Excerpts from: "This Side of Easter"
4/23/2006
References: John 21:1-19  

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
       "No," they answered.

He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."

Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
       "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you."
       Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."

Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
       He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
       Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
       Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"

This is such a down to earth story, and for that matter a familiar story, that we are at risk of taking it out of context. It looks innocent enough: The disciples have fished all night, unsuccessfully -- it was before sonar -- when Jesus calls out and tells them to throw the net on the other side of the boat. They do it and hit a bonanza -- 153 fish, we are told later. Jerome, one of the early commentators, said that was because there were 153 known varieties of fish in the world at that time. And, as the net was not broken by all those fish -- the writer later makes a point of that as well -- we can only suppose that it was a symbolic picture of Jesus and his disciples drawing the entire world into the net of God's great purpose.

That's the common interpretation. the disciples out in the boat as usual, unable to catch anything; Jesus comes along and saves the day, and they follow him. But there's a problem. And the problem has to do with the timing of this incident within the Gospel's account.

Easter has come! Jesus has risen from the dead, winning the victory over sin, over death, and over the grave. He has visited his disciples and breathed his Holy Spirit on them, and commissioned them to go out into the world and forgive sins. Yet what do we find in this story?

Last Sunday we saw that Mark's account was unfinished-the disciples are told to go to Galilee, and Jesus would be waiting for them. Well. something peculiar has happened in Galilee.

Not only is the good news of Easter being neglected for people who need it; the disciples themselves have returned to business as usual. The 'gone fishing' sign is up in Peter's window again, and his crew is the other disciples. I want you to consider a few questions this morning.

Have the daily routines in your life changed any as a result of encountering the Easter Jesus? Or do we easily go back to our old ways, like ducks afloat on the popular current as if Jesus had no effect on us?

If so, then for us it is no different than it is for Peter and the other disciples. If our daily life routines have not changed after encountering Him, then there has been no change in our heart either. Our heart is still hung up on whatever it was hung up on before Jesus touched our lives. We are content to go with the flow, blend into the scenery in any way we can--by going fishing, by continuing to run with the same crowd/plan/way of life as before. Is it any wonder that when Jesus shows up on our seashore to lend a hand, we do not recognize Him?

I was thinking about the left side, right side thing this week. They had been fishing on the left side. We know a lot about left and right now, don't we? The left side of the brain is the calculating, orderly side, the side that analyzes, does figures, gives names to things. The right side is the visionary side, the creative, artistic side, the side that responds to pictures and images.

You know, Jesus had dealt with a lot of left-brained people in the Gospel. They were the legalists, the religious ones who thought the world was constructed by an accountant and everything could be put down in black and white. Maybe Jesus was saying to the disciples here that they were not to be like accountants, always trying to take the measure of things, they were to live and act out of their right brains, as visionaries and artists.

They were to trust God and live nobly, generously, without counting the cost or stopping to dot their i's and cross their t's. If they would do that, they would always find their nets full, they would live in the overflow of grace and excitement.

But suppose there is something even more personal in this text, something for each one of us, that goes beyond the more obvious and general meaning. What if the story of the fishermen here after Easter suggests something to us about our own stories, about the way we may have been fishing a long time without any luck, without catching any fish?

Some of us have been plodding along in our jobs week after week, year after year, with no sense of reward, no feeling that we are getting anywhere.

Or we have been coming up with nothing in our personal relationships.

Or maybe we haven't been getting any return on our spiritual efforts. We have been praying and reading or going to church or listening to religious programs -- or maybe all of the above -- and nothing has been happening, our nets have been coming up empty.

You see what I mean. Barrenness. Emptiness. Nothing in the nets.

And we are tired, the way these fishermen were tired after fishing all night. We are tired of life, tired of trying. Nothing ever seems to happen for us. It happens for everybody else, but not for us. Our lives are empty and unfulfilled.

Aha! "Cast your net on the right side of the boat," says Jesus, "and you will be surprised what happens to you."

How could it? you say. I mean, who knows more about your life than you do? Don't you know how to do your own fishing? Besides, how could there be any fish that close to your boat on the other side, anyway, when you've been fishing where you have for so many years?

But what if he's right? What if there's something tremendous and exciting down there merely waiting for you if you make a little adjustment in where you're letting down your nets, in how you conceive of your existence? What if it's only a matter of learning to fish in a new place?

What might that mean, in your life? Maybe a new job -- or a new way of doing the old one, a redefining of your position, a re-envisioning of its contours. Maybe a new relationship -- or some fresh ways of acting within the old ones, so that they get injected with passion again and you begin to laugh and sing and skip and look forward to being with the people in your life. Maybe instead of a new church - you take a different approach to spiritual life in the old one, so that everything looks different and throbs with beauty and meaning and vitality again.

Living on this side of Easter is not yet heaven-apparently, the disciples were still disillusioned in this Resurrection relationship with Jesus. Living on this side of Easter is hard for us. We face trials, struggles, and hardships. But we should know that living on this side of Easter is all we need. Christ has done the work, the victory has been won-let down your nets.

Have you been living on this side of Easter still in the current's tow? Going with the flow, going through the motions? Do you desire meaning, beauty and vitality in your spiritual walk? Let down your nets.

So, meanwhile, a charcoal fire is lit, and the smoke is wafting through the cool morning air, and the fish is frying over the fire. Together they eat the fish and the bread.

I think that even as there was great joy around that fire, there was tension as well. When they finished eating, maybe Jesus said to Peter, let's take a walk. Peter was withdrawn, uncertain of this Easter Jesus. Since the rooster crowed the third time that Friday morning, Peter's life has been hell. He ran away in the garden, denied in the courtyard, hid behind closed doors and has seen the empty tomb. He's come to Galilee for an encounter with Christ.

Are you ready for an encounter?  Are you ready to let down YOUR nets?