spouse. Maybe something worse like driving under the influence of alcohol and thankfully not hurting anyone or getting caught. Or maybe something even worse like hurting someone and getting in trouble legally. Maybe even jail or prison time.  

I imagine you felt shame, guilt, and embarrassment. To some extent, we’ve all experienced shame, guilt, and embarrassment to one degree or another.  

That’s how Peter is feeling. Guilty, ashamed, embarrassed. He was the “Rock,” the disciple who had walked on water with Jesus. And yet Peter denied Jesus three times before the crucifixion. Just as Jesus had warned. Jesus had told Peter before the Rooster crows, he will deny him three times, and Peter said, “never Lord.”

And yet that’s exactly what Peter did. He messed up. He denied the Lord not just once but three times.  

I imagine Peter struggling with shame, embarrassment, and guilt.

But then comes Jesus’s time to have a one-on-one conversation with Peter. Pulled away, separate from the other disciples.  

I imagine for Peter the atmosphere feels thick between them. A cloud hanging over Peter’s head. Peter’s denial of Jesus is the elephant in the room. They are even sitting around a charcoal fire just like Peter was near a charcoal fire when he denied Jesus. The situation might even feel too much for Peter to bear.  

And then Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15, NIV)

Can you imagine Jesus asking you this?

“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Peter responds.  

To which Jesus says, “Feed my lambs.”

Again, Jesus asks. A second time, then a third time.

The third time, Peter is hurt that Jesus is asking him a third time. Peter says, “Lord you know all things; you know that I love you.” (John 21:17, NIV)

At first, it might seem that Jesus is rubbing it in to Peter, asking him over and over if Peter really loves him. But Jesus doesn’t operate that way. Jesus doesn’t come to gloat and rub our sins in our face.  

Jesus is offering Peter forgiveness for every single time that Peter denied Jesus.  For every time Peter said he didn’t know Jesus, Peter now has the opportunity to say, “yes Lord, I do love you.” Peter denied Jesus three times. And now Peter has the opportunity to be forgiven 3 times.  

Maybe Peter is even remembering that conversation between he and Jesus where Jesus told Peter to forgive 70 times 7 times. Peter is experiencing that forgiveness right now.  

Peter is freely forgiven by Jesus in today’s Easter Encounter. And this is not just good news for Peter; this is good news for all of us. Jesus wants to offer to each and every one of us the same forgiveness he offered to Peter.  

No matter who you are or what you have done, Jesus wants to offer you forgiveness. Whether you’ve denied, betrayed or doubted Christ, Christ wants to forgive even you.  

Jesus is asking all of us the same question he is asking Peter, “Do you love me?” Do you hear Jesus asking you this question this morning. “Do you love me?”

But the thing with Jesus is, Jesus isn’t done with us after forgiveness.  He told Peter to Feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, and feed my sheep.  

Jesus was giving Peter a mission. Peter was still going to be the rock on which Jesus would build his church. Jesus is going to use Peter in amazing ways to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  

And that is true for all of us. We don’t have an encounter with Jesus, we don’t receive forgiveness from Jesus just for ourselves. Jesus is not done with us. Jesus wants to use all of us to spread the good news of Jesus. When we receive the forgiveness and reconciliation that Jesus offers, we are to share that good news of forgiveness and reconciliation with the world.

At my first church that I pastored in Jacksonville, they had a once-a-month community meal, and the name they gave the meal was Feed My Sheep. It was a reminder of those words from Jesus to Peter. It was a reminder that we are called not to only receive God’s love, and receive God’s mercy, but we are to feed others.  We are to care for others. We are to share the good news of Christ with others in word and deed. Whether that’s serving a meal at Palmetto House, Dinner Church, or Halifax Urban Ministries. Whether it’s having a one-on-one conversation and praying with someone.

Jesus is asking each of us, “Do you love me?” And if our answer is “yes Lord, you know that I love you,” then we are to act on the instructions to feed his sheep and care for his lambs.

Now this doesn’t just mean physically feeding someone food. How are we feeding and caring for others spiritually, whatever the need may be? Physically, emotionally, spiritually?

All month since Easter we’ve been in this series called “Easter Encounters,” reminding us that Jesus didn’t appear just once at the empty tomb on Easter morning. Today’s scripture tells us it was the third time he had appeared to the disciples. And the book of Acts tells us that he appeared to people over a period of 40 days. The Resurrected Jesus had quite a few encounters with people.

So, the question for us as we wrap us this series is to ask ourselves, “Have we too had an encounter with Jesus this Easter Season? And what does an encounter with Jesus mean for us? What does the Resurrection mean for us?”

As we said on Easter, the resurrection means eternal life, but it also means abundant life here and now. It means hope. Like Peter, the Resurrection means forgiveness. It means a fresh start. It means reconciliation.

Jesus offered Peter forgiveness, reinstated him as a disciple, and gave him a new mission: to feedhis sheep.

What has Jesus forgiven you from? Or what do you still need forgiveness from?  And what fresh start might Jesus want to give you?

It’s amazing that we see Peter go from denier Jesus to being on fire for Jesus. This will especially come after the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost. Peter will be so on fire for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. He will be so on fire for following Jesus’s instructions to “Feed his sheep.”

Now this is not in the Bible, before anyone comes at me and says, “where in scripture does it say this?” But church tradition teaches that Peter ends up being crucified for his faith, and that he even asks to be crucified upside down because he feels that he is not worthy to die in the way that his Savior died. If this is in fact true, what a change in Peter.  

To go from denying Christ to save yourself, to being crucified yourself, but doing it upside down because you don’t feel worthy of dying like your Savior. That is someone who has been radically changed by an encounter with Jesus Christ. That is someone who has been set on fire by the Power of the Holy Spirit. That is someone who has received forgiveness and given a mission to go out into the world.  

Peter has been forever changed.

How will you be forever changed by the Resurrection? How will you receive the forgiveness freely given to you from Jesus? And how will you use that encounter, use that forgiveness to go out and Feed the Sheep of Jesus?

Perhaps the good news of new life and new hope of Resurrection means us too being willing to sit and break bread at the table with people who are different from us. Perhaps it means cooking up our own version of bread and fish over a charcoal fire so that we can not only break bread butbreak down barriers. May we encounter Christ, receive his forgiveness, and be on mission to break bread with others and feed his sheep. May we freely offer forgiveness and reconciliation to a broken world, just as we have freely received forgiveness and reconciliation from Christ.

Amen