Fishing? Or Catching?

Fishing? Or Catching?

John 21:1-14

You know, I discovered something about myself a long time ago that some of you might be able to identify with. I discovered that sometimes I tend to think higher of myself and my abilities than maybe I should.

For example, when I first started playing golf, now and then I would actually hit the ball just right and that thing would fly straight and true and long, and it would actually land right out in the middle of the fairway. It’s a beautiful sight to see when it happens, but unfortunately at first, it didn’t seem to happen very often at all. It only happened enough to keep me coming back and trying again. Now, after some time passed, it did start happening more and more often. But I found that the more often that ball flew straight and true, the greater my opinion of myself would grow. And the greater my opinion of myself grew, the angrier I’d get with myself when I messed up.

Now, I didn’t know it at the time, but the truth was that I was actually playing my game. What helped me to realize this was when my son began playing with me. He had only just started playing, and from the very beginning he would get so upset when the ball didn’t do what he wanted it to do. I tried to explain to him that his expectations were overly high for someone at his experience level and that everyone plays exactly like he did when they first start out. As I tried explaining this to him, I began to see me in him. This helped me to realize that I too was playing exactly where I should be at my own skill level. In other words, I was playing my game. And once I came to this realization, the game became “fun” again. I didn’t take it as seriously as I used to and my expectations of myself became more realistic.

But you know, golf isn’t the only time this “high opinion” of myself has hit me. It happens all the time. Whatever I do, I want to do it well and sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t. When I don’t, then I get angry with myself for not being among the best at whatever it is.

Like fishing, for example. When I was a kid, I would go out fishing all the time. I loved it. And though there may have been times when I didn’t catch anything, for the life of me, I can’t remember them. In my memory, I always caught something. I never went home empty handed.

I loved fishing. It was as natural to me as riding a bicycle, which I was also good at. But as I grew older and life began to take over, I didn’t have time or the ability to go fishing like I used to. Years went by, working, raising a family and all the stuff that happens in life got in the way. Things just began to take over in importance. So, years passed and my tackle boxes, rods & reels gathered dust and cobwebs.

Then we moved to Higgins, and I started pastoring a little Baptist church there. Since there was a lake just down the road in Oklahoma, I decided to take up fishing again. Let me tell you folks, that was a horrible idea. I couldn’t catch anything at all. All summer long, not a bite, nibble, or even a little fishy sniff came near my line. It was so bad that I was convinced that I was the worlds worse fisherman. But through it all I learned something. I learned that fishing doesn’t necessarily mean catching. And this was a lesson that the disciples also learned, again, in our text today. Once again, even though they were professionals at it, they learned something new about…

I. Fishing

Joh 21:1-5 After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: (2) Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. (3) Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. (4) But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. (5) Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They answered Him, "No."

Only the gospel of John refers to the Sea of Galilee as the Sea of Tiberias, and this is probably because by the time he wrote this gospel, its name had been changed in honor of Emperor Tiberias. In the other synoptic gospels, it’s also called the Lake of Gennesaret.