As we continue our sermon
series, “The After Party”, looking at what Jesus did on earth between his
resurrection and the time he went back to heaven, we look at another time Jesus
appeared to the disciples. It’s kind of
a simple story, really, but I think that as we look at it, there’s a lot more
going on than we might notice at first glance.
Now this
happened sometime after Jesus appeared to Thomas, but we don’t know how long. So the disciples know, at this point, that
Jesus has been raised from the dead and is alive. And they’re happy about that, of course. But they’re really not sure just what it
means for them. They don’t really know
what they’re supposed to do now that they know Jesus is alive.
Peter is with most of the other disciples, and he says,
“I’m going fishing tonight.” Now,
understand, this was not going out to fish for fun with a rod and reel or
something. Peter had been in the
profession of catching and selling fish before Jesus called him. And apparently, he still had his boat and
nets and stuff. So when he goes out to
fish, and the other disciples go with him, they’re planning to make a big haul
and be able to sell it.
In other words, what it looks like to me is that Peter
has decided he’s going back to his old way of life. Now again, he knew Jesus had been raised from
the dead. And he was happy about
that. But he did not know what he was
supposed to do next, or even if he was supposed to do anything next.
We may look at
that from our perspective and say, well, surely they should’ve know what they
were supposed to do. But again, we need
to try to put ourselves in the story.
Jesus has appeared to them and proven that he’s alive. But, then he left again. Did the disciples know he was going to come
back? We’re not told that they did. In fact, it looks like they were not really
expecting him back.
So, in their
place, what do you do? Yes, you know
Jesus is alive. But you also know that
things were not going to go back to the way they used to be. Jesus is not going to lead you and the others
around Galilee and preach and teach and heal people and all that. Maybe you do what Peter did. With his new way of life gone, and no idea
what to do next, Peter decides to go back to the only other way of life he’d
known.
I wonder how Jesus felt about that. I mean, yes, they did not know if he was
coming back, but on the other hand, he’d been with these disciples for three
years. He’d told them all kinds of
things to do—love God, love your neighbor, love your enemies, pray for those
who persecute you, on and on and on. And
now, it’s looking like nothing he did or said to them made any difference. None of it seems to have sunk in. Even though they know he’s alive, they’re not
doing anything with that knowledge.
They’ve just gone back to being who they’d been before
I think you and I can relate to that. I think you and I are quite often in the same
position that the disciples were. Jesus
comes into our lives. We read about the
things he said and did. We say we
believe in Jesus as our Savior. We say
we believe he was raised from the dead and is alive even today. And we’re happy about that. But we’re really not sure just what that
means for us. Sometimes we might even
feel like we should know what we’re supposed to do, but we don’t. We really don’t know what we’re supposed to
do now that we know Jesus is alive.
And too often, we do exactly what Peter and the disciples
did. We just continue with our old way
of life. It’s like none of the things we
read in the Bible about Jesus really make any difference. It’s like none of it really sinks in. We know Jesus is alive, but we’re not doing
anything with that knowledge. We just
remain who we were before.
I wonder how Jesus feels about that. He still loves us—he still loved the
disciples after all—but after all, we’ve had these gospel accounts all our
lives. We’ve read all those things Jesus
told us to do. We know them just as well
as the disciples did. In fact, we may
know them better, because instead of just hearing them once we can read them
over and over again. We know about
loving God, loving our neighbors, loving our enemies, and all that. But it’s like none of it makes any difference
to us. We know it, we believe it, but too
many times, it does not make any real impact on our lives.
But even if Jesus might be disappointed in us, Jesus does
not get mad at us. Jesus keeps working
with us and, in fact, Jesus helps us do what we’re doing. At least, that’s what he did with the
disciples. Jesus did not get mad at
Peter and the rest. He did not yell at
them. He did not say, “Hey, what do you
guys think you’re doing? Do you think I
rose from the dead so you could go fishing?
What’s the matter with you?”
No, Jesus called them his friends. And then he told them how they could do what
they were doing better. And when they
listened to him, they caught so many fish—one hundred fifty-three, to be precise—that
it was almost more than they could handle.
And when you think about it, that’s one of the things
that so amazing about how God treats us.
If we believe in Jesus as our Savior, even if sometimes we don’t
particularly do anything with that belief, even if we have not yet allowed that
belief to affect our lives in any significant way, God will still bless
us. God will still help us out. I think that’s really incredible. I think that shows the amazing love God has
for us.
And then, look at what Peter’s reaction is. At first, he does not know how this
happened. Then, he finds out that it’s
Jesus who did it. And once Peter knows
it’s Jesus, what does he do? He dives
into the water. He’s going to get to
Jesus as fast as he possibly can. He’ll
swim, he’ll run, he’ll do whatever he can to get close to Jesus again. He wants nothing more than to worship Jesus
and feel Jesus’ love again. And when he
does that, and when the other disciples come, too, Jesus is happy to spend some
time with them. In fact, it looks like
that’s what Jesus really wanted to do.
When we receive God’s help, when we feel God’s love,
that’s the reaction you and I need to have.
At first, when it seems like something went right and we don’t know why,
we may not know how it happened. But
then, if we think about it, if we open our hearts, we’ll realize it was God who
did it. And then, we need to get to God
as fast as we possibly can. We need to
do whatever it takes to get close to God.
We should want nothing more than to worship God and feel God’s love
again. And when we do that, God will be
happy to spend some time with us. In
fact, that’s what God really wants to do.
Now notice, at this point in the story, Peter still does
not know what he’s supposed to do.
Neither do any of the other disciples.
They’ll find out later, and we’ll talk about that next week, but right
now they don’t know. But at this stage,
they really don’t care. They know
they’re in the presence of Jesus, and at this moment, that’s really all they
need to know.
And I think you and I can relate to that, too. It’s okay if sometimes we don’t know what
we’re supposed to do. We’ll find out
later, at the right time. It’s okay if,
right now, we don’t know. If we’re in
the presence of God, if we know God is with us, that’s all we really need to
know, too.
So as we look at this simple story, we find, again, that
there are a lot more lessons here for us than we might have thought. One is that the knowledge that Jesus is alive
needs to change us in some way. But at
first, we may not know what that change is supposed to be. And sometimes, that’s okay. God won’t get mad at us for that. In fact, God will help us do what we’re
doing. God will help us do it better.
But when God does that, we need to be aware of it. We still may not know what we’re supposed to,
but that’s okay. We just need to stay
close to God until we do know.
Eventually, when the time is right, God will tell us what we’re supposed
to do. Until then, we just need to stay
in God’s presence and know that God is with us.
God wants to spend time with you.
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