Forgiveness
Rev. Joanie Brawley
3 Easter - Yr C
May 4, 2025
Acts 9:1-5 (7-20), Psm 30, Rev. 5:11-14, John 21:1-19
Forgiveness
The 630’ tall (and wide) Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO marks the time and place from which a small band of men, the Corps of Discovery, ventured across the Missouri river into an unknown, unexplored, unmapped terrain… a vast landscape of never-before documented peoples, plants, and animals. When the Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed the Missouri River, a treacherous journey that lasted more than two years and over 8,000 miles stretched westward before them. This was an enormous human achievement which completely changed the size, shape, and future of our - until then - small, still-new nation.
Interestingly, however, it seems the thousands of amazing discoveries catalogued during the Lewis and Clark expedition were so expansive, so significant, so utterly foreign … that it took nearly a half-century for the young nation to actually begin to grow westward with any real consistency. There were fur traders, of course, and occasional traders with Native American tribes, but it took time and a collective percolation of this new reality… for the effects of that exploration, to actually manifest itself in the young nation’s physical - and cultural - self-understanding. One gets the sense that our 19th century ancestors couldn’t quite assimilate all that was suddenly and wondrously opened to them… as if there was a communal questioning: “What does this mean?” “What do we do with all these amazing stories?” “What’s next?” “What now?”
Just as these kinds of questions were filtering through our newly-expanded, suddenly-continental country… it’s not unlikely that these same sorts of questions had captured through St. John …as he was completing his, the last, Gospel. John is an old man by the time he writes his Gospel. First hand witnesses to Christ’s life, ministry, death and resurrection were dying and there was a clear need to preserve not only the events of Christ’s life… but to grasp their meaning. What does it mean to become “Fishers of Men” now that Christ had been resurrected and had ascended into heaven? Surely John was saturated by such questions: “What does this all mean? What next? What now?”
Putting today’s Gospel into context, John has actually completed the Gospel story in his prior chapter. Resurrected and scared, Jesus had appeared to the disciples, including Thomas, who declared Christ as “My Lord and my God:” the strongest and culminating declaration of Jesus’ divinity in all Scripture. … Christ has given His Disciples the Holy Spirit to be their Comforter. John has even written the climactic “purpose statement” for his entire book, in the final verse of the prior chapter 20: “… these (signs) are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.”
Yet, John adds this final, additional story which takes place along the Sea of Tiberias, at least several days, and certainly several miles distant from the Holy City where so much had gone so shamefully wrong …and so astoundingly right. And so, in this final coda chapter of his Gospel, John tells us one more story of how Christ “showed himself” to His Disciples. And, as always, it is through Christ’s own actions - His example - that we find His (and our) answers to John’s - and our questions: What does it mean to become “Fishers of Men”? What happens next? What do we do now?”
The Disciples had been hiding in a locked room in Jerusalem after Jesus was crucified. Peter had publicly denied Jesus, three times, and all of them had deserted Jesus as he hung on the cross. Seeing the risen Christ had, of course, amazed and transfixed them; He had given them the promised Holy Spirit… but what exactly did that mean? Their collective fear-driven disloyalty and guilt weighed, unspoken, on each of them. They had been waiting - and worrying - knowing that there was unfinished business between them … and the Son of God! There must be a reckoning, right? “What now?”
And, like us, on this 3rd Sunday after Easter, time was moving on from the incomprehensible events of Easter morning. The Disciples had now returned home to Galilee. They needed to get back to work; they needed to eat! Things needed to get back to normal! So, weighted with all sorts of uncertainty, Peter (of course, Peter!) pipes up: “Well…I’m going fishing,” and the others jump into the boat with him. Were the Disciples actually turning back — returning to their old life as “fishers of … fish?” We can never answer that question, but by morning …they were ravenous, and hadn’t had a nibble … when they noticed …a stranger on the beach … who asks them a question they had been asked before (while standing in this same boat, on this same sea, some 3 years earlier): “Haven’t caught any fish, have you?” And just like on that earlier day (when they had laid down their nets to follow Jesus) …when this man now tells them to “Cast the net to the right side of the boat,” …they can hardly manage the haul! Stunned… the Lord gave them a touchstone reminder of His faithfulness and provision… and instantly they know “It is the Lord!”
Here, away from Jerusalem (where every good Jew would have expected to find God) Christ was waiting ahead of them… and met them right where they are, in their unsettled souls, now deep in the sticks of Galilee. Jesus is with them, even before they see Him. Christ’s presence assures them that (as “Fishers of Men”) they are not alone.
Christ then provides what they need (in this case, a boatload of fish) and, more importantly, He shows them, again, that they are pretty lousy fishermen on their own! Whatever this “Fishers of Men” call was, they could not do it on their own. Without Jesus, their nets were empty, and they had no food (either physical or spiritual) … for themselves or anyone else. They needed Jesus … to lead and equip their every effort.
On the shore, Christ has prepared a hot meal for them - a universal sign of friendship and community. It seems “Fishers of Men” willingly offer practical (as well as spiritual) care. Jesus takes some fish and bread, breaks it, and feeds them, and He nourishes them - with Communion.
In this one small exchange, Christ is simultaneously modeling and equipping His Disciples; He is showing them His gateway into their New and Unimaginable Adventure! Fishers of Men, rely on Jesus’ provision …for they can do nothing without Him. He will nourish and strengthen them in His community … through communion with the Lord Himself, and as a result, they will eagerly provide to each other - and especially those they care for - not just spiritual but practical aid and encouragement.
But there is more to this call to be Fishers of Men. And this next bit of John’s story is critical; it is also sometimes the most difficult.
John makes a point of mentioning that the fire around which all of this has just happened, was specifically, a charcoal fire. This is an important detail we should not overlook. Peter certainly couldn’t have missed this point … for the last time we’d been told about a charcoal fire, was outside the palace of Caiaphas, when Peter had betrayed Jesus three times. Now, in the quiet that comes with a full belly, nothing needed to be said; the smoky air was laden with Peter’s guilty burden.
Poking at the charcoal, Jesus turns to Peter: “Simon Peter, do you love me?” “Yes Lord, you know that I love you” he replies. Three times, Jesus asks the question, and three times Peter declares his love for Christ. Just as Peter had betrayed Jesus three times beside a charcoal fire …Jesus now forgives Peter three times, beside a charcoal fire. Then Christ does the most amazing thing: After each of Peter’s responses, Jesus re-commissions His disciple: “Feed my sheep. Tend my Sheep,” Christ says. This new command restores Peter’s call, breaks the heavy burden of guilt, and sets Peter free … to do the work Christ had given him to do.
——
Once again (as He had throughout His earthly ministry) Jesus stresses the importance of “70 times 7” forgiveness. Even as He was dying on the cross, Christ asked His Father to forgive His killers. In the previous climatic chapter, Jesus specifically links His gift of the Holy Spirit (which every Christian receives at Baptism) with the act of forgiveness: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” ——-
It is hard to overstate the centrality of forgiveness to “What Now” Discipleship. Forgiveness is the very essence of the Gospel. It is the great Gateway Arch of all Scripture; it was Christ’s own costly, earthly “expedition” that supernaturally fords the raging river gorge of our sin… that separated us from God… and the wondrous new world of reunion with God that His resurrection provides. As believers, we have all been forgiven by God through Christ… how can we not forgive each other? To be Fishers of Men, we are called to be Forgivers of each other… and even ourselves.
Certainly, forgiving deep betrayal or cruelty can take us where we do not want to go. We can do unspeakable things to wound one another - and the decision to forgive an assaultive spouse or child molester does not mean we should remain in or return to a dangerous or unhealthy situation. However, there is a certain energy - even self-righteousness - that hanging onto our hurts and injustices can entrench, for… as long as I hang onto some offense, no matter how grave, I don’t have to examine perhaps my own part in the damage done. Unforgiveness keeps us stuck as a “victim,” when it’s God’s desire that we should be free!
The fact is (and here is the wonderful - divine - nature of forgiveness): when we forgive, we are set free! The Ones I forgive may have long since moved on - may not even remember what they did! God's “gateway” into His Kingdom for “Fishers of Men” is paved by Christ’s costly “expedition of forgiveness” here on earth, where He took on all our sins, died for those sins, and provided the only gateway - the map and pathway - for God’s forgiveness of us. Having received Christ’s forgiveness, He equips us to decide (and it is a decision) to forgive others. Our new, expansive “freedom in Christ” stands on the arc of forgiveness. ——
Today’s last chapter of John’s Gospel is, in many ways, Christ’s final, gracious gift to His earthly Disciples … set aside for us to ponder as we return from Easter’s mountaintop wonder to the often harsh world we live in… and yet are called to serve. It takes awhile for Easter morning’s startling Grace to settle into any Disciple’s heart. Yet, even here - in the demanding residual question: “What now?”- Jesus knows what we need, even before we can ask.
And so, “after (all) this,” as the last chapter of the last Gospel closes, take comfort and hear Christ’s call to you, Beloved Disciples: “Follow Me,” He beckons. “Follow me” … across whatever raging rivers that separate you from our always-leading, always-providing Lord …into His amazing, new and constantly surprising Kingdom of Discovery … and astounding Grace… and hear, through the fire’s glow of His Love … “I am always with you!” You are My “Fishers of Men!” Go forth as Christ’s own “Corps of Discovery” … and bring back - to all you serve - your own stories of God’s Grace, forgiveness and … wonder!
Thanks be to God. Amen