NRS John 21:1
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No."
6 He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.
10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord.
13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."

Dear Friends in Christ, may the Spirit of our Lord so join us together that we may be living temple to the only God and Father of all; for the sake of Jesus the Messiah. Amen.

I was thinking the other day, which, in my case, is hardly ever a good thing. But nonetheless I was thinking, "What did Christ leave behind?" I mean, after he rose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of the Father, what did Jesus leave as his legacy?

Contrary to what you may have read in "The DaVinci Code" or heard in movies and TV shows, Jesus did not leave behind a wife and children. Jesus did, of course, have a mother, and sisters and brothers, too, who survived him, but there's no genetic evidence that anybody's ever been able to trace back to Jesus. After he rose, there was not even a body left behind in a tomb where people could go to remember him. For the past 200 years archaeologists have been scouring the earth to find just one physical artifact that could be conclusively linked to Jesus, but so far, nothing. Though Jesus was the focus of the New Testament and many other ancient writings that testified to his life and ministry, Jesus himself did not leave us any books or letters from his own hand. Though he is the subject of countless works of art and sculpture, Jesus never composed any kind of self-portrait to show or tell us what he looked like. And while his name graces the doors of all sorts of churches, universities, and charitable institutions, Jesus never constructed any sort of tangible monument to his own name. So what did Jesus leave behind as evidence that he ever lived at all?

According to the Gospel of John, what Jesus left behind was a community. The community of his beloved disciples was the legacy that Jesus left to be the living monument of his presence on earth. Not books, not buildings, not great works of art, but gathering, shaping, and sustaining a community founded on his love was the chief focus of his earthly ministry, and as we hear in today's gospel, his paramount concern in the time between his resurrection and ascension to the Father. That community was, of course, made up of individuals - Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, among many others - and even as Jesus went to the cross, he made sure that he did not lose even one whom the Father gave him (John 18:9). But in the final instructions that Jesus gave Peter, it's also clear that Jesus understood the community as having a life greater than even the individuals who belonged to it.

These days we use the word community pretty loosely. I sometimes hear people in the news speak of the "black community," or the "white community," or the "Hispanic community," as though our skin colors or languages are sufficient for lumping together a whole bunch of very different people. In the New Testament, though, and especially in the Gospel of John, community is not based on some lowest common denominator, like race or nationality, nor is community founded on a shared experience, like victory or defeat. Instead, community is a gift from the hand of God, so that community in Christ is not something we make, but something God makes of us; not something we join, but rather something to which we are joined. In the fellowship of God's people the community doesn't so much belong to us, as we belong to the community. Of course, as a gift from the hand of God, where, when, and how community happens is often miraculous and always mysterious. But to judge from today's gospel, it seems to have something to do with food.

Think for a moment how many times in the gospels we find Jesus at table with people. Think too of how many times Jesus mentions feasts, banquets and celebrations in his parables of the Kingdom. Now think of the greatest moments in your life and think how many of those times you were sitting at a table with the people you love the most over a meal of turkey and gravy or beans and weenies and wondering to yourself, "Does it get any better than this?" And think how the disciples of today's gospel must have felt as they looked back to shore from their empty boat to see Jesus standing beside a charcoal fire, and then suddenly catching a whiff of fish on the grill.

Community is born in the crucible of being fed. Realizing that we are empty, knowing that we are bone dry in our bodies and souls, we rise up to the open hand, we come to the hungry feast, and in that moment of sheer grace, we leave behind all the stuff that we think makes us unfit, or unacceptable, or somehow unworthy of a place at the table. For the disciples then, and for us now, Jesus sets a table to feed his people, and though we may come to that table as individuals, famished and desperate, we leave a community, fed with the very life of Christ.

Look at Peter in today's reading. This was a man who had sworn to stand by Christ even unto death. Yet when his Lord was being falsely accused and tortured, three times Peter denied him, severing his relationship to Jesus and to the community he formed. But look at how gently the risen Christ brings Peter back into the fold. When Jesus was arrested, Peter on three separate occasions declared, "I do not know the man." Here, though, Jesus restores their broken relationship, giving Peter three opportunities to declare, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." And having given Peter back his life in the community of the beloved, Jesus opens the door for Peter to give back: "Feed my lambs." "Tend my sheep." "Feed my sheep."

Jesus feeds us today to be his living legacy. Whatever archaeologists may dig up, whatever "new" gospels are unearthed or old lies get recycled, we are the final and ultimate evidence of Jesus' resurrection. Not just me, not just you, and even bigger than all of us together, we are the last and greatest sign that Jesus lives. And having been called to his table, having been fed by his hand, so we feed one another with his grace and truth, testifying to that love which never dies.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.