Feed My Sheep

Yesterday and today, I’ve been thinking about the passage in John’s account of Jesus’s life, in which we find the resurrected Jesus cooking breakfast for his disciples whose fishing expedition he has just transformed. I encourage you to read this through (I’ll paste it below) and let it speak to you.

For me, this is a truly beautiful passage, in which we see Jesus, full of love and grace, restoring Simon Peter, who had, you’ll remember, denied knowing Jesus three times following Jesus’s arrest.

Here, Jesus asks Peter three times whether he loves him and Peter, growing upset, confirms that he does each time. I wonder how bad Simon Peter must have felt when the Lord looked right at him after that third denial, just days earlier, and how he must have felt when it later dawned on him (as it surely must have) that Jesus was quite deliberately restoring him when asking him to reiterate his love for him.

Our current situation of “lockdown” and pondering what might follow, has made me think again about the real fundamentals of life as church, and as disciples of Jesus. The reassurance of this passage is that no matter how catastrophically and repeatedly we have messed up and “denied” Jesus by our thoughts, words and actions, still he is ready to restore us. What does God think of us? He loves us. He is the good Shepherd and the good Father – he thinks of us all the time and his thoughts come from a place of indescribable love. Does he approve of our actions all the time? No. Do we always please him? Hardly. Do we frequently disappoint him? Surely. What does he think of us? He loves us.

The challenge of the passage is found in what Jesus says to Peter each time Peter affirms his love for his Lord. “Feed my lambs…. Take care of my sheep…. Feed my sheep.”

It’s instructive for church Pastors to notice that they are Jesus’s sheep, not Peter’s, not the Pope’s, not the Archbishop’s, not the General Secretary’s…. and certainly not mine! Yet Jesus asks that we feed and take care of his flock. If we love him. Perhaps because we love him. If we want to demonstrate our love for him…. “Feed my lambs.”

In my reflections about lockdown, it’s never been more clear to me that church functions best when we recognise that – as Peter said – “you are a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9) and so the caring for Jesus’s flock does not rest only with me, Steph or the church Leaders – thank God!

Rather, we are ALL called both to follow Jesus, and tend his sheep, his lambs. This goes on in the context of Life Groups, EB3s (groups of 2 or 3 very close friends), in families, and in neighbourhoods.

Do you love Jesus? Feed his sheep. Don’t dishearten them, or feed them with hurtful words or negativity. Feed them with good things.

Do you love Jesus? Take care of his sheep. Guard them from harm, do all you can with the gifts and skills with which God has equipped and enabled you, to look after those around you – in the home, in the neighbourhood, in those groups of friends and your wider e-circle of acquaintances. Do you love Jesus? Feed his lambs. Sometimes they will be hurt, lost, afraid – sometimes they’ll be bleating and sometimes they’ll be very quiet. With what will you feed them?

Remember too, that YOU are simultaneously one of those sheep, the little lambs yourself. How are you looking after yourself? What help are you seeking? Are you accepting the nutritious food of the “under-shepherds” around you, or are you falling victim to the wolves in sheep’s clothing, who want to harm you and drag you down?

I have been “fed” by a whole range of people, with a quite extraordinary array of talents. Perhaps you are unaware how uplifting it can be to be on the receiving end of a cup of coffee, a gift of food, a big smile, an encouraging email or phone call, a compliment, a hug, an unspoken expression of love or appreciation? Never denigrate or diminish the extraordinary power YOU have to feed Jesus’s sheep.

I will keep saying it – YOU are the church. To the extent that EBC is more – or less – effective as Jesus’s team of sheep-tending followers, that will reflect on all of us. Me? Yes, for sure. Steph? Yup – and I know how passionately she cares. And you?

I ask myself again and I ask you too. Do you love Him? Then feed his sheep.

May you always be assured of God’s surpassing love for you.

Blessings

Simon
 

John chapter 21 New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

1 Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 2 Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”

“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.

4 At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. 5 He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?”

“No,” they replied.

6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.

7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. 8 The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. 9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.

10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.

12 “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.

15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”

“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.

16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”

“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.

17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.
 

Simon Lace, 07/05/2020