Click below to listen to this sermon: https://www.myrecordbox.com/s/recording/4576/c3b58cdb2ee0236439c65f7e20f953ab
John 21:1-19
1After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the
Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together
were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee,
the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon 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.
4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did
not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish,
have you?" They answered him, "No." 6He 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. 7That 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. 8But 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.
9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish
on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have
just caught." 11So 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.
12Jesus 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. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same
with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the
disciples after he was raised from the dead.
15When 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." 16A
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." 17He 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.
It may seem a little boring, but each week we start out Lectionary
Bible Study with the same question. “Where did you see God this week?”
and I invite you to ponder your own answer. “Where did you see God this
week?”... “Where did you see God this week?” is one question with a billion
different answers; can you imagine the plethora or responses in this
sanctuary alone? Individuals in our Bible Study have seen God in double
rainbows, and in children learning, in the conversation of strangers
becoming acquaintances, and in spring bursting forth bloom by bloom.
There are so many answers to the question of, “Where did you see God this
week?” but most weeks it takes a lot of thought to answer, and don’t feel bad
if you couldn’t in the short moment I gave you just now. Sometimes it’s just
plain hard to answer and this is why I ask it. I ask it for the practice of
answering it, more than I ask it for the wonderful answers themselves. I, at
least, need the practice. When I was a camp counselor we would ask the kids
this question every evening, and there is a way in which, when you know the
question is coming at the end of the day, you start to look for God
throughout the day. It creates a rhythm of remembering to look for God, and
giving thanks when God is found. I miss living in that rhythm. Because once
a week is not enough for me to keep the rhythm. Instead once a week feels
like the reminder to keep the rhythm, a single beat on the drum of noticing
the Lord. I think this reminder to see the Lord is why Jesus appears to the
disciples one last time in the book of John.
Jesus had appeared twice in the Upper Room, and sent the disciples
out, and they finally went out, but beyond that, they knew not what to do.
And so, like we all do, the disciples went back to what they knew. Simon
Peter said to the other disciples, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We
will go with you." You would think, the disciples would go out looking for
Jesus after he appeared those times. You would think, I would leave
Lectionary Bible Study, looking for the God after asking the question, but I
go into the Pastor’s Study and begin to do those last few things I didn’t get
done that day, those phone calls, or e-mails, or lists, and then I pack up my
things for the night, and head back home. I have never gone into the Pastor’s
Study looking for Jesus, even though I have asked the question just an hour
before. Instead, I go back to what I know; I go back to fishing. What do you
go back to? What is your modus operandi? I have a feeling very few of us
intentionally go fishing for the Lord everyday, and therefore we catch
nothing.
The disciples went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught
nothing. And isn’t it like that, that its harder to see the Lord, when we’re not
looking for him. When we are not asking ourselves, “Where did I see God
today?” we are less likely to notice the places we did. Jesus stood on the
beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. This part stumps me.
It seems so strange that Mary Magdelene at the tomb did not recognize
Jesus, and supposes Jesus to be the gardener, that the disciples, in the Upper
Room, do not recognize Jesus until he showed them his wounds, and in other
Gospels they did not know it was him until he broke bread with them. Here
they did not know it was Jesus until they caught a bounty of fish and
remembered the bounty of feeding the 5,000. It stumps me that Jesus can be
right in front of us and we can miss Jesus entirely. Thankfully, Jesus shows
up in abundance to remind us, Jesus shows up in double rainbows, in chance
meetings, in spring coming bloom by bloom. The scripture reads, “Just after
daybreak,” or more literally, “But morning was coming to be,” and its like
that, that in middle of the darkness, the light begins to shine.
Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They
answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the
boat, and you will find some." On the port side was the Sea of Tiberius, on
the starboard was the land near Galilee. The disciples were fishing toward
the deeper side, they were fishing in the same way they always had, but it
was wrong direction, it was the wrong type of fish, they were not be
fishermen, but to be fishers of men. So Jesus points them in the right
direction, toward the shore.
They cast their net, and now they were not able to haul it in because
there were so many fish. When you step away from doing the things you’ve
always done, in the way you’ve always done them, there is a chance you will
glimpse the Lord, because the Lord comes in the opposite from ordinary, the
Lord comes in the extraordinary. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to
Peter, "It is the Lord!"
The Lord comes, and our response should be equally as unexpected,
equally as extraordinary. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he
put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. I love this
part, it seems foolish, genuine, and wonderful all at once. I imagine Peter,
like Adam in Genesis, knowing he was naked before the Lord. I imagine him
putting on his clothes, but then diving into the water and getting them all
wet. I imagine Peter like the Prodigal Son running to his father, expect
swimming. I imagine Peter not wanting to wait for the boat, and swimming
as fast as he could, running when he got to the shallow shore. I imagine him
all wet and hugging the Lord. Because isn’t that what its like when you see
double rainbows? Excitedly staring and driving toward them, embracing the
moment in their midst, and peering dangerously through the rearview just to
get those last glimpses. When we see Jesus unexpectedly we humbly realize
our nakedness, we do our best to right ourselves, and then do everything we
can to get there, and then to hold on.
But the week goes by, and we go back to fishing again, and it is only
when we are asked, “Where did you see the Lord?” that we right ourselves
and remember, and give thanks. It makes sense that Jesus comes and offers
the disciples a communion of fish and bread, that they can right themselves,
and remember, and give thanks.
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. When they
had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.
Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 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. 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. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same
with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples
after he was raised from the dead.
Jesus appears in the fish and the bread, in the wine and the cup, and
yet we have communion only once a month, and I ask only once a week,
“Where did you see God?” We’ve got to be looking all the time, we’ve got
to get in that rhythm, we’ve got to hold the beat. I need more reminders. I
need you to remind me when I am fishing like I always have, remind me to
cast my net to the other side, to look for God around me, to respond by
jumping in the water with all my clothes on, and swimming as fast as I can,
to embrace my Lord.
Likewise, I will continue to remind you to cast your nets not in the
darkness but in the daybreak. I will remind you to look for your Lord in an
opposite way. I will remind you to in the bread and the cup, and together we
shall see our risen Lord. I will continue to ask you, “Where did you see God
this day?” and I will listen to your bounty of answers, and together we will
remember, and give thanks, that each month, each week, each day, each
hour, each moment, Jesus is there to be seen. He is Risen! He is Risen
Indeed! Alleluia, Amen,
