Bonhöffer, in one of his books, declared that SO MANY   PEOPLE —CHURCH folks included —worship what he called a “God of the Gaps.”  --That is, we tend to depend on God only in those occasional CRISES for which we feel personally iinadequate.  The REST of the time, says Bonhöffer,  we think we can handle things on our own.  How sad but true!  For so many people God’s a kind celestial FIRE EXTINGUISHER, to be resorted to only in case of emergency!


    Now, friends, in our Gospel today, from John, Chapter 21, Jesus shows us NOT a “God of the GAPS” but a “God of the GALLEY,” if you will. – One who knows that God’s children need food NOT just in emergencies but constantly, daily!  Get the PICTURE for a moment.  The time is several days (or several weeks) AFTER the first Easter.  The risen Christ and seven of his disciples are gathered around a fire, on the shore of Lake Galilee.  They’ve just eaten their breakfast of fish and bread.  And then Jesus turns to Simon Peter and asks him THIS searching question —THREE TIMES OVER AGAIN:  “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  --To which Peter replies, with increasing pain and agitation, “YES, LORD, YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU!”

    And Jesus responds EVERY TIME:  “FEED and TEND my LAMBS, my SHEEP!”

    Now why do you suppose our risen Savior asks Peter the SAME question THREE TIMES? –MOST Bible scholars, I suppose, have concluded it’s because Peter had DENIED Christ three times.  Yes, in the wee hours of that terrible Good Friday morning, when asked if HE weren’t ALSO a follower of the Nazarene, Peter, with OATHS and BLASPHEMY, screamed:  “NO!”—And then, at the crowing of the cock, burst into TEARS of BITTER GUILT!

    But I believe there’s a DIFFERENT reason why Jesus poses this question to Peter three times.  LISTEN!:  “FEED my lambs!” “TEND my sheep!” “FEED my sheep!” is his command.

    Friends, God intends for us, his sheep, to dine on his GREEN PASTURES.  God’s prepared for us those LUSH MEADOWS for our spiritual NOURISHMENT and SATISFACTION.   The 16th-century church reformer of Zurich, Switzerland, Ulrich Zwingli, in his beautiful translation of the 23rd Psalm into Swiss-German, renders “He makes me lie down in green pastures” as “Der Herr alpt mich!” –That is “The Lord ALPS me!” – Yes leads us, his beloved sheep, in the high, green, alpine heights, where we can dine and rest and rejoice.

    And yet how many of us TURN OUR BACKS on God’s gracious provisions — and thus STARVE ourselves spiritually!  You know, a boa constrictor EATS only once every three weeks.  That’s all the food the snake NEEDS. (I don’t know about those PYTHONS, over in the Everglades—those who’ve managed to survive the cold of winter this year!)  But SHEEP aren’t BOA CONSTRICTORS or PYTHONS.  And neither are CHRISTIANS!  CHRISTIANS need CONTINUOUSLY to graze on God’s good, green pastures.  Otherwise, we DIE!

    For nearly 45 years, now, I’ve been ordained to the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments.  And DURING those years I’ve frequently tried pastorally to assist people during times of grave personal CRISIS.  SOMETIMES these folks, when faced with sudden, serious ILLNESS—there own or that of someone they cherish -- or with the straying of a son or daughter, or with FINANCIAL ruin—sometimes they’ve EXPECTED me to provide them, in their pain, with an INSTANT MIRACLE. –To DO or SAY something that will make everything right IMMEDIATELY.  Sad to say, often these folks had allowed themselves, over the years, to fall into serious spiritual MALNUTRITION.  And thus the CRISIS, when it suddenly overwhelmed them, BLEW THEM OVER!
                     
    But how DIFFERENT (and how MARVELOUS) has been my experience in ministering to certain OTHER folks in times of crisis! – Christians who’ve CONSTANTLY grazed on the nourishing food of their Lord!  THEY were PREPARED for the crisis — or, at least, as prepared as anyone CAN be.  And, you know, in every case, THEY have ministered to ME, often without realizing it, I think, more than I seem to have ministered to THEM!
 
    Well, what IS this nourishing food that our God provides for us?  Where ARE those green pastures God graciously invites us sheep to graze on?

    Friends, they lie in what our Reformed ancestors called “the means of grace.” –Namely, in PRAYER, in regular WORSHIP together, in the reading of the BIBLE, the hearing of God’s Word in the SERMON, in the sharing of FELLOWSHIP with God and one another, and especially in the LORD’S SUPPER, or the Eucharist, that next Sunday you and I will again celebrate!

    Yes, Christ graciously offers you and me CONSTANT NOURISHMENT at God’s ABUNDANT BANQUET TABLE!  MORE IMPORTANT, he offers you and me the opportunity to SHARE this nourishment with OTHERS!  “Simon . . ., do you love me?” the risen Lord asks Peter here THREE TIMES.  And Peter replies, “Yes, Lord; you KNOW that I love you!”

    “THEN FEED MY SHEEP!” quick as a flash comes back the Lord’s COMMAND to Peter—and to YOU and ME!  In other words, the PROOF of our love to Christ ISN’T simply that WE OURSELVES dine deeply and regularly on God’s spiritual food, important as that is.  –But that we, in turn, FEED the Lord’s beloved lambs and sheep—that is, God’s sons and daughters IN NEED!

    Friends, how FORTUNATE you are, in your own congregation and community, to enjoy NUMEROUS opportunities to feed the sheep!  I know that MANY of you regularly step forward to work voluntarily at hospitals, in libraries, and perhaps in tutoring of needy school children.  And that’s WONDERFU!   Still others of you may be doing Christ’s work by serving on the BOARDS of helping and charitable agencies.

    Some of you, when asked, have led DISCUSSIONS here at the church and taught  SUNDAY SCHOOL.  Others serve as ELDERS or DEACONS.  How CRITICAL your work of feeding the sheep IS!

    But, you know, sheep-feeding is rarely a PLEASANT job!  FORGET all those romantic Victorian paintings and stained-glass windows of the spotless SHEPHERD and the peaceful flock—so dreamlike and perfect that they seem to hover out in space, totally detached from EARTH!  Sheep are VERY earthy animals.  They can be pretty DUMB.  And DIRTY.  And RIDICULOUS.  And, seemingly, not very GRATEFUL!

    Some years ago Phillip Keller wrote a book called A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.  For years, in East Africa, Keller was a sheep rancher.  Commenting on the phrase, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies,” he describes just how FRUSTRATING, how HARD, how DANGEROUS even, feeding sheep can be.  The shepherd, before taking the flock to new tableland, must hike there AHEAD OF TIME—and carefully ROOT OUT every kind of poisonous weed.  Otherwise, the newborn lambs, taking a nibble, will become paralyzed and DIE in GREAT PAIN!  And, Keller says, the shepherd ALSO, as the sheep graze on that tableland, must constantly be alert for lurking WOLVES, COYOTES, and OTHER predators.
           
    Yes, it’s hard work to feed Christ’s sheep — his often helpless lambs.  It’s TIME-CONSUMING, INCONVENIENT.  It CAN be downright irritating!  Yet doing so is the VERY PROOF of our love for Christ!

    Will you resolve, today and always, YOURSELF to feed LONG, CONSTANTLY, and REGULARLY at Christ’s banquet table? And, even more important, will you welcome, entertain, and serve there, his own precious sheep—whoever they may be?

Prayers:
    Deliver us, O Lord, from ever seeing you as a “God of the Gaps!”  By your grace and mercy, cause us constantly to dine at your well-laden table, that we may grow as your strong Christian daughters and sons, and be re-made into your own image.  More urgently, cause us to prove our love to you by never shrinking from feeding and tending your sheep — yes, even your most unattractive lambs—as hard and frustrating as that may be to us.  So fill us with your love, that we may dedicate ourselves and our lives to this work of feeding and tending.  Help us to speak the right word when encouragement is needed, to listen when an attentive ear is critical, and to stretch forth a hand of help and healing when a sheep of yours is suffering pain.
    Merciful God, hear now our prayers for all sorts and conditions of people.  For the physically and emotionally challenged, who hurt through no fault of their own.  For those who in this world know hunger, both physical and spiritual.  For those in Iraq, Israel, and occupied Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere who experience almost constant strife, warfare, injury, pain, and anxiety.  For those who live in surroundings in our own land and community that tend to hide them from your love and care.
    Hear our petitions for those who today are experiencing loneliness, and for those (perhaps in this very place of worship now) who hurt in body, mind, or spirit, but feel they have no one with whom to SHARE their burdens.  Stand with those who mourn.
    Finally, God of all time and space, cause us gratefully to remember your sons and daughters who have walked this way BEFORE us, but now, by your grace, have entered into your perfect presence in heaven.  Keep us in fellowship with them, until we, too, behold your great realm without dimness or flaw; for we make these and all our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.  Amen.