Gone Fishin’
Sermon for Sunday 18 April 2010 - Easter 3C
(John 21:1-14)
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well, Spring is here. The temperatures are warmer, the skies are sunnier, and the days are getting longer. Isn’t it wonderful! And that means that Summer can’t be far behind.
With the arrival of Spring and even Summer, it’s time to get out and enjoy this warmer weather. It’s time to get out and do some yard work, or go for a walk, or have a cook-out or take a picnic. It’s even time to get the fishing tackle ready and maybe start to do a little fishing.
Now, I like to fish. It’s a great leisure-time activity. I haven’t done as much fishing in recent years as I would perhaps have liked to; but hopefully, I will be able to remedy that this year; because a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.
In today’s Gospel Lesson, we read where Peter tells the other disciples that he was going fishing. And on the surface, that sounds like a really great idea. After all, the disciples were fishermen by trade. All their lives, they had made their living catching fish. Sure, during the previous 3 years, they had left everything, including their careers as fishermen, and had followed Jesus. For 3 years, they traipsed around with Jesus, listening to his message, watching him perform miracles, experiencing Jesus on a personal and daily basis. For three years, Jesus had filled their lives, and they were content to live like that forever, so long as Jesus was with them. So long as they could be with Jesus. So long as they could experience him as they had every day for three years.
But then, he was crucified. He had been killed, and that changed everything. Sure, he was alive again… he was raised from the dead… they heard what the women had said on that resurrection morning. They saw the empty tomb. Jesus had even appeared to them on two separate occasions, in the upper room where they were locked up, hiding in fear. Thomas had touched him. Mary Magdalene talked with him. There were reports all over
But something was different now. They weren’t experiencing Jesus the same way as they had before the Crucifixion. They were not experiencing him each and everyday, all day long as they had in the past. They weren’t traipsing around with him, eating and sleeping and talking and laughing with Jesus all day every day. And the result was they were frustrated, and their enthusiasm had begun to slip. They were just hanging around, going through the motions because they just didn’t have that same feeling they had when they first started following Jesus.
And that is what happens to so many folks in our world too. When the first experience Jesus, when they make those first steps of faith – they are all excited. They are enthusiastic. They come to church, volunteer to do this or that, talk about their faith and their church all the time. That’s because they are experiencing Jesus every day. They are walking and talking and laughing and sharing with Jesus each and every day. They are on an emotional high. They feel great! But then, after a while, that feeling starts to change. They gradually begin to miss Sunday School… then Church… then they aren’t doing as much as they once did. It all becomes a chore, an obligation. Or when the stop praying and trusting God completely, and the real life problems we all face start to look bigger, or there’s even a crisis – they start of flounder and fade and slip back to where they were. They say things like, “Well, the Church doesn’t seem quite the same.” Or “Things feel different.” Their enthusiasm has slipped, and eventually they either change churches looking to recapture that same feeling they had at first, or they just simply drop out all together. Their faith – like the disciples – was based on feelings, not facts. It was an “emotional experience” instead of a faith bases “Religious experience”; and the result is a crisis of faith – because faith based on feelings is no faith at all.
That’s exactly where the Disciples are… a crisis of faith because nothing seems quite the same now. SO, what were the disciples doing? They were just hanging around… waiting for the next time that Jesus showed up. They were just hanging around doing nothing, and waiting for the next time they would experience Jesus, waiting for the next time they would have that great feeling they once had when they first started following Jesus.
So Peter decides, that if that’s the way it’s going to be, if Jesus is only going to appear once in a while… if they were only going to experience Jesus once a week, or once every few days, then they might as well go back and do what they know… they might as well go fishing. And the other disciples agree, and decide to go with him.
But what was Peter and the disciples supposed to be doing? After all, as I have said, they HAD traipsed around with Jesus for 3 years. They HAD heard him teach. They HAD heard Jesus tell them that he was going to make them fishers of men… AND they HAD experienced Jesus after his death… which should have ratified as true, everything they had experienced during the past 3 years. It should have made the difference for them. But instead, they were just hanging around, kind of feeling sorry for themselves, and instead of doing what Jesus had already told them to do, they decided that they just might as well go fishing – go back to what they knew. They still didn’t quite get it.
So they go, and spend all night out on the water… catching nothing. As the morning approached, they saw a man on the sea shore… who asked them if they had caught anything. He asks them “Do you have any fish?” In the KJV it says, “Do you have any meat?” And the way this question really is presented in the Greek, is “Do you have any food?”
What kind of question is that? Well, it is exactly the same word that Jesus used in John 4:32, when he said to the Disciples that he had food that they didn’t know about.
This is important, because this time, just like before when Jesus asks if they have any food, he was talking about was spiritual food. Remember during his temptation, when the Devil tried to get Jesus to convert stones to bread, to which Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God.”
So, the food that Jesus is talking about is spiritual food… and in both cases – the disciples didn’t have any. Despite the miracles, signs, promises, teachings, and even his resurrection, the Disciples were still starving to death spiritually – because they had only looked at all this spiritual food that Jesus had provided – they hadn’t taken any of it, eaten any of it, digested any of it, and the result is these disciples are weak, confused, discouraged, and start to backslide because they are malnourished and even starving to death spiritually. And that is what happens to us too! So many folks who come to Church – even faithfully – are starving to death spiritually, because they look at the food, smell the food, see the food, and hear the food – God Word – presented, taught, and preached – but don’t actually take any for themselves, they don’t digest the food that God has provided for us – and that food is the Word of God. And when you combine this with the casual approach to Mass and Church and Spiritual things, and aren’t feeding on the Sacrament of Christ each week, the result is a weak, confused, discouraged, disgruntled, frustrated, and even backsliding kind of Christian, because they are malnourished and even starving to death for lack of Spiritual Food.
So this man sitting on the seashore who asked if they have any food, tells them to put the net out on the right side of the boat… and when they do, they catch a whole net full of fish. It was at this point that John recognized the man on the beach as Jesus, and he yells out to Peter, “It’s the Lord.”
Oh my goodness… wouldn’t you know it… that just when you least expect it… just when you’re not in the place you’re supposed to be, and not doing what you’re supposed to be doing, Jesus shows up!
And there’s Peter, the ring leader of this backsliding great fishing expedition… standing there with almost no clothes on!
Reminds me of a story of a pastor who made a house call one afternoon: he knocked on the door, and no one answered. He could hear people inside, so he knocked again. After a third attempt, he decided to leave, so he took out one of his cards, and wrote a note on it which quoted Revelations – “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears me, I will come in.” He stuck the note in the door and left. On Sunday after mass, the ushers brought the pastor a note that was in the offering plate, which turned out to be his own card with that quote on it… but added to the card was a quote from Genesis 3, which said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and hid myself, for I was naked…”
So there’s Peter – instead of fishing for men, he’s fishing for fish! He’s standing there in the boat with hardly any clothes on, and Jesus shows us! He quick grabs his coat, and jumps into the water… while the others struggle to bring the fish to shore.
Peter is not – nor the others for that matter - are where he is supposed to be… he’s not doing what he is supposed to be doing… and he’s acting more like a heathen than the disciple to whom Jesus said he would build his Church.
I can’t tell you how many times in my work as a Pastor that I’ve had a similar experience…. When I go to the store, for example, and someone who has not been to Church for a while, not done what they said they would, or has not been faithful as they could or should be, when they see me coming, they tried to hide, try to avoid me, try to escape – just like Peter. And when I do actually run into them, they start hiding behind excuses– just like Peter jumping into the water. But… if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, and are in the place we’re supposed to be – there is no fear of being seen, no fear of being greeted by the Pastor or anyone else. We don’t have to fish for some excuse – no do we have to jump into the lake to hide… BUT when we know we’re not right… then we’re filled with fright because Jesus just is now in sight!
When the Disciples to get back to shore, they gather around Jesus who takes some of their fish, cooks it, and he serves the disciples breakfast. He then talks to them, and reassures them that despite their fears, frustrations, crisis of faith, and backsliding, he is still there for them. And even though we didn’t read it, Jesus tells Peter – now – Go feed my sheep! Stop kidding yourself, stop feeling sorry for yourself, start feasting on the spiritual food I have provided you, and get out there and start doing what I want you to do… feed my sheep, build the church, proclaim the good news to everyone.
And that is the way it works here at All Saints. Everyone is welcome here… even those who come and go. Even those who backslide. Even those whose faith is based in feelings and they struggle week to week in their journey. My job is to welcome them, serve them, and – like Christ – love them and help them discover a fact based faith, and encourage them to do what Christ wants them to do. To exercise their talents and gifts for the good of the Church, the welfare of others, and the glory of God and his Kingdom.
This lesson from the Gospel is supposed to remind us that we all will struggle in our journey – but if we will recognize the Lord – and not allow our pride or self-pity get in the way, we can continue to experience Jesus each an every day.
So if you’ve been struggling recently, if your enthusiasm has waned some, if you just don’t "feel" what you once did, or even if you’ve decided – like Peter – to just go fishing – then let me invite you to cast your net on the right side of the boat, let the blessings of God fill the net of your life, come back to shore, and feast on the goodness of God and Christ. Come and dine with Jesus regularly, and you will indeed grow in your faith.
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