3rd Sunday of Easter
Casting Your Net on the Right Side
John 21 : 1 – 19
The Rev. (Dr.) Ezekiel Ette
Have you ever had unsolicited advice? Just go to Facebook and type in a problem that you are having and see the number of total strangers who would give you unsolicited advice. Professor Maud once asked Dr. Laura what to do about the biblical injunction that advised people to own foreigners as slaves and not fellow Israelites. It ignited a big theology debate in my group among fellow clergies.
In this third Sunday after Easter, we are still in the Post-Resurrection appearances of the Christ to his disciples. Our Gospel reading this morning is another post resurrection appearance. Like all post appearances, there is a lesson here. Beyond simply noting that Christ did indeed appear to humans to see physically and not as some phantom ghost which was a common heathen story, the Apostle John recalled a story about one such appearance. The story is prefaced by an editorial addition in verse one of the 21st Chapter. The editor reminded us at the beginning of the reason for the story : “”Jesus Manifested himself again”. This comes immediately after the story of the appearance to Thomas. Like the previous story, there were many witnesses, seven in number (V.2). A background is given on why the seven were together in V.3. Simon was going fishing and the others accompanied him. Now understand that this was a stressful period and so Simon needed something to take his mind off the tragic, shocking and brutal crucifixion. Well despite all efforts, the group did not catch any fish all night and so by dawn, they were obviously exhausted. V.4 states that with the break of dawn, sleepless and tired with nothing to show for their efforts, it was right then that Jesus appeared. As it is usual with us humans, when we are at the end of our wit, we fail to see the door. They did not recognize the Lord. Note the question that the Lord asked in V.5 “Do you catch any fish?” “Do you have any fish?” And what was their reply, a simple “No” without an elaboration. The Lord gave them an instruction “Cast your net to the right side of the boat and you will find a catch. Notice that they did not argue. It is interesting that even though they did not recognize the Lord, they obeyed this “stranger” and did accordingly. The evangelist reported in V6 that they could not even haul in the fish they caught because of the great number. With the miracle, John recognized the Lord and the others recognized the Lord too and those who were ashore rushed to drag the fish and then on the beach there was already fire ready with fish and bread for breakfast. With the extra fish brought on shore, the Lord invited them to breakfast. “Come and have breakfast” he said (V.12). This, the evangelist noted, was the third appearance after the resurrection (v14).
About 100 years ago the Austrian Psychologist, Sigmund Freud said that tried as we would, sometimes our efforts sometimes meet with little success and in order for us to make sense of it all we rationalize, we make excuses and we find someone to blame. We live in a world where our efforts sometimes are not rewarded proportionally. Students in my class often tell me “I spent so much time studying for that test and all you gave me was a “C”? Others said “I put in so much time writing that paper, and the grade did not reflect the time I put”. I often tell them that it is not the time and the effort, but what are required and need are the products. Sometimes in life the product does not reflect our effort and sacrifice.
You spent so much time in the office and you think you are doing the most work, but when it comes time for a raise and promotion, someone else gets the raise and someone gets the promotion. You have been waiting for the position to open for a long time and you have all the required credentials. You interviewed well for the position and waited for the call, but it did not come and finally when the response came it was a letter telling you someone else has been hired for the position. A friend of mine said he put in a lot of effort in his novel only to discover after five years of completing the manuscript that no publisher was interested in a story he believed was the best ever told. I once worked with a lady who told me that she had waited so long and none of the men she was interested in wanted marriage. Her sister who was not as pretty as she was, and was not educated as much as she was, got married and all of her friends were married. She said she was tired of being the only one without a husband among her friends. “Why pastor”? she asked. “What is wrong with me?”
Do you think you have put in so much time with nothing to show for it? Do you think everyone seems to be doing well except you? It is not like you have not been trying but health and well seems to be missing you. You live well, run three miles a day, avoid meat and exercise every day, yet you still have poor health outcomes. Those who seem to be careless with their health seem to be doing just fine. What then do you need to do? You struggle every month, though you are working two jobs and working as much extra time as you can, yet when the pay check comes you find yourself trying to figure out which bill to pay and which one you can be late without the service being caught off. Sometimes you have to decide whether to buy food or the medicine that you need to stay alive. Everyone had advised that the way to the top is education, yet years after school, good jobs seem to be eluding you.
Our story in this third week after Easter is a story of efforts with nothing to show for it. Seven individuals went to an all-night fishing trip and spent the night fishing with nothing to show. These were expert fishers. They knew the water and they were familiar with fishing. They had the right equipment and took on a good boat but as the Evangelist reported, they caught nothing. Exhausted and ready to leave empty handed, the Lord appeared and gave them a simple instruction: “Cast your net on the right side”
You know sometimes some of the efforts that we have been putting in have been on the wrong side. Sometimes we put in efforts with no instruction from the Lord. Other times, we trust on our own intelligence, education, status, and other trappings that we think make us superior and when these fail as they usually do, we blame God. The young lady who was not married that I spoke about earlier was living with her mother who even called the police to arrest her date when he was late bringing her home one night. She was busy telling stories of victimization to her dates that make her unattractive as a wife. Some of us are casting our nets at the wrong side.
Some of us are more worried about what others will think and what our children will think and what the neighbors will think and so we put in efforts at the wrong things so that we can make our children happy, our spouses happy and the neighbors to think well of us and so we are not casting our nets at the right side. An ancient Greek story teller, Aesop, told a story of a donkey, a man and his child. The man was paying more attention to what people were saying rather than thinking of what is best for him. Aesop said:
A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to the market. As they were walking along with the donkey’s some guys passed them and said: "You fools, what is the purpose of the donkey if you are not riding it?” So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. Soon they meet other groups of people who jeered at them and said “See that little spoiled child riding on the donkey while his old father walks” So the man asked his Boy to get off, and then he got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that old fool to let his poor little son trudge along while he rides."
Well, the Man didn't know what to do, so he took his Boy and put him on the Donkey. When they got into town the people were laughing hysterically and so the man stopped and asked what the matter was.
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son? Do you both want to kill that poor donkey?” they asked.
The Man and his boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. As they got nearer to the market, the people around were laughing and wondering why the father and son were so foolish as to carry the donkey on their shoulder, rather than ride on it. They went along amid the laughter of all they met until they came to the Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.
"That will teach you a lesson," said an old man who had followed them. We cannot satisfy everyone in this world. If you live your life to satisfy someone, you are casting your net on the wrong side.
Sometimes we think we have put in enough effort and we give up easily before we see the fruit of our labor. The disciples were giving up. The day was breaking and I am sure these experienced fishers knew as the day breaks whatever fish they were looking for disappears. But it was at the break of dawn that Jesus appeared. Sometimes we put in efforts and we rationalize to ourselves why we should quit. We are getting old, no one would care, we do not have money, we do not have required education, we know nobody who can help. These rationalizations become excuses we give to ourselves on why we should quit. It may make us feel better about quitting but it also means we are not casting our nets on the right side.
It is time for you to cast your net on the right side and claim the blessings that God kept for you and that are awaiting you. Quit making up excuses why you should quit. Stop counting the hours and the time and all the things that you lack. Quit feeling sorry for yourself and quit complaining but go and cast your net on the right side, how do you do this?
1. Listen and learn. Note that the disciples in the boat did not yet recognize the Lord. They probably thought it was a stranger. The question was simple “Have you caught anything?” They simply replied “No”. They could have just ignored the stranger in that dawn but the stranger gave a simple instruction that brought a miracle. How many times do we ignore some advice that would have brought us miracles? How many times do we carry our burdens on our face and get angry because things do not turn out the way we expected? But that voice on the shore simple said “cast your net on the right side and they complied and claimed their miracle. In a letter that Paul wrote to the Hebrews, he reminded them that hospitality even to those we may not know can actually be work for messengers of the divine. (Hebrew 13 : 2). Tell a trusted person what you may be going through. Chances are others have been though what you are going through and there may be solutions that you are overlooking.
2. Trust in God – We know very little of the world because we do not know the future and what it holds. Our knowledge of the world is limited. In our postmodern world we may have all the information but information does not mean we have answers to life’s complex questions. Despite our technology and our assumed sophistication, we are no closer to finding answers to the problems facing us than those who live in earlier times. Yes we have the technology in our hands and we can find out the weather in any part of the world. Yes we can see people faces from around the world in a little device we hold in our hands. We can see love ones from afar and watch the smile of a baby from any place around the globe but we cannot know what tomorrow holds or why a loved one gets sick and passes away. We may not be able to answer that age old question “why?”. We cannot answer why there is tragedy. The ancient bard in Proverbs 3 : 5 -6 seeing the problems and struggles of the world instructed the followers: “Trust in the Lord and do good and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge God and God shall direct your path” When you lean on your college degrees, your understanding and rationalize according to what you think you know, you are casting your net on the wrong side. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth that we know in part. The world is too complex and no one knows everything. Our knowledge is either from experience, tradition, learning, or stories told to us or sometimes revealed to us and all these are not complete in themselves and are just a little of what is out there. We may not know tomorrow but we know who makes tomorrow. When we trust God and not get weary easily or claim to know it all, we are casting the net on the right side. You do not need to understand what is happening you just need to present it to God whose understanding passes all knowledge.
3. Be patient and wait prayerfully – You cannot cast your net on the right side if you are not patient. While waiting pray. Sometimes God opens the door and waits and it takes the eye of faith for you to realize that the Lord is waiting. The disciples did not know that the Lord was waiting for them by the shore. They did not know that they were talking to the Lord who was ready for them.
4. Tough times don’t last forever - When we are in the midst of a difficult situation it is very hard to adjust to the reality of such situation because we often contrast where we are with where we want to be. We tell God where we want to be and fight the moment that is the reality and so you exhaust your energies and feel sorry for yourself. But if we wait and pray for the energy to endure, we soon notice that the wind of change comes as the dew in the morning and we realize that what we were worried about was not difficult after all. Young preachers who move often will realize that they enjoy the new station that they thought was not good at first.
I want to leave you this morning with the story of Sarah Adams. Ms. Adams was born in 1805 in England and wanted to become an actress. With her beauty and intelligence, everyone agreed that she would make a fine actress. She trained and practice and acted on stage for the very first time as Lady Macbeth and everyone agreed that she gave a good performance, but that was the last time she would appear on stage because Ms. Adams became very ill and was unable to act again. Like anyone in such predicament, she was very worried and concerned. One night, as she noted in her diary, as she laid awake in her sick bed thinking about her life and her condition, the song that we all sing in church came to her.
Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be nearer my God to thee
Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee
Then with my waking thoughts bright with thy praise
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise
So by my woes to be nearer my God to thee
Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee
Are you struggling with little efforts to show? Is it getting harder and harder to get to that dream that you once had? Help is on the way if you do not give up. Help is on the way if you keep the faith and have patience. The Lord will help you if you stay focus and cast your net on the right side. Like Sarah Adams our prayers with a heart of thanks should be Lord, let me be near to you. Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee.
Amen
