St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Third Sunday of Easter
22 April 2007

Imagine with me for just a couple of minutes this morning what it would have been like to be in that early band of disciples. Imagine the different emotions that you are experiencing beginning on Good Friday when Jesus, this rabbi whom you have come to believe is the Messiah, is taken from you. He is betrayed and arrested. Then he suffers this public, humiliating death, this painful horrible death on the cross. Imagine the feeling of utter devastation that you would have felt when everything you had come to believe is suddenly being taken away in a matter of hours. Then, try to imagine the joy of Easter Day, the joy of being told, “He is risen. The tomb is empty. We have seen him.” Then, seeing him yourself. Imagine the incomprehensible joy that you would have felt, knowing this wonderful rabbi, whom you believe to be the Messiah, is no longer dead but is, indeed, raised from the dead. But, then he disappears from sight, and you don’t see him anymore. He isn’t going around with you like he did when he was alive before Good Friday. So, imagine this string of emotions, from utter defeat and devastation, to incomprehensible joy and happiness, to a sense of not knowing, just total confusion. We don’t know what is happening with Jesus.

So, the disciples did something very human. I think there is real humanity in this text if we stop to see it that way. What did they know how to do? They knew how to fish. Where is comfort to be found? Home, typically. Not always, but typically you want to go home when you are uncomfortable, when you are confused. So, the disciples move from Jerusalem back home to Galilee. The trip would be like walking from Cleveland to Chattanooga. Once they are back in familiar surroundings, not sure what the future is going to hold, Peter says to the group, “I am going fishing.” It is what he knew. Several of the disciples said, “We will go with you.” So, we see this very human setting in today’s Gospel lesson. They are falling back into a comfortable pattern, because the last week or so has been like nothing they could have ever imagined. While they are fishing, Jesus appears about a hundred yards from them on the shore. Now, this is not a pejorative term, “children”, this is a term of endearment in Greek. “My dear friends,” is what he is saying. “You haven’t caught any fish, have you?” They say, “Well, as a matter of fact, no.” He says, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat.” Now the New English Bible here has one of the great translations of all of scripture. In the New English Bible where this says, ”Cast the net to the right side of the boat”, the New English says, “Shoot the net to starboard.” Just picture this Galilean Jew two thousand years ago saying, “Hey, shoot the net to starboard.” Jesus says, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat.” Then they catch all these fish. They come to shore, and they realize that it is Jesus.

Now, where am I going with all this? The disciples, after Jesus’ initial resurrection appearance, just could not understand what was happening. So they must have thought that the movement that they been a part of was over, because Jesus is no longer with them every day. So, they go back home. They go to what they know. They go back to their families. Jesus appears to them on the shore, but what he is getting ready to teach them is, “I am not finished with you. Your work as my disciples isn’t over. There is no time to just go back to your normal lives. I have got other things you need to do in my name.”

Now, this Gospel lesson today is really setting the stage for what happens in the next passage. It is in the next passage where Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” And Peter says three times, “Yes, Lord, I love you. Yes, Lord, I love you.” Then the third time, he says, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” And that third time, Jesus says, “Then feed my sheep.” And that is what this resurrection appearance is paving the way for. Jesus is going to teach the disciples, “The movement isn’t over. Your lives, as my disciples, isn’t over.” Because he knows that the gift of Pentecost will be given, and Jesus knows that his disciples are going to be the ones who carry forward the work that he had begun.

We see here this wonderfully human story. These everyday human beings, who in the midst of anxiety and confusion, go back to what they know. They go back home, and they decide to go fishing like they have been doing since they were boys. But Jesus comes to them and says, “This isn’t the end for you.” And eventually they will be taught, “You will build the church in my name.”

I want to conclude this morning, very briefly, by saying that just like these everyday people, these original disciples, you and I, each one of us, has a ministry. Every single one of us here today has something unique that we have to offer God in his service. Every single one of us, whether we are young or mature, whether we work 8 to 5 or are retired, whatever our living arrangement, every single one of us has something unique that we bring to this church in God’s name. The challenge for us is to offer that. The challenge is for us to know that every day of our lives we have an opportunity to witness to the love of Jesus Christ. Every single day, whether it is in prayer, whether it is a kind word, or a thoughtful gesture, every single day you and I can share the love of God made known in Jesus Christ. So, my message this morning is, “Let us embrace that.” Jesus tells these disciples, “I am not finished with you. You have more work to do.” You and I have God’s work to do in this part of the kingdom. May we do it with love in our hearts and with a joyful spirit. Amen.