Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
John 21:1-14
Our passage today starts out:
21After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias
After Jesus called them to become fishers of people, after all the teaching and the healings and the miracles and the parables and the arrest and the crucifixion and the resurrection the post resurrection appearances including the one where even Thomas’ doubts were overcome, here they are back doing exactly what they were doing before these things.
But I can’t be too overly critical. They were fishermen right? That was how they earned their living and we all have to earn a living, right? I mean when service is over on Sunday, I get to hang around here, but most of the rest of you have to go back out into the world and go to work or take care of the kids. You have to do some things you don’t like and some things you are not proud of. At times, the things that you learn and experience here come into conflict with the world and you have to make decisions that might not always jive with your faith.
So these disciples, just because they have gone fishing after the resurrection, may not have totally blown it, but, at the same time, I am disappointed in them.
After these things, here they are back doing exactly what they were doing before these things.
This story sort of paints of picture of them as saying, “Well all that Jesus stuff was nice, but lets get back to normal.” I remember feeling like that was going on early in my Christian journey. It may have been my first Easter. I was really into all this stuff, so I went to all the Holy Week services and we had an Easter Vigil on the night before Easter. And I got up on Easter morning and went to sunrise service and then to the service in the sanctuary. When it was all over, I was totally psyched. Christ is risen! Now I was still pretty new to church so I didn’t have any church friends at the time, so when it was all over, I just sort of stood there and watched as everybody just go back into their cars and went home. And then I did the same, and made some lunch and took a nap and then walked the dog and read a book and had dinner and went to bed and got up the next morning and went to my job and went home, etc. The whole thing was just sadly anti-climactic to me. It kind of made me sad.
And it really made me sad the next week when I went back to the church on Sunday, a week after the place was packed to overflowing, to see that the place was nearly empty. I felt, at first, disappointed in my fellow worshippers. Then I thought I was disappointed in myself. Then I realized I was just disappointed. Because in that moment of Easter, everything had changed. What I realized was yes it had, but no it hadn’t.
Things had changed, in that I was already beginning to be transformed by the power of the Gospel, but they hadn’t in that I wasn’t seeing the results in my day to day life. Part of that is the assumed boundaries we have been the sacred and the secular. Culture teaches us that it is actually ok to have a religious side and a secular side, acting one way at church and another way at work. Culture says that, but not the Gospel.
So here is the tension we all live in. At some point on Sunday, whether you like it here or not, we throw everybody out. We send you back into the ordinary world. You have to go back to fishing, or refining or teaching or whatever, but remember that your occupation is not who you are because who you are is defined by your relationship to God in Christ.
But let’s go back to the text.
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.
I just love the metaphor there. They go back to work but they get no results, because something is missing. You see, no matter what we try to do, not matter how we try to engage the tension of living as Christians in an ordinary world, we aren’t going to get very far without Jesus.
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.”
I love that Jesus doesn’t say, “What the heck do you think you are doing? Why aren’t you out spreading the gospel?”
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!”
Jesus doesn’t criticize them for going back to fishing. Neither does he remind them of all the other stupid things they said and did before the crucifixion and after the resurrection. What he does is appear to them to remind them of what they already know. And historically we know this worked. The disciples got to work spreading the good news.
But what about us? What are we supposed to do? We come here, we hear the Easter gospel proclaimed and then we are politely asked to leave. And some of us take with us the idea that there is a separation between the sacred and secular. In other words, we deal with the tension by saying “church is church, but life is life.”
Others of us struggle with trying to be a Christian in the world.
It is not very realistic to think that most of you will leave here today, quit your jobs and become full-time Jesus followers. Actually, not only isn’t it likely, it is probably not a good idea. Even for me, it is not that simple. I am not a full-time Jesus follower. Let me explain. Jesus asked his disciples to drop everything and follow him. And, at least in scripture, none of them asked about tenure, salary, retirement, or the health benefits that the Jesus Company offered. But even for me, a full-time clergy person, I think about those things. I originally wrote that as, I have to think about those things. No, I choose to. And because I choose to live with security and stability, I have to earn a paycheck from a religious institution and I am not necessarily free to drop everything and follow Jesus.
I need to say that again in case you missed it. Because I earn a paycheck from a religious institution, I am not, necessarily free to drop everything and follow Jesus.
Some people say, “But you work for God.” That is not necessarily true for me any more than it is for most of you. I work for the church. I have a boss and expectations. I work for the church. That doesn’t automatically make me a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, in my case those go together well, other times, not as well. I believe that the church is doing the work of God in making disciples of Jesus Christ. Fortunately that goes very well with I feel called and empowered to do which is lead and train and empower people in making disciples of Jesus Christ. But say that I feel called and led to follow God in ways that don’t go with the perceived mission of this church. What if I wanted to invite groups of people to come and worship with is that would make you all uncomfortable or even drive some of you away? Or what if I feel called and led to follow God in ways that you may agree with but don’t fall within my job description? What if I feel called to head to Darfur to bring relief to the 2.5 million people who have been driven from their homes or help to stop the genocide which has killed close to a half a million people.[1] Would the church want to keep paying my salary, even if I wasn’t here?
Also, even though my full-time vocation involves the church, there are other parts of my life. Being a full-time Jesus follower, being a true disciple of Jesus Christ would mean that my identity as a disciple would not end when I punched out at the end of the day, it would be reflected in everything I do.
You can work for nearly anybody and be a follower of Jesus Christ. And you can work for nearly anybody, including the church, and not be a true follower of Jesus Christ. I know refinery workers who are true disciples. It doesn’t even mean that they are evangelizing at work or necessarily trying to change the world through their work, it is a question about the totality of their lives. Are they reflecting the Easter gospel? I have met pastors who might raise some questions about whether or not they are true disciples. I am not even talking about the ones who get on the television news with some scandal. I am talking about pastors who may be good pastors, may be good leaders, but, in the totality of their lives have not decided to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
It is easy to get too narrow focused about this and get frustrated. People come to me and say, “Well I can’t be a Christian at work, they won’t let me.” Maybe they won’t let you hang up scripture verses, maybe it is even deemed inappropriate to talk about your faith, but you can always be a Christian, you can always live out the Easter gospel in your life. I mean just think about the power of this message and how it can shape your life.
Christ was born and lived among us. God wanted a relationship with us so bad, that God came here. Our God is not some far off God disinterested in the affairs of us human beings. God knows and loves us intimately. I can live that out by finding ways to let others Christians and non-Christians alike, especially others that are in need, know that they are loved. I don’t even have to even necessarily tell them about God or Jesus. I can reflect the love of God through my actions. Is there someone where you work or where you shop or where you eat or where you take your kids who needs something that you can give? Maybe that is just kindness. When I got out to eat with church folks, they often like to pray at the table. Prayer is always a good thing. A lot of time people will say that it is their way of witnessing. Ok, not bad. But you know what blows me away, is when I am at a restaurant with someone and they talk to the servers like they are important. When you look someone in the eyes and say, “How are you?” and really wait for a response. You may be the only person who has cared about that person all day. That is an Easter moment.
Christ taught us. Scripture gives us lessons from Jesus about love and tolerance and peace. Jesus taught us how to live, not out of rules, but out of grace. I can live that out in my life by learning, reading scripture and then, not hurling scripture at others, but by following it myself and letting others see Jesus through me. Is there a situation where you work or where you shop or where you eat or where you take your kids that could be better handled by you based in the teachings of Christ? Some people remind themselves of this with those cute little WWJD bracelets. Let me give you a little tip though. If you wear one and people can see it, please try to do what Jesus would do. Otherwise you give us all a bad name. Perhaps you want to tuck that bracelet up under your sleeve and let it remind you to treat others with grace and dignity and respect even when they have wronged you. How about living out Matthew 5:38-41:
38“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
Christ Died for us. God’s desire for reconciliation with God’s people is so great that he allowed himself to be tortured and killed. I can live that out in my day to day life by just trying to live into that kind of love from my creator. If God is that interested in reconciliation with me how much more interested must God be in reconciliation with the whole world. That doesn’t always mean, in my life, winning people for Jesus, it means trying to create a world of peace and love around me. Is there someone or some group of people in your life that you need to love in such a way that reflects a God that loves us all so much that he would die to make sure we knew?
Christ overcame death itself. Therefore I can have hope and peace in any situation and I can try to share that hope and peace with those around me who are suffering and mourning. That doesn’t mean that I say to someone who has just suffered loss, or has just begun to face a horrible reality, “Don’t worry, God loves you.” It sometimes just means that I get to be the calm presence in a stormy sea. It also means that I can believe in the power of resurrection in any situation whether I am standing with someone facing addiction or imprisonment or poverty or hopelessness that I believe that God can prevail. Is there someone where you work or where you shop or where you eat or where you take your kids who needs you to be that calm in the storm who needs the calm reassurance that comes from understanding the Easter Gospel?
Christ will return in the ultimate representation of God’s grace, the Kingdom of God. Meaning for me, no matter what, there is ultimate hope and that while I will work and serve God, God is the ultimate author of the story and I can live in the confidence of that. Is there someone where you work or where you shop or where you eat or where you take your kids that needs that kind of hope? Can you find a way to share it with them?
When the service is over all of us are going to go back to fishing in one way or another. Some of you will go back to your jobs, others back to taking care of kids and parents. Some of you will go back to jobs that seem to clearly reflect your beliefs other that seem to be disconnected. I will continue in my job as pastor but still, live out other parts of my life as a parent and husband, as a consumer, as a friend and a son and a brother. We have to go back to the ordinary world, but we never, ever have to go back to our old lives. We are Easter people, people who are being changed more and more into the image of Christ through the power of the Easter Gospel and that will be reflected in the totality of our existence, not just here on Sunday morning.
Amen
[1] "Hundreds Killed in Attacks in Eastern Chad", Washington Post, 2007-04-11. online at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041001775.html
