A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .
always a good time for fish
John 21:1-19, Preached at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, April 18, 2010
A couple of young boys were fishing at their special pond off the beaten track. All of a sudden, the Game Warden jumped out of the bushes. Immediately, one of the boys threw his rod down and started running through the woods like a bat out of hell. The Game Warden was hot on his heels. After about a half mile, the young man stopped and stooped over with his hands on his thighs to catch his breath, so the Game Warden finally caught up to him. "Let's see your fishing license, boy!" the Warden gasped. With that, he pulled out his wallet and gave the Game Warden a valid fishing license. "Well, son," said the Game Warden, "you must be about as dumb as a box of rocks! You don't have to run from me if you have a valid license!" "Yes, sir," replied the young guy. "But my friend back there, he doesn't have one."
It was some time after the Resurrection. The way John tells it, the Risen Jesus had been coming and going on a schedule of his own. Mary Magdalene had seen him Easter morning, at the tomb, and then he had appeared to Peter and the others, twice, at the house where they were all hiding. Jesus had spoken to them. He’d shown them his wounds. He’d even breathed the Holy Spirit onto them. And during one of those amazing, unscheduled appearances, the risen Jesus, standing right there, in the flesh, in front of them, had announced to Peter and the rest, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Jn 20:21 But Jesus hadn’t said where he was sending them, or when, or for what. They didn’t know, and so they waited, waited for further instructions. But day crept after day, and nothing happened; the instructions didn’t come. And they missed him. They tried to hang on to the memories of his appearing, as long as they could. But as the days passed, they grew more and more perplexed.
Remember, Easter was not the glorious event for them that it was for us. Their whole community did not get together. The trumpets did not sound. Easter lilies did not fill their homes. Unexpectedly, momentarily, they saw Jesus alive! Now they are wandering by the Sea of Galilee, waiting, as they had been told. They are on the other side of Easter, but no longer with Jesus to guide them. It was a very uncertain place to be. It's not an easy place to be.
Where was he? When will we see him again? And what are we waiting for? The way John remembered it, Peter’s patience ran out first. One day he finally announced, “I’m going fishing,” and the others fell in behind him. And so they went back to where it had all begun. They went back to the same fishing boat they’d been working three years earlier, when a strange rabbi named Jesus had first called their names and dared them to fish for men instead. They’d gone back to the old life they thought they’d left forever.
But they weren’t off to a very good start; they’d drifted on the water all night and still hadn’t caught a blessed thing. Early in the morning, through the gray mist, a man called out from the shore, "Friends, do you have any fish?" The disciples responded, "No." Now "no" can mean different things. Sometimes "no" can mean, "No, will you help?" Sometimes "no" can mean, "No and I'm frustrated!" Sometimes "no" can mean, "No and I'm angry!" Perhaps the disciples' "no" included all three.
"Friends, do you have any fish?" Jesus asked. There may be more to this question than meets the eye. Jesus knew his disciples better than they knew themselves. Perhaps he was asking, "Is your work producing any fruit? Are you happy? Is your work giving you joy?" The disciples were doing what they were good at! They had fished all night. They had caught nothing. It is early morning. The best time for fishing is almost over—and still nothing. Jesus' question reflects the thought and possibility that there may be something better in life than what they were struggling so hard after. Too often we put our heart and soul blindly into tasks that bear little fruit for us. We get involved with, then focused on, and then obsessed with something that no longer directs us in a good and godly direction. Make sure your struggle is for God and good. Take a good look at what you're "into." Don't just keep a good balance in life but tip the scales in God's direction.
When Peter, and the other Disciples, reached the shore; they
found that Jesus had a fire prepared with fish already cooking. They found there
all the things they needed after being out on that boat all night long. They
found food, warmth and fellowship. They found Christ who loved them and who had
all the provisions they needed. Everything they lacked out on that boat, they
found when they came to Jesus!
What shall we make of this post-resurrection fishing
expedition? It seems to reflect back to the very beginning of Jesus'
ministry when he found some fishermen and said to them, "Follow me and I will
make you fish for people."
Mk 1:17
This analogy represented Jesus' earthy description of the work he was calling
them to do. What would be their job after the resurrection? They were fishermen;
he called them to fish for people. You've got aptitude, talents, and
capabilities; now we use them in Christ's service. We don't necessarily have to
change; we change our focus from ourselves to the Lord.
Notice from the text that someone bothered to count the exact number of
fish in the net at 153. Many ancient scholars attempted to decipher the
meaning of the number of fish caught that day. Cyril of Alexander said it was a
symbolic number-100, meaning the fullness of the Gentiles, plus 50, representing
the remnant of Israel, and 3, representing the trinity. Augustine discovered
153 is the sum of 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+ 16+17. Then he
proposed that seventeen was a symbolic number representing the Ten Commandments
and the seven gifts of the spirit. I think Jerome's suggestion is best. He said
there were 153 fish because there were 153 different kinds of fish in the
And then followed one of the strangest conversations recorded in all the Gospels. When breakfast was over, Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” and Peter said he did. Then Jesus asked the same question a second time, and a third. And each time Peter said he loved him. You can guess why Jesus asked Peter the same question three times: because it gave Peter the chance to say “Yes, I love you!” three times, in return. It gave Peter the chance, one by one, to cancel out the three times he had denied even knowing Jesus, that night he let him down. “Do you love me, Peter?” Jesus asked. “Then feed my lambs. Tend my sheep.”
“Peter, do you love me? Then love them.” It’s two thousand years later, and we disciples are still on the shore, still gathering early in the morning, at the invitation of the Risen Lord.
We’re here for a lot of different reasons. Some of us are recovering from a great grief, like the first disciples were. Some of us are wondering what on earth God has in store for us, like the first disciples were. Most of us have been fishing all week, and we don’t have much, if anything, to show for it. But whatever our reasons, this is the time each week when we gather here on shore, to meet with Jesus. And it’s like it was for Peter and the others, all over again. Again the Risen Lord turns to us, each one of us, and asks, “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” Like Peter, you may shoot right back, “Of course, Lord; you know that I love you.” But his question still hangs there in the air: “Do you love me? Do you love me?” And you and I know full well that we have far to go on the way to real love.
The Rev. John Henry Jowett, a great English Congregational preacher from the early 20th century, told of a young woman, a poorly-educated servant-girl, who was a member of his congregation. They were talking about ways she might turn her faith into action. Her problem was that she didn't have much time off. But she said, "I always take the daily paper to bed with me at night." Jowett was puzzled, and asked why she did that. She said, "Well, sir, I look at the first page and I read the birth notices and I pray for the babies that have been born; and I read the marriages and I pray that they may be happy and true; and I read the deaths and I pray that God's comfort may come to the sorrowing homes." And the great preacher was taught that day about what it means to love others.
Who among us can do less than that?
“Do you love me?” Christ asks. “Love them.” If you love me, then love them. Start there--love them. Love the spouse who gets on your nerves; love that child who won’t settle down; love that co-worker who’s dragging down the team. Do you love me? Love them: love that lonely neighbor who keeps his shades drawn all day; love that boss who doesn’t appreciate you; love that classmate who sits alone at lunch. Do you love me? Then don’t concentrate on hanging onto a feeling, or clinging to a memory. Loving Jesus isn’t about a feeling, or about nostalgia. And it’s certainly not about just saying it, either. You love Jesus? Feed sheep. Tend lambs. Love in action not just in words, and not just in a pew on Sunday morning, but out in the world, in your home, at work, at school, every day. "Do you love me? . . ." Love them.
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