Loving the Familiar
John 21:1-14
June 10, 2007
I want us to begin this morning with three verses before we turn to the passage listed in the bulletin.
Would you turn with me to Mark 16:6-7, page 1584. This text is Mark’s version of the resurrection of Jesus.
"Don’t be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene,
Who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where
they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ’He is going ahead of
you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’"
Jesus had been killed by hanging on a cross - falsely accused and misunderstood by the Religious authorities. And though he had followers, people faithful to him - few of them were with him when he died.
Once Jesus had died, his body was removed from the cross and placed in the tomb. And 3 days later Mary Magdalene
Mary
Salome made the journey to the tomb in order to anoint Jesus’ dead body with spices, but when they arrived, Jesus’ body was no where to be found. It was gone.
What had replaced it in the tomb was an angel, verses 6 and 7 tell us what the angel said to Mary Magdalene
Mary
Salome
Notice the angel tries to comfort them in their fears.
"Don’t be alarmed," he says.
Notice the angel wants to clue them in on what has happened.
"You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here."
And Notice the angel wants to point them to the place they can see him.
"He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."
The One that they were seeking was actually ahead of them.
This One that they were desiring to anoint with spices was no longer encased in a tomb but on his way to Galilee.
Galilee being the place where much of Jesus’ ministry took place.
Galilee being the place where many of his followers were from.
Galilee that familiar place. That was the place that he resurrected. Jesus was headed - He was headed back to the familiar.
And if they were willing and able to make the journey to Galilee, they and his disciples would be able to see him.
It was . . .
There and not where they were.
There, ahead of them and not where they stood.
In Galilee and not in that tomb.
There ahead of them in Galilee that is where they would have to go if they wanted to see Jesus
God would not allow the women to stay where they were and as they were if they were to find their Jesus. They would have to take a journey and if they went. If they followed the angel’s instructions, they would see him just as he had said. (Mark 16:7b)
This is often how it is with our God. In order for you and me to meet up with him we often have to leave behind our ideas as to where Jesus is or could be to leave and head back to the familiar, the routine, the normal in order to find him.
We tend to think and believe that God can only be found and accessed at holy places
at spiritual places at significant time.
We are prone to believe that we must climb to mountaintops in order to be with God.
Or we must get out of our neighborhood and our routine in order to find him, but the angels’ words to the women who were wanting to anoint their dead Jesus was that - he was not in the tomb. But had gone ahead of them. Back to Galilee - back to the familiar and if they went there, they could see him.
But Mark’s text make it clear, they didn’t do as they were instructed at least not right away.
Instead of going with confidence and expectation, they trembled and were bewildered.
Instead of going to tell the disciples and specifically Peter verse 8 tells us - "they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid." (Mark 16:8)
My speculation is:
They were overwhelmed with the thought that Jesus was alive.
They were in shock to have seen and heard from an angel.
They froze unable to comprehend it all and I want to suggest that part of their inability to follow through with the angels words has to do with the reality that Jesus was headed back to be with them, where they would be living their lives. He was determined to make his home in their home. Jesus was going back to their familiar.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John record a total of 8 encounters with Jesus had with his followers after his resurrection. And 7 of those 8 times took place in a familiar spot.
Jesus doesn’t say to his followers. Let me take you someplace new. "I’ve just got to show you some things."
Jesus doesn’t try to impress his followers with new miracles or extravagant teachings.
No he simply returns back to the familiar
He goes to the normal places that his followers were accustomed to.
He came to them, approached them so that they could experience him in the familiar.
The author Philip Yancey writes, Jesus’ resurrection means he must be loose out their somewhere . . . I never know where he might turn up, how he might speak to me or what he might ask of me." (The Jesus I never Knew, p. 224, 226)
No person is off limits.
No place is too unholy or too routine.
Our disobedience and our inaction will not stop him from coming to us. He comes again and again wanting us to really believe that he is who he says he is. He comes to have relationships with you and me.
In John 21, we read of Jesus entering a familiar setting, page 1687,
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of
Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas’ (called Didymus),
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two other
disciples were together. "I’m going out to fish," Simon Peter told
them and they said, "We’ll go with you." So they went out and got
into the boat, but that night they caught nothing."
Simon Peter and 6 of his friends are back in a familiar place, the Sea of Galilee.
They are back to doing what was familiar to them - fishing. They jumped into the boat and tried their luck. But that night, that whole night they caught nothing.
A familiar reality to many fishermen whether they admit to it or not.
4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples
did not realize that it was Jesus. 5He called out to them, "Friends,
haven’t you any fish?" "No," they answered. 6He said, "Throw
your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some."
Notice -Jesus approaches them.
Notice -He calls them friends - these men who denied knowing him.
Notice - The man’s instructions. An anonymous tells a bunch of professional fishermen.
Men familiar with boats and nets.
Men familiar with the Sea of Galilee to throw their net on the other side of the boat. And they do.
When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because
of the large number of fish."
7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!"
When the men listened to the voice not only did they catch abundance fish, but they also recognized that it was Jesus who had come to them.
Their act of obedience, an act demonstrating faith let them to recognizing the Lord and experiencing him in their familiar setting.
Jesus saw their futile attempts.
He must have sensed their disappointed and down cast hearts. And he is gracious enough to bless them with fish and reveal to them that it is he on the beach.
As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped
his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into
the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full
of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.
And when they arrive, Jesus has a meal all prepared for them. He fills their stomachs with fish and with bread. And then John writes in verse 12, the second half.
None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew
it was the Lord. 13Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them,
and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time
Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When we follow
Listen to
Obey the words and ways of Jesus in the familiar, we meet up with God.
When our way/our behaviors/ our actions in our daily lives line up with Jesus’ way our way joins up with his way and we have a relationship with God. Where we are at.
And most of the time that’s in the familiar.
You see the Christian faith isn’t an escape from reality but a journey into it. The Christian faith is not a departure from our world but a call to live God ligned right in the middle of it all.
The angel’s message was for the 3 ladies and the disciples to go to Galilee; it wasn’t for them to stay at the Temple.
In the Holy Place.
They weren’t to visit all the special places Jesus had taken them.
No they were to live out their days in the familiar knowing that Jesus was going to meet them there.
This truth is one of the reasons why we are canceling our Sunday worship service on July 8. I’ve begun to hear the murmuring and grumbling about this. I’m not surprised. The leadership expected it to some degree. (Don’t push back now, hear me out.) We believe that we have a God who isn’t confined to this room for this hour each week. We also believe that we have a God who is present and at work all over this community.
And based upon these texts, we are given every indication that we can meet up with Jesus out there as well as we can in here.
And therefore, if worship is all about meeting up with Jesus, we are going to take a chance in meeting up with Jesus out in our community on July 8. Since we’ve been meeting up with him here for 5408 x each Sunday for 104 years, I think we can give this a try 1 time. We are going out into our familiar community in order to meet up with God.
But back to now.
This truth and this reality that Jesus enters our familiar and his power is displayed and his presence known by those who are his is a tremendous reality.
Just name your situation or
Your circumstance and guess what, Jesus is there.
Locked doors - no problem.
Empty nets - not a concern.
Lack of direction
Loss of hope - struggling to be parents
- Struggling in your marriage
Confused by circumstances - is work a real battle right now.
Feeling oppressed and overwhelmed by to do lists.
Our risen Lord enters our reality.
Our routine.
Our familiar
He has the ability to enter our lives - if you and I are willing to listen to his voice.
Remember what we read in Ephesians earlier, You and I have been marked in Christ with a seal - the Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Christ has promised himself to us!
Now remember who those 7 guys in the boat were and what they had done to Jesus before his death.
They each denied him.
Turned their backs on him.
They made some huge mistakes and yet Jesus still approached them.
Drew near to them.
In come to them - he was fulfilling his promise to be with them. He came speaking into their empty net and their tired lives.
They had been up all night and hadn’t caught anything.
Ever feel like that? It’s all too familiar isn’t it?
Friends, we have a God who enters that reality to not only nourish us and feed us - but also so that we can experience him.
This is our God.
Our God enters our reality and joins us in the familiar.
So be careful out there my friends.
As you head out of this place today.
As you get into that familiar car, drive home on the roads that are familiar to you.
As you start anew another week.
We have a god who is on the loose and out there somewhere.
He has gone ahead of us. And as we go we will find him.
Amen.
