28th April 2024
From Fish for Breakfast to Feeding Sheep
The children at Messy Cathedral were unexpectedly impressed by the sleight of hand with which I produced a net full of fish from beneath the "sea" of blue material as we explored John 21 together. They were less impressed by my collection of plastic fish which, it turned out, contained more whales, dolphins, narwhals and crabs than fish that you could roast over a charcoal fire...
In our sermon this Sunday, we will explore the conversation between Jesus and Peter that takes place after that impromptu breakfast on the beach, a conversation which takes us back into the world we thought about last week, the world of sheep and shepherds, the world of our vocation and calling as God's people. As Jesus reinstates Peter after his denial, he gives him a simple command. "Feed my sheep." Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is handing over his shepherding responsibilities to Peter - Peter the denier, Peter the one whose mouth tends to run away with him, Peter the impulsive, impatient disciple who is constantly, through the gospels, putting his foot in it. "Feed my sheep."
It's another reminder that Jesus' call is not reserved for the especially holy, or for those who have life sorted out. Like Peter, we are called to follow in all our messy incompleteness. Like Peter, we are both sheep who need feeding and watering, who occasionally stray from the good pastures into dark valleys from where we need to be brought home, and those called to be shepherds ourselves, tasked with the responsibility of feeding the other sheep.
What does it mean to feed God's sheep? In John 10, our Good Shepherd, Jesus, says "They will come in and go out and find pasture" (John 10:9). The call to feed sheep is a spacious invitation. It's about enabling the sheep to find their own nourishment, not sitting beside them and feeding them with a spoon. And so, our call, as individuals and as a church, pastured by our Good Shepherd, is to offer that pasture space to others, to give them space to be nourished, to encounter the Good Shepherd for themselves.
As we approach our APCM and look ahead to the next year in the life of our church, who are the sheep Jesus is calling us to feed? And where are those spaces with good pasture, where they will find nourishment for their souls, the "life to the full" (John 10:10) that the Good Shepherd promises?
