"Gone Fishing"

 John 6:35-51, John 21:1-14

The Strange Reticence of the Post-Resurrection Stories

Traditionally the post-resurrection stories are read by churches in the weeks following Easter Sunday. We in the church now have just been through the high point of the church's year - the solemn march to the cross and the joyful proclamation on Easter Sunday that Christ is risen. And now we come to the stories in those last few chapters of the gospels, and maybe we are a little too exuberant from our liturgical walk through the season to notice the strange reticence of the disciples that we find there. In these stories the followers of Jesus aren't overflowing with joy and victory and faith. Rather their stories are of weeping women, fearful men locked in a room, doubting Thomases. And this one, an image of once defiant and strong men who have given up. Who have hung up a sign that says - 'Gone Fishing'. Men who have gone back to their old way of life, to familiar pastimes because in the vacuum left after the events of Jerusalem and Golgotha there was nothing better to do. Not a story of new-found courage and resolve, but a story of resignation. "You can't just exist on fresh air and memories" as Peter said in the Iona version of this incident. When you think about it, according to the gospels, "Easter faith begins with empty hope and a sign hung up that says 'Gone Fishing'!" (David Buttrick, Pulpit Digest M/A 1997:12)

 But since we are people of that faith that tenuous beginning must have been transformed. According to our best understanding of the formation of the New Testament, the earliest version of Mark, the first of the gospels, ends with the statement that the women witnesses to the resurrection were too afraid to say anything about it. But clearly they did, otherwise that book and the subsequent accounts of the story of Jesus would not have been written.

 Even the image of seven of the disciples going out fishing for lack of other direction holds in it a memory and a promise of something greater. After all, wasn't this exactly what Jesus had called them to do originally? To be fishers for him - lifting themselves and others out of that drowning place where love and hope and new life are not known? So when we see the disciples out in the boat fishing, we aren't all that surprised to find Jesus making his presence felt again.

 John Chapter 21 - an excess chapter?

Mind you, as I read through the commentaries preparing for this sermon I became increasingly convinced, as most writers are, that this chapter in the book of John is some sort of an afterthought. It seems that the author originally intended to end his gospel at chapter 20: with its descriptions of the risen Lord appearing to Mary Magdalene, the disciples in the locked room, and Thomas. At these appearances the disciples are given new confidence and are sent to tell others of his new life. They are breathed on with the Holy Spirit to empower them for this renewed mission, and the blessing for those who believe in the message without seeing the risen Lord serves as a fitting bridge to the next phase of the church's life and witness. And then the concluding verses of the chapter seem to round off the story well:

 "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name." 
(John 20:30-31) 

After this the next chapter doesn't quite fit. The disciples again seem to be despondent, without purpose. They don't recognise Jesus, and it takes a miracle and repeated questions to establish the renewed call to mission. And the final statement is open ended, indicating that much has been left out - "But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written" (21:25)

 As one writer has said, it seems to be an excess ending, and in it there is "an excess of fish, an excess of love, an excess of service, and an excess of stories about Jesus" (Beverley Roberts Gaventa in Culpepper and Black, 1996:241)

 But the story of Jesus goes on..

The very fact that there is more than one ending to this gospel reminds us that the story of Jesus cannot come to an end. It is a story that continues through the followers of Jesus, amongst whom we still count ourselves. The Gospel of John is not a biography of a great life. It is the story of the Word of God that became flesh and still lives among us today. It is the story of a living Lord, who wants to keep meeting us. A living Lord who provides our needs for physical and spiritual nourishment. A living Lord who invites us, as well as Thomas, to touch his wounds and share his suffering. A living Lord who reaches out to us, as well as Peter, as we step out of the security of our boats into the water. A living Lord who challenges us, as well as the first disciples, to throw our nets in another way to keep working in the task of bringing the presence of God to the world around us.

 So this chapter might be an excess, but it is there to keep the early church, and us, reminded of our call to follow and to keep the early church, and us, focused on our mission. 

Let us go back through this post-resurrection story and hear again the message of the Living Lord for us today.

 "After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias" (v1). This event took place at the Sea of Tiberias, in Galilee. In the previous chapter he had appeared to them in Jerusalem.  So the story tells us that the risen Lord was able to be with his followers wherever they may be. His promise of the Spirit's presence has made that presence a reality for all believers in all parts of the world and throughout the ages. We also are promised to have the presence of the living Christ with us here in Canberra Baptist.

 ".but that night they caught nothing" (v3). And yet when the disciples went out fishing on their own they caught nothing. Even as they went about their ordinary life they needed the vision and enabling of Jesus. I guess you could say we are casting our nets into the waters around us, and sometimes we wonder if we are achieving anything. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and our focus on his vision. He shared with his followers the work that God had sent him to do, and the vision of the kingdom of God was different to the kingdoms of the world. His vision was about creating community, a place where people would be respected in their authentic struggles in life, where those seeking truth and freedom would be welcome, where love for each other would characterise all relationships. I think we sometimes cast our nets with an aim to build up numbers, to prove our success by being the biggest and the best. There is a story of someone who responded to an altar call but while coming forward the minister announced "we have aimed to build our numbers to 500 and here is our 500^th member." At these words the person turned around and walked out again. The kingdom is not about church growth, but about offering life and freedom and community to those around us. And if we are able to do that, with Jesus as our guide and strength, then our nets will be full and our work worthwhile. 

"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, and jumped into the sea" (v7). This last chapter in John makes much of two of the disciples: Peter and the Beloved Disciple. It is probable that both were important figures in the Johannine churches, and their role in the church and in relation to each other was a issue. In a parallel fashion to the empty tomb story in John's gospel the Beloved Disciple was the quicker to see and believe, but Peter the quicker to act. But don't we in the church still need both? We need those who hold the vision and maintain the tradition, and we need those who are willing to step out and go for it. Peter still needed to reflect on his commitment - the subsequent discussion with Jesus around the fire shows that. But his active faith in evangelism and pastoral work was the foundation of the early church. The church is a community of people with the same focus, but often we express our faith and act on it in different ways. We need each other - we are a body with many different parts, different opinions, and different ways of doing things, and yet all have their place. 

"When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread" (v9). In this story the disciples had work to do once they had followed the direction of Jesus. But when they came ashore they found Jesus waiting for them with resources that they didn't know were available to them. Jesus already had fish cooking and bread for them, and an invitation for breakfast. We too should be ready to be surprised by the risen Christ. As we step out to follow we will be provided for. Can we really believe this as we seek new direction in the church? Let us be people of faith and accept what is offered to us from the bounty of Christ.

 ".hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn" (v11). John's gospel has a fascination for numbers and the significance of the catch of "153" fish has given rise to much speculation. How's this for an idea? 153 is the sum of the numbers 1 to 17, and 17 is the sum of 10 and 7. Ten signifies the 10 commandments and so relates to the law, while seven is the number of gifts of the spirit, so the total number of fish relates to the fulfilment of the law through the spirit. That was Augustine's idea. Others have suggested it was the number of known species of fish, representing the entire population of the world who would all be welcome in the kingdom of God. It is also noted that unlike Luke's version of the miraculous catch in John's gospel the net does not break. Whatever the meaning of that actual number the writer must have meant to say that despite the growth of the church there could still be unity in Christ.

 "Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish" (v13). The scene that we have read ends with the Lord distributing bread and fish. The very words echo both the institution of the Lord's supper in the synoptic gospels and the other meal of fish and bread beside the sea of Tiberias in John chapter 6. That meal ended with the words of Jesus "I am the bread of life." In answer to those who seek him Jesus says "no one can come to me unless drawn by the Father". And then again later he says "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (12:32). In chapter 21 the disciples had given up seeking and had gone back to their old way of life, but they were drawn again by the living Christ, and instructed by him to draw others in. The Greek word is the same in each case. We are asked to draw others because God has first drawn us to himself.

 The two main tasks of the church

The great catch and the meal with its overtones of communion represent the two main foci of the church. There is the focus on our inner life of being nourished and strengthened and supported in faith which is symbolised most clearly in our worship life in the Lord's Supper. And there is the focus outwards to the world around so that we might drawing others into the liberating life of faith offered through the life of Jesus, the living Lord. 

An excess chapter?

We can never be reminded too much of the presence of the risen Lord in our life as a church and as individuals. As we've reflected on the beginning of this "excess chapter" in John today we've shared in the message to the early church - a people groping for meaning and hope and finding it in their encounter with the risen Lord.

•  There is the reminder that without Christ the church cannot do its work,
  
• There is the reminder that we here are to be focused both inside (in our loving fellowship expressed most clearly in the sacramental meal) and outside (in our mission in the world)
  
• There is the reminder that to be effective we need both action and reflection.
  
• There is the reminder that the glorious risen Christ is also intimately present in our everyday life - he is with us wherever we may be (Jerusalem, Galilee/Tiberius, in ordinary occupation, in our attempts to follow) and he is interested in engaging with all of life.

So let us go fishing, not in despondency, not with the wrong motives, but with the courage to cast our nets on the other side and wait to see what the risen Lord has for us. Amen.

 Jeanette Mathews