The following comes from my collection of humor on this subject: A wife put up a little plaque in the kitchen that said: "Prayer changes things." Not long after she found it was missing. She went to her husband and asked: "Did you take the plaque down? He replied: "Yes." "What's the matter," she asked, "don't you like prayer?" "Oh, I like prayer. I don't like change."

To read and take to heart this morning's gospel lesson is to know change … it is to recognize that in this story the disciples are changed from those who merely had been followers of Jesus to those who will live and lead in the example of Jesus. Last Sunday, John's gospel seemed to have reached its end. Thomas had come to believe in the risen Christ, and we heard these words: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name." That sounds like an ending to me. In fact, Biblical scholars agree that this probably was the original ending of John's gospel. But then, the early followers in John's community said, wait … there's more we want to tell. So they wrote this addendum and tacked it on to John's gospel. I'm glad they did, because in this story we get to witness a number of things … again, perhaps most importantly the transformation of the disciples from followers to leaders.

Here's where we are: the disciples have left the upper room in Jerusalem and traveled to the Sea of Tiberius. In the New Testament, Tiberias and Galilee refer to the same body of water. It's not a short trip … depending on where they were it was anywhere from 70 to 90 miles from Jerusalem. They decide to go on an all night fishing expedition, but catch nothing. At daybreak, they come back to the shore and there is Jesus who sends them back out to sea where this time they catch almost more than their nets can handle. They drag them in, only to find breakfast started for them. (By, the way … about the number of fish – 153. There are as many interpretations for why that number was used as there were fish in that net. They probably just wanted to let us know there was a lot of fish.) It is a beautiful picture – sunrise on the beach, a warm fire crackling, and breakfast with friends.

And then it gets even more beautiful as Jesus and Peter get to talking. I picture them walking along the beach, every now and then bending down to skip a stone across the water as they are deep in conversation. "Peter, do you love me?" "Yes, Lord, you know I do." The same question again, and then again … with Peter feeling a bit hurt by the repetition, as if something in his answers are found to be inadequate. Feed my sheep, feed my people. Now, you are in charge.

Have you ever hurt someone, turned away from someone … done something so awful you felt like there was no coming back from? Do you have a collection of broken promises walled away somewhere in your life that weigh you down and stop you? Or a sense that you are not good enough because … ? Peter did. Remember the brave words Peter uttered at that Last Supper? "Lord, even if all fall away, I will not … I am willing to go to prison and to death for you!" Then, only a few hours later that brave assertion unravels, just as Jesus had told him it would. Peter has followed the crowd to the courtyard of the high priest. He stands warming his hands by the fire, he is trying to be an anonymous bystander. There he is challenged three times by people accusing him of being one of Jesus' followers and three times he denies it, each time more vehemently: "I do not know the man," "I do not know the man," "I DO NOT KNOW THE MAN!"

In John's Gospel, this is the third time Peter has encountered the risen Christ. The first two times were in the Upper Room where the disciples were hiding in Jerusalem. I wonder if Peter felt inadequate those first two times. We know how it is when we encounter people we have unfinished business with … business that we don't want to, or don't know how to finish. We have very polite conversation, or we find ourselves suddenly called to walk in a different direction, or occupied with something very, very important. We don't know how, or can't figure out a way beyond a past encounter and so we find ourselves bound to maintaining a distance between self and other. How many people do you avoid because you can't see around a hurt you have caused them, or they have caused you. The thing about the wrongs we have committed and left hanging is that we give them power, they define how we behave, who we are. I wonder how Peter managed during those first two meetings with Jesus in the Upper Room … if he hung back, ashamed … if he was unable to appreciate this Good News because he didn't think he was ever going to be good enough after what he did.

Now on this third meeting, there is no avoiding meeting Jesus. Yo Peter, let's go take a walk … we've got some things to take care of. Do you love me? Yes, Lord. Do you love me? Yes, Lord … why do you keep asking me? Peter, do you love me? Yes, but I'm hurt that you keep asking … and yes, for the third time, yes, Lord, you know I love you. And in that third declaration I imagine Peter recalling those horrible moments in the courtyard with the vehement denials ringing in his ears … finding absolution in Jesus giving him three chances to proclaim Yes, Lord, I love you. Each declaration of love erasing a denial … one by one. Peter finds that he is no longer defined by his denials, but now is defined by his affirmations of love for the Risen Christ. And we remember him for the work he is given to do in the name of the Risen Christ.

Seeking forgiveness, forgiving another is a peculiar work we human beings have to do. We spend a lot of time and energy on holding on to the wounds we have inflicted and that others have inflicted upon us. We have to make things right before we can move on, make sure we or the other has gotten what's coming to them. Or we think that in order to find forgiveness, we have to forget what has been done. Personally, my belief is that to forgive is to find ourselves freed to live in the example of the Risen Christ, rather than be bound by the wrongs committed against us and others. It is not easy or simple work. After 9/11 a lot of talk surrounded forgiveness. One of the people I met in that work was Father Michael Lapsley who had worked to dismantle apartheid in South Africa. He lost an eye and both hands when he opened a letter bomb sent by people fighting his work. Yet, to this day he continues to work on healing and forgiveness. Again, it's hard work.

Jesus calls us to walk with him on the lakeshore. Will you take that walk, a walk that WILL change you, in spite of your hesitancy to embrace such change? Jesus will ask hard questions of us, but Jesus will also love us. And, when we walk with Jesus we too will find what Peter found, that our denials and wrongs and hurts can be changed into affirmations. Like Peter, we will be restored and have a place of belonging … we will be given a work that truly matters. And isn't that what we long for most? Jesus calls us … will you dare follow?

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