Gone Fishing, Part 1

The following post is the first part of a sermon I preached at the beginning of May.  Some of it may sound familiar because I used it as the basis of a devotional I posted a few days ago.  

Our main gospel reading this morning is from the Gospel of John – chapter 21, verses 1-19.  This is the last chapter of John.  Mary Magdalene has already been to the tomb, Jesus has spoken to her, telling her that he will be ascending to God. She has gone to the disciples and to announce that “she has seen the Lord.”

On the evening of the same day, the Disciples were locked in a house, afraid of what might happen, when Jesus appeared to them.  A week later, Jesus appeared again to the Disciples, this time including Thomas.

THEN we get to this last chapter of John.  It’s a long passage, so I prepared the sermon a little differently than I usually do. Instead of reading the entire passage at once, we’ll look at it in three parts – reading a portion and talking about it. 

Hear these words from John 21: 1-4

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.

Can you imagine this scene? Seven of the disciples are gathered together on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias.  Peter, probably at a loss of what to do, says, “I’m going fishing.”  He going back to what he was before he met Jesus – a fisherman. The other six who were with him join him on the boat. And they are completely unsuccessful. They catch nothing.

Can you imagine how they felt? Their teacher and their friend had died. Yes, they had seen him resurrected, but apparently that realization hasn’t yet taken hold of them.  They are grieving; they don’t know what to do without Jesus. Some of the commentaries I read suggested that the disciples had abandoned Jesus – that they were aimless and without purpose. All they can see is his absence.

Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever been so tired and scared that all you can see is what you no longer have? Have you experienced the paralysis that comes with that feeling?

Churches sometimes find themselves in that time of loss. I’ve been part of planning sessions in a church where the conversation always turns to what used to be. “I remember when we had to put chairs in the aisles for all of the people who came to worship.” Or “It used to be that the pastor would visit every new person in town when they arrived – he got the list from the gas company when they visited to turn on the heat in the new neighbors’ house.”  What’s frustrating about those conversations is that we don’t talk about the present – the now – we just fondly remember what used to be, and what we no longer have. We view the world with eyes of scarcity. And we can’t catch any fish at all.

One church, when faced with the worries about General Conference and disaffiliation, decided that they longer wanted to reach out to the community. They stayed in their church; the only ministry they undertook was with each other, within their walls.  It was another way to only see with eyes of scarcity.

And – to emphasize the point - what happened when the disciples went fishing? Nothing. They caught not a single fish. Even beyond that, as Jesus, standing on the shore, began to speak with them, they didn’t even recognize him.

Sometimes we are so focused on what we do not have, that we are blind to what gifts and abundance we do have.