The Man On The Shore                                       John 21:1-14

After the past few weeks of looking at Paul’s letters today I wanted to again look at events from Jesus life. Today’s events happen after Jesus crucifixion and resurrection. I want to look at the last verse in our reading first; Verse 14, “This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.”

Three is an important number in the Bible. In the New Testament it points to Jesus and the importance of him. John specifically points out this number to us so the Holy Spirit is telling us that what transpires here is important to take note of.

If we look at John 20 we see Jesus is recorded as approaching his disciples two times. The first time was when he entered the locked room. It was there that he told his disciples to teach others about his saving grace, how those who believe will be forgiven and those who don’t believe will not. The second time he appears to them Thomas, who was missing the first time, is present. Jesus tells them in John 20:29, “Because you have seen me, you believe, blessed are those who have not seen me and yet they believe.” The disciples were with the resurrected Jesus so they believe. But those who they reach, all of us from the future generations; we believe even though we have not seen the physical Jesus. This is true faith and the true source of our blessings; and it’s this perspective that I think gives us insight into our reading.

These men have seen Jesus. They have been given a great task by him; to continue his work of offering life to the people. Our scripture today doesn’t say they were out preaching, doesn’t say they were making plans to go preach to the masses; this scripture leads us to see them just sitting on the beach, probably discussing recent events. They should be happy Jesus is alive, but these lines don’t give us that impression, in fact they imply just the opposite. These men are depressed and worn down. They have a job to do but how are they to do it? Jesus was their leader, he was the one who inspired them, he was the one who encouraged them, Jesus was the one who brought hope, joy and peace into their lives. I can imagine them saying, “Now what are we to do without Jesus to show us?” These men were focused on what they didn’t have, and then with no easy answer in sight Peter says he’s going fishing. Being depressed and seemingly without options the others decide to go with Peter. With no solution to their problem Peter and the others went back to what was familiar; fishing. Maybe they thought they could just go back to their lives before Jesus. We’re told they fished all night and caught nothing.

We are the modern day disciples and our lives can mimic the lives of the original disciples. We can feel depressed, lost, and unsure. We can feel Jesus is nowhere to be seen because we see no easy way around the problems or circumstances in our lives. We can see friends and family distance themselves because we accept Jesus as Lord. Those close to us can push back when we talk of God and faith. Those who are close can suddenly disappear from our lives because they don’t understand when we refuse to participate in something; refuse to watch something because of our resolve in Christ. We can yearn for the way it used to be and when we do, like the disciples in our reading we can easily try to revert to old ways and habits. But like the disciples hauled in empty nets, we can find that trying to go back can leave us empty because like them we’ve already been changed by our relationship with Christ.

Verse 4,”Early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t recognize that it was Jesus.” Here’s Jesus and his disciples didn’t recognize him. There could be a number of reasons for this. There may have been fog that morning hindering their sight, perhaps the sun was in their eyes, or perhaps the Holy Spirit was preventing them from recognizing Jesus. Whatever the reason, physical or spiritual, the disciples failed to recognize Jesus when he was right there near them. Again, as the new disciples we can be like the original disciples. Whether it’s through tears of grief, whether it’s the pain of disease, whether it’s the withdrawing into ourselves because of anger or burn out; we can all not recognize Jesus when he is really right there with us.

To the disciples that morning this was just a stranger on the shore. Then in verse 6, “He said ‘throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find (fish).’” Low and behold when they did they caught so many fish they couldn’t haul in the net. If we look at this from the point of view that it was the Holy Spirit that kept them from recognizing Jesus we can see how this shows us our situation.

Jesus knew their need and he gave them blessing even though they didn’t see him. For us Jesus has ascended to the Father but he still hears us and blesses us. We may not physically see him but he will act, and just maybe by sending someone to us who gives us what we need.

Later in verse 12, “None of the disciples asked him ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.” We need to be aware with eyes open to see the Lord in our lives. When I was in Utah I took ----and ----’s dogs to the dog park. While there I met a twenty something young woman who told me that she followed her boyfriend to Utah and then he left her. She was alone, depressed and unsure of what to do next. We talked for awhile and I offered a prayer when we left. Why did I take the dogs to that park      at that time? Why did she take her dog at that time? Why did the dogs run to each other to play? Why did we start talking to each other?

I’ve learned to see Jesus moving the pieces on the chess board. He knows who needs what and he moves us into the position we need to be in. I’d like to think God put me there to help her, even a little. But I also know that God put her there to help me too. This woman in need allowed me to reach out to my neighbor, allowed me to work for God, allowed me to share God. This woman reinforced in me that what I see in scripture about reaching out to others no matter who or where they are is correct. She reinforced in me the belief that the Holy Spirit is within me and he is guiding me to do God’s work.

Back to our reading, a stranger tells the disciples to throw the net out the right side of the boat. These men are professional fishermen, they worked all night. They could have said “Don’t tell us what to do; we’ve been doing this our whole lives.” They could have said, “Yeah thanks but we know what we’re doing.” What the disciples did do was take a leap of faith and cast out the net. When they did this their blessing came.

You may never know who God sends to you. Sometimes someone will say something that you think, “That can’t be right,” but something tells you to give it a try anyway. I’m not saying just try any crazy idea someone throws at you but these men heard the voice of Jesus and it inspired and empowered them to act. Be aware and listen, Jesus will talk to you and guide you.

Sometimes it’s easy for us to ask God for something and then just sit back and wait for it to magically appear. Many times we can forget that God may point us in a direction. He may put something in our life that can gain us our blessing but we need to do our part and trust and act.

One other thing I noticed in this scenario at the beach. Jesus had been teaching them about the Kingdom of God for three years. Now after everything including his resurrection; when the disciples are down and unsure of themselves and their future, Jesus doesn’t quote scripture at them, doesn’t tell them all the things God has given them. Jesus in his compassion and empathy to their needs gave advice that was practical and relevant to their situation; drop your net on the right side of the boat. What the disciples needed most was to know God loves them and Jesus gives them this by loving them. Sometimes when we engage others for Christ we can get wrapped up in giving scripture instead of seeing their true need and responding to it.

The disciples that morning needed to be cared for and Jesus does this by simply cooking breakfast for them. Jesus knows that caring for someone’s physical needs is the best way to show God’s love.

Missionary friends of mine in the African bush will not reach people by quoting scripture while the people they are trying to reach still need clean water and medicine. The people my friends engage see God loves them because my friends love them and see their need. James 2:15-16, “Suppose a brother or sister is without cloths or food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical need, what good is it?”

This account of Jesus on the beach has a lot packed into it. It tells us that even when we feel Jesus is absent, he’s really right there with us. It tells us not to let life’s situation or our perception of lack in our lives keep us from working for ourselves and for Jesus. It shows us that following Jesus can be hard, but when it is we should try our best not to go back to old ideas and old habits.

We can see that sometimes God is working in our lives but we just don’t recognize it, and it’s probably because the aide came from an unexpected place.

And last, we are shown that working for Christ doesn’t necessarily mean we just quote scripture at someone. Working for Christ is a demonstration of God and his love, and we do this best when we are compassionate, interested and empathetic to one another, giving someone what they need now and showing them God’s love for them by our love for them.

Amen