The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 21st Chapter
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.”
When you don’t know what to do, go fishing! If there has EVER been a better piece of biblical wisdom, I have not yet been able to find it! When the entire world seems to be out of control… when nothing seems to make any sense… when it’s hard to tell which way is up and which way is down… GO FISHING! AMEN! And AMEN!!!
Jesus was dead, the disciples knew they were next and they were terrified. Into that, Jesus shows up. Which, you’d like to think would be comforting but really, it’s got to just be a different kind of terrifying! How do you make sense of it! Peter couldn’t! So, when you don’t know what to do next, you do what you know and Peter knew fishing! So he went fishing! The other disciples didn’t have any better ideas, so the whole bunch jumped into the boat and went fishing.
Now, don’t panic, but I’m about to mix my Gospels. GASP! I know! But I think it’s worth it because the first time Jesus found Peter in Luke’s Gospel, he was out on the lake in a boat after a night of catching what? NOTHING… not one fish. NOW, here in John’s Gospel Jesus finds Peter out on the lake in a boat after a night of catching what? NOTHING… not one fish! In that story from the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, Peter rowed toward shore and this mysterious man told them to put their nets back in the water and, BAM! They caught a ton of fish. That man turned out to be Jesus.
And now, on the other end of a different Gospel, Peter rows toward shore and this man standing on the beach (with what I imagine to be a smirk on his face) said to the disciples, “Children! You don’t seem to have any fish.” The smirking man on the shore tells them to try on the other side of the boat and, BAM! They caught a ton of fish.
When Peter first met Jesus he didn’t have any luck fishing until Jesus came and told him where to fish and NOW three years later Peter STILL has no luck fishing… UNTIL… Until Jesus comes and tells them where to fish. In a lot of the most ancient art, carved in places like the catacombs under Rome, the Christian church is portrayed as a boat, but not any boat… a fishing boat. That’s important! Church is not a Carnival Cruise… It’s a working boat and demands all hands on deck!
You and me, along with Peter and the disciples, we’ve all been put in the boat in our Baptisms and we’ve all been called to do the hard work of fishing… casting God’s love like a net and doing God’s work in the world… transforming the world with God’s love… from dark to light, from emptiness to abundance, from death to life. But as we haul on those nets we need to remember both Luke and John’s fishing stories. Without Jesus we’ll be skunked. Jesus is the key. Jesus is the one that sets our hearts and minds on the right side of the boat. Without Jesus it’s night, it’s dark, and we’ll just row around in circles catching not one fish. BUT, with Jesus, the Son shines, the darkness retreats, the Spirit blows, the sails fill, the boat goes where there are fish and the nets come up full.
As the disciples came to shore hauling in all those fish, in a no-so-subtle nod to the feeding of the 5000, Jesus invites them to a meal of fish and bread. But there’s more to this story than just another miraculous meal. Take a look at that net. It didn’t break. It didn’t let ANY… NOT ONE… get away. It collected all 153 fish, which seems like an odd number except that’s how many different species of fish they knew about back then. This was more than breakfast, this is yet another in your face reminder that Jesus’s death and resurrection sweeps up ALL of creation! There’s a place in that net for EVERY kind of fish and Jesus makes sure not one is lost. Not one!
And now, they eat together and in a sort of reverse Holy Communion, Jesus eats the catch. Jesus, the Body of Christ, makes you and me and every other fish in the sea, part of himself. Again, hammering it into our often too thick skulls, that Jesus comes to US, not the other way around. Through locked doors, onto beach, into our lives, Jesus comes to us wherever we might be. We don’t find Jesus, Jesus finds us, directs us, sweeps us up and we are made One with God in Christ.
So, we’ve come full circle. We’re back to the beginning and we see again that this death and resurrection thing isn’t just a one-time deal. Death and resurrection is God's continual method for transforming creation. Night is always raised into daylight, emptiness always becomes abundance, despair always becomes hope and death always becomes life and when we feel old and sore and tired and scared and don’t know what to do next we’re reminded that PRECISELY when we have NO EARTHLY IDEA what to do next, THAT is when we need to go fishing, because Jesus always shows up on the shore, directs our nets, feeds us and we find time and time again that we are constantly being made alive together in Christ!
And THAT is where I’d really love this story to end. Found, fed and full on the beach. But that’s not the end of the story is it? Jesus doesn’t leave the disciples lying on the beach in a food coma. Because now that we’ve been found, fed and are full… Now that God’s love FOR US in Christ has been made abundantly and completely clear, Jesus asks Peter, and every one of us disciples, that frightening, terrible question. Do you love me? And Peter and you and me and all the disciples know that loving Jesus isn’t something that's done in our heads or in theory. Loving Jesus is done in practice, actively out in the world feeding his lambs… caring for the most vulnerable.
Do you love me? And again we know that loving Jesus doesn’t happen between our ears but with our hands. Loving Jesus is done putting by sacrificing ourselves, tending his sheep… protecting God’s people from the wolves of injustice.
Do you love me? And we know that because God has first met us, directed us, fed us and loves us without end and without condition we have been called to pass on that same love and feed God’s sheep, caring for the world with the same kindness, compassion, humility and justice we have first been given!
From the beginning to the end and beyond the end… Christ’s Resurrection pulls in all of creation… every shape and color and kind. We’re found and fed and made full no matter how lost and hungry and empty we might have been. So remember, when the world seems to not make as much sense as you’d like it to make… When the world changes around you so fast that you can’t even keep track of how fast it makes your head spin… When you take a leap of faith and find yourself face first, flat on the floor that is the time to go fishing. And there in the boat with all your fellow disciples remind each other to look around, because precisely in that moment Christ is with us… standing there with a smirk on his face saying to us, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” “Cast the net on the other side of the boat and then come ashore and I’ll feed you once again.” Amen.
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