“Remember who you are”: a sermon for the THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT (14 DECEMBER 2025)

     If you’ve been a Christian your whole life (like me), things can get confusing sometimes.  There are times when we forget why we ever decided to follow Jesus, or we experience disappointments, or we just get bored and wonder what the point of it all is.  It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of activities, and to wonder if there’s more…what is Christianity all about anyway?  Maybe there was a time when we were excited about living for Jesus and serving in his kingdom, but somewhere along the way, we got lost, we got hurt and now we ask ourselves if perhaps we were mistaken, or – even worse – perhaps Jesus made a mistake in choosing us as one of his disciples.  What do we do if we find ourselves in such a place?  It is in moments like these that we need to be reminded who we are.  Fortunately for us, we have a story in the Gospel of someone what had this exact experience.  This person’s journey to greatness was anything but a straight line.  It was a path full of confusion, shame, failed attempts, defeat, a comeback, pain and glory.  His name was Simon – at least, that’s the name his parents gave him.

Read: John 21.1-19

     The original “Rocky”. We know him as “Peter the Apostle” – a true Christian hero.  His friends knew him as “Simon, John’s kid”.  When Simon first met Jesus, Jesus gave him a nickname – “Cephas/Peter”, which means “rock/rocky” (cf. Jn. 1.42).  “Simon the Rock” – that’s how Jesus would have usually addressed him and it’s indeed how John refers to him in today’s Gospel.  At first glance, the dialogue in this passage may strike us as being a bit strange.  Jesus begins the conversation with a question: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  If that isn’t awkward enough, Jesus repeats the question twice more.  What’s going on?  Is Jesus insecure?  Is he trying to have “the Rock” reassure him that he is indeed loved?  That’s not quite what’s happening.  As is always the case when two close friends are having a (very) personal conversation, you have to know the history of the friendship in order to grasp the meaning of what is being said.

     Never at a loss for words. All four Gospels are agreed that “Rocky” was among the first to join Jesus’ travelling troupe.  “Rocky”, along with James and his brother John, constituted the “inner circle” of Jesus’ followers – these were the guys who were “in the know”.  They were the first to find out what Jesus meant by his strange stories, what Jesus’ intentions were and how he was feeling.  Early on, Rocky distinguished himself as the natural leader of the group of 12 apostles.  Always the first to speak up, Rocky often acted impulsively.  Although Rocky’s behaviour must have annoyed Jesus and the others at times, one thing was clear – he meant well.  Rocky was nothing if not an enthusiastic disciple of Jesus.

     Empty promise, flashing sword, fireside denial. However, a few weeks before today’s conversation, things had taken a disturbing turn.  It had all started at Passover time, when Jesus had made arrangements for himself and the 12 to share the traditional Seder meal.  The supper had gotten off to a very strange start as Jesus had gone around the table, washing the feet of his 12 companions.  Of course, Rocky had something to say about that: “You will never wash my feet!”, he tells Jesus (cf. Jn. 13.8).  Jesus gently insisted, and Rocky relented.  After this strange gesture of humility, Jesus had begun to say distressing things to the apostles: “I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me… Where I am going, you cannot come” (Jn. 13.33).  Rocky would have none of it: “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you” (13.37).  Now it was Jesus’ turn to be skeptical: “Will you [indeed] lay down your life for me?” (13.38). A little later during the meal, Jesus said: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends…” (15.13-14). Jesus will do what Rocky will fail to do.  After supper, Jesus led the 12 to the Garden of Gethsemane.  As the temple guards close in to arrest Jesus, Rocky does indeed display some bravado – in a misguided attempt to defend his master, he cuts off the ear of one of the High Priest’s servants (18.10).  Despite this futile attempt to defend Jesus, Jesus would, of course, soon be condemned to death and then crucified.  On the morning of the third day following the crucifixion, Jesus’ tomb had been found empty and Jesus had begun to appear to those who had been his followers.

     ENCOUNTERING the risen Jesus.  Have you ever seen a celebrity?  Have you ever been walking down the street and happen to have seen someone whom you had only previously seen on TV or online?  John tells us in our passage that this is a story of the third time that the risen Jesus had appeared to the disciples, the other two times having taken place in the house in Jerusalem where the apostles had been lodging (and hiding).  At the beginning of the book of Acts (1.3), Luke tells us that the risen Jesus appeared to the disciples during the 40-day period before his ascension.  Think about it – the disciples went about their daily lives for 40 days after the resurrection, never knowing when or where Jesus was going to show up.  It must have been a very mysterious time.  The risen Jesus is at much at home in God’s space (“heaven”) as in our space (“earth”).  For those of us who are familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia, it's like the risen Jesus is constantly going back and forth through the wardrobe that is the portal between our everyday world and the world of Narnia.  During these 40 days, Jesus is both present and absent.  We can imagine different disciples running into each other on the street, one of them looking excited and bursting with news: “I saw Jesus!” and the response, “Where? When? How? Tell us all about it!”

     Back to the scene of the crime.  In today’s gospel, we’re back where it all began – Simon, James and John (and four others) are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee with their nets.  Those who had been called to become fishers of men have gone back to fishing for fish.  In fact, everything about today’s gospel is orchestrated for Simon’s benefit.  Several elements serve to trigger memories of key moments from his past.

     Déjà-vu.  The details of the story sound familiar – once again, we have Simon – exhausted after having spent the night on the lake with nothing to show for it – and Jesus, who, with a simple command, enables a great catch of fish (cf. Lk. 5.1-11).  These are the exact same circumstances in which Jesus and Simon had first met.  We recall that Simon was a fisherman from the village of Capernaum, located by the Lake of Galilee/Tiberias.  Jesus inserted himself – unbidden – into Simon’s boat – and into his life.  Of course, Simon could have chased Jesus off his boat, but despite his shock and anger at the intrusion, he noticed that particular something about Jesus.  It’s not that easy to get rid of him once he steps into your boat.  Jesus doesn’t always take people away from their jobs, but when he does, it’s always in order to give them something better – better for them and better for the world.  Perhaps Jesus is calling you to follow him into your workplace.  Wherever Jesus may lead you, know for certain that he is indeed calling you to follow him.  This idea may strike you as a bit crazy.  Imagine how Simon felt that day.  The fisherman who probably never planned to leave his Galilean village ended up, many years later, in Rome, the imperial capital some 4,000 km. away.  To paraphrase J.R.R. Tolkien: “It's a dangerous business, following Jesus. You step onto the road, and if you allow your steps to be guided by the Holy Spirit, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”  Jesus told Simon to “put out into deep water.”  Jesus called Simon to an adventure, to a journey of faith, to do seemingly foolish things trusting that God had a plan which would not only produce surprising results but would also transform Simon forever.

     If I had been in Simon’s shoes on that day following Jesus’ resurrection when he went back to his boat with his friends, I might have thought, “Not again!  Here is Jesus showing up when I have just experienced failure.”  Why couldn’t he appear just when I had managed, on my own, “to bring home the fillets”?  Then I could show Jesus just how capable I am and he could be impressed and give me a pat on the back.  Simon was a career fisherman; this was the one thing that he was good at.  And yet, there he is, as the rising sun reveals that his boat is empty.

     A charcoal fire.  And the fact remains: Simon had indeed failed – gloriously – and his failure had nothing to do with fish.  Full of zeal at the Last Supper and full of swashbuckling bravado in the garden, Simon had lost his nerve when a servant girl recognized him in the light of a charcoal fire (cp. Jn. 21.9 & 18.18) and he had denied 3 times even knowing who Jesus was.  Judas had betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, but then again, maybe that wasn’t such a surprise – after all, Judas had always hung onto the money bag a little too tightly (cf. Jn. 12.4-6; 13.2).  But Simon!  Simon had always been the natural leader of the 12 apostles, always the first to speak, or rather, as was often the case, to put his foot in his mouth.  Even in today’s Gospel, Simon leads his friends out onto the Lake with his confident assertion: I’m going fishing!  But Jesus appears now, as if to let him know – everything that you will do from this moment on, you will do – not out of your own wealth of experience, your own abilities or confidence – no, from now on, you will act with my power, with the wisdom of my Spirit.

     Bread and fish.  The disciples had searched for food all night, only to discover that breakfast was already waiting for them on the shore – bread and fish cooked over a charcoal fire, two more echoes from earlier in the story.  This takes us back to chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, where Jesus multiplied bread and fish to feed 5,000 people and then gave a lengthy discourse, as the Johannine Jesus has a habit of doing, identifying himself as the Bread of Life which came down from heaven.  Jesus then goes on to say that whoever does not eat his flesh and drink his blood does not have eternal life.  Upon hearing this, many of those who had been following Jesus started walking away.  So Jesus turns to the 12 apostles and asks them: Are you going to leave me too?  And that’s when Simon makes his famous “confession”: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (6.68-69).

     A renewed vocation.  This brings us back to the lakeshore and to the dialogue between Jesus and “Simon the Rock”.  Now Jesus’ thrice-repeated question makes sense.  This is an opportunity for Simon to experience healing.  The events of the last few weeks have allowed Simon to see himself for who he really is – not a conquering hero, not a huge success; rather, Simon has realized that he is simply a man full of hang-ups.  Is there any hope for Simon?  Is there any hope for us?  Yes, Jesus says.  There is hope.  It all boils down to one thing.  Jesus asked Simon, and he asks each one of us – “Do you love me?”  As long as there is love, there is hope.  Of course, this is not a mere sentimental “love”.  When Jesus had defined love as “laying down one’s life for one’s friends”, he had used the word “agape”.  This is indeed the word that Jesus uses the first two times he asks Simon the question – “Do you agape me?”  Simon responds each time using a different word, the word phileo, which denotes the “love” of ordinary friendship and camaraderie.  The third time Jesus puts the question to Simon, he uses Simon’s preferred term – “Do you phileo me?”  Simon responds: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I phileo you” (21.17).  After each of Simon’s responses, Jesus gives him a command: “Feed my sheep”.  Earlier, during his ministry, Jesus had referred to himself as being the “good shepherd” who would “lay down his life” for his sheep (cf. John 10.11, 15, 17-18).  The sheep – those who believe, who have faith – still belong to Jesus, but it is now up to Simon Peter to feed them, to take care of them, to nurture them in the faith, to model genuine discipleship for them.  Once Peter has confessed his phileo for Jesus and Jesus has commissioned him with his shepherding task, Jesus goes on to tell Peter that he will indeed demonstrate agape love for his master.  Peter will indeed “lay down his life” for Jesus.  Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified in Rome by the Emperor Nero.  Of course, even in death, “the Rock” would be “Rocky” – Peter insisted on being crucified…upside down.

     Follow me.  As Jesus had told the apostles during the Last Supper, “Without me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15.5).  You can’t even catch fish without me.  So trust me.  I love you.  I died for you.  I forgive you.  And you’re not off the hook.  What I said to you all those months ago (perhaps on that same beach), I say to you now: “Follow me” (Jn. 21.19, 22).  Jesus’ last words to Simon Peter had also been his first: Follow me.  Follow me into the darkness of the world, follow me into the streets full of broken people, follow me into the courtrooms of the powerful, follow me to the cross, follow me to the Father.  This is good news for all of us who have ever failed, or ever felt like failures, or both.  Failure does not need to be the end.  There is hope.  If we can let go of our pride, humble ourselves under the mighty hand of the Father, trust Jesus’ love and forgiveness, and open ourselves to the wind of the Spirit, we can be amazing agents of the love of God in this world.

     Becoming people of virtue.  Faith, hope and love – these are called the “theological virtues” (cf. 1 Cor. 13.13).  Peter would go on to develop these three virtues in his life, along with the “cardinal virtues” of justice, temperance, wisdom and courage (just read the book of Acts).  As followers of Jesus, we are called to become people of virtue, people whose characters reflect what it means to be a genuine human being.  The only way to develop virtue is to go through difficulties, to leave one’s comfort zone, to embark on the adventure of living a meaningful life – in our case, the adventure of following Jesus.  Little did Simon know, that day when Jesus had first gotten into his boat, that from that moment on, he would experience ordeal after ordeal, and that these sufferings would shape him – an ordinary fisherman, husband, Galilean villager, and fearful and prideful person – into someone whose life would impact the world forever.  That’s what life as a Christian is all about – it’s an adventure.  It’s trusting that by following Jesus – and obeying his orders (e.g. “feed my sheep”) – we will be transformed into people whose lives will have purpose – the purpose of advancing God’s plan for the world.  That’s a lot to take in.  We don’t see the end result of our lives.  Peter didn’t.  Following Jesus is a daily decision, trusting that as we take one more step, Jesus will be with us and give us what we need to take on the next challenge, and this way, to become more virtuous, and capable of taking on greater challenges, and so on.  “Saints” are described as “people of heroic virtue”.  We are called to greatness, to God’s definition of greatness.  Jesus demonstrated true greatness as he humbled himself to wash the apostles’ feet, as he “laid down his life for his friends” by being crucified.  As are as everyone else was concerned, Jesus died a failure, a condemned criminal, abandoned, betrayed – and disowned, denied – by his closest friends.  Who wants to end up like that?  And yet, what happened on the third day afterwards demonstrated that the crucifixion had been a victory, a strange triumph-in-disguise.  Jesus had the courage to “lose” in order to win the real battle, the battle against fear and pride, against the powers of sin and death itself.  This Jesus calls us to “follow” him, to follow his example of love and selfless courage.  Jesus asks us, like he asked Simon: “Do you love me?” If we are determined to love Jesus, then Jesus tells us, “I have a job for you to do”.  “Follow me” into the world and do what I ask you to do.

     We are called to become the kind of person that can have an impact on the world that would resemble the impact that Jesus had.  There have been many women and men down the centuries who have done just that, and most of them are anonymous.  Many of those who are less anonymous are “officially” designated “saints”, i.e. “holy people”.  Someone once said, “Jesus promised his disciples 3 things – that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy and in constant trouble.”  If that sounds good, then it’s time to follow Jesus and become a person of virtue.

     Remember who you are!  You are loved, forgiven, empowered, and sent – you have been sent into the world on a mission of healing, of new creation.  This is how it works in the Bible – God creates, and creates humans to take care of his creation; through Jesus, God recreates and fills his people with his Spirit so they can spread the life of Jesus throughout the world, so the world can be remade and reflect the glory of God.  Let us renew our commitment to follow Jesus wherever he leads us in order to share his life-giving love.  Amen.