070422 John 21:1-22 And Along Comes God

Some Christians believe that since Jesus has ascended into heaven, miraculous appearances like those reported in today’s scripture at the Galilean Sea with the disciples “gone fishing” just doesn’t happen anymore. Eight of the disciples were out fishing again. They were back fishing like they were use to doing when Jesus first called them from their nets 3 years earlier. Peter called them back to their old ways with, “I’m going fishing” and the rest say, “We’re going with you.” They went night lighting in a boat, but didn’t catch anything. And Jesus showed up like God showed up for the wandering Hebrews in the dessert with Manna. Jesus’ Holy Spirit is showing up on my life’s beach right now, but I probably haven’t been doing a good job recognizing Him.
You know, I wouldn’t have to be a believing Christian to recognize that Jesus is still showing up in people’s lives. Josephus, the famed Jewish historian, lived from 37 to 95 A.D. He records the death and resurrection of Jesus as fact. He wrote: “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him “a man”: for He was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to Him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was Christ (the Messiah). And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned Him to the cross, those that loved Him at the first did not forsake Him; for He appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning Him. And the tribe of Christians so named from Him, are not extinct to this day” (Vol. II, Book XVIII, Chap. III, page 3 Jewish Antiquities).
In this post-resurrection seashore story Jesus greets you and me with, “Good morning! . . . Did you catch something for breakfast?” I might answer, sure I’m a well educated American living in the most wonderfully abundant land in history. Of course I’ve got breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or I could be more humble and admit, “well, although my shopping cart is full and my credit card account is paid in full – maybe I still haven’t really caught more than a nervous itch in my palm or twitch in my worldly gaze at the TV at the recent Virginia Tech campus violence. Maybe I really need to fish were You tell me and go where You go.
Have you been catching what you really need in life? Has your net been coming up empty too many times? Maybe you’re afraid like I am sometimes about whether the stuff I’ve been catching from this world is just not what I want to carry onto the shore with Jesus.
Robert Mulholland in his book “Shaped by the Word” says that “every event of life is an experience of spiritual formation. Every action taken, every response made, every dynamic of relationship, every thought held, every emotion allowed: There are the minuscule arenas where, bit by bit, infinitesimal piece by infinitesimal piece, we are shaped into some kind of being. … The question is not “whether to undertake spiritual formation.” The question is what kind of spiritual formation are we already engaged in? Are we being increasingly conformed to the brokenness and disintegration of the world, or are we being increasingly conformed to the wholeness and integration of the image of Christ?”
I can be like the impetuous Peter or I can stay in the boat and drag in the catch from the sea. If one of my Christian friends tells me, “It’s the Master,” and if I really believed that Jesus Christ is waiting for me on the nearby shore, then I can be so excited that I forget about the world’s necessities like the fish I just caught and just jump in and swim to my Lord – clothes and all. Or on the other hand, I might be more conformed to do the practical net pulling while managing to row the boat ashore. Either way, Jesus has prepared the same fish and bread for us – regardless of how work-a-holic or “Gone Fishing” or impetuous we might be. We can fish all we want from the world’s bounty, but God is the one who provides the real catch and the real food that we need for eternal life. Jesus gives us the only food we really need for living in Him in this world and the next. His is the Word of Life – not death and destruction. Jesus never preaches a funeral sermon in any of the Gospel stories and He’s not going to start one now in your life. D.L. Moody said that Christ broke up every funeral He ever attended. Death could not exist where He was. When the dead heard His voice they sprang to life. Jesus said, I am the resurrection, and the life (John 11:25).
This church has brought in many more converts to God’s kingdom than 153 big fish. And Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church’s net is not about to rip and tare, any more than those baskets full of fish and bread from feeding the 5,000 would burst from over flowing abundance. This church is part of the glorious body of Christ that for over 2,000 years has caught and led billions of souls to the Lord – bringing them in from the harvest to our heavenly Father’s home. Jesus tells us, “Breakfast is ready” . . . “I go to prepare a place for you in my Father’s house.” And we wouldn’t dare ask, “Who are you?” – not to the Fisher of men – the one who fished us out of the sea of death and dispare.
Pray with with me, won’t you: Dear Heavenly Father, You give us peace, hope, calm and joy in the midst of the world’s anxiety, worries, daily activities and distractions. You wait for us and greets us through echoing voices from our brothers and sisters in Christ: “Good Morning . . . Have you tried another side of life to fish for what you really need? . . . Breakfast is ready.”
Father keep us from denying Jesus
before a marauding violent world. “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Teach each one of us how to feed Your lambs by the example of how You fed the disciples on the shore of peace and tranquility. Lord, I know how to dress myself like Peter and go wherever I want. But how do I graciously get old while stretching out my hands and let someone else dress me and takes me where I don’t want to go? Help me to glorify You and obey Jesus’ command to follow Him.
Heal my wounds of this life, but make them not forgotten and wasted wounds of pain and grief. Rather, make them signs of new life and channels of healing for others - in the blessed name of the alluring and captivating Christ who calls us to an eternal banquet of bliss, Amen.