Entered into our world

This is today's sermon.

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

Jesus later appeared to his disciples along the shore of Lake Tiberias. Simon Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, and the brothers James and John, were there, together with two other disciples. Simon Peter said, "I'm going fishing!" The others said, "We will go with you." They went out in their boat. But they didn't catch a thing that night.

Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize who he was. Jesus shouted, "Friends, have you caught anything?" "No!" they answered.

So he told them, "Let your net down on the right side of your boat, and you will catch some fish."

They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat.

Jesus' favorite disciple told Peter, "It's the Lord!" When Simon heard that it was the Lord, he put on the clothes that he had taken off while he was working. Then he jumped into the water. The boat was only about a hundred yards from shore. So the other disciples stayed in the boat and dragged in the net full of fish.

When the disciples got out of the boat, they saw some bread and a charcoal fire with fish on it. Jesus told his disciples, "Bring some of the fish you just caught." Simon Peter got back into the boat and dragged the net to shore. In it were one hundred fifty-three large fish, but still the net did not rip.

Jesus said, "Come and eat!" But none of the disciples dared ask who he was. They knew he was the Lord. Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave some of it to his disciples. He did the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from death.

The Gospel reading of today comes from the last chapter of the Gospel of John. Here the writer of the Gospel has moved on from the wonder and awe of Jesus’ resurrection to encounters in which the disciples are brought to faith in the risen Lord and to the story of today.

The story starts with disciples who have returned to Galilee. You get the feeling that the disciples are sort of just sitting around, unsure of what to do until Peter decides that he wants go fishing and the others tag along; Probably happy to have something useful to do.

Some see this act as "aimless activity undertaken in desperation" and others even as abandoning the Lord and returning to their former life. Others think they went fishing simply because they needed to eat.

The point is, I think, that Peter and the others are doing what is right in their own eyes. The disciples do not know what to do, so they do that which is necessary, and in taking this initiative they put themselves in a place where Christ meets them.

Experienced Christians will say this to you; when we are uncertain what to do we should simply do the next thing that comes our way, in other words our duty, and God will guide.

The essential point being, I think, that you DO something.

Many of us when we are uncertain get mentally paralyzed. We seem unable to do anything if we cannot be sure it is what we should be doing. This applies as much to our everyday life as to our spiritual life – which of course, in fact, are the same thing, but I’ll return to that in a little bit.

In our spiritual life what often happens is that in our eagerness to do God’s will (or if we’re honest in our eagerness to be perfect) we fall into the trap of trying to elevate ourselves to where we cannot go nor should try to get to.

Jesus entered into our world. Entered into our world. This is how our God is. Jesus came to be with us in exactly where we are. God comes after us! Not in a scary way but to rescue us. To help us. To bring us home. God came and comes after us. To where we are. This is why there really is no difference between our everyday life and spiritual life. All that is, is part of the spiritual.

Therefore it so often feels that to be in God’s presence really only is about opening our eyes and seeing Him here right beside us.

My point then? Life is beautiful, mysterious and holy just as it is. We are beautiful, mysterious and holy as we are. And both life and we are beautiful, mysterious and holy because we are made by and resemble our Creator, God.

We are called to become present in our lives because it is in the present we encounter God. This is the mystery of God who became flesh.

To do ones duty, to do the next thing does not necessarily mean immediate change to our uncertainty, though. That night on the lake the disciples catch nothing. They have done what they thought was the right thing but experience utter failure.

It is only in the early morning when the turning point comes like the dawning of spiritual light.

Jesus is described as simply standing there on the beach, without a description of his arrival on the spot. The disciples are not able to recognize Jesus at first. In especially John’s Gospel this repeatedly comes up. There was something different about Jesus' body. The writer stresses both the continuity and discontinuity of Jesus' body.

After asking the disciples weather they have caught any fish and getting the response “No.” Jesus tells them to let their net down on the right side of their boat. Although they have not recognized Jesus yet the disciples do not take this as an idle suggestion of a bystander but do in fact follow His orders. And, when they obey, the amount of fish is so great the disciples cannot get the net into the boat because it is so heavy.

When God provides He provides in abundance. At the wedding in Cana the amount of wine was extraordinary and the same applies to the amount of bread and fish at the feeding of the five thousand. And in all these God is again right smack in the middle of life as it is.

Many commentators see these fish as symbolic of the missionary work of the disciples, similar to Jesus' original call, "Come, follow me . . . and I will make you fishers of men" which is incidentally missing from John’s Gospel. The symbolism may be there but the primary point seems to be Jesus' lordship. And then also the fact that only by being obedient to him our labour will truly be fruitful.

Earlier, Mary recognized Jesus when he called her name, and the disciples recognized him through his wounds. Now he is recognized through the abundance of the fish.

This time it is the Beloved Disciple who discerns the identity of the stranger on the shore. If it had been Peter there’s good reason to suspect he would have thrown himself into the sea straight away.

The landing is told from the point of view of the Beloved Disciple and the other five disciples. What the disciples notice as they step ashore is a charcoal fire with bread and fish already prepared. The Lord has breakfast ready for them.

I do not know about you, but this touches me very deeply. It takes a long time to burn wood to the point of charcoal since just getting ready made charcoal to reach a heat one desires takes time. It is so touching to think that Jesus had been there - possibly hours - preparing this fire and food for His discipels. And it isn’t just that. It is that He had cooked! Since I am a woman I have to say there is just something about a man who cooks. Seriously, though, the truly touching part is the fact that He cared and cares and knew that the disciples would be starving after working hard all night. He knew and He knows.

Taking care of our bodies, making sure we eat and rest enough is not a secondary thing. It is equally important as prayer and worship. We are not to think our bodies as being less important. This is what incarnation teaches us and this is what Jesus keeps on teaching His disciples after His resurrection.

After inviting them to come and eat, Jesus himself comes to the fire. He took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This description echoes his action at the feeding of the five thousand. It answers the unasked questions of the disciples. The master serves them.

John concludes the story by saying, This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. If you’d go back to your Bible and check you would notice that this is in fact the fourth appearance recounted by John. However, it seems, John is counting appearances to the disciples as a group, which would not include Jesus' appearance to Mary Magdalene which is one of the four encounters.

Some important characteristics of God manifest themselves in this reading: His lordship, his servanthood, his character as gracious giver of abundance and his love. Jesus meets his disciples at a point of failure and reveals himself as the Lord of all creation who cares for them.

Fellowship at breakfast ties in with the feeding of the five thousand but it of course also brings echoes of the Eucharist. This early morning breakfast at the beach embodies a central aspect of what Eucharist is about - communion with the risen Lord in the midst of his people. And I wish I had realized this sooner but would it not have been the best way to celebrate this Sunday to go early in the morning to Ruissalo and have communion together by the sea shore?