John 21:1-19
April 25, 2004
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
I can still remember how great Easter was! We had another standing room only sanctuary. We sang resurrection hymns that filled our space. We had Easter lilies up here. Men had jackets and ties on. And Pastor Chris did wear a dress under her black robe!
But now that it’s three weeks afterward, it’s not that easy to feel that excitement about Easter anymore. Monday always follows Sunday no matter how great Sunday was. Monday brings us back down from our Sunday spiritual highs when the music and the words are just right. And we feel and we believe without a doubt. But when Monday comes, we return to our routine life again. We are sitting at our desks or studying in the library and we wonder if we believe what we heard three weeks ago. Life feels more like a Monday when we get back to our daily routine.
Gone Back to Fishing
We see in the Scriptures this morning that Monday followed Sunday for the disciples too. They have resumed their fishing. They have gone back to doing what they did before they met Jesus. Simon, the leader of the disciples, says, “I am going fishing.” And the rest of them replied, “We will go with you.”
Whether it’s the disciples or with us, how is it possible to sustain Easter faith and Easter joy? How is it possible to keep those Easter lilies from turning brown, the guys wearing their jackets and ties every Sunday, and for Pastor Chris to wear a dress again? You can’t. So you go back to the reliable and predictable drone of ordinary life.
It’s like eating breakfast. Some of you know that I am very predictable when it comes to breakfast. I have a bowl of raisin bran with a banana in skim milk. I have a half of bagel and a cup of Peet’s coffee. I drink a half a glass of orange juice with my vitamins. That’s it. Breakfast is our most ritualized meal of the day. Most of us have exactly the same food for breakfast, without any variation, every day. You come down for breakfast; shake a box of raisin bran. But when it’s empty, you are just not the same for the rest of the day!
Breakfast is not a meal when we reach out for culinary innovation. It is hard enough, at the beginning of the day, just to get moving. We don’t want new for breakfast. We want predictable, routine, and ordinary. And that was the case with Jesus and his disciples on that morning when night was passing and a new day was breaking; a new world was about to take form. Simon and the disciples wanted to get back to what they were comfortable in doing before they met Jesus—they went back to fishing to catch some fresh trout for breakfast.
Standing on the beach, Jesus came to the disciples but they didn’t recognize him. They thought that he was just a stranger. Jesus told them to cast their fishing net to the right side of the boat and suddenly, there was so much fish that they needed help from the other disciples to help haul the fish in. With this miracle, Peter and the disciples recognized that it was Jesus their Lord.
My guess is that they didn’t put all 153 large fish on the campfire, but Jesus and the disciples sat down for a fish fry breakfast. Jesus took bread and the fish, blessed them and gave them to the disciples to eat. They also started their morning by first having their typical breakfast.
Second Chance
With a new day in front of them, they got another chance to serve the Lord. Maybe the reason why the disciples didn’t recognize Jesus at first is because they didn’t want to remember that they were the same disciples who forsaken him when the going got tough. They just wanted to get back to their old life of fishing. Maybe the reason why Peter thought he was so naked, so embarrassed for what he did on that awful night that he jumped into the sea to hide himself from Jesus.
Although wanting to return to the normal patterns of human existence, the risen Jesus seeks them out once again. Jesus comes to them as they fish, in their everyday lives, and blesses them in a way that is both unexpected and seemingly more than anything for which they had hoped.
For Peter, he had a deep need to be forgiven for the three times he denied his relationship with Jesus. For each of the three times that Peter betrayed Jesus, Jesus asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” With each response the forgiveness and the responsibility deepens. “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
How many times have we wavered in our faith journey? How many times have we had some kind of encounter with the Christ, denied its impact on our lives, swallowed the guilt, and then gone back to life as it has always been; instead of allowing ourselves to really know the transforming power of Jesus? Have we, three weeks after Easter, resumed the predictable lives that we have had like nothing important actually happened?
For Simon Peter, he tried by going back to fishing. For us, we have gone back to work, sitting in classes again, traveling around the world again, caring for loved ones again. But like Peter, Christ is giving us second chances too.
We may feel even a bit guilty that life has returned to normalcy after we have experienced the excitement of Easter. We may be ashamed like Peter who made so many proud announcements that he would be there when Jesus needed him but at the end let Jesus and himself down. Christ is always ready to give us a second chance, a third chance, as many chances as we need to seek forgiveness for our unwillingness to become transformed into faithful disciples in the world.
Jesus Showed Himself Again
It took another miraculous catch of 153 large fish for Peter to recognize the Christ again. Like the disciples, we are often half understanding, mostly unknowing, half-hearted disciples. But Jesus comes to us where we are, back at work or at school. He comes to us at breakfast! Jesus reveals himself to us to give us the proof that we need to believe.
There are three truths that I want to share with you about life after Easter.
First, from this Scripture, we see that Christ comes to you on Monday. This pains me just a bit to admit that as a pastor who does some of my best work for you on Sunday, that if you are to be met by the risen Christ, it may not be Sunday at all or in church, but it could easily be on Monday, when you work. Jesus is Lord of all, the whole week, the whole of life. The risen Christ is free and moving. He does not intend to remain boxed in on one day of the week, for one hour at church. He does not recognize the separation that we tend to make between “secular” and “religious.” He intrudes, comes to where you are, speaks to you, and reveals himself to you.
Pay attention tomorrow when you are sitting at your desk, or washing the clothes, or making dinner, or reading a book, or watching over your grandchildren. Easter is true and Easter means that Jesus is out of the grave looking for you to follow him.
The second truth is that we cannot, nor need we try to sustain Easter joy and belief. We need not sit here, close our eyes, and all try very hard to believe that Jesus is raised from the dead and intends to rule over our lives. Just go on about your business, catching fish or do whatever you do for a living or focus on whatever is going on with your life right now because Jesus will find you.
As the night passes and the day dawns, he comes to us like he did with the disciples. We believe not because we are particularly insightful at matters of the Spirit. We believe because the risen Christ has come to us and revealed himself to us.
The third truth is that when the risen Christ comes to us at breakfast, on Monday or whenever, when he graciously reveals himself to us, he calls us to do something. In Acts 9, we see Saul, an enemy of the church, gets knocked down on the Damascus Road and spoken to by the risen Christ. Jesus didn’t ask Paul whether he really believed that Easter is true. Rather he says, “Paul, I’ve got big work for you to do. You are going to be my great missionary to the Gentiles.”
That’s the way with Jesus. Every person whose life has been touched with the saving grace of salvation on the Cross, Jesus calls them to do work for him. The risen Christ does not just say to the disciples on the beach that morning, “I’m Jesus, raised from the dead.” He says, “I am Jesus raised from the dead who has work for you to do.”
Feed My Sheep
“Feeding my lambs, tending my sheep, and feeding my sheep” means that we care for the ones for whom he cares. Feeding Christ’s sheep means looking outward and going beyond the walls of our Christian community. Feeding the vulnerable lambs that Jesus has entrusted to our care means that we put in time, energy, and money into the concerns of the community around us. Whether the issues are family disintegration, illiteracy, gambling, domestic violence, materialism or exploiting the environment that destroys God’s natural world, it is important for us to be an outwardly looking congregation that engages the world with a serving commitment of feeding Christ’s sheep.
This may even go against the popular opinion of the majority. It may result in some unpleasantness and misunderstanding from the world around us. Just as Jesus warned Peter that someone would “fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go,” we may find ourselves facing some strong opposition to fulfilling our mission to feed Christ’s sheep.
A person named, Greg Bullock tells of an event that he had sitting in front of Radio City Music Hall in New York one day on his lunch break. He decided to buy a hot dog from a nearby vendor. As usual, the sidewalks were crowded as the mass of people hurried along their way. As he waited his turn in line, he noticed a well-groomed man of average dress looking to be in his mid-30s. The man was leaning against a nearby wall and appeared to be waiting for someone.
As Greg paid for his meal, this well-groomed man turned, straightened himself up, and started to walk toward Greg. When Greg took his hot dog from the vendor, the other man sprang forward and grabbed his food. Immediately they began to tussle. As the stranger tried to wrench the food from Greg’s hand, he began to scream, “Feed me, feed me” over and over again. Greg finally gained control of the situation and pulling away, said without thinking, “Get your own food.”
Behind Greg, he heard the vendor say, “Leave my customer alone, I’ll feed you.” “No,” he cried, “I want him to feed me.” Quickly looking back to see why it had to be him; Greg found the man had disappeared into the crowd.
Suddenly Greg felt sick in his heart. He had never been more disappointed in himself. In his pockets was more than enough money to feed 20 people hot dogs and all this stranger wanted was just one. Acting on a natural human instinct, Greg didn’t want anyone taking something that belonged to him.
As Greg walked away, he immediately remembered the Scripture in Hebrews 13:2: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
Isn’t it so very true that our natural human instinct is to protect what belongs to us? But Jesus tells his disciples to “Feed my sheep.” He tells them to care for the ones for whom he cares.
To the very ones who earlier had forsaken him, to those who were nowhere to be found when he was arrested and crucified, Jesus gave a call to discipleship. Their past failures at fidelity did not stop him from continuing to entrust to them his most important work.
Follow Me
What work is the risen Christ calling you to do today? When he says, “Feed my sheep,” what does that mean to you?
A number of years ago, our denomination had some sort of evangelistic campaign with a slogan on a bumper sticker that said, “I found it.” We are in the habit of saying things like, “since I found Christ,” or “when I gave my life to Christ,” or “after I took Jesus into my heart.”
When we talk like that it implies that our relationship with Christ is something that we do, something that we decide.
Today’s gospel is a reminder that we do not seek Jesus. He finds us. We don’t take Jesus into our hearts or anywhere. He is the one who takes us places!
The disciples were not looking for some deeper religious meaning in their lives. They were looking for fish. Saul was not looking for some inspiration in his life; he was looking for Christians to persecute!
The risen Christ is the seeking Christ. He searches, seeks, and saves those who are not wise enough to know where or even how to search for him. Our Easter bumper stickers should not say, “I found it.” To be truly faithful to the message of the Easter Christ, it should say, “I got found!”
Think about this when you eat your breakfast tomorrow. The risen Christ comes to you, seeks you, reveals himself to you, forgives you when you have denied him, and then he gives you work to do. Jesus’ last words to the disciples on the beach were to “Follow me.” We might want our lives to return to the predictable routines that we had before Easter. We might want to eat a typical morning breakfast that we have been eating all of our lives. But when Jesus finds you and he will, he will tell you to “Follow me.”
Let us pray.
Lord God, we confess that when the Easter hymns become silent, we, like the first disciples, return to our old familiar tasks. But we want desperately to trust Jesus is still with us. Forgive us for our doubts and having heard Christ’s call for us to feed his sheep, equip and encourage us to do your work on earth. Lead us to see your everlasting presence in all things and in all times. Amen.