Materials

Gospel of John, #11


Ordinary Places
Extraordinary Presence
John 21:01-14
by R. Todd Bouldin


It had been a long week for Peter. First there was those three people asking him about his association with Jesus, and he denied he even knew Him. It takes a lot of energy to lie, especially three times, about someone you love that much. Then there was the arrest and crucifixion. All the guilt, the broken dreams, the loss of someone dear. About the time Peter was ready to confront his grief, Mary Magdalene dragged him to the tomb, and it was empty. If it had not been a confusing week already, then the risen Jesus appeared in a room where the disciples were staying, and he said, “Peace be with you.” A week later He reappeared to Thomas, then He disappeared again. There were those remarkable moments when His Presence was so keenly felt, but most of the time it just seemed Jesus was absent.

Prayer

So Peter had to be thinking, “He’s alive. He’s dead. He’s here. He’s gone. He’s here. He’s gone again.” You can’t live that way for long. It plays tricks with you, and it’s too much to handle. We want consistency at the end of the day when it comes to God.

It’s interesting that throughout the Gospels, when Peter is ready to blow a fuse, he goes fishing. And so on this early morning, Peter goes fishing again, maybe thinking that it was time to go back to his old profession and give up on this kingdom stuff. Maybe it was just fun, or perhaps a way to clear the brain. He talks about half of the disciples into going with him. Fishing was Peter’s fall back plan, it’s what he was doing before he met Jesus, and it was what he planned on doing if the Messiah thing didn’t work out too well. It was what Peter did when he doubted. It was his grad school option.

We all know that the fishing boats in our lives won’t save us, but there are times we are tempted to return there again hoping to save our lives. Have you noticed that every time the disciples return to fishing out of frustration with Jesus that the fishing trips are never too successful? They never catch any fish. Enough said.

After another night of fishing all night at sea and catching nothing, the boat was coming close to the shore and there was a man on the shore telling them to cast the net on the other side of the boat. After a long night of catching nothing, the last thing you want to hear is someone on the shore telling you how it’s done. It’ just like Jesus to say, “Go, try again.”

Of course, this time they caught so many fish that they couldn’t pull up the net. It wasn’t because they had been doing anything wrong before now. It wasn’t because one side of the boat was better than the other. The only thing that had changed was that now the risen Jesus was in their midst, and that means anything can happen. Ordinary work can become extraordinary work when the Presence of Jesus is there to bless it and multiply it.

If there was any doubt that it was Jesus when they heard the instructions to go back again, they knew it was Jesus when they saw the net bulging with fish. John said, “It is The Lord!” Peter didn’t say a word. There was no need for words. He just dove into the water, and he swam to be with Jesus on the shore. Now it’s interesting that John tells us that he got dressed before jumping into the water. I thought it was supposed to be just the opposite. Maybe he thought that it was time to get back to the real work to which he was called. Every time in the Gospel of John that a miracle, or to use John’s language, a “sign”, happens, it was either for someone hungry or sick, or when Jesus was commissioning His disciples to do something for the crowd. So after all of these fish appeared, maybe Peter thought Jesus was ready to put him to work. Regardless of the reason, Peter never let a little water keep him from Jesus. He doesn’t care if he has to swim in the water or walk on it, he is going to get to Jesus as quickly as he can. Moments like this are precious and important, and who knows, he may disappear again.

But when the disciples all get to shore, there are no hungry people to be fed, there are no sick people to heal, and there is no mission to fulfill. There is just Jesus standing alone by a small campfire with some warm bread and fish ready for them. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? It was one of the signs of Jesus – the multiplying of two loaves and the fish – and now they are sitting down to that common meal again, at breakfast with the risen Savior. It may have seemed like a pretty common meal, but any meal that God prepares for you is not common. It is extraordinary.

But Jesus does not just serve you a creative miracle on a platter and dispose of your work. The risen Jesus also wants to include the fish you caught too. If you have ever known many fishermen, you will know that they love to talk about how many fish they caught. I think that must be the reason that John tells us exactly how many: 153. Jerome claimed that 153 was the number of species of fish in the water, and Augustine engaged in some mathematical gymnastics to arrive at a number representing the Trinity. But I think John just remembered because people who love to catch fish always remember the number. So Jesus calls them to bring some of their fish to Him, and He invites them, “Come and have breakfast.”

We often see Jesus dining with people throughout the Gospels, and particularly in Luke where Jesus often dined with those the religious culture felt were immoral and outside the blessing of God. But I can’t recall any time where Jesus had breakfast with someone. Breakfast is the most ordinary of all our meals. We eat it on the run, we eat whatever we can find, and we rarely eat it with anyone else. But Jesus calls His disciples around Himself for this intimate time where they could finally be together again – just Jesus and them – away from the crowds and after days of confusion and stress. And here He cared for them, fed them and even took some of the fruit of their work and turned it into a moment of blessing and love.

It wasn’t what the disciples were expecting. They were used to a Messiah on a mission, someone who always wanted something from them, someone who called them to some work. It’s easy to forget in the midst of the mission that Jesus also cares for you. Many of us find it easy to believe that Jesus cares about the world or about the poor, but we struggle to believe that He cares for us. Jesus isn’t just preoccupied with the great things like saving the world, feeding the poor and healing the sick. He’s preoccupied too with you, and there is a miracle waiting just for you. There is a moment, and it may seem like the most ordinary of moments, where He is waiting to commune with you. If you don’t believe that, then you will never be ready to feed His sheep or minister to the crowds. You will need too much from them.

Throughout the first 11 chapters of John’s Gospel, Jesus performs seven “signs” to call people to belief. I love the fact that John calls these miracles “signs”. They are signs of the Presence of God in the world. To call these signs a “miracle” would mean that God showed up in an extraordinary way in an ordinary moment. But I believe John calls these works of Jesus “signs” because John knows that all ordinary moments are extraordinary when the Presence of Jesus is around. Every moment where Jesus is present is pregnant with possibilities for so much more. That includes those times around your dinner table at home, or in the SUV on the way to school in the morning, or around the water cooler at work, or in those moments when you create something from your heart, or even at a church budget meeting. As Forrest Gump says, “You never know what you’re going to get.”

So here at the end of John’s Gospel, this side of cross and resurrection, he returns to one more sign. But this sign was not something glamorous for the crowd to see. It was an invitation to intimacy just for you to experience. It was a sign that claimed the promise of Incarnation: that now the Presence of God is made manifest in the creation, that now the world is being redeemed by Christ, that now the ordinary is brimming with majesty, beauty and power.

You have to remember that after what seems like just another exhausting and long day of work, caring for the kids, and trying to do something productive for God too. You have to remember that He knows the hopes you had for Him that He hasn’t fulfilled. He knows the hard work you are doing that seems to yield no result. Even your fall back plan isn’t working too well. And so He shows up in unexpected places to tell you that you’re not alone, that you too are invited to communion with Him, and to tell you that there’s so much more than what you see. There’s never just nothing happening. The whole world is full of the Presence of God, and you never know when the moment you are in may just be the moment of communion.

This is one aspect of the communion we celebrate. In the ordinary bread and cup, we find the Presence of Jesus who calls us into intimacy with Him. And from this meal, we go forth to celebrate that now this Presence has come to live in and among us so that He is with us in every meal, in all of our creating, in all of our work, and in all the ordinary details of our lives. All you need to hear is His gracious invitation. “Come, come to the feast.” It’s not for the crowds. That’s for another day. This sign is for you.




April 30, 2006

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