3 Easter Year C 5/4/2025
Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
Last week we heard the story of how St. Thomas doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ…
He wanted to see Jesus with his own eyes…
He wanted to touch Jesus wounds…
He wanted proof…
A week later… Jesus shows up… and answers his request…
Instead of giving him a hard time about his demands…
shaming him in his doubt…
Jesus showed him mercy.
Jesus mercifully meets Thomas where he was at.
Mercy is one of those themes in the Scriptures…
The Holy Book that reveals the nature and actions of God…
Mercy leaps off the pages of God’s Word.
And because Jesus is God in the flesh…
Mercy flows naturally from God the Son.
In today’s Gospel reading we have another display of mercy.
And the key to seeing it in our text is in a Greek word – anthrakian.
Anthrakian when it is translated into English means a charcoal fire.
It was in our reading in verse 9:
When the disciples had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.
Now this Greek word shows up only two times in the New Testament.
Of course, in our text here, in John 21.
It also shows up in John 18:18.
There it is written:
Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing round it and warming themselves.
Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.
This is the narrative of Peter when he denies knowing Jesus three times after Jesus was arrested in the garden.
John, in a literary way, by using this word anthrakian…
clues us in that these two stories are to be read together…
That they relate to each other.
That the story of Peter denying Jesus three times should be in our minds as we read this story of Jesus on the beach.
So, in thinking about Peter denying Jesus three times…
Let’s turn to our text, in John 21, where Jesus speaks to Peter directly.
After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”
Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.”
Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?”
so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know.
You’ve got to know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
Jesus in his mercy was bringing the forgiveness and healing that Peter needed.
Three times Peter denied Jesus.
Three times Jesus’ love for Peter was confirmed.
Merciful forgiveness is a beautiful thing.
Jesus shows mercy to Peter right here on the beach.
But, let’s be careful not to sugar coat what happened here.
Peter denied Jesus when he needed a friend the most.
He rejected our Lord…
You could say, Peter stabbed Jesus in the back.
Whatever expression you want to use…
Peter did the unthinkable.
And yet, Jesus showed him mercy and forgiveness.
Let’s bring it home for a moment…
When a good friend turns on you…
Rejects you…
Says things about you or gossips about you…
It hurts! It’s painful!
It makes you want to crawl into bed and never leave your room again.
But Jesus in his mercy reinstates Peter.
Right here on the beach with a charcoal fire.
You see, mercy is not getting what a person deserves.
Peter’s rejection of Jesus doesn’t deserve the goodness of God.
But mercy is not getting what one deserves.
It’s like getting pulled over for a speeding ticket.
What you deserve for breaking the law is to pay a fine.
Mercy by the police officer is to not give you what you deserve.
You deserve the ticket, but mercy is not getting the speeding ticket.
That’s mercy.
Peter doesn’t deserve to be reinstated with Jesus.
Peter didn’t earn the mercy of Jesus.
Jesus, because he is the God of mercy, showed him compassion.
And we, along with Peter, have the same problem…
We call this problem sin.
Sin is basically doing what we want to do instead of following God’s will.
It’s putting our will and prerogative over the known will of God.
And the outcome of sin is death, hell, and the grave.
But Jesus, in his mercy, came to destroy those things.
And He accomplished this in his perfect sacrifice on the cross.
And the proof of his victory is in his resurrection from the grave.
All of this is mercy.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus as our redeemer and our master we find the mercy of God.
Not a God who is angry with us.
Not a God who is going to ridicule us.
We don’t find condemnation…
But we find a God who shows mercy in the person of Jesus Christ.
And this mercy of God is accompanied by the grace of God.
Where mercy is not getting what we deserve.
Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.
Mercy is not getting the speeding ticket we deserve.
Grace is the police officer writing us a check for a million dollars.
Mercy is receiving the forgiveness of God.
Grace is getting all the benefits of being a child of God.
Mercy is not getting what we deserve.
Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.
In our text, in Peter’s conversation with Jesus.
The mercy of God’s love is extended to Peter.
But Peter is also graced with the mission and purpose of God.
Jesus said to Peter:
Feed my lambs.
Shepherd my sheep.
Feed my sheep.
Not only did Peter find Jesus’ merciful forgiveness.
He also found Jesus’ gracious purpose.
Peter wasn’t just forgiven.
He was given a mission with the grace to do it.
And this is just how Jesus ministers his love to us too.
We, just like Peter, find ways to disown or reject Jesus.
Sure, its not around a charcoal fire on a cold night where we say I don’t know who Jesus is.
But we fail in our relationship with him when we act upon decisions that don’t honor the living God.
We fail often with our words that hurt other people…
With our actions that bring pain to others…
We deny the love and hope of Jesus when we worry…
When we reject the goodness of God when we sin.
And yet when Jesus finds us…
When we gaze back at him…
We don’t find hate or disgust…
We don’t find ridicule or rejection…
What we do find is mercy and grace.
We find forgiveness and purpose.
In Christ, we find the mercy of God that our sins are not held against us.
He forgives us and removes our sins.
In Christ, we find the grace of God to walk in his love.
He gives us his very presence, the Holy Spirit, so that we can discover our purpose in this world…
And the power to walk out that very purpose.
We find the mission of God…
To share the good news of Jesus in this world.
As we look at this story in the Gospel of John.
We find a person in need of God’s love and forgiveness… in Peter.
And we find the God-Man, the resurrected Lord, the Messiah,
Jesus Christ who meets Peter right where he was…
Knowing just what Peter needed deep in his soul.
Knowing just what Peter needed to hear in his heart.
And right there…
He gave mercy and grace.
This is what Jesus gives us too.
Mercy and grace.
Forgiveness and purpose.
If today, you find yourself worn out…
You feel defeated in your sins…
You feel deflated by the weights in this world…
Turn to Jesus.
Gaze into his face.
And receive his mercy and grace.
Receive his forgiveness.
For that is what he offers.
Receive his gifts in love today.
Amen.
