Sunday: The 3rd Sunday of Easter
Reading: John 21:1-19
Preacher: Peter C. Lane

You've got to love what you learn in the bible. For instance, Peter fished naked. Did everybody fish naked in the first century? Are we called to fish naked? Do you know what else? Peter put on his clothes to go swimming. Did everybody put on his or her clothes before jumping into the lake in the 1st century? Weird. Actually, not weird. Peter was faced with the Risen Lord. Actually that explains all the behavior except the fishing naked, which is still weird. The mysterious presence of the Risen Lord hit him like a ton of bricks or more accurately maybe like an important dream, like one of Joseph's dreams. This gospel passage evokes something real but with sharp transitions, has lots of mystery, includes elements of specific detail, and offers deep resonances. Nothing quite fits together the way we are used to it fitting together, and yet there is real truth and insight to be found there. It is like a dream. Breaking up our passage into three parts I think we will see in this dream something about abundance, something about sight, and something about the re-forming of community.

The first part is the appearance of Jesus at the Sea and the miraculous catch of fish. The last time Jesus was in Galilee at this Sea was back in John chapter 6 when Jesus took the loaves and made them multiply. Back then, Peter spoke for the twelve and he takes the lead again here, proposing fishing. "I am going fishing." You know, part of the dream-like character of this resurrection narrative is that, so soon after the resurrection, so soon after being charged and sent out, these guys are fishing. That is exactly what they were doing before this Jesus fellow ever showed up. Has nothing changed? Well, whatever, they are not very successful. Their nets are empty. Then at dawn Jesus is mysteriously present on the shore with advice on where the fish are biting. Even though John tells us that this is the third resurrection appearance, even though Thomas was invited to stick his hand deep into Jesus' side, the disciples still do not recognize him. The instruction to fish on the right side comes from a random dude. But it is not random advice. After Jesus gives his encouragement, these disciples catch a huge amount of fish and by huge, I mean, 153. Why that number? I don't know, but it does get one disciple to recognize Jesus. That vivid detail suggests to me that there is extraordinary abundance when God gets involved. It mirrors Cana's hundreds of gallons of wine from chapter two and the twelve baskets of food left over at the feeding of the 5,000 in chapter six. There is extraordinary abundance when God gets involved.

The second part is the meal of bread and fish shared by the disciples and Jesus. This is so closely tied to the fishing and yet somehow a different scene. It is quite amazing at this point that some of the disciples still don't recognize Jesus. I mean, what is going on? Only when Jesus says, "Come and have breakfast" do they see. There is something about eating. There is something about knowing God in community around food that is just the thing. You want to know God? Be in community and eat. That is why we gather around this table, gather around the tables downstairs, why some will gather in our kitchen at one o'clock to make soup for the Open Kitchen, why our youth go up there, to 46th & Greenwood, every year to gather around those tables with those guests. The disciples walked and talked with Jesus and didn't see him until he broke bread. It makes me wonder if we can know Jesus just as well as the disciples did on that beach. We break bread. There is something in this about eating together and receiving sight, something about the risen Lord being known in community.

The third part is Jesus talking with Simon Peter. Now this is an abrupt change in topic. We have switched from fish to sheep. Raymond Brown, whose article on this passage I am relying heavily on this morning says, "The catching of fish is an apt image for an evangelizing mission; but to picture the ongoing care of those brought in by that mission one has to change the image." [1] One doesn't exactly nurture and care for the animals in one's aquarium. So we switch from the evangelistic (fish) to the pastoral (sheep). Or to put it into terms more familiar to our community, we switch from the first line of our mission statement, Welcome All Seekers to the second "Nurture one another in our journeys of faith." And we get a lesson about reconciling people in a community. Peter, the Rock of the church, learns the lesson. Peter, who represents the church with his keys, keys represented in our sanctuary, is brought back into the group. Here on the left with the bible and chalice are Peter's keys signifying the church's role in ordaining leaders for the church. Here on my right, with the whip, are Peter's keys signifying the church's role in reconciliation, bringing people back into community. Now, I might be the rector of the church, but I didn't pick the stain glass windows. The whip is not a good image for the idea of brining people back into community. Jesus' pastoral reconciling with Peter didn't require any whip like penance. It does seems abundantly clear that Jesus' three fold asking of Peter, "Do you love me?" is a way of bringing him back into the community after his three fold denial before the crucifixion. Peter was so brash before (he told Jesus that he would lay down his life for him only to go on to deny him) and now offers the much more humble, "You know that I love you." The great shepherd of the sheep brought Peter back into the community and then tells him to go and do likewise. Go and bring those outside back into community. There is something about re-forming community here.

This passage has everything, nude fishing and clothed swimming being only the most vivid recollections. It jumps around, it remembers some specifics, Jesus flits around mysteriously. We learn something about the resurrection through that imagery. The resurrection isn't some irrefutable proof. It is more like an important dream-you know there is truth and meaning in it-but you have to discern where. My discerning suggests that there is something about the abundance we can expect when God gets involved, something about God being known in an eating community, and something about how we can bring people back into community.
[1] Raymond Brown, "The Resurrection in John 21-Missionary and Pastoral Directives for the Church," Worship, 1990.