Shepherding Fish

Metaphors are something I never really caught the grasp of, so I tend to avoid them as to not make myself look any worse than I already do.  This is not new.  Every time I try to use a metaphor, I wind up combining two or more and come up with these often illogical, sometimes humorous, mixed metaphors, like:

“Sweeping the rug under the carpet.”

“Burning the midnight oil at both ends.”

“It was so cold last night I had to throw another blanket on the fire.”

“It’s time to step up to the plate and cut the mustard.”

“Robbing Peter to pay the piper.”

“Up a tree without a paddle.”

“Skating on hot water.”

“Keep your ear to the grindstone.”

“Sometimes you’ve gotta stick your neck out on a limb.”

“Some people sail through life on a bed of roses like a knife slicing through butter.”

And now you see why I stay away from metaphors.  But today’s lesson from John seems to be one of these mixed metaphors, moving from fishing into shepherding; so are we shepherding fish, or are we catching lambs?

This 21^st chapter of John seems to almost be an epilogue, or an afterthought.  We wrapped up the 20^thchapter last week with John almost closing, telling us that there are other signs that were not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe.  

Today we find seven of the disciples on the water…they spent all night fishing.  They would cast the nets out, and pull it back empty.  Throw after throw without results.  By now, daybreak, they were exhausted and frustrated. 

Through the mist, they heard a voice.  They couldn’t make out who it was, but they heard the words “Have you anything to eat?  Cast your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.  If I can say anything about fishermen, it’s that while they know what works for them, they’re always willing to try something new.  My Granddaddy was an avid fisherman and every week he had some new bait, or had heard of a new trick….  So if these fishermen were anything like him, they were surely open to trying casting from the right side of the boat.  They hadn’t caught any fish up to this point so what did they have to lose?

So they cast their nets on the right side and caught more fish than their boats could manage.  I imagine they looked up to the shore again and immediately recognized who called out to them:  it was Jesus. 

We aren’t sure of the time frame (how much time has passed since they last saw Jesus), but by the clues most scholars agree that quite some time has passed.  Enough time that the Disciples, probably not understanding what to do, went back to what they knew.  We find Peter, James, and John, along with a few others, fishing.  My guess is it was was easy to be engaged in this radical new ministry while Jesus was with them, leading them; in his absence, it seems to not be so easy. 

We see that Peter, upon recognizing who was standing there, grabs his clothes and makes his way through the water toward the shore, leaving the others to wrestle with the enormous catch in the nets.  When they all made it to the shore, there was a fire built; Jesus was cooking fish, and bread.  He was making breakfast for the disciples. 

I wonder, at this point (the third time Jesus had appeared to them after his crucifixion), does Peter still carry with him the guilt of denying Christ three times?  I wonder this because of what comes next:  Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me more than these”, Peter says yes, and Jesus responds “Feed my Lambs”.  Jesus doesn’t stop at one exchange with Peter, but continues with two more, for a total of three:  Jesus asks Peter again “Do you love me”, to which Peter answers “Yes”, and Jesus responds, “Tend my sheep”, then a third “Do you love me” with Peter responding “You know everything, and you know I love you”, and Jesus countering with “Feed my sheep”.  I have to wonder if maybe these weren’t the three atonements Peter was in need of to move forward.  I’ve been stuck in guilt, unable to move on.

There are many beautiful moments in this passage, navigating these almost mixed metaphors at times.  I want us to focus, for a bit, the who, the where, and the what.

The who:  Throughout the ministry of Jesus, it is no mistake that He never went out of his way to choose people to partner with him in ministry that were educated, or polished, or necessarily presentable.  Peter, James, and John, in particular, were fishermen.  The work of the fishing vocation is hard, requires no prerequisite education, the hours are long, you stink, and from what I’ve seen on the Discovery Channel, you’re pretty rough around the edges and have a foul mouth.  In Jesus’ day, fishermen were way down on the social totem pole.  Yet, here we see Jesus calling these uneducated, unequipped, willing ordinary men to extraordinary things.  In this passage, we see fishing paralleled with shepherding, another vocation that ranks with the lowest of the low.  

The where:  In the beginning of his ministry, and even in today’s text, we see Jesus going to where these ordinary men were, meeting them where they are.  He came to the shore, where they were fishing; not only did he come to meet them on the shore, we need to see that he met them in their tiredness, their frustration, their confusion, their desperation, their anger…he saw them, where they were, and he came to them.  He didn’t wait until it was more convenient, or easier; he met them right where they were.

We’ve seen many times in the Gospels where Jesus picks someone out and meets them where they are, then offers “something”:  healing, counsel, an invitation.  The first time Jesus meets Peter, he offers him an invitation to become a fisher of men.  Today, the exchange isn’t much different.  He asks Peter to feed his lambs, to tend to his sheep.  He is asking Peter to shepherd his flock. 

When Jesus told Peter at the beginning of their ministry together to fish in the deeper water, Jesus was giving the same instruction to us; the same applies here…we as Christians, we as the church, are tasked with tending to the sheep.  And for the most part, we do a good job.  We take notice when someone isn’t here, we know when someone is sick, or in need.  So, do we tend to the sheep in the world as well as we tend to the sheep in here? 

Tending the sheep, feeding the lambs, and shepherding the flock is substantially different than catching fish.  You have to make sure they’re fed, and make sure they don’t wander off, and go hunting for them when they do wander off, and protect them from harm….  Growing up we had horses and this sounds a lot like horses (or even cows).  It was a regular occurrence at our house to get woke up at 4 am to chase the horses back in the field in our pajamas. 

The lambs Jesus is speaking of here is us.  All of us, everywhere.  Every person you meet…are sheep.  And we have been asked by the Great Shepherd, to care for His flock.  We, who aren’t trained, and don’t necessarily know how, we, whose lives are a big mess and are barely to care for ourselves at times, we are who Jesus has come to with this request to care for his flock. 

Shepherding and fishing may seem like mixed metaphors, but they provide a healthy challenge for the church, because this is what the church is all about.  Let’s covenant together, today, to fish for sheep, and shepherd the fish.