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Third Sunday after Easter
April 22, 2007
Delivered by Reverend Sandra Stayner
Acts 9:1-19a
Revelation 5:6-14
John 21:1-14
Learning to fish on the other side of the boat
During the 50 days of Easter, the days between the day of the resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost we will begin to hear the stories that were shared among Jesus. early disciples about the incredible effect Christ.s resurrection had on their lives. At first there seemed to be an almost dreamlike quality about their experiences. Many of the appearances seemed to happen early in the morning or late at night when the sun was not up fully. The disciples were not sure whether they had really seen Christ or not. Their recognition of Christ in their midst often dawned upon them slowly, after he had been with them for awhile. They recognized him by something he did, like the way he broke bread when they were eating together. Later the disciples began to experiences Christ in their midst as they found themselves performing miracles similar to the ones Jesus had performed before his death . like the time Peter and John healed the lame man begging at the beautiful gate of the temple, or the miraculous escape of the apostles on the night an angel opened the doors to the prison in which they were incarcerated.
The story we heard today of Jesus. appearance to Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel of Cana (not Nathaniel Peters who sings in the choir!) the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples is one of the earliest resurrection appearances, while they were still trying to take in the fact that he had risen from the dead. It happens early in the morning while the mist still hangs over the water in places and a warm red glow is spreading over the horizon heralding the dawning of the day. The disciples are tired and hungry after a long hard, fruitless fishing expedition and they.re return to shore with empty nets. They see a stranger standing on the shore, unrecognizable in the grey morning light. He calls to them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat and try at least one more time. What on earth caused these experienced fishermen to listen to someone who to them was a complete stranger? Perhaps that small inner voice that so often prompts us to recognize the holy in our lives. They never do realize who Jesus is until they haul their nets in only to find them bursting with a huge catch of fish. Then comes that comical twist that makes this strange story seem so real. When Simon Peter realizes that the stranger is his beloved friend and master, Jesus, he hurriedly pulls on his clothes and leaps fully dressed into the water to swim to shore to meet him. (You can imagine how much fun the disciples had at Peter.s expense whenever that story was recounted.) The fire is laid and the embers hot by the time they get to shore with their enormous catch. And somehow as they warm themselves over the glowing embers and the delicious smell of freshly caught fish cooking over an open fire fills the air, they know that the same Jesus whom they had previously left their nets to follow, is with them again as they sit among their nets and eat together as they have done so many times before.
I wonder how many of us experience the risen Christ as we rouse ourselves in the early morning light to catch the train for work, or make breakfast for the kids and send them off to school. Perhaps there are times in our lives when we come home with empty nets like the fishermen. Our jobs are less than fulfilling. We.re in a relationship that seems to be going nowhere fast. The dreams for which we have worked so hard have faded out or died. And we.re tired. We.re tired the way the fishermen were from fishing all night long, tired of trying, tired of providing, tired of caring for elderly family members for whom one can never seem to do enough, tired of a life that is somehow devoid of meaning. Perhaps an echo in our own lives can be heard in Jesus. words to the fishermen by the shore, an echo that calls us to try fishing in a different place.
I have met people. I have friends who have responded to the divine stranger standing on the shore, sometimes out of despair, sometimes out of compassion for others, sometimes out of a desire to be engaged with God more fully. I knew someone who went through a horrible divorce and felt as if she was losing everything she had once valued. Lonely and afraid, she longed to find another soul mate with whom to share her life. Bereft and grieving she cried out to God over and over again. But the soul mate for whom she longed was not the answer to her despair. Slowly she learned to reach out in new ways. She joined a mission and traveled on a boat as an assistant to doctors who operated on cleft lips for children who were facing a life of rejection and alienation without the help she brought. A man who lost his job as vice president of a large company on wall street took a big drop in pay by accepting a lesser job in a smaller company but now has time to take his kids to their ball games on Saturdays instead of leaving his wife to drive frantically from one game to another picking up one kid and dropping off another on the way. I know a family in Texas who had so much compassion for the numerous children who are taken from unfit homes by the state that the mother of the family decided to quit work and stay home so they could take in foster children. They managed on less than they had had up to that point, but they were able to provide a loving home for children who had never before experienced what it was like to live with parents who loved them. Last week four new people were trained as lay Eucharistic ministers. Our homebound parishioners will now be able to receive communion on a more timely basis. The people in these stories have all listened to the voice of the stranger on the shore encouraging them to throw their nets in new places in the process of which they have found new life.
I suspect the stranger on the shore of lake Galilee is speaking to many of us here today, encouraging us to let go of whatever keeps us from the blessings he longs us to receive. We need to throw our nets on the other side of the boat, for only then will our nets be filled with the wriggling and writhing fish that carry an abundance of blessings. Only then will we recognize the presence of Jesus standing on the shore and share in the enjoyment of sharing a meal of fish freshly cooked over an open fire. When we have cried out to God because our nets are empty, and our nets miraculously come back filled with fish we will begin to recognize God working in our lives. We will find ourselves jumping out of the boat like Peter who was unable to wait to say thank-you to his beloved Lord.
Expect God to listen to the cries of your heart. Expect God to meet you in the midst of your daily chores. Don.t be afraid to listen to the tiny inner voice that prompts you to do something that may not seem sensible in the eyes of the world because that voice is often the voice of the risen Christ, inviting us into a new way of living, filled with miracles and feasts, deep friendships and laughter. And on this day as we remember the beauty of this earth with which we have been gifted by God, let us also remember that the task of caring for the world and all that is within it has been given into our hands. Did you know that all the plastic ever made, except what has been incinerated, is still on Earth, because plastic does not biodegrade. It does not go away. It goes, usually, to the oceans, where it is becoming part of the food chain. The rivers and the seas will only remain full of fish if we humans find a way to quit the pollution that is occurring as a result of our lifestyle. If we want God.s blessings to continue to be available to all we must all learn to fish on the other side of the boat in response to the stranger on the shore.
In the name of the risen Christ, Jesus
Amen
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