Sermon

John 21:1-14

Come, Break the Fast

By Dr. Philip W. McLarty

Just two weeks ago we celebrated Easter and the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  We rehearsed the drama leading up to the moment when Mary Magdalene and the others reached the tomb, found the stone rolled away and heard the Good News, “He is not here, he is risen.”  And, as Christians have done for nearly 2,000 years now, we added our own voices to the chorus, as we shouted in response, “He is risen, indeed!”

But that was two weeks ago.  What happened after that?  As Paul Harvey might ask, “What’s the rest of the story?”

The gospel vary.  According to Luke, Jesus appeared to two men, one named Cleopas, on the road to Emmaus the afternoon of the resurrection.  He went to their home, and when he broke bread with them, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. (Lk. 24:31)

According to John, Jesus appeared to the disciples that evening as they were gathered behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. (20:19-25)  Thomas, you may remember, was absent.  John goes on to say that Jesus appeared again in the same place a week later. (20:26-29) This time Thomas was there, and he got to see for himself the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and feet.  “Don’t be unbelieving, but believing,” Jesus said.  (20:27)

According to Paul, Jesus appeared to more than five hundred people at one time (1 Cor. 15:5-6), but he doesn’t say when this appearance took place or where. In the Book of Acts, we’re told that Jesus made numerous appearances over the course of forty days, “showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs” (Acts 1:3)

From all indications, though, the final appearance of Jesus happened much later, and it took place, not in and around Jerusalem like the others, but near the Sea of Galilee, a hundred miles to the north. It’s this post-resurrection appearance I’d like to take a closer look at today.  My hope is that we’ll be able to see this appearance, not so much as an isolated event locked in history, but as a paradigm of how Jesus continues to appear to his disciples even today.  The text begins simply,

“After these things,
Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples
at the sea of Tiberias” (21:1).

We take that to mean, after all of the other appearances had ceased.  We don’t know how much time has lapsed.  It could’ve been weeks, even months later.  For one thing, it would’ve taken the disciples about five days to get to Galilee from Jerusalem.  If they had waited in Jerusalem until all the other appearances were over, it would’ve been a couple of months later, perhaps even longer.

Then there’s the number of disciples named here.  John mentions only seven.  Where are the others?  This, plus the fact that Galilee was home for the disciples, leads us to suspect that this story took place long enough after the resurrection that faith had begun to wear thin, that the remaining disciples had returned to Galilee, not to wait for Jesus, but to pick up the broken pieces of their lives.  So, when Peter announced to the others, “I’m going fishing,” what he meant by that was, “I’m going back to fishing” – back to my old way of life – to which the other disciples responded, “We are also coming with you.” (21:3)

I don’t know about you, but I can identify with Peter.  I’ve been down that road before.  There have been times in my life when God seemed to be so near, so abundant, so awesome, and there have been other times when God seemed distant and far away.  There have been times when my prayers seemed to yield an immediate, tangible response, and there have been times when they seemed to have gone unanswered altogether.  And so, I can identify with Peter and the others and the anguish they must have felt as they reluctantly let go of the unfulfilled promises and unrealized hopes and dreams of their life with Jesus.

Face it, sometimes you just want to throw in the towel and shuck it all, and if that’s where you find yourself today, take heart.  There have been lots of others who’ve been down that road before you.  The Good News is that God is faithful and abounding in steadfast love, and even during those times when we feel discouraged and impatient and that all hope is lost, God comes to us and calls us back into fellowship with himself.  We’ll see this played out in the story in just a moment.  For now, John says,

“They immediately went out, and entered into the boat.
That night, they caught nothing” (21:3).

This is what happens when we give up on God and strike out on our own.  We spend a lot of time and effort and, often, a lot of money, without anything to show for it in return.  The psalmist said it best,

“Unless (God) builds the house,
They labor in vain to build it” (Psalm 127:1).

Several years ago, when the boys were in elementary and junior high, I dropped by the school one day to deliver a forgotten lunch box or something, and as I waited around the office area, I noticed a large bulletin board decorated like a race track with all the cars headed around a large oval.  The caption read, “First 6-weeks Honor Roll – off to a good start!”  Pretty clever, I thought to myself.

But as I stood there, I couldn’t help but think how much better it would be if the cars were going somewhere, if there were some common destination on the horizon – the pursuit of knowledge, for example – to which they were all headed.  Well, it’s only an analogy, yet it’s worth considering because, in the game of life, once you lose sight of where you’re headed; once you stop listening for God’s voice and seeking God’s will for your life; you start going round and round, faster and faster, spinning in circles, but getting nowhere.

When you find yourself out of synch with God’s will for your life, nothing seems to go right.  Everything is uncoordinated and in conflict with itself.  Only as you get back into the flow of God’s Spirit leading your life will things start to fall into place again.  Jesus said,

“Seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness;
and all these things will be given to you as well”
(Matthew 6:33).

John goes on to say,

“But when day had already come, Jesus stood on the beach,
yet the disciples didn’t know that it was Jesus.
Jesus therefore said to them,
‘Children, have you anything to eat?’

They answered him, “No.”

He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat,
and you will find some.'”

They cast it therefore,
and now they weren’t able to draw it in
for the multitude of fish” (21:4-6).

Two obvious questions come to mind here: One, why weren’t the disciples able to recognize Jesus?  Two, what did Jesus know about fishing anyway?  Both can be answered on two levels.  On the surface level, the disciples weren’t able to recognize Jesus because the dawn was just breaking.  The sky was at that stage between darkness and light which is the hardest time of the day to see.

But on a deeper level, they didn’t recognize Jesus because he had not yet revealed himself to them.  Remember Mary in the garden? (Jn. 20:14)  Only as Jesus called her by name was she able to recognize him in the face of the gardener.  One of my favorite hymns puts it this way,

“No one can truly say that Jesus is the Lord,
Unless Thou take the veil away and breathe the living Word;
Then, only then, do we feel an interest in his blood
And cry with joy unspeakable, ‘Thou art my Lord, my God!’”
Spirit of Faith, Come Down)

God comes to us and reveals himself to us only as God chooses.  As for how Jesus knew where the fish were biting, on a practical level, schools of fish on the Sea of Galilee are often easier to spot from the bank than out on the water.  We had this pointed out to us several times on a preaching seminar I once took in Galilee.

But again, on the level of faith, what’s important here is that, in spite of their fatigue, the disciples were willing to take Jesus at his word and throw out their nets once more.  When they did, “Their nets were filled with great big fishes!” as the little children’s song goes.

They caught fish, not because they got lucky, but because they listened to the Lord.  And the question each of us must ask ourselves is this: Am I willing to listen for the voice of God and act on faith alone?  Well, by now, you can see that this story is not about fishing at all, but trusting in the sovereignty of God.  John continues,

“That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It’s the Lord!’
So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he wrapped his coat around him (for he was naked),
and threw himself into the sea” (21:7).

Now, why on earth would Peter, stripped for work, put on his robe and dive into the sea?  His robe would’ve only weighted him down.  In his commentary on John, Raymond Brown suggests that this should be read symbolically, that when Peter recognized the Lord standing on the shore, he put back on his mantle of responsibility as a disciple of Jesus Christ and re-entered the waters of his baptism.  That ought to give you something to talk about over lunch today!

John says the disciples landed the boat and dragged the fish up on the beach and gathered around Jesus.  I picture this scene in my mind as a quiet time.  Not a time for back slapping and high fives, but a somber time, a time of subdued emotion, reverence and awe – and perhaps, a twinge of embarrassment and shame.  John says,

“So when they got out on the land,
they saw a fire of coals there,
and fish laid on it, and bread” (21:9).

Already, we get a sense of what’s coming, don’t we?  Months earlier, Jesus fed a whole multitude near this very spot with five loaves and two fish. (Mk. 6:35-44) Up in Jerusalem, he’d fed the disciples with a loaf of bread and a chalice of wine.  He was about to feed them once more.  He must have known they were hungry. Perhaps hungrier than they had ever been before.  Not simply because they’d been out fishing all night, but because it’d been a long time since they’d tasted the bread of life.

His invitation was simple: “Come and eat breakfast.” (21:12)  Which is to say, “Come, break the fast.”  Come and eat.  Satisfy the longing of your soul for nourishment and sustenance and life in all its abundance. Strengthen yourselves for the days ahead.  John says,

“Then Jesus came and took the bread,
gave it to them,
and the fish likewise” (21:13).

They ate together, Jesus and his disciples.  In time, they went back to Jerusalem and bore witness to the living Christ and continued his work of feeding the hungry, healing the sick and proclaiming the Good News of God’s Kingdom.  And they continued to share communion with Jesus every time they gathered together to worship God and break bread in his name.  To this day, when we break the bread and share the cup of Holy Communion, we celebrate the Good News that the risen Christ is among us.  He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!

I’d like to end on a personal note and ask where do you stand in relationship with the Lord today?  Are you presently in close communion with God in Christ, or, like the disciples out on the Sea of Galilee, have you decided to pursue your own course and do things your own way?

Perhaps you haven’t made a conscious decision to strike out on your own, but you’ve become lax in your relationship to God.  We used to call this backsliding, slacking off in your Christian commitment.  An active and vital faith requires a lot of self-discipline and intentional effort, you know, doing those things that are pleasing to God and abstaining from those things that separate us from God.  Well, are you as close to God now as you’ve been in the past, or as you’d like to be in the future?

Or, perhaps the problem is that you’ve become too busy with other things to have a meaningful relationship with the Lord; like the cars on the race track, you’re going in circles, round and round, faster and faster, but getting nowhere; trying to keep pace with the world around you instead of flowing smoothly, gently with the Spirit of God.

Does any of this strike a chord with you?  If so, listen up: If you’ve been away from the well-spring of God’s Spirit and it’s been a while since you’ve tasted the goodness of God’s grace and love, now’s your chance to come home.

Come, break the fast. Feast on the riches of God’s love.  Satisfy the longing of your soul for sustenance and life.  The living Christ is among us, and you’re invited into lasting communion and fellowship with him. Break the fast.  Hunger no more.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

Copyright 2007 Philip McLarty.  Used by permission.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public domain (no copyright) modern English translation of the Holy Bible.