April 25, 2004 John 21:1-14
The Greek word for fish is ixthus. You often see that word on the back of cars within the shape of a fish. If you’ve ever wondered what that is supposed to symbolize - it’s not just for people who like fish. The five letters that spell fish - iota, chi, theta, upsilon, sigma - are also letters that describe our Savior. Iota is the first letter of ihsus - for Jesus. Chi is the first letter for xristos - Christ. Theta is the first letter of theos - for God. Upsilon is the first letter for uios - Son. And sigma is the first letter for swthr - Savior. Jesus Christ, God, Son, and Savior. So the fish is used as a symbol for Christ. I don’t know who or why they chose the symbol - but it fits - at least when you look at today’s text - for Jesus uses some fish to prove that He was Jesus Christ, God, Son, and Savior - risen from the dead.
1IXTHUS > 153 ixthus
I. We seek physical ixthus
The reading for today takes place after Jesus had appeared to the disciples and to Thomas - again proving that He had risen from the dead. Apparently in between these appearances Jesus would leave them for a time. When you try to take a child from the bottle, you do it in increments. You start giving him or her a sippy cup at lunch. Then gradually you start giving a sippy cup in the evening, and finally at night. It takes a little time - but after a few tears and temper tantrums you’re home free. That seems to be what Jesus was doing with these appearances. For forty days He didn’t constantly stay with them - but weaned them from His presence. It doesn’t say how long of a period it was between these appearances, but it appears the disciples got a little restless. So Peter, in keeping with his personality, decided that he had to do something. He said, “I’m going out to fish.” Six other disciples decided to go along.
It might seem strange to us that the disciples would make this decision to go fishing. After all, they had already seen Jesus raised from the dead. You might expect them to be out telling people about Jesus. Yet they go fishing. It appears that at this point Jesus had not told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit - nor had He given them the Great Commission - to go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Maybe they thought Jesus would come walking out to them on the water - like He had previously. In all honesty, I don’t think they knew what else to do. They didn’t have Jesus to follow around. Life without direction left them searching for something to do - anything. They didn’t just want to sit around and wait, so they decided to temporarily go back to what they knew best - fishing.
If you think about your life - and what you’re doing with your life right now - maybe some of you feel like you are in the same place as the disciples. God hasn’t appeared to you and given any great directives in life - and you don’t exactly know what you should be doing. I kind of compare it to getting up on a Saturday morning. It’s about 8:15, and you have about a hundred things you could be doing. So what do you do? You lay there in bed a while, roll over, close your eyes, and contemplate all the things that could get done. The garage needs to be swept out, the garden needs to be tilled, the basement needs to be vacuumed. But then you turn on the TV - get wrapped up in a show and realize that you just wasted your whole morning. That’s seems to be how we treat our Christianity at times. We could go visit someone at a nursing home, call an old friend we heard was having difficulties, or maybe do a little extra Bible study on a book we hadn’t read in some time. But it all seems so difficult because we are so “busy.” I mean, we’ve got a hundred other commitments that we’ve promised to do. But are they really that important? Do our kids have to belong to soccer clubs? Do we have to watch the final two episodes of Friends? Is it really that important that we own a new car - that we work overtime just to pay it off? Is this really essential stuff? Of course not. But we act like they are the most important things in the world. Why? Because we don’t feel like we have anything else to do. Even though God’s Word says to feed the poor, care for the dying, preach the good news to all creation, we act as if we had no commission but to go fishing. So we find ourselves doing what the other humans do. What’s worse is that our fishing isn’t to make a living. It’s for pure leisure. Yet we act like it’s our right - our privilege - and nobody else’s needs or wants better get in the way of what I want. I want my IXTHUS.
II. Jesus gives us better IXTHUS
In a different story of the Bible - God’s people didn’t crave IXTHUS, but quail. So God gave them quail - about three feet worth of it. But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food. (Nu 11:31-34) While giving them what they desired - he also used that very thing to get the Israelites attention - the quail - to make them realize that had sinned against the Lord.
God has a history of doing that. When people are concentrating on something so much - He uses that very thing to make them realize that there is more to life than the object of their affection. He does that in today’s text. The disciples had spent all night fishing. I don’t know how hard they were really concentrating on it - or whether their minds were really on it at all. But Jesus used those ixthus to reveal that He - the big IXTHUS - was on the shore. In a playful manner almost, Jesus called out, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” Now, as true God in use of His full powers at this point - Jesus knew that they hadn’t caught any fish. But Jesus was about to relive for them an earlier incident where something similar had happened. Back in Luke 5, the disciples also had been fishing all night, and Jesus told them to go ahead and throw out the nets again after Jesus had finished speaking. Peter thought it was foolish, but out of reverence to Jesus he went ahead and did it. How foolish would it be for a fisherman to think that moving a net from one side of the boat to the other would do any good? By this time, the disciples probably didn’t care - it couldn’t hurt anything. So again, they went ahead and did it. And what happened? When all was said and done - they had caught 153 fish - without the nets even breaking. It was as if the fish cooperated - committed fishy suicide and willingly swam along with the net - at the order of the Master - and allowed themselves to be caught. It was such a similar miracle and a wonderful gift that John immediately knew, “it is the Lord.” Jesus had accomplished His purpose. Just like Jonah with the big fish, and the fish that was caught to pay taxes, Jesus once again used the IXTHUS to reveal to them that this Friend on the shore was actually Jesus Christ - God, Son, and Savior.
God could leave us aimlessly seeking after the IXTHUS of this life. But He’s too merciful for that. Time and again we can see our merciful IXTHUS use the 153 IXTHUS to prove He is our one IXTHUS. You can see it in the young couple that is so focused on their love for each other - wanting to get married - yet seeking to have more stability in their life. Their love for each other makes them think about a love they once had heard about long ago - in the name of Jesus Christ. So they seek counseling - Christian counseling - and they want God to become the centerpiece of their marriage. You can see it in a young gal who gets an unplanned pregnancy. She didn’t really look for God. But when she witnessed the wonderful birth and the miracle of holding that little baby in her arms, she suddenly realizes and says to herself, “there must be a God!” So she seeks that God - and wants to find the One who had been so gracious to her. It comes in the businessman who gets so wrapped up in his business, that he ends up with a divorce, and his business ends up folding as well. Suddenly he realizes that the ixthus that he so readily sought was not giving him any nourishment - that he needed a greater IXTHUS - a lasting one - in the name of Jesus Christ.
This is the Savior that we sing about - “found me when I sought him not.” The wonderful thing about our Lord is that He gives us failures and successes in our fishing expeditions - but they’re all designed to hopefully draw us closer to Him. He doesn’t let us just waste away night after night without any testimony. He uses the smelly scales, the empty nets, the calm winds, and the tempestuous sea to rock our boats and point us to the shores of His grace. He doesn’t allow us just to aimlessly drift away to sea. He loves us too much. Like the disciples He calls out to us - calls us His FRIENDS - and bids us back to shore. If you’ve been drifting - Jesus is calling you back today. He’s saying, “come back, come back!”
III. How many ixthus do you wish?
The disciples had gotten the message. Jesus might as well have been jumping and waving His arms saying, “hey everybody - it’s me - Jesus!” John said, “It is the Lord.” There was no doubt about it. So they did what disciples do. They followed the voice of the Lord - and went to shore. Peter was so excited about it - he didn’t want to take the time to wait for the fish to be dragged in. 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. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. (Jn 21:7-8) There was a time when Peter - at an earlier catch of fish - said - “away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” But at this time - he couldn’t wait - didn’t hesitate - to get to shore. What was the difference? This was the risen Lord - the one He saw die for his sins. Could it be that he now knew and was assured that God had accepted Jesus’ sacrifice - that he now stood before Jesus as forgiven? So what was most important to him was going to eat with Jesus. The natural thing for him to do was to get to Christ as quickly as possible.
Easter time is a time that we celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus calls to us from the shores of heaven - while we float around on the sea of Earth. His death and resurrection offer us a solid ground to stand on - a sure footing for our eternal homes. He says, “friends, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest!” Many of us have had a hard night’s work - without much to show for it. We’re tired - and we like that invitation. Maybe we’ve been fishing in the wrong holes - or just wandering around aimlessly. Others of us have been blessed with many gifts from God during our journey here on earth - lots of fish in the net. Then some of us, like the disciples - get a little bogged down on our trips to shore - focusing on getting to shore - yet not going as quickly as we could - worrying about dragging all the fish in. Then there’s the Peter’s - those who go in head first - clothes and all - leave the world behind and focus on getting to Him as fast as possible.
When all the disciples got there - a kind of neat thing happens - something that we might tend to just pass off as no big deal. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” After counting the fish, Jesus said, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. I think this is kind of a neat scene just because of the simplicity of it. They’d worked all night - hadn’t caught a thing - and now they could finally see and enjoy it. It’s as if Jesus was giving them time just to sit and enjoy their catch - to sit down and eat and enjoy some of the spoils - eat some breakfast. So they all just sat there and ate with Jesus - just enjoying the moment - knowing that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Here’s some news for you. If you never come in from the shore - you never can enjoy the fish and bread. Sadly, there are some who are so worried about getting all those fish in - that they never get to shore. They aren’t satisfied with the 153 - and say, “hey - there’s a lot more fish out there! Let’s go back out and get a thousand more!” So while Jesus is waving from the shore saying, “hey - I GAVE you those IXTHUS - come here - for the biggest catch of your life! I am the IXTHUS - Jesus Christ God Son and Savior!” They in turn say, “we’re going out for more.” Jesus then sadly shakes his head and says - “go on then - and sail into the lake of fire.” You and I have the biggest catch ever when Jesus jumped into the net of our hearts. He gives us not only the bread of life, but plenty of ixthus and food to last in this life as well. It’s all good to make sure you keep the ixthus he puts in your net - but don’t you think it would be even better to take on the attitude of Peter - to not worry so much about the job, the family, the play, and focus on what’s really important - getting to Christ. Isn’t that more important than making sure all the fish are to the shore? If Jesus puts them in the net - and makes sure the net doesn’t break, all to draw us to Himself - the one true IXTHUS, then can’t we be assured that he can get the other ixthus to shore as well?
When I first got into the ministry, I didn’t know anybody. I was left all alone in western Kansas to a church in the middle of nowhere. That’s when I met my future wife and her mother and father. Right from the start there was a definite physical attraction. Bekah made me the most wonderful apple pie. Then my future mother in law started spoiling me every week with greasy hamburgers and pizza at the Pizza Hut. Her dad then introduced me to Kansas fed beef hot off the grill. The more I ate with them, the more attracted I - and especially my stomach - physically became. My stomach said to me, “you need to hang on to this one.”
Jesus - the IXTHUS - Jesus Christ God Son and Savior - used a different IXTHUS - 153 of them - to grab his disciples’ attention. When they caught those fish - they knew - “it is the Lord.” It caused them to get to shore and eat breakfast with their Savior. Jesus used fish to give them the biggest catch of their lives. He uses different fish to do the same with you. So stop wandering around in the sea - looking for more ixthus. Put on your garments, jump into the water, swim to shore, and enjoy the meal that the Risen Christ is giving you today. He saying to you - “I’m your IXTHUS - Jesus Christ God Son and Savior - who died on the cross and rose from the dead. Believe in me, and enjoy a full course meal of eternal salvation that never gets stale, never runs out, and always tastes good.” Amen.
