Caught
Anything Yet?
Luke
5:1-11, John 21:1-14
April
27, 2014
Grace
Presbyterian Church
Rev.
Dr. Richard E. Miller
Wasn’t Easter Sunday great? Wonderful
music, great word for the children, Holy Communion. Friends and family
worshiping with us. A time of joy and a
time of feeling close to God. The only downside is that we have to wait until
April 6, 2015 to celebrate Easter again. Or do we? Maybe, just maybe, we don’t
have to wait 345 days to celebrate. I say this because after Jesus was
resurrected, he spent the next forty days interacting with his disciples and
loved ones. And each time he did so, they celebrated Easter all over again.
The Sea of Galilee One of those times took place on the shore of
the Sea of Galilee with seven of his disciples. Jesus had told them to meet him
there. [Matthew 28:10, Mark 16:7] In
order to do that, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John and two other disciples
walked sixty-eight miles from Jerusalem to Galilee and waited for him to arrive.
That would be like us walking to Washington, Missouri and then continuing for
another eight miles. At an average pace of three miles per hour, it would take
us about three days.
When
the disciples arrived at the Sea of Galilee, they found themselves back at the
very place where three years before Jesus had called Peter, Andrew, James and
John to be his disciples. At that time,
Jesus had said to them, “Come, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
[Matthew 4:19]. So now they were back where it all began, with all the familiar
sights and sounds they had enjoyed before.
As
they walked along the familiar shore, they most likely saw relatives and
friends with whom they had fished. And no doubt they talked about all the
astounding and emotionally draining events that had taken place over the past
few weeks.
They talked about their beloved Master
suffering and dying upon the Cross and how they had been helpless to stop it.
They recounted their feelings when, three days later, they discovered that the
tomb was empty. Finally, they talked about Jesus appearing to them alive and
how that had filled them with abounding joy.
Now
they were waiting for him to be with them again. So as they waited, they talked
and looked for Jesus to be walking down the shore towards them. However, days
passed by and Jesus didn’t show up.
Going Fishing
As we know, waiting around for someone to show up is difficult. Time
seems to stand still. We look at our watch and wonder if the person forgot or
was in an accident. Should we call or wait just a bit longer? Peter was no
exception except he didn’t have a cell phone to call Jesus. All he and the
disciples could do is wait.
At
the same time, Peter was the type of person that always had to be doing
something. It was not his nature just to sit on the shore, watch the sea gulls
flying around, and listen to the waves lapping on the sand. So as night
approached Peter turned to his friends and said in his impulsive manner, “I am going fishing!”
Now
to go fishing at night might seem a bit strange to us, but on the Sea of Galilee,
night fishing was common and could produce very good catches. Fishermen would
use a torch to light the water around the boat to find the fish and cast their
nets.
When
Peter said he was going to go fishing, the other disciples, equally tired of
waiting, responded at once, “We will go
with you!” So they gathered some
nets together and rowed a boat out about 100 yards from shore. However, they
cast their nets all night long and didn’t catch a thing. When dawn began to
break, a man appeared on the shore and called out, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they replied.
It’s
hard to admit that you haven’t caught a thing. When Gary was a boy, he loved to
fish. One day while he was fishing, his friend asked, “How many fish have you
caught, Gary?” Gary replied, “With the
next one I catch and two more after that, I’ll have three.”
In
this case, the disciples were tired and discouraged so they simply said “no.”
Then the man said, “Throw your net on
the right side of the boat and you will find some.”
It
was not unusual for a person to stand on the shore and act as a spotter for the
fishermen. Such a person could often see schools of fish more easily than could
those in the boat itself. I’m sure that the disciples had cast their net on the
right side many times through the night and likely were a bit skeptical that it
would do any good this time. But they did as the man suggested and ended up
catching 153 large fish. The fish weighed so much they couldn’t pull their net
into the boat.
Jesus Recognized At this point, John suddenly recognized the
man on the shore. He turned to the
others and cried out, “It’s the Lord!”
Immediately, Peter jumped into the shallow water and lunged toward his
beloved master as fast as he could. The rest of the disciples followed in the
boat, dragging their net full of fish behind them. When everyone had reached
shore, Jesus said, “Come and have
breakfast with me.” And so they joined Jesus in a breakfast of fish and
bread.
Reflection By appearing to his disciples on the
seashore, Jesus demonstrated once again how he met people in the every day
situations of their lives. We heard in our morning scripture how he met and
called his first disciples on the seashore of Galilee. And throughout his
ministry, he met and healed the lepers as he was walking along the road. He met
and healed Peter’s mother-in-law in her house. He walked into a town and healed
a paralytic. As important as the Temple was to Jesus, he didn’t do his ministry
there. He taught and healed out where the people worked and ate and played and
lived.
For Us Thus, as meaningful as worship
services are to us, and as close as we may feel to Jesus as we sing and pray
and hear God’s Word, that should not be the extent of our interaction with him.
We cannot leave Jesus here in the sanctuary when we leave this morning. After
all, he wants to have an ongoing relationship with us all week long, wherever
we might go and whatever we might be doing.
We must take the risen Christ with us
when we leave here this morning. Why? Because we are the aroma and ambassadors
of Christ. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And as a
church, we are the body of Christ. Thus Christ interacts with others and
changes their lives through us - through what we say or don’t say and what we
do or don’t do - through our voices of comfort, our faithfulness in all things,
our touches of tenderness, our arms of comfort, our loving guidance, our
listening ears, and our willingness to forgive.
And others do the same for us every day of the week.
Easter and the resurrection live on in
many ways.
From our forgiveness emerges the divine
resurrection of relationships.
By our encouragement, those in despair
experience the holy resurrection of hope.
Our comfort to those who are sorrowing
results in the divine resurrection of inner peace.
When we offer companionship to those
who are lonely, they rejoice in the resurrection of knowing that someone cares.
On and on the list could go. But the
fact is this: God uses us to touch people’s lives with his miracles every
single day, right where we live and work and play. Maybe we might even have an
experience similar to a little boy named Billy.
Kirk Met God I’d like to tell
you a story I heard about Kirk when he was a little boy. Kirk had heard a lot
about God in Sunday school and decided that he’d like to meet him in person. He
figured it would be a long walk to where God lived, so he put four Twinkies and
four cans of root beer in a paper sack and started out. When he had walked
about three blocks, he met an old man sitting in the park just staring at some
pigeons. Kirk sat down next to him and pulled out a twinkie to eat.
He was about to take a bite when he noticed that the old man
looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie. The old man gratefully ate it and
smiled at him. His smile was so pleasant that Kirk wanted to see it again, so
he offered him a root beer. Again, the old man smiled at him. Kirk was
delighted!
They sat there all afternoon eating and
smiling, but they never said a word. As it grew dark, Kirk realized how tired
he was and started to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he
turned around, ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug. The old man gave
him his biggest smile ever. When Kirk got home, his mother said, “What did you
do this afternoon?” Kirk replied, "I had lunch with God." Before his
mother could respond, he added: "You know what? He's got the most
beautiful smile I've ever seen!"
Meanwhile, the old man returned to his
home. His son asked: "Dad, what did you do this afternoon?" He
replied: "I ate Twinkies and drank root beer in the park with Jesus. You
know, he's much younger than I expected."
As
we leave here this morning, we must never underestimate the divine source of a
touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, the
smallest act of caring, or the gift of holy silence - all of which have the
potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a
season, or a lifetime. Jesus comes into our lives for a reason, for a season,
and for a lifetime. Amen.
Luke 5:1-11 NRSV
Once while Jesus was
standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to
hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the
fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of
the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way
from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he
had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let
down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night
long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’
When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were
beginning to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to
come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to
sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go
away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him
were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James
and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to
Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they
had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
John 21:1-14 NRSV
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 lake. 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 and 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.
During
this week, keep the following thoughts in mind.
Christ
be with me, Christ before me,
Christ
behind me, Christ within me,
Christ
beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ
at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ
in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ
in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ
in every eye that sees me,
Christ
in every ear that hears me. Amen.
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