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"Gone Fishing"

by Reverend Marlaena Cochran

This morning is the Second Sunday of Easter. Many are surprised to learn that Easter is a season in the church calendar. Easter is not only a great feast day, Easter Sunday, but a season of fifty days extending the celebration of Easter through the Day of Pentecost (May 19th this year). 

It’s a good thing Easter is a season and not just a day because some resurrections take time. Like the coming of spring, some resurrections happen gradually; they are not overnight sensations. And yet somehow, we need to experience these as miracles too. Fortunately, the Easter season (fifty days, eight Sundays, seven weeks - however you want to look at it) is longer than Lent because there are some areas of our lives where resurrection takes longer than dying. (Ruth Haley Barton) 

The Easter season invites us to pause and reflect on where we have been, where we are going, and where we are in this very moment. Where are we in the rhythm of death and life? And how are we experiencing the miracle of resurrection? 

As we come to our Scripture text for this morning, reflect on where the disciples have been:

·      The disciples are coming from three years with Jesus and all that they have seen and heard along the way (healing, miracles, challenges, and confrontations).

·      The disciples are coming from the events of Holy Week, and the suffering and death of Jesus. They are also facing their failures and the death of their hopes and dreams.

·      The disciples are coming from the resurrection stories, surprising encounters with Jesus at the garden tomb and behind locked doors while hiding in fear and doubt.  

As you hear these words, invite you to imagine the scene. 

Read John 21:1-14 

I have been steeping in this Scripture off and on over the years and appreciate the thoughts of theological scholar Dale Bruner in his commentary on John. Bruner highlights four words of Jesus from this passage, giving each a contemporary paraphrase. These four words will form an outline of our reflection together this morning.  

Jesus’ First Word: How are you doing? 

v. 5 - Jesus called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. 

Jesus is interested in how the disciples are doing. 

The disciples have gone fishing. They have gone back to the familiar, to what they know. They needed some time and space to assimilate all that they had experienced. This is a natural human response.  

In our contemporary lingo, the phrase “gone fishing” can also mean checking out temporarily from reality, dropping the duties of daily life and doing something else. 

The experience of sensory and emotional overload can overwhelm the human spirit, and many people will in such times seek comfort, almost mindlessly, in a variety of familiar activities. Some find refuge outdoors, planting in the garden or long walks in woods. Others may go shopping. Some escape by losing themselves in television or late nights at the office. 

For whatever reason we have “gone fishing,” Jesus appears, wherever we are, and asks, “How are you doing?”  

For me personally, living in the “both/and of life”

Where are you this morning? How are you doing? What word or phrase would you use? 

Jesus’ Second Word: I’ve Got an Idea!  

v. 6 – Jesus said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” 

Jesus offers a suggestion in response to their response. Note that Jesus’ suggestion is an “other side” response, an invitation to do or consider something different. (A commentator on this text also notes that the disciples never catch a fish in any of the Gospels without the help of Jesus.) In this season of resurrection, are we open and receptive to something new? 

One of my personal “classic” books is "When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions" by Sue Monk Kidd. The book is her autobiographical account of her spiritual journey and God's work of soul-making during life's passages, especially the mid-life years. 

Sue writes about the diapause – a state of dormancy or delay; and she says the spiritual diapause is a state of clinging, of grasping for what we know. She writes, "It seems that at the moment of our greatest possibility, a desperate clinging rises up in us. We make a valiant attempt to save our old life. This clinging creates a shrinking within the soul, a shrinking of possibility and growth. When we're caught in the diapause, we're desperate to shrink away from change and we end up shrinking ourselves." 

In this season of resurrection, what do we need to let go of? And what do we need to take hold of? Are we willing to cast our nets on the other side? 

Jesus’ Third Word: I’d Like to Use What You Have! 

v. 10 - Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 

Jesus is interested in what we do and not only wants to see what we have to offer; Jesus wants to use our offerings in his work in our world.  

Early in my ministry, I helped people discover their natural abilities, spiritual gifts, personality type and strengths. I was initially surprised by how many believed they had little to offer in service to the church and world. And then I lived a little more of life and experienced how many of us have seasons where we ask the question – what do I have to offer to Jesus, others and the world?  

In this season of resurrection, how might we encourage and call out each other’s gifts and abilities, and the truth of who God has created us to be.  

Who are we? A few years ago, I had a lengthy interaction with my community of faith at the time, especially the women in our community, around a short poem/prayer. I had read this prayer while on a silent retreat. 

O God, help me, to believe, the truth about myself, no matter, how . . . . beautiful it is. (From Seasons of the Soul by Macrina Wiederkehr) 

When I first read the prayer, the last line took me aback, for those were not the words I was expecting to read. There are other words that I most likely would use, words that were not so kind, and I reflected on why that is. What words would you use? What words might the disciples who had “gone fishing” use? 

In this season of resurrection, I am grateful for words that call out our beauty and our giftedness, words that speak life and not death. 

Jesus’ Fourth Word: Let’s Have a Meal Together 

v. 12 - Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” 

Something personal and intimate about this invitation from Jesus – sharing a meal together. And yet not only something personal and intimate, also something miraculous and mysterious. It is a meal of overflowing abundance and echoes of the Eucharist.  

This early morning meal on the seashore reminds us that the Last Supper was NOT the final meal Jesus ate with his disciples. The risen Jesus continues to share in the meal we celebrate in his name, in the table fellowship of the church. Jesus continues to supply the strength and nurture we need for our lives and work. 

When we gather around the table, we not only experience communion with God through Jesus Christ, but we also experience communion with all who are in the body of Christ – all those who are gathering today, and all those who have come before us and who will come after us. In the great mystery of the Holy Spirit binding together the church, we are all one. We are all interconnected and we all come wherever we are in the rhythm of death and life. 

In this season of resurrection, maybe other gatherings around a table are also coming to mind. Gatherings that call us into community with one another in the way of Jesus. Gatherings which may include conversations about everyday life, family, the weather . . . gatherings where when someone asks how we are doing, and our answer is more truthful and honest than our usual “fine.”  

“It is the Lord” 

The disciple’s response to these four words of Jesus is “It is the Lord!” 

Bruner suggests that revelation is the theme of this Scripture story; a revelation, or showing, of Jesus through Word and Sacrament. And the response to this revelation is a recognition of God’s presence with us, in the risen one, Jesus Christ. “It is the Lord!” 

In this season of resurrection, where are you seeing the presence of Jesus? Where are you saying, “It is the Lord!”  

And how can we help each other respond? In our text, John is the one who first recognized Jesus, and Peter is the first to come to him. Peter needed John’s awareness and John needed Peter’s action.  

As we walk further into this season of resurrection, how can we help each other be aware of and act upon these words of Jesus: 

How are you doing?

I’ve Got an Idea!

I’d Like to Use What You Have!

Let’s Have a Meal Together 

My prayer is that we all are able to respond – It is the Lord!