Following Jesus Beyond the Cross

May 4, 2025 John 21:1-19 Following Jesus Beyond the Cross Year C I want to honor the Native American souls who were once the sacred keepers of the land with a story. This is a story of a time not that long ago, when they were driven away from this land. We lost everything after the treaty was signed. The white men wanted the Indian’s removed, and so we were Removed. We lost our homes, our sacred lands, our way of life. We were thrust out by greed, and our hearts broke on the long, long journey west. We only had the few precious belongings we could carry, and many of us were not even given time to fetch that much from our homes before we were forced into camps and then marched west. The weather turned cold, and still we marched, without adequate shelter, without blankets. Our men were grim with anger and pain. Our children were crying for comfort we could not give. Many were dying. And we Cherokee women, we wept. Our hearts were broken. Our spirits were drowning in pain. Our hope was gone. Such terrible grief made us neglect our families, our appearance. We were ready to die rather than go another step. Seeing our pain, the Elders gathered together and began praying that some sign would come to ease the heart-numbing horror we felt at our loss, so that we might once again care for our children, comfort their tears, and walk proudly beside our men during this terrible journey. And the Elders were answered! The very next morning as we began our long hard journey once again, we began to see white roses growing along the trail. They seemed to have sprung up overnight, and they were very beautiful. The petals of each rose were white like our tears. The center was yellow like the gold the greedy white men took from our hills. And we counted seven leaves on each stem — just as there were seven clans in the Cherokee nation! The sight of the roses brought a strange peace into the hearts of the Cherokee women who saw them. There was a particularly large patch of them in the small glen where many of us had sat weeping the previous night. I paused to pick one, and one of the Elders stopped beside me and told me there was a rose for each team we had shed during the journey. His words stayed with me as I took up my small parcel of belongings, hurried my children into line, and set out behind my husband. A rose for every tear. Could it be possible? In my heart, I already believed him. It was a small wonder. A tiny miracle. But the best parts of our lives are made up of small miracles and tiny wonders. It gave us heart. Though we suffered much in the rest of the journey to Oklahoma Territory — a journey later called the Trail of Tears — and though we lost many children along the way, somehow we had hope that a better day was coming for the Cherokee. And so it has. But the Cherokee rose continues to grow along the route of the trail today, as a reminder of the past and a hope for our future. Copyrighted content: This is a retold folklore story by S.E. Schlosser, who owns the copyright. This version of the story may not be reproduced, reprinted or used in any other way without the permission of the author. Teachers may link to or photocopy this story as part of their classwork. The tale of the Cherokee Rose is intended to be a tale of hope, of new life and of resurrection. This version of the story is retold by S.E. Schlosser. Easter is our hope, new life, our proof of resurrection. The Easter season is truly my favorite season to preach. This is the time where we connect to the core of our faith – the radical transformation of our lives because of Christ’s resurrection. Through Christ’s resurrection the whole way in which we engage life changes. Jesus gives each of us a personal invitation to new life through forgiveness of our sins. He challenges us to follow him even in these times of uncertainty, and he commissions us to go forth to be in mission to make the world a better place. I love preaching about the Easter stories of Jesus. He appears to the disciples and bring them hope – in the midst of their despair and mourning. These stories always have a certain amount of humor in them, because the disciples are caught in a suspended state between reality and imagination. They always know that it is Jesus, but then again they really don’t know that its Jesus. And they are always wondering what is this person in front of them made of – is he flesh and blood, is he some sort of plastic, is he a spirit, or is it just their imagination. The gospels actually never really make it clear when the resurrected Jesus is made of, so we don’t really know today. But we are still inspired by the appearance, just as the original apostles were. I like to follow the lectionary – and this year we are studying the book of Luke. Of all of the gospels, Luke tells the most complete story. But on special Sundays, like today we look at the book of John. This year, we will look at the book of John for the entire easter season until Pentecost. John is the crazy gospel – he likes to make the messiah bigger than life. The messiah is both human and divine – he is the son of God and comes from heaven. The other three gospels take place over a year, John is three years. John focuses on miracles, transformations, and our connection to the divine. John message to us – your miracle from God had come- now it is time to get to work and let the whole word know. This story is one of my favorite (I say that about most scripture), but this one is a good one. John 21 is the appendix, the story ends in chapter 20. This chapter was perhaps written after the author had passed away by one of his disciples. It is a busy chapter, which takes all of the lessons of the entire Gospel and puts it in the context of what the new church at the time needed to hear. The message is to learn to recognize Jesus in the midst of ever changing circumstances. As this chapter begins, the disciples are in the same place that Jesus found them – fishing on the lake. Fishing with a lot of effort and no results. They fish all night and catch nothing, until Jesus tells them to switch their nets. They catch so many fish, they cant keep them in the nets. As the sun comes up, this strange man has a fire ready for them to have cook breakfast. Peter eats with the strange man and realizes that it is Jesus. Before the crucifixion, he deserted his closet friend 3 times. When Jesus told him that he would be the rock of his ministry – he had no idea of what he was talking about. But on the beach, Jesus asks him three questions – three times he is asked do you love me. It all makes sense now, and Peter is not only forgiven, he is reconciled and commissioned in this conversation. He gets a second chance, his is redeemed so that he can live up to Jesus commission. _________________________ Important to Repeat I was an 8th grade teacher at Floyd Middle School in Atlanta, Georgia. A group of teachers were waiting in a room to play the students in a basketball game. I remarked to my principal, "You know what I have discovered about teaching? 50% of teaching is repeating directions." My principal shot right back, "What did you say?" I said, "50% of teaching is repeating directions." The laughter of other teachers helped me to get the joke, and I laughed with them. Anyone working or living with children knows that messages, directions, orders, everything has to be repeated multiple times before anything seems to register. Has anyone ever taken out the garbage after being asked only once? How many of you children clean your rooms after one invitation? How many of you write thank-you notes after only one entry in the "Things to Do" list you make up every day? But instructions aren't the only things we need to hear more than once in order to take them to heart. In order to survive and thrive we all need to hear someone say to us, "I love you." And it needs to happen more than once a year. For some of us who have weathered the hurts of broken relationships, saying, "I love you," for the first time again is one of the most frightening things we will ever do. David Beckett, Just Say, 'I Love You' Love Requires Commitment Three little boys were arguing about whose mom loved them more. The first boy said, "My mom loves me more because when I gave her a quarter, she gave it back to me and told me to go buy a piece of candy." The second little boy said that his mom loved him more. He said, "My mom loves me more because if I gave her a quarter, she would give me two quarters back and tell me to go buy two pieces of candy. The third lad saw how this was developing, thought for a moment, and said, "My mom loves me the most because if I gave her a quarter she would keep it and tell me how much my quarter is going to help pay the bills. Love requires a commitment. Jesus required it of Peter; He requires it of us today. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com _________________ Love is at the heart of our faith, Love is the heart of what Jesus calls us to do, Love is the power of why resurrection is so important. Love changes situations. God’s love comes through Jesus, Loves prepares us for mission, love brings others to Christ, Love heals us and it heals others. Pope Francis passed away the day after Easter – it has been two weeks now. I remember watching him on Easter and feeling like something was wrong, and that he was not going to get much better in this life. When this scripture was read at his funeral – it all seemed to make sense. This scripture was a perfect tribute to his life. I felt that is showed his closeness and devotion to God. The scripture talked about being taken places where you don’t want to go – and I thought of his illness. It kept him from his divine mission. He took Jesus conversation with his papal predecessor seriously. Jesus is speaking to all Christians when he asks do you love me. We all have to give some thought to how to answer that question. Jesus says If you love me, then feed my sheep. God provides for our spiritual and physical needs, so that we can provide for others. Pope Francis certainly lived that commission. Verse 19 says - Jesus said this to indicate the kind of deathby which Peter would glorify God. – Perhaps Pope Francis also realized what would happen at his death. It gave him the strength to follow Jesus to the Cross and beyond. Finally I leave you with a story – which encourages us to have that same sense of closeness with the divine Jesus in our lives. Jesus Was Sitting There You can live in the awareness of our Lord's nearness through faithful prayer and by envisioning him with you. That discipline is poignantly illustrated in the story of an old man who suddenly became gravely ill. When the pastor came for a visit he noticed a chair beside the bed. "Oh my goodness," he said, "You must have already had company today." The old man said, "No, but let me tell you the story of the chair. Years ago I told a friend that when I prayed at night I frequently fell asleep right in the middle, or I just couldn't concentrate on what I was praying about. So this friend suggested that I put a chair by my bed and imagine that Jesus was sitting there because, you know, he's promised to be with us. So, I started doing that and, you know, it made a big difference. Sometimes I even think I see him sitting there." After having communion with the man, the pastor left. Later that evening he got a call from the daughter. She said, "Dad just died. Can you come over?" So the pastor went to see her. The daughter said, "You know, I was in the room and dad seemed okay, he wasn't struggling or anything. I left for just a minute. When I came back, he had peacefully died. But there was something quite strange. Somehow, he had managed to turn over on his side and stretch out his arm and place his hand on the chair." That's living in the presence of Christ. And it happens. It can happen for you, as it can happen for me, at any time. Oh, not to all in the same way, because Christ comes to each of us individually and uniquely. But in solitude and need he will come. He will come because he has promised! John M. Braaten, The Greatest Wonder of All, www.Sermons.com _________________________________________ Let us Pray…… Additional Illustrations Then the story ends exactly the way it started months before with Christ saying to Simon at the seashore these words, “Follow me!”… Keeping the Wheels Turning Years ago, preacher friend Stan Bailey sent this story around in his church newsletter. It's a story about a visitor to a heavy-duty grease factory. He says the visitors were ushered into a large room and a tour host introduced them to the company history and the number of employees at work producing the best machine lubricants in the world. They toured the noisy factory, with lots of machinery and wheels whirling, mixing, packaging-incredible activity. As the tour ended, one of the visitors said, "I didn't see a shipping department." The guide responded, "Well, we don't have a shipping department because it takes all the grease we make to lubricate our equipment and keep the wheels turning." Brother Stan concluded: Friends, the Church is the best lubricated grease factory in all of history. What's missing is the shipping department. The church does not exist for itself; it exists to bring others to a commitment to Jesus Christ. John E. Harnish, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ____________________________________________ Humor: 153 Fish It is so easy to get caught up in trivial interpretations of scripture and miss the point. Take a look at John 21:11: "Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn." Now, why in heaven's name was there 153 fish? Have you ever wondered about that? No? Well others have. Cyril of Alexandria in the 5th century said that the 100 represented the fullness of the gentiles, the 50 symbolized the remnant of Israel and the three of course was there for the Trinity. Augustine’s theory (5th century) was a little more complicated. He said, there are 10 commandments and 7 is the perfect number of grace and that’s 17 right? Now if you add all the numbers from 1 to 17 together, you know 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 all the way up to 17 you’ll get 153. And not only that but if you were to arrange them with 17 fish in the first row, and 16 in the next row, and 15 in the next row, all the way down to a row of 1 you get a perfect triangle which of course symbolizes the Trinity. Jerome, he also lived in the 5th century, suggested that there were 153 different types of fish in the sea and it was symbolic of the church reaching all the people in the world. Personally I have my own theory, want to hear it? I think that it’s mentioned because there were 153 fish in the net. Here's another theory of mine: they had to divide them somehow, and so Peter being the Skipper he got 21% or 32 fish, and John being mate got 16% that’s 25 fish, and the other five got 10.5% each or 16 fish.... You see we can get so caught up in really trivial stuff and miss the point that we need to be obedient to Christ, today. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com, Adapted from the sermon "Live for Today" by Denn Guptill. ___________________ Missing Fish Children's books with names like One Fish, Two Fish; Red Fish, Blue Fish. Screen savers on our computers that pretend to be an aquarium. Long weekends in the north woods, on silent lakes waiting for the first nibble on the line, or sea stories about "the one that got away." It seems like fish turn up everywhere. Maybe that's because fish are such fascinating creatures. Fish come in an amazing variety of shapes, sizes and colors, and they move so gracefully through the water. Watching them can be soothing or entertaining. They can be eaten in any setting, from around a campfire to the finest restaurants. Fish just never seem to be boring. From early childhood to old age, fish seem to be a source of wonder and delight for so many people. Maybe that's why, in today's gospel passage, the words that really stand out are Jesus' first words to the disciples: "Children, you have no fish, have you?" Such sad words. After trying all night, the disciples still have no fish. The people Jesus loves like his own children have no source of wonder or delight. They can't even make a decent meal. In the ancient Middle East, for a meal to be considered complete, you had to have bread and fish. Fish weren't just part of a heart-healthy diet, fish were essential. No decent host would let even his guest's slaves go without fish; to do that was to treat them as less than human, and risk being thought of as a poor host. So, without fish the disciples weren't even human beings. No fish. A whole night's work, and nothing to show for it. Just an empty boat. No wonder, no delight, and no breakfast. Wendy Dackson A Friend Who Will Not Disappoint Christ "walks through the centuries alongside each generation, alongside every generation, alongside every person. He walks alongside each person as a friend. An important day in a young person's life is the day on which he becomes convinced that this is the only Friend who will not disappoint him, on whom he can always count." Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, New York: Knopf, 1994. Why Were You Ordained? In Frederick Buechner's novel The Final Beast there is a scene in which a member of a congregation is begging the pastor to declare forgiveness to a deeply disturbed woman in their church. The pastor replies that the woman already knows that he, the pastor, has forgiven her, to which this other member replies, "But she doesn't know God forgives her. That's the only power you have, pastor: to tell her that. Not just that God forgives her for her poor adultery. Tell her that God forgives her for the faces she cannot bear to look at now. Tell her that God forgives her for being lonely and bored, for not being full of joy every day in a household full of children. Tell her that her sin is forgiven whether she knows it or not, that what she wants more than anything else--what we all want--is true. Pastor, what on earth do you think you were ordained for?" Scott Hoezee, comments and observations on John 21:1-19 Central to Our Mission James Collins' books on leadership have become classics: Good to Great and Built to Last. In Built to Last, his primary theme is "Preserve the core/Stimulate progress." He says the core ideology, the reason a company exists, must be balanced with a willingness to change and grow in order to fulfill the mission. If an organization is to meet the challenges of a changing world, it must be prepared to change everything about itself except its basic beliefs... The only sacred cow in an organization should be its basic philosophy of doing business. Central to our mission, our business, is the business of fishing.John E. Harnish, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com We Are the Fish There is a classic story that comes out of humorist Robert Benchley's college days. For one of Benchley's final examinations, he was to write an essay on fish hatcheries. He hadn't cracked a book all semester. Undaunted, he started his final something like this: "Much wordage has been devoted to fish hatcheries. No one, however, has ever covered this subject from the point of view of the fish." And this he proceeded to do in what is probably the most entertaining final exam in Harvard's history. We've looked at this Bible passage from the perspective of the disciples. Now let's look at it from the point of view of the fish. Because that's who we are. That's right, we are the fish. The nets represent the unity of the disciples and of the church. And the fish represent all the souls who will be brought to salvation by the witness of the disciples. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com So Much to Be Thankful For Once, an elderly bishop paid a visit to Saint Mary's church in Oxford, the University church. He met an even more elderly verger whom he recognized from his days as an undergraduate. The bishop and the old verger remembered together their years in the church and all the change they had seen. As they talked the verger said, "I have much to be thankful for. You know, your grace, I have listened to every sermon preached in this church for fifty years - and thank God, I am still a Christian!" Brent Porterfield, www.Sermons.com Remember Who You Are In his book, Remember Who You Are, William H. Willimon of Duke University says that he recalls one thing his mother always told him whenever he left the house to go on a date during his high school days. As he left the house, she would stand at the front door and call after him, "Will, don't forget who you are." We know what Mom Willimon meant, don't we? She didn't think Wil was in danger of forgetting his name and street address. But she knew that, alone on a date, or in the midst of some party, or while joined by friends, he might forget who he was. She knew that sometimes all of us are tempted to answer to some alien name and to be who we are not. "Don't forget who you are," was the maternal benediction. The disciples that morning as they fished without success were called from the shore by one who was calling them back to who they were. They were his children. They were his with a mission to do. And that mission would not and could not be successful without his guidance and presence. Glenn E. Ludwig, Walking To...Walking With...Walking Through, CSS Publishing Love Isn't Love Till You Give It Away One night in New York, on Broadway, the great star Mary Martin was preparing to go on stage, as she had a 1000 times before, in Rodger & Hammerstain's South Pacific. Just before she took stage a note was handed her. The letter was signed by Oscar Hammerstein who was that evening on his death bed. The note was short. It simply said: “Dear Mary, A bell’s not a bell until you ring it. A song’s not a song until you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn’t love till you give it away.” When the play was over the cast rushed her backstage and asked, “What happened? We’ve never seen you perform that way before?” Mary read to them Hammerstein’s note and said, “Tonight, I gave my love away.” I can hear Jesus' words to Peter in that: Peter do you love me? Feed my sheep. Jesus was saying, Peter you know the song. Sing it! Peter you've got the bell. Ring it! "Peter, love isn't love till you give it away." Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com