John 21:1-14 * April 18, 2010 * Easter 3 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

Try as we might there is no way to adequately describe what the disciples must have gone through once they realized the very same Jesus they saw dead and buried was in fact alive. Calling it a mood swing is far too tame. More like an emotional wind shear. One moment they were going in one direction; then almost instantaneously in another.

Most of us have been told that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. That’s probably what they were thinking. But in this case it was true. Perhaps that is why the Lord in His grace appeared to His followers multiple times. It undoubtedly took multiple times for this to sink in.

Our text for this morning is one of those occasions. In John’s words and Peter’s actions we clearly see the joy and encouragement the Risen Christ brought to His disciples. And as far as personal application is concerned, this resurrection account – and every other one, for that matter – reminds us that we, too, are standing in

THE COMPANY OF THE LIVING CHRIST

1. We find comfort in His concern for us

2. We find joy in His presence with us

Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathaniel 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.

The time: sometime between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. The place: Sea of Tiberias, better known to us as the Sea of Galilee. The cast: 7 disciples, 5 of whom are named (the sons of Zebedee are James and John).

We’ll recall that before becoming full time disciples, many of those named made their living by fishing. So it’s not hard to understand that without Jesus as their daily, physical focal point anymore they returned to doing what they knew best. As was the favored custom of that day and place, they fished at night. But they had no luck.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize it was Jesus. He called to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

As morning broke a friendly stranger appears and offers advice on their fishing strategy. This is always an interesting dynamic because it’s not as if the disciples didn’t know what they were doing. After all these were experienced fishermen. They knew the literal and figurative ropes pretty well. Yet they complied. Why?

Maybe it was the authority in his voice. Or maybe the command itself seemed eerily similar to one given these same fishermen by Jesus the Christ about three years earlier. Whatever the case, the results were the same as then – a miraculous catch of fish.

And the light went on in John’s head.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” 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 the shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

We’ve become somewhat accustomed to Peter’s immediate (and sometimes unwise) reaction to things. Here we have another example. But we can’t really blame him. He wanted to get to shore fast, and the quickest way was to hit the water. So he wrapped his outer garment around him (perhaps as a show of respect he wanted to appear before His Master fully clothed; then again, maybe he was just frazzled) and plunged into the lake. What all the disciples found upon their arrival was a shore meal being prepared.

[Jesus said] “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “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. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after he was raised from the dead.

We are told the disciples didn’t have to ask who this was. They knew they were standing in the presence of the Lord. With this encounter the disciples were confirmed and solidified in the fact that Jesus Christ was risen indeed. Furthermore – perhaps for the reasons stated earlier – we’re told this was the third time Jesus appeared to a group of disciples, though there had been other appearances to individuals.

If we are looking for application of this text to our lives today, it can first be found in the concern of Christ that His followers know He is alive and with them. This is the great Easter truth Jesus wants us to know: He is always with us. He may not converse with us face to face over a meal of fish as He did with the disciples in our text, but the Risen Christ continues to speak to us in His Word. And in the Word it is evident that His concern for us spills into every area of our lives.

For example, it concerns our Risen Lord when we worry, so He tells us to cast all our anxieties upon Him.

It concerns Christ when we are troubled or disheartened or weary of life, so He invites us to come to Him for rest and promises to refresh and renew us as we walk with Him.

It concerns Christ when we feel we have to shoulder heavy burdens by ourselves, so He tells us to come to Him in prayer and ask with the promise that it will be given to us, seek and we shall find, knock and the door will be opened to us, all in harmony with His good and gracious will for our lives.

It concerns Christ when we feel insignificant or of little worth, so He reminds us that we, individually, are of such great worth to Him that He gave His life for each of us, and that He loves us with an everlasting love.

It concerns Christ when we are weighed down by our sins, so He points us to the cross and says, “Yes, you are a sinner, but when I said ‘It is finished’ I meant it. You are forgiven. So go forward living for me in the present rather than dwelling on the past.”

It concerns Christ when we feel lonely, so He comes to us with the assurance that He is with us always, even to the end of the age, and that He will never leave us or forsake us.

And when we understand the Risen Christ’s concern for us, which is the first life-lesson from our text, we will also understand the second, namely the emotion this information produces in the hearts of Jesus’ disciples. That emotion is joy.

What do you think it was like for the disciples when they came in from their boat to the shore lunch provided by the Risen Christ? We’re not told of any dinner conversation. But I think we have a pretty good idea of what was present. A lot of awe. A lot of spiritual strengthening going on. And there most certainly was a lot of joy welling up in the souls of the faithful; a joy that would empower them to carry out what they would eventually be called to do – preach the good news of this Risen Christ to all the world.

Not that this would be easy. In fact it would be hard. But the knowledge of the Risen Christ gave them strength for the journey and power for living. With the promise of His presence and the sure hope of life eternal, the resurrected Lord Jesus filled those first century disciples with joy.

How about for us in the 21^st century? Is the knowledge of the Risen Christ producing the same emotion in us?

I suspect the answer for many of us is: Sometimes. And if we’re wondering why the answer isn’t “all the time,” there are a couple of different reasons.

First is the way we are wired as flawed human beings. Although we are new creatures in Christ who understand who Jesus is and what He has done for us, on this side of heaven we still carry around a sinful nature. And unfortunately, that has an effect on us.

In one of his books the Christian author C.S. Lewis refers to what goes on in the lives of Christians as “the law of undulation.” Just like waves go up and down, or undulate, so do we in just about every area of our existence – including our spiritual lives.

It’s this hybrid nature of ours that makes God at times seem so close that we can almost touch him, while at other times our spiritual life seems dry and God seems distant and unresponsive. So the law of “spiritual undulation” and our own sinful nature is what prevents us from being in a perpetual state of joy.

The good news is that there is a way to counteract this. While our sinful nature is real, it also is not our predominant nature. Our predominant nature is who we are in Christ. And we strengthen that new nature and keep it predominant every time we spend time with God in His Word and partake of the sacrament.

However, another reason we don’t feel the constancy of joy is because too often we simply let too many things get in the way.

Mrs. Charles E. Cowman spent six years in the Far East during the first quarter of the 20^th century. Almost her entire time there was devoted to caring for her Christian missionary husband, who was dying. To sustain her soul in these dark times she compiled a series of spiritual stories, quotations and Bible passages, later assembled into a devotional book.

In one of those devotions she (or the author of the story) talks about seeing an eagle on the ground mortally wounded by a rifle shot. In times past that eagle had raced with the winds and flown so high that it was just a speck to those who saw it on the earth below. But now it lay dying – because he forgot and flew too low.

The point she makes is a valid one and certainly applies to the level of joy we experience in knowing the Risen Christ. Too often we let the cares and troubles of this world or the chaos of a busy life or the setbacks that come with the territory of living on sin-stained planet obscure our view and diminish our joy. In other words, we “fly too low” and get shot down by things that couldn’t reach us if we’re at the proper spiritual altitude.

But the disciples in our text didn’t fly low. Just the opposite. They were flying high, propelled by the knowledge of the Risen Christ. They are personal examples for us.

As well as the reminder that Easter is never over. The Risen Christ is with His people; comforting them with His concern and providing joy for them with His presence.

Alleluia, alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Like the disciples, we are standing in the company of the Living Christ. Alleluia. Amen.