3 Sun Easter. John. 21:1-19 " A Cookout for a Dropout"
A shrewd worldly agnostic and a Christian clergyman, dressed in modest clerical suit, sat at the same table in the Pullman dining car. They were waiting for the first course at the dinner, a delicious Hudson River shad. Eying his companion coldly for a moment, the agnostic remarked: "I judge you are a clergyman, sir!!"
’’Yes, sir, I am in my Master’s service."
"Yes, you look it. Preach out of the bible, don’t you?"
"Oh, yes, of course."
" Find a good many things in the old Book that you don’t understand - eh?"
"Oh, yes, some thing."
"Well, what do you do then?"
"Why my dear friend, I simply do just as we do while eating this shad. If I come to a bone I quickly lay it on one side and go on enjoying the shad and let some fool insist on choking himself with the bones."
The agnostic wound his watch and went into the smoker.
I told you that story, because our gospel lesson this morning is about Peter who almost choked on his doubts, his misunderstanding, his disbelief of the resurrection of Jesus. Peter and the other disciples had been visited by the Lord twice, but it seems by this text they still didn’t understand or believe that he was alive, that he rose from the dead. They were still locked up in the upper room, they were struggling with their doubts, struggling with the appearance of Jesus, struggling with their thoughts of how can this be true. Life was changing too fast for them. They had spent three years of their life with this wandering preaching, giving up their homes, their security, their comfortable way of life, to live with this preaching from Nazareth who made their life - anything but comfortable.
They wandered around the country side preaching to all kinds of people, stirring up the religious leaders, he performed miracles that made them uncomfortable; he told them things that made them even more uneasy. Then in the last few weeks, things had gotten down right rough. The soldiers came and arrested him, he was given a very speedy trail, he was found guilty and then sentenced to death. He died on the cross, then when they thought it was all over, when they thought about going back to their old jobs, when the excitement, the hope, the glory, their dream had been put out by the cross and its horrible death, then, the ladies came and told them he was not dead, he was alive. The grave was empty. Life was changing too fast. They had not even had time to accept his death, now they were told he was alive. Then he, Jesus, came and appeared to them. He talked with them.
He spent time with them. Not only once, but twice. and he even said he was coming back again. But was it really him?? Could we have been dreaming, thought the disciples? Was it really Jesus? Yes, life was changing too fast for the disciples, they could hardly keep up with the changes.
So good old impulsive Peter suggests they go fishing. In this suggestion, Peter was saying: let us go back to something we understand, something we know, something we are familiar with. Let us go back to the security of our old jobs, the security of our families, the security of the familiar.
Some have suggested that in these familiar surroundings, the disciples could have struggled easier with their doubts, their uncertainty about the resurrection of Jesus. Some say they didn’t go fishing to abandon Jesus, but to get a handle on their fast changing lives.
Others say this was a move of open rebellion. They hadn’t understood what was happening. It had confused them so much that they decided it wasn’t worth the struggle any more. It was easy to go back to something they knew, something they were comfortable with, something they didn’t need to struggle with.
I happen to think it was a little of both. They needed to get out of the upper room. They weren’t used to being cooped up, there were outdoor men, men who were comfortable outside; who were used to making decisions outside. So, they went back to the familiar way to struggle with their faith, to struggle with their doubts, to struggle with the resurrection of Jesus. And maybe in their struggle, maybe in their fishing they were at a crossroads. Maybe this was for them a time to come to a commitment about this Jesus. It was a time as they struggled, for some to decide, to go home and some would decide to stick around a while longer to see what this Jesus was really talking about. This was ,I think, no ordinary fishing trip, but this trip was going to have some life and death consequences about it.
Now what happens. They go fishing at night as it was their custom. Remember these guys weren’t amateurs, they were professional fisherman, men who had made their living by fishing. And as we can remember by their call, some of them were very successful because they had hired men helping them. They weren’t just working alone to support their families, but they caught enough fish to sell, to be in business of selling fish. So they got into the boat, and put out from the shore. They fished all night. It would really be interesting if our text had given us some thoughts these men had about that night when they caught no fish. They had been away from their trade for about 3 years, they come back to it hoping it would give them some confidence, a comfortable feeling, and they couldn’t even catch one fish. They probably were feeling even more upset now than before they started.
Here they were professional fisherman, going back to fishing after being away for 3 years, and then they catch nothing. It might have made them wonder if they had lost their skill, if they had forgotten to do something important, ( throwing the nets correctly ), it might have even made them wonder if, they would ever catch fish again.
Then as they were ready to head for shore because dawn was breaking, a stranger calls to them, asked them if they had caught any fish. They answered no. Then he tells them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. Now, it is really not important to this story whether you believe that Jesus caused the fish to be there, or whether from his vantage point on the shore, he could see a school of fish close to the boat that they couldn’t see.
The catch of fish is not the important part of the story. They cast their nets into the sea, and caught a whole bunch of fish. After the catch of fish, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, recognized the stranger on the shore as Jesus. He tells Peter, and impulsive Peter, puts his clothes on, jumps into the water and swims to shore. There he finds Jesus who had breakfast waiting for him. There was some fish and bread on the fire and Jesus invites the disciples to join him for breakfast and to add some of their fish to the meal. Peter drags the heavy net full of fish to the shore places his fish on the fire and they all sit down and eat with Jesus.
Now, this encounter with Jesus was very important for these men and it also tells us something about Jesus These men were making a decision, they were struggling with the resurrection, they were struggling with their faith, they were wondering if their experience with this Jesus was over or only just beginning as he had said. In their struggling, in their doubts, Jesus comes. He comes to them where they are. He comes to them in the ordinary common tasks of life. He meets them there. And notice, he doesn’t confront them, he doesn’t scold them for returning to something familiar like fishing. But he accepts them, and he invites them to share in a meal.
This meal is like the last meal they had together. It was a meal of reconciliation. It brought Jesus and the disciples together. Through the eating and drinking together, the bonds of trust, friendship, belief were made stronger. For the text says they didn’t have to ask Jesus if it were truly him, for they knew it, they knew in their hearts it was Jesus.
Jesus came to these men, he came not to scold, but to reconcile. He came to show them he had risen, he came because he knew they were struggling, he came to them where they were so that he could help them make a choice, a choice to follow him, to catch men instead of fish.
This story also tells us something about how Jesus, how we as his body on this earth should encounter those who are at a cross roads in their lives. Jesus came not to condemn, he came not to judge, he came not to scold, but he came to reconcile, he came to ease their doubts, he came in love, he came to share with them.
As we encounter those people who are struggling with their faith, as we encounter those people who have dropped out, as we encounter those people, who are considering dropping-out, this text reminds us that we should share with them Jesus’ love. We should approach them not to scold, not to argue, not to defend, but we approach them in love, we accept them in their situation and help them to reconcile themselves to Jesus.
Notice too that Jesus didn’t wait for these men to come back to the upper room, but he meet them were they were, out fishing. He meet them on their turf. He is also telling us we need to encounter those people who have or are thinking about dropping out of the church to meet them on their turf. We can encounter them at work, in their homes with the gospel message. We don’t have to wait until they come here, but we are to bring the message of reconciliation to them.
But far to long now our church has been sitting in judgment of those who have dropped out, waiting for them to return but giving them no encouragement, giving them no signs they would be welcomed back, not even going to tell them they have been missed. We can take our example from Jesus. He meet the disciples where they were, he didn’t judge, but he brought peace. He says in a sense that he understood their struggles, and he wanted to help. He asks us to do the same thing. Today to those people who are struggling with their faith, we are to say, I understand I would like to help, He asks to say to those people who feel the church is not important, why we need the body, why our mutual support for each other can make our individual faith stronger. He asks us to genuinely care, to love the person who is struggling and in that love that person can be and will be helped to find a greater relationship with Jesus.
But if we don’t follow Jesus example, if we don’t care for the drop outs as Jesus did, if we don’t in a sense cook a meal for a drop out like Jesus did, then we might have more and more people like the man in the following poem.
He is always there, usually down in front.
He is uninspiring, nonpaying, silent hut disturbing.
He is the moral enemy of the preacher.
He never helps with the singing, never responds to the invitation, he just sits there.
He robs the preacher of his power, takes the joy out of a song, and steals melody out of music.
He chills the saint and cheers the sinner. He doesn’t whisper, he doesn’t squirm, he never looks at a clock. He just sits.
He is visible and a living testimony that someone doesn’t care. He is evidence of spiritual degeneracy. He advertises better than a bill board the indifference of our church people.
He is where people sit who are present "in spirit". He is a stabbing pain to our Master and a delight to Satan.
He cannot be moved. The only way to get rid of him is to fill him!!!
HE IS THE EMPTY CHAIR !!!
Amen
