Easter 2023

Today's reading is from John 21, 1 through 14.

After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.

Simon Peter, Thomas, called the twin, Nathanael of Cana in the Galilee, in Galilee, the son of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples were together.

Simon Peter said to them, I'm 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 as that day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to them, Children, do you have any fish?

They answered him, No.

He said to them, Cast the net on 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 of the quantity of fish.

That disciple, whom Jesus loved, therefore said to Peter, It is the Lord.

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.

The other disciples came into the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.

Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have caught.

So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them.

And although there was so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast.

Now none of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you?

They knew it was the Lord.

Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.

This was not the third this now was the third time that Jesus was revealed by the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

This is the word of the Lord, please be seated.

Good morning.

He is risen.

Welcome to our uh first ever standing room-only Easter service.

This may be the last time that we can get away with having one service.

So let's uh make the most of it.

Let's do that one more time.

He is risen.

Jesus revealed himself to his disciples after the resurrection in a number of different ways.

We see him enter uh locked rooms with no real means of entrance.

We see him just walk along a road with some people and not reveal himself until the very end of that long walk, that he was the resurrected Christ.

We see Jesus first reveal himself to Mary, and he is confused by Mary for the gardener.

Now, Jesus is resurrected from the dead, having been crucified, and returning as the reigning king of the universe, King of kings, Lord of lords, to be seated at the right hand of God the Father.

I would expect a bit more fanfare.

I've in my lifetime, I've only seen one king return.

You probably all know who I'm talking about.

In 2009, Michael Jackson had not been touring for at least 10 years.

And he comes to Southeast London to announce his comeback tour.

And it is met with incredible fanfare.

The tour was called This Is It.

There's incredible promotion attached to it.

Previously scheduled programming is interrupted, all for him to walk out with a Pepsi and strangely say behind his curtain of hair, This is it.

I'm having my last, you know, I'm not gonna do a Michael Jackson impression.

So that's just the king of pop, you know.

Not even the king of kings of pop.

There's a another king of rock and roll, they have meetings together.

There's there's uh this is the return of the king of all kings.

Why these quiet little ordinary revelations that he is back from the dead?

In today's story, we see another one of those.

Those little pictures of uh how Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after he had come back from the dead.

And instead of incredible fanfare, grand announcements, you know, glorious, glorious gathering together of people to celebrate and it, you know, even times that look like this, a celebration like this on this Sunday morning, it didn't even look like this.

There was it was not standing room only, it was just off in a field.

Why is it that Jesus reveals himself that way?

With just these small little phrases.

In today's story, when Jesus reveals himself to the disciples, listen to these incredible turns of phrase that Jesus will give to us.

Do you have any fish?

He'll say.

And then gloriously the risen Christ will say to these seven men, come have breakfast.

I heard that phrase this morning.

Immortalized.

You'll get it tattooed in Greek in your fourth year of Bible college, you know, that type of thing.

Come have breakfast.

And yet, in this story, these seven men end after this interaction concluding this man is the Lord.

How could you arrive at a conclusion like that?

How could you possibly conclude that this man who you're sitting down eating breakfast with is the risen Lord?

How do you know a thing like that?

What would it take for someone to even prove that to you?

Bigger fanfare?

The most spectacular of events?

I don't think that would be sufficient.

So let's jump into our story.

Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, and the sons of Zebedee and two others are gathered by the Sea of Tiberias.

It's another name for the Sea of Galilee.

You type in both into Google Maps and they'll take you in the same place.

This group of seven disciples, what's important to recognize here is that they're no longer in Jerusalem.

They were in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.

They had entered into Jerusalem in a triumphal entry with Jesus, celebrating him as the king who was coming in to claim his throne.

But now they're not in Jerusalem anymore.

The feast is over, and the way that week started with a triumphal entry had now ended with their Lord being crucified and buried.

They are back home.

What did those last three years mean?

Jesus is dead.

What do we do now?

In verse 3, it says, Simon Peter said to them, I'm 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.

Simon Peter is usually the first of the disciples to act.

He's sort of the de facto leader of the disciples.

And they're sitting there evening.

They usually go fishing at night.

And Simon Peter says, I'm going fishing.

I can't just sit around for another night and do nothing.

I'm going to go fish.

And the rest of the disciples hear him and they agree, we'll go with you.

So they go fishing.

And that night they catch nothing.

Now, what does it mean that Simon Peter decides to go fishing?

You know, before Jesus had come into their lives, where they had spent the past three years with Jesus, these men were fishermen.

And so they went and they fished every day.

That was their job.

Now, after Jesus, since he's dead, they're sitting here trying to figure out what did these last three years with this man mean?

Because they ended in death.

And he's gone now, and all that we thought we were arcing towards has now vanished.

So what are we gonna do?

Let's just go back to fishing.

I know how to fish.

Let's just get rid of these past three years and we'll go back to fishing.

And all the other disciples are sitting, or the seven other that are sitting with Peter, say, okay, we'll go fishing with you.

And they go out that night and they catch nothing.

You know, this is worse than just a bad night of fishing.

But this is precisely the place that Jesus comes and reveals himself to these seven disciples.

And what is this place?

Their future was with Jesus.

Their future is now gone.

Their past was his fishermen.

But you know what?

They went out tonight and they caught nothing.

You can forget a lot about fishing in three years.

You know, if you don't stay with it, a lot of things change, and this or that happened.

And they come back and they have nothing.

Now, what is that moment?

That moment is where your future is gone and your past cannot be returned to.

And that is what death is.

Death is this reality that your future with this person is gone, and the past that you had with them cannot be returned to.

And they are in the dark of night, experiencing this very moment.

Our future is gone, and our past cannot be returned to.

They're fruitless in their endeavors.

Now, isn't that often the role that work plays in our lives ordinarily?

Work is this sort of coping mechanism that if it goes well, it can help us be distracted from these deep questions of life that are grounded in this reality that everyone you know will die, and you will as well.

And we all exist at different phases of this night that they worked in.

Because they went out.

Oh, finally, Peter said, Let's go fishing.

We've got something to do tonight that might take our minds off of this.

And halfway through the night, they still haven't caught anything.

And they consider, well, there's still another half of the night to go, so perhaps we might catch something then.

And then as the dawn is coming, the dawn will only reveal that their night had been fruitless and that the past that they had hoped to return to is gone.

What do their lives mean?

When we confront the reality of existence, we realize that every little pain casts a question.

I read this great commentary by this man named Peter Lightheart, and it was actually a commentary not on a book of the Bible, but on this great movie called The Tree of Life.

And he writes this to describe the question that we're forced into.

He says, Ivan Karamazov knew it, as did Kierkegaard and the author of Job before them both.

Every human loss, every pain, every undeserved tear, every act of malice puts a question mark over the cosmos.

What kind of world is this where such things happen?

If there is a God, what kind of God is this who allows such things?

Or, what seems worse, does more than allow?

This is the question that they must face on that night of not catching anything, unable to return to their past, cut off from their future.

What type of a God allows such an existence?

This is the place, this is the question in which Jesus enters their story.

This is the place, the question in which Jesus enters our story.

He meets you right here.

This is where he reveals himself.

And just like Jesus, he arrives with the breaking of the dawn into the deepest questions of our hearts.

John 21, 4 through 5.

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to them, Children, do you have any fish?

They answered him, No.

So they're just being shouted at by a man on the shore.

Do you have any fish?

Children is a is a bit of a strange translation.

It's more like guys.

Or I read one commentator said lads.

And I thought, well, that's as strange as children.

So let's go with guys.

Hey guys, do you have any fish?

It was something like that.

They said, no.

We didn't catch any fish.

They can't distinguish the man on the shore.

Jesus brings into simple, tangible, and sharp relief the reality of their situation.

He makes them say it, you have no fish.

And what does that mean?

You know, we're bad at thinking in symbols in our culture.

We like things to just be plain and explicit.

What does it mean that you have no fish?

It means that the question of life, that it ultimately ends in fruitlessness, you can experience in all sorts of tangible ways.

In ordinary broken relationships, in the sadness over the loss of a loved one, in a day at work that results in no fish.

If you're honest, you're able to be brought face to face with this question: Why is existence like this?

How does God allow for such things?

What is the character of God?

Jesus brings them explicitly face to face with this reality that they have no fish.

He said to them, verse 6, cast the net on 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 of the quantity of fish.

Now John is the first one to piece together.

You might remember the story is relayed in the other gospels.

And this is the second time that this narrative takes place, as it also took place at the calling of Peter.

And here it takes place at the end when Jesus demonstrates his resurrection.

And John is the one that pieces it together first, the one whom the Lord loved, the disciple whom the Lord loved, as John refers to himself, which is also in my email signature.

He says, I'll just read it because it's actually a very sweet moment.

In John 21, verse 7.

John 21:7

Well, John says, Hey Peter, this is Jesus.

That's Jesus.

And Peter is, it clicks for him.

After John spots it first, it clicks for Peter.

And I'll read it.

Verse 7.

That disciple whom Jesus loved, therefore said to Peter, It is the Lord.

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was tripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.

It's the same as when Forrest spots Lieutenant Dan.

He just jumps off the boat and he's into the sea because he's so he's so thrilled.

Do you see the desire in his heart?

It's the Lord.

It's the Lord.

My what had been lost, my future was gone because of his death.

I put it all on him.

My past was inaccessible.

I was surrounded by hopelessness, but with the dawn, the Lord showed up and I caught fish and I swam to see him.

This is what it is like.

Why not a I'm gonna unbutton my suit because I'm really using my hands.

Why not a larger festival?

Why not a grand gathering?

Because Christ meets you in the ordinary hopelessness of life.

If you have the courage to see the hopelessness and you allow yourself to desire, truly desire, what might heaven look like?

What if it is true that things were not supposed to be this way?

And what if it is true that God loved us so much that he might accomplish a redemption of this pain?

And then the dawn comes and a man walks on the shore and says, Cast your nets on the right side of the boat, and then you swim to him.

This is where Jesus reveals himself.

He reveals himself here because this is the nature of his mission.

It is to answer that question: what does the pain and suffering of life mean?

And more particular than that, more meaningfully than that, what does it mean about the character of God?

Can he be trusted?

Jesus comes right into that question.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread.

Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.

Well, I don't you just expect him to be like, yes, it's me.

The risen Lord.

Bring angels, bring fish, lest the hungry fisherman doubt that it is truly me.

No, he just has a meal prepared.

Charcoal fire.

The writer remembers it was charcoal that he had laid out.

And he had fish on it.

You know what that means?

He didn't need their fish.

Jesus is the one who He He is the one who provides.

He has bread laid out for them, a meal.

He asked them, Come bring your fish.

They get to participate.

It becomes a feast.

Then Jesus says to them in verse 12, these immortal words that we all know and say every resurrection Sunday.

He said to them, Come and have breakfast.

Now none of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you?

They knew it was the Lord.

Now, how do you convince someone?

What would you need?

What would you need to have happen to you for you to become convinced that the man you're sitting having breakfast with is the Lord.

What would need to happen?

Like some David Blaine stuff?

Check your phone.

It's a picture of you from last night holding this card.

It's the Lord.

No, things like that.

We see things like that.

They happen.

Jesus doesn't reveal himself in that way.

What he does is he has fish, he makes their catch work, he gives them breakfast.

He is the one serving them, and they are confessing that he is the Lord.

Listen to how it takes place.

This is so honest.

Now none of the disciples dare to ask him, who are you?

They knew it was the Lord.

Now you don't write something like that.

You don't use the word dare to ask him, unless there's a little part of the disciples that was kind of like, I want to ask him.

But why didn't they dare ask him?

Because he was there.

They knew it.

Jesus does things like this.

He feeds us, he tends to us, he enters into our hurt, he participates in our need, and he meets us in that place, and he serves us as though he were beneath us when he is higher than we could possibly imagine.

How did they know it was Jesus?

Well, how do you there are many families here together, and you don't see they you don't see everyone every day.

But how did you know it was your mother or your father that walked through the door this morning that you said hi to?

How did you know?

Because you know what it's like to recognize a person.

You know what it is to be in someone's presence.

But what does this mean that the Lord Entered into our presence, that they sat and ate a meal with him, that he died and was resurrected, that the Lord entered so deeply into our presence that we could miss him because he was so utterly ordinary.

What does that mean about our God?

What does that mean about the questions of pain and suffering in the world when Jesus enters into our presence in such a way where he takes on our very pain and our suffering?

What does it mean for Peter, the fisherman, when Jesus arrives and answers this question with his presence?

Here is what it means: it means all of the fish I've ever caught were from him.

All of the breakfasts I've ever eaten were from his hand.

Why do I know it's him?

Not because this breakfast is so different, but because this breakfast is no different.

This catch is just like the catch that Jesus gives.

He is Lord of all, Lord of all creation.

In him I live and move and have my being.

Everything that I've ever experienced, tasted, or touched has come from the hand of this man who I'm sitting having a meal with.

What does that say about the question, who is God in the midst of this?

He is the one who has entered our suffering and pain.

Now consider who is Peter here.

Peter is the one who betrayed the Lord three times as he went to the cross.

Peter is the one who, after the death of Christ, says, let's forget it happened.

We'll just go back to fishing.

Jesus is the one who doesn't gather a crowd and say something like, you know, Galilee is a small town.

I'm sure word will get out to Peter, and he'll be able to show up and see me in the depth of my glory.

No.

Jesus is the one who finds him when he's running away and gives him a meal.

And says, Come into my presence.

This is the heart of our Lord.

It is the only way to answer that question.

Now, how do you know?

How do you know such a thing?

How do you become convinced to be able to say, This man is the Lord?

That's what we're doing here today.

But how do we become convinced of such an outrageous reality that this man is the Lord?

Well, it's not so different from the way Peter became convinced.

You know, there's some folks like John, and they just piece it together.

And there's some folks like Peter, and Peter needed a friend like John who could help him piece it together.

And John says, This is the Lord.

You say, Well, yeah, but how do I know?

How do I know a thing like that?

Look at what he's done.

He entered our world.

He died on our behalf.

He's resurrected on the third day.

How do you prove a thing like that?

Look around.

We count up towards a number we don't even know from this event in history.

Look at the effects.

But you know it.

Like you know a person you're sitting across from.

Like you could know anything that is impossible.

That a dead man could be eating.

And in that you might have a hope that you in your running could be reconciled to God, all the fruitlessness of your running could be done away with, and your hope could truly be found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Here's how you know it.

It's something like this.

I think this is true.

It's almost so true that I dare not even ask.

Which is the way that you know something that you also know is it's impossible by any other metric.

But I know it like someone sitting in front of me, offering me a meal.

Here's the good news of Easter.

Our King is risen.

That he paid for our sins on the cross, but death could not hold him down.

And when he resurrects, he resurrects to gather his people to himself.

And where does he do that?

Right here.

Where is his glory made known?

Right here.

In the deepest questions of your heart.

That are answered not like the answer of a riddle, but they're answered by the arrival of one who is resurrected from the dead.

Don't you see that the deepest questions of your heart can only be answered by the resurrection of a person?

Because it is death which cuts off the future and alienates you from your past.

But resurrection answers those questions.

Because death is dead in our Lord Jesus Christ.

So today, as we come to partake of communion, come as invited to this meal.

This meal that Jesus has invited you to.

And he says, Come, have breakfast.

Come eat with me.

I have reconciled you to me.

Your sins are forgiven.

Freely come.

Let's praise the Lord.

In 1 Corinthians 11, 23, Paul writes, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Our Lord died on the cross, because the wages of sin is death.

But he took the punishment for our sin, and in his righteousness he is resurrected.

Today we celebrate his resurrection.

We celebrate this.

In Christ, death is dead.

And we together, our hope is that we might have a meal with him.

What does that meal mean?

It means that we're united to the one who has died.

And by faith, we will be united to him eternally, atoned for.

The questions of our lives are answered in him, the person of Jesus Christ.

Don't miss it because it's so ordinary.

Don't miss it because you've heard the story before.

Don't miss it because the friend that you've known for a long time is the one saying it to you, and you know too much about that friend.

Don't you see where Jesus meets you?

Don't you see what he came to redeem?

That recognizing that Christ is Lord means that we are atoned for and brought to him.

And it also means he's been Lord this whole time.

So all in your life, all the disappointments have been him prodding you, saying, Have you considered me?

All of the successes have been him showing to you, don't you realize this is all from my hands?

So he calls you to a meal with him.

This is his grace.

So let's join him in this meal.

If you are a Christian, we invite you to come and partake of communion this morning to celebrate the meal that we have with Jesus.

If you are not a Christian, this is a proclamation of our faith, so we'd ask that you would abstain.

But man, ask questions that ordinary friend or ordinary family member that brought you here this morning.

How could Christ be the answer to the deepest longings of my heart?

How could this one man be Lord?

It's all that your heart needs.

We praise him, the one who came to die, and is now King of kings.

The king has come back.

Holy Father, we pray that you would bless this meal.

That in our hearts we might come and share it with one another as we might share it with you.

Lord, that you that we would not miss you for how ordinary you reveal yourself.

How strange is resurrection.

We cannot wrap our minds around it.

But it is our hope.

Not just that Christ has risen, but that Christ is risen, reigning now, calling us to himself in the depths of our despair, meeting us in person in the very way that you called Peter to be reconciled to you.

Lord, you are worthy of honor and praise.

We lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.