When Easter's Passed

Preached at Hanover Street Presbyterian Church

On April 30, 2006

By Pastor Thomas C. Davis

Text:

John 21: 1-19

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way.  Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.  Simon 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.  Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  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."  So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.  That 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.  But 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.  When 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."  A 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."  He 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.  Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished.  But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.  (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.)  After this he said to him, "Follow me."

Sermon Text

What do you do when the party's over?  You go back to work, that's what.  We see that happening in this morning's reading from the last chapter of John.  Easter has passed.  The disciples have seen their risen Lord several times.  They know now that he is not dead and gone.  He is risen, and alive!  Hallelujah!  How good the last few days have been for them, basking in that good news.  But, alas, to everything there is a season.  One can't bask forever.  Now it's time to get back to work.  "I'm going fishing," Peter announces.  The others shove off with him.

They cast their net here and there, but after hours of labor in the darkness, they come up with nothing.  Finally, as dawn is breaking and they are nearing shore, somebody calls out from the beach:  "What boys, no fish?"  They answer:  "No."  "Then try the starboard side," the stranger urges.  "That's where you'll find ?em."  Well, why not try the other side?  What is there to lose, with nothing to show for a whole night's work?  So, they cast the net over there; and sure enough, what a catch-- so many fish they can hardly pull the bulging net over the gunwale.

We have heard this same story before, in Luke's gospel, only Luke puts it in a different place.  He puts it at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, not the end, as John does.  In Luke's gospel Jesus asked for a seat in a boat to preach from, since the crowds were pressing in on him.  And after he had finished preaching, he asked the fishermen whose boat he had just engaged whether they had caught anything.  They told him no, and that's when he told them where to cast their net.  Just after they took in a huge catch, Jesus said to them, "Don't be afraid.  By and by you'll be catching people."  They did follow him then.  Wouldn't you?  The guy knew where the fish were.  Follow that man!  But, as I said, John moved the story of the big catch to the very end of Jesus' ministry.

John did that more than once, incidentally.  He moved stories around, evidently for literary effect.  Remember the story about Jesus making a whip and using it to drive out the moneychangers in the temple?  In John's gospel that story appears at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry, just after he has called his first disciples.  But in the other gospels the story appears at the end, when Jesus visits Jerusalem for the last time and gets arrested.  That's probably when the incident actually occurred, at the very end of Jesus' ministry.  His tirade in the temple was probably the final aggravation that brought his enemies down upon him.  But John moved the story to the very beginning of Jesus' preaching ministry, probably to set the stage for the unfolding drama of conflict between Jesus and the Jews. 

We see a similar thing with the story of the big catch.  Chronologically, the story fits much more logically at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, but John, or maybe somebody else who added an appendix to his gospel, moved the story to the very end of Jesus' time on earth.  Why?  What could the author (or his editor) have wanted to say by putting the story of the big catch at the very end, after Easter had passed?

Hold that question for a few minutes.  Let's notice something else.  There is no ascension story in John.  Matthew and Luke tell about the body of Jesus ascending into heaven, and that's the last story they tell about Jesus' time on earth.  But John's last story about Jesus' time on earth isn't the ascension story, but instead, the story of the big catch.  And in the story of the big catch the body of Jesus doesn't seem to be an issue.  The disciples don't recognize Jesus by sight in this story.  They recognize him by the effect of his word.  The stranger tells them to fish on the other side of the boat, and they do and make the catch of their lives.  That's when one of them says:  It's the Lord!  They're too far away to see whether it's Jesus, but they think the stranger on the beach must be he, because the stranger's word has brought them this unexpected, abundant success. 

They make for the beach as fast as they can, and when they get there, they see that the stranger doesn't look like Jesus.  The text says something strange at this point.  It says:  "None of them dared ask:  Who are you?  They all knew it was the Lord."  If the stranger had looked like Jesus, they wouldn't have even thought of asking who he was.  But they did think of it, evidently because the stranger didn't look like Jesus.  A similar thing happens in the post-Easter story of the stranger walking with the two travelers to Emmaeus.  They don't recognize him as Jesus either.  But, they do recognize him when they he shares a meal with them, which is what happens in our story this morning.  The stranger gives them bread and fish to eat--incidentally, the same repast he had shared with the crowd of five thousand in Galilee--and then they recognize him.

Now, keep in mind, church, that John was writing to people who had never met Jesus, and also that his gospel was the latest one to be written of the four we have in our Bibles.  John's reading audience included fewer and fewer people who had known Jesus in the flesh.  John wanted to convey to this later audience two things:  First, that Jesus was a human being, the same as you and I.  He lived, teaching, preaching, and healing.  He died and was buried.  Then, God raised him from death.  The second thing John wanted to convey to his readers was that Jesus is still alive.  His body is no longer present, but his spirit is present with us.  What better way to express that truth than with stories in which the disciples of Jesus recognize him in bodies other than the one with which they were familiar?  In other words, John indicates that although Jesus once did have a human body, that's not what should be most important to people who never knew him in the flesh.  That's why I think John doesn't include the story of the ascension of Jesus' body into heaven.  He doesn't bring up that story, because that's not what's most important to John.  What's important to him is how Jesus can be recognized today, among us, we who never knew Jesus of Galilee.  What Jesus looked like we cannot know.  That's not important.  If the truth be told, any body will do.  Jesus can be present to us in any body.  Looks don't count.  What counts is what the stranger says and does.  The word of the stranger-- does that bring abundant joy?  And what he does--does that bring abundant nourishment?  Then Jesus is present in the stranger.  Jesus is alive.

I think that's why John makes the story of the big catch the last post-Easter story.  It's a timeless story, you see, for it goes on and on and on.  The party's over.  The mountaintop experience of Easter has passed, and it's time to get back to work now.  How is Jesus present to us when Easter has passed?  He is present as God catches us up in wonderful love, and as we fish for others, so that they might be caught up in it too.  Luke puts the big catch story at the beginning.  John, or John's editor, puts it at the very end.  The intent of that placement, I think, is this:  Keep following Jesus, church.  You can't see him anymore in the flesh.  Don't fret about that.  That's not important anymore.  You have his spirit.  His spirit resides in many a stranger as much as in you.  So, reach out confidently.  Share Christ's spirit.  Your catch will be as abundant as when Jesus called his first disciples.  You'll see.  Reach out!  Get to work, catching people.  Jesus is with you!