Without skipping a beat or even turning your head you answer "Yes".

The question is repeated again. This time you reply with some impatience, "Of course, I do. Why would you even ask such a question?" And you keep on doing what you were doing.

A third time, the child asks, "Mommy/Daddy, do you love me?"

And everything stops. You are struck by the seriousness and the importance of the question and all that it implies. It hits you like a physical thing. You turn from what you are doing, stoop down to hold the child and say, "I love you very, very much and I always will."

In the garden, on the night before Jesus died, three times Peter denied any knowledge or relationship to Jesus. And it wasn’t until after he’d said it the third time that he realized the enormity of what he had done.

Sometimes we need to hear the questions or make the commitment over and over again before it really sinks in. We need to say it time and again until it becomes a reality not a reflex or a rote response.

At some point in our life, we make a conscious decision to live as Christ taught us to live. We say to ourselves and/or to our faith community that we are now committed to Christ. We say, "Yes, Lord, I love you."

And then we carry on with our lives.

But if we say it only once, if we never revisit or examine that commitment in any deliberate way, we are unlikely to be able to stick to it or to completely immerse ourselves in all its implications.

We read today a story that emphasizes for us the importance of revisiting and repeating our faith commitment and promises, in order that we may be able to keep them.

Our gospel reading is set on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. We are once again in fishing boats with the disciples. Back where it all began – where Jesus first spoke to them telling them they will be fishing for people.

We are not told why the disciples have returned to their fishing boats. It may be that after all they’d been through, they had to return to the familiar. Maybe the nets and the boats provided some comfort and normality for them after the horrors and confusion of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Maybe they came to clear their minds and rest before they embark on their ministry.

Maybe they don’t even know what drew them back home again. But here they are -- and the memories of that first encounter with Jesus must have been on their minds.

"Follow me and I will make you fish for people."

Since his death on the cross, the resurrected Christ had appeared to them twice. He had given them the Holy Spirit. He had instructed them to go out to the people as he had gone – to preach to them – to teach them.

And here they are back fishing – but not for people.

In this familiar place, Jesus appears to them once more. They don’t recognize him until he turns things around – again. Their unsuccessful night of fishing becomes a morning of an abundance of fish – almost too many to handle. He feeds them bread and fish – provoking I’m sure, memories of that day of loaves and fishes on the hillside. They share a meal together – again - and then Jesus begins to question Simon Peter.

"Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?"

"Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

"Feed my lambs."

"Simon son of John, do you love me?"

"Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

"Tend my sheep."

"Simon son of John, do you love me?"

"Lord you know everything; you know that I love you."

"Feed my sheep."

In that familiar setting of Galilee they learn what "fishing for people" really means. It means caring for them. It means feeding them. Feeding them with the Word that they may live. Caring for them so that they will know how much they are loved.

There are so many layers to this story:

• Jesus had to appear to them three times before they could truly understand the resurrection and their new role.
• He had to remind them of their love and commitment over and over again.
• He had to do this in the context of their familiar shared experiences – fishing, sharing a meal together
• Perhaps even the three confirmations of Peter’s love gave him some kind of peace after his three denials of Jesus.

We are no different than Peter and the other disciples. We need to keep confirming our promises and we do that in the context of the familiar.

And so we come to church. It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. We’re at home here. We can be fed, comforted, restored and nourished by God’s word, by the beautiful music, and by the faith community.

Here we learn that we, too, are to fish for people and how we are to do that. Following Jesus requires that we feed and care for others. For us today, that means things like:

• Supporting food banks and homeless shelters
• Visiting the shut-in’s and those in nursing and retirement homes
• Giving to things like the Mission and Service Fund and Beads of Hope, enabling others to do the work we can’t
• Welcoming the newcomers and keeping in touch with those who are unable to be with us for Sunday worship
• Praying for those in need
• Praying for ourselves – that we might be fed and strengthened to keep our own promises.

Here, too, on Sunday mornings, we renew our commitment as we repeat the Lord’s Prayer.

But often it is spoken, I suspect, with little thought to the meaning of those words. And we must commit fully to those words.

Thine is the kingdom. But ours is the responsibility for it here on earth. God’s kingdom will be only if we live in the kingdom every single day. So, think about what you say when you pray. And say it and pray it over and over again until you understand, until the words hold real meaning for you, and until you are committed to living those words.

Over and over again, Jesus comes to us "Do you love me? Feed my sheep. Tend my sheep. Follow me." How we live each day is our response.

May we strive always to fulfill our promise. May we ever say, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."

And repeat it over and over again until it is a reality in our lives.

Amen