Monday, August 6, 2018
612 - Feeding Trough
Spirituality Column #612
August 7, 2018
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Feeding Trough
By Bob Walters
“Feed my sheep.” Jesus
to disciple Peter, John 21:17.
I just noticed
something in this command. Jesus isn’t
telling His disciple Peter to be one
of His sheep; He is telling Peter to feed
His sheep.
Which
suggests something perhaps overlooked: disciples of Jesus aren’t tasked merely
to be sheep; disciples of Jesus are supposed to feed the sheep. And who are the sheep? I surmise the answer
Jesus might like best is not that Christians are the sheep, but that Christians
are the disciples who go out, seek, find, and feed lost sheep. Our first steps
as Christians are to become believers, then followers, and then disciples of
Jesus. The “sheep” are everybody else.
That’s who needs to be “fed” and it’s the disciples who need to do the
feeding. It’s why there are “discipleship”
pastors.
Modern day Christians –
and I mean even serious nose-in-the-Bible, butt-in-the-pews,
dynamic-prayer-life, Jesus-in-my-heart believers – often calibrate their church
happy meter by whether or not they feel they are “being fed.” Outsiders note:
“fed” doesn’t mean free donuts in the coffee lounge; “fed” means sermons,
worship, study, fellowship, outreach programs, mission opportunities,
counseling … a hundred things.
People often
change churches saying they “aren’t being fed;” their church isn’t helping them
grow in their faith and relationship with Christ. Change can be good, but take note: a mature
Christian isn’t looking to be fed; he or she is looking to feed others.
A key
element we see in John 21 as Jesus talks to Peter is that Peter is at both a
low ebb and jubilant crescendo in his relationship with Jesus. His Lord is alive
and he joyously knows all Jesus said was true. But Peter is also devastatingly
ashamed, having thrice denied knowing Jesus (John 18:17, 25, 27). There are 18 Gospel passages noting the
appearances of the resurrected Jesus to the disciples and others, but this
morning meeting evidently is the first conversation the two have had since that
night.
Interestingly,
Jesus here does not call him “Peter” but by his former name. This is Jesus
doing a gracious reset; the redemption of Peter from his grievous sin: Jesus is
starting over at “Simon.” It’s also
interesting that Peter, in his denial, did not in his heart stop believing in
Jesus; but he cowardly denied Jesus to the outside world. That’s something Christians should notice:
Peter’s faith held firm; his courage didn’t.
And still,
as Jesus fed him breakfast, He wanted “Simon” to “feed my sheep.”
I
comprehend and “get” the “flock” and “follow” sheep metaphor used throughout the
Bible, church, and Christianity. But our
Christian life is horribly thin if our faith goal is to remain a sheep at the
feeding trough. When we recognize hunger
and weakness in ourselves or other Christians, we must tend to each other in
love, feed each other as we can, trust Jesus to restore our strength, and know that
our mission to nourish others bodily and in faith remains. This is the redemptive power of Christ in the
here and now.
Our humanity that is closest to
Jesus is revealed when we feed the sheep.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) misses the free donuts in the coffee
lounge.
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