John 21:1-19

About 21 years ago, while I was in Israel for a month on an archaeological dig, I along with a group of friends took a bike-ride from Tiberias north to Tabhga, just west of Capernaum; this is the place where it is thought Jesus stood on the shoreline that morning.  

From my recollection, the bike-ride was interesting: and was a lot harder than I thought; I remember setting off in heavy Tiberias traffic (we don’t tend to think about traffic in Biblical scenes); I remember several hill climbs, and I remember one of our number got a puncture.  But I also remember the sense of peace in that place when we reached it, and the beauty of the early morning light as we set out; the spectacular sunrise – ‘the day dawns full of new beauty and possibility’ (as one commentator describes it); and note how in verse 4 John draws our attention to the daybreak.  

Why this story appeals to me so much, is because here we have the disciples, post-Easter unsure quite what to do.  John presents this passage as an epilogue to his Gospel; an epilogue not an after-thought.  And here, contained within this passage, we have a remarkable exchange of words between Jesus and Peter; Peter who has so horribly betrayed Jesus, denying all knowledge of him; here as an act of forgiveness, Peter is given a job to do: his work of discipleship is re-purposed and re-invigorated.  Jesus’ three questions: ‘do you love me?’ correspond to Peter’s three denials.  There is a command and a challenge, and Peter is tested to the limit: he feels hurt; Jesus is addressing the pain, not wiping it clean, but tackling it head on in order to bring about the transformation that discipleship holds out for each of us.  And what lies at its heart: love, nothing more, nothing less.  

All of this says something very important about identity and formation, and what it means to be ‘church’.  In a chapter in a book on doing theology entitled ‘Ordinary Theology, Theological Method and Constructive Ecclesiology’ (pp. 13-22 in Exploring Ordinary Theology eds. Jeff Astley and Leslie J. Francis, Ashgate 2013), Nicholas Healy talks about the relationship between governance and leadership and the so-called ‘person in the pew’; he writes that, given huge diversity in congregations and in leadership on a number of levels, ‘it cannot be enough for the average Christian to attend church once a week, listen attentively (or not!) to the sermon, and be passively guided in Christian living by their priest.  Christians have little choice but to think things through for themselves at times if they are truthfully to ‘embody’ the narrative of Jesus.  Each of us will need to engage – as we do – in an ongoing, ad hoc correlation between our personal experiences and knowledges, and what we know of Christianity’ (pp. 16-17).  The danger is, so Healy goes on to discuss, that we reify the Church: it becomes an object rather than a reflection of the Body of Christ in all its richness and diversity.  To counter this, we need to hold a doctrine of grace as the condition for the possibility of the church – and note that deliberate future vision – we live in the possibility of the church; and that is exciting, because it points to the future, a future as yet unknown; it means, that whatever our current pains are, there is always the overwhelming reality of grace.

And this is all formed firstly through recognising our identity as disciples together and richly part of the Body of Christ; and secondly recognising the love of God in our midst.

These two things: identity and love are front and centre to this epilogue of John’s Gospel.

Some of you may have seen or at least heard about Taika Waititi’s new movie ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’.  If you haven’t, go and see it; it’s a brilliant film: funny, poignant, beautifully filmed, and with many layers to consider.  It tells the story of what happens when the young Ricky Baker is given into the care of his foster aunty and uncle; the film narrates what happens with Ricky and Uncle Hec go on the run from Child Family Services.  It is a story of pilgrimage, of identity, of love and grace.  Like a Gospel, the film is divided into chapters, and at its end an epilogue.  I won’t give it away; but what happens in the epilogue is if you like a closure that points to a renewed possibility of relationship, one that sees Uncle Hec renewed by the re-gifting of the title of relationship to Ricky: Uncle.  That connection becomes the condition of relationship; and forgiveness is textured by what that relationship will now mean, and indeed is what we see hinted at in the closing seconds of the film.

And what about love?  That all-important essence that binds all relationships.  Interestingly, in the Greek of John 21, there are two words for love that are used.  While scholars have concluded that the reason for variation is probably stylistic on John's part, I wonder?  The two words, philein and agapein are significant: the former implies the love of friendship, of being with one another, whilst the latter implies a deeper kind of sharing.  Perhaps part of Jesus' challenge here (to us) is that to truly love means we need to engage in both?

Earlier in the week, I was going through a pile of papers in my study at home and I happened upon an old copy of Taonga.  It was the edition of Taonga that profiled ++Philip as our new Archbishop.  I skimmed through the interview that he gave and my interest spiked somewhat when I read his answer to the question: ‘what advice do you have for the new Bishop of Waikato’.  I must have read it at the time, and not given it a second thought; now however, looking back at this I am obviously invested in the answer, which was: ‘Love generously so that you might be generously loved.’

That, in essence, is the headline of John 21. With all that has gone before particularly in the relationship between Jesus and Peter; the love that Jesus holds out to Peter, that is demanded from Peter, is the love that being a disciple requires.  If we, as Church, as Diocese can focus on that, that indeed being the essence of Christ, then we despite our diversity at times, will always live in the possibility of Church – the people that God is shaping us to be. 

For God’s love, mercy and grace, unmerited and given freely to each of us,

Thanks be to God.