Gone Fishing, Part 2

 Hear these words from John 21: 5-14

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 his outer garment, for he had taken it off, 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.

Think about the beginning of this passage – disciples are in the boat, having caught nothing – and Jesus tells them to cast the net to the other side of the boat.  Does that story remind you of anything?

In  Luke, chapter 5, Jesus tells Simon to cast his nets in deep water. Simon protests – he has caught nothing all night, and he is a fisherman – he knows how to fish – but he does what Jesus asks.  You know the rest of the story – they caught an abundance of fish, straining the nets and even the ability of the boats to float.  This is the call story for Simon, James, and John. Jesus tells them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”  They follow Jesus and becomes fishers of people.

Maybe this is why Jesus is standing on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius on this morning a week or so after the resurrection.  In Luke, it is called the Lake of Gennesaret – we also know it as the Sea of Galilee. They are literally fishing in the same place where they started, and they have the same problem. They are unable to catch fish – again. Maybe this is why Jesus has shown himself – as it says in verse 1 – to them again. When they see all the fish they have caught, when they see him, when they hear him, then they actually recognize him, and they know who is standing on the shore. With them, once again.  They are reminded of their call, and they finally respond to it again, and move toward Jesus so that they can follow him.

And on the shore, they have a meal. Does that meal remind you of anything from scripture? Every gospel has a story of the feeding of the 5000, including John. Our story today, found at the end of John, and the Feeding of the 5000 stories are all about abundance. There is bread and fish, so we have the same menu – but much more importantly than that, we, and the disciples, are taught that with Jesus comes abundance. With Jesus comes more gifts than we can imagine. With Jesus, we no longer focus on the scarcity – on what we do not have - but when Jesus is around, we see something entirely different.

And because this is a eucharistic meal – a meal to remind them that Jesus is always with them – he asks them to go get some of the fish they caught. He already has some fish cooking on the fire, but he wants them to contribute.  Simon Peter jumps back into the boat and hauls the net ashore. Interestingly, to me, the net is different from the one in Luke.  In Luke, during the original call story, the nets were beginning to break.  In the story we are reading today, the net has a HUGE number of fish in it, but the net is not torn. It is whole, and it is completely capable of holding this abundance.

There is a message in this part of the story for us, the Church.  When we see Jesus, when we are reminded of our call, we are able to BE the church. When we stop focusing on what we no longer have – what we might have lost – what we used to be, and instead, focus on Jesus, we will see the abundant gifts we have been given, and we will be able to fulfil our mission. We don’t need to worry – our nets are strong enough and large enough to hold everyone.

One church that I am familiar with lost half of its members and its pastor – all of a sudden. Imagine that. Half of the church’s leaders, half of their children, half of their workers, half of their donors – gone in a day. I think that church could have been forgiven for closing up shop and hanging up a sign that said, “Gone fishing.”  But that is not what they did. They have decided to keep working – to keep following Christ – and to reach out to the community in love. I know their story because they applied for a Foundation Grant to help fund a backpack ministry to a nearby school. They lost half their backpack volunteers, half their church-provided backpack funding, plus they lost the funding provided by the school system for their program.  Did they stop feeding children on the weekends? No. They are following Christ and moving forward as a church.

This is who we can be when we see the world with Christ’s eyes for abundance.