Our Gospel message comes to us today from John the 21st chapter, beginning at the 1st verse.
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21:1-14, NRSV)
All mighty God, we thank you for your word and the way that you in it revealed to us who you are and what you've done for us in Christ. Now as we open that word we pray that your spirit may be present, that all thoughts of worry or distraction may be removed and that the Spirit will allow us to hear your voice. And so, oh God, fill us with your spirit through the reading and proclamation of your word this day. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
“One Hundred Fifty-Three Life-Changing Fish”
What are the numbers that that are most important or most memorable in your life? I suppose many of us would answer that question practically — we’d think of our PIN or Social Security numbers. Others of us would answer sentimentally — maybe a girlfriend’s phone number, a wedding date, or a once-in-a lifetime bowling or golf score. There are, of course, negative numbers in our lives, too — debts to pay, losing scores, and unpleasant anniversaries like 9/11 — but those we usually would rather forget.
Now if I were to ask the average Christian to tell me the most important or memorable numbers from the Bible, I’d probably hear a lot of 12s and 40s and 3s — 12 Sons and Tribes of Israel, 12 Disciples; 40 Days of Rain in the flood, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness for the Israelites, Jesus being tested in the desert 40 days; and Jesus’ rising on the third day, Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days; and so on. And of course we have the 10 Commandments, and the feeding of the 5000 — and an entire book of the Bible called “Numbers.”
But I imagine that few Christians would readily remember a number that very obviously stuck in the Apostle John’s mind and that he felt was important enough to record in our Gospel today. John did not tell us that the net was just “full of fish,” or that they caught “many fish”, or “over 150” fish — no, he gave us the exact number, 153. People throughout the ages have tried to find some symbolic value in that number, but that’s missing the point. The number was very important and very memorable for John and the other disciples because those 153 large fish were the very real evidence of a miracle — a miracle that Jesus used to inspire and assure them as he sent them out, on their own, as his servants and apostles. Lying there in the net, they might not have seemed like anything but ordinary fish, but once you considered how and why they got there and filled that net, you would have realized: those were 153 life-changing fish.
Life-changing, in the first place, because of Who put them there. This was not dumb luck, and it wasn’t because Jesus just happened to know where the fish were that morning. This was a miracle from God, and it was Jesus Christ the living Son of the living God who had caused these 153 fish to fill the disciples’ net. But the first life-changing thing about this miracle was simply that Jesus was there.
Now, we tend to just kind of take that for granted as part of the story — it’s about Jesus, and so of course Jesus is at the center of it. But the only reason the Holy Spirit really has for telling us anything that happened after Christ’s resurrection and before his ascension is to show us what Jesus was doing for his disciples — for the people he was leaving in charge of his work and his mission. And so it’s significant that Jesus came to these seven disciples that very normal morning as they did something that was very normal for them — fishing. They were fishermen; they were fishing. He met them where they were, doing the ordinary things of their lives, and even gave them a rather ordinary breakfast of bread and fish. And the lesson of his presence there is especially important for Christ’s disciples, then and now.
You see, we have a tendency to forget — or at least we fail to fully appreciate — what Jesus really meant when he promised he would always be with us. We don’t look to him — or for him — in the ordinary and common events of our lives. Instead, we often only look for Jesus when we’re facing the storms of our lives or undertaking some new or big project, reserving him for when we “really need” him. But even though the crises of our lives might be the things we remember most, it’s in the common and ordinary that we most need to see Jesus. It’s where the rubber of Christian faith meets the road of daily life.
We can compare it, perhaps, to the relationship between a husband and wife. If you want to see evidence of a strong and healthy marriage, you don’t look so much at the ups and downs as at the in-betweens. Sure, how she treats him in a moment of crisis and the things he gives her on special occasions to show her his love are important, but is he “there” for her with his love as much in dealing with the everyday details of running a household as he’s “there” for her when grief or illness strikes? And does she respect him as much in the little decisions he makes as she does with the big family decisions she’s glad he takes responsibility for? The true test and proof of love and trust between husband and wife is in their day-to-day behavior and conversation.
In the same way, we have real proof of God’s love for us in Jesus’ everyday presence and involvement in our lives. Now, maybe he doesn’t come to all of us while we’re out fishing, but he’s there for us everyday when we go to class, sit down at our desks, or take our places behind a counter or assembly line. He is, and wants to be, involved in our lives — not just as a divine insurance policy or last resort, but as our constant companion and friend, as we sit down at meals, as we talk with our family and friends, as we do chores, and even as we brush our teeth.
Jesus’ disciples weren’t doing anything extraordinary that morning, but Jesus met them and blessed them where they were. Those 153 fish remind us that he wants to do the same for us — to bless us extraordinarily in ordinary times and places.
But we could also turn that idea around and say that those fish also lead us to ordinarily expect the extraordinary from our Lord. Because if this miracle made anything clear to the disciples, it was that their loving and faithful God had both the power and the intention to take care of their every need, no matter what.
We could call this appearance of Christ to his disciples “Part Two” of his equipping them for the ministry and mission he had called them to. We looked at “Part One” last week, where Jesus gave them what they needed spiritually — he gave them the Holy Spirit to strengthen their faith and guide them, and he gave them the forgiveness of sins — for their own comfort and as their message to proclaim wherever he sent them.
Now, as we read the gospel, did you notice the first two disciples mentioned here? Simon Peter — the denier — and Thomas — the doubter. Their presence reminds us of how much the disciples, just like us, truly needed the love and forgiveness that their risen Lord and Savior offered them. These were not perfect disciples with perfect faith whom Jesus was now rewarding with a perfect catch of fish; these, rather, were sinners like you and me and everybody on this planet, who had no way of saving themselves or making up for all the ways in which they had offended, denied, or doubted God.
Everything Jesus did for them and does for us flows entirely and purely from God’s grace — his undeserved love for undeserving sinners. He can come to them and bless them now because their sins have been taken away — the offense is gone — he washed them away with his blood on the cross. He took your sins away, too — every wrong thing you’ve done and every right thing you haven’t done. No guilt remains. He has given you everything you need for eternal life with God in heaven.
But he doesn’t stop his giving there. He also promises to give us everything we need for our lives — and service — here on earth.
That’s what this miracle assured the disciples of. Their Lord was not just going to be the guy who came through for them in an emergency — he was going to take care of their physical and material needs all the time. And if he could do it with the extraordinary — with miracles — then they could most certainly count on him to also take care of them through ordinary means.
Some Christians miss part of this lesson. They look only for miracles, and they end up lurching from one crisis to the next, asking for and expecting God’s blessings only when their needs begin to overwhelm them. They fail to understand that God will take care of all their needs all the time.
Those 153 fish can really change your life when you take hold of their lesson, because they mean that God has given us a blank check. Whatever you need, you’ve got — it’s yours. You can trust your Father in heaven to give you your daily bread — and fish. You can follow Jesus without fear or worry — not only are all your spiritual needs met perfectly in him, but your physical needs as well. So, you will still have food to eat if you give money to church. Your health won’t collapse if you get up an hour or two earlier on Sunday morning. You’ll survive the loss of your job if your employer looks wrong at your doing what is right.
This is the same confidence that empowers and enables Christians to still work and witness for Christ in countries that do not have true freedom of religion, even though these believers may lose not just their jobs, but their homes, their health, and maybe even their lives. And this same confidence in our Lord can inspire and lead us no matter what we are facing, no matter what happens. The Lord will take care of His church, and He will take care of those who give to it, of their time, their money, their everything. Why? Because it is His work we are doing, and we are His people.
There’s one more life-changing lesson worth learning from those 153 fish, and that’s that Christ repeats his miracles in our lives. One of the ways that the disciples were able to figure out that it was Jesus standing on the shore was that the way in which this miracle came about was almost identical to one Jesus performed at the beginning of his ministry — the one right before he called them to be “Fishers of Men.” The repetition of this miracle would have strengthened them, in both faith and determination, as they got closer to the time when they would indeed go out, on their own, into the world to catch men for Christ.
We should expect God to do similar things in our lives. He has not set any kind of “only one kind of miracle per person per lifetime” help limit. And so we don’t want to ever lower our expectations of him, as though he says, “Nope, sorry — I already helped you out of that jam once already decade. Don’t even bother asking — you’ll have to wait a long time before I do that for you again.” No. There are no limits.
No, if God has blessed you once — and he has, abundantly — he will bless you again. You can count on it. And if you ever find yourself forgetting or doubting it, just remember those 153 life-changing fish.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you are fishing for humans to save. Make us your fishers and fill our nets with all whom you are bringing into your boat. We pray in your name. Amen.
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The Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. Sermon contributed by Rev. Jeff Samelson.
With his appearance and miracle by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus assures his disciples of everything they will need to keep on following him and be fishers of men.
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