May 1, 2022
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
John 21:1-14[1]
They went back
to fishing. I suppose they were at a loss for what to do. It had been three
amazing years on this journey, following Jesus whom they had come to know as
Teacher, Lord, Christ, the Son of God. They had worked at the side of the Lord,
seen miracles, grown to love one another like family, and now it was all over.
Jesus was gone. Sure, they had seen him alive again, but then he had
disappeared. It’s not so easy to follow someone you can’t see.
A few years ago,
I went on a mission trip with the youth group from the church in Western
Springs. We traveled together for ten days in
You can almost
hear Simon Peter say, “Now what do we do?” How do we keep going? Saving the
world is all well and good, but how are we supposed to start? Well, no sense in
sitting around waiting for something to happen. As the Proverb says: “an idle
person will suffer hunger.”[2]
So, better be sensible and get back to work. “I’m going fishing.”
Life goes on. It’s
great to go off on an adventure to another place; but, when you get home, what
has changed? Everyone else went on about their business. They’d like to see
your pictures and hear some stories, but then we all have to get back to
school, get back to work, get on with our lives.
Of course, the
seven of them hadn’t gone fishing in three years. They were a bit out of
practice. And it doesn’t help when some wise guy comes along and rubs salt in
the wound. “Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?” “No,” they
replied, and probably said some other things under their breath. Their recent experience
had been amazing; but, in the meantime, their skills had suffered, they were
rusty and fumbling about.
But this guy on
the shore was really wise and knew just where the fish were. “It is the Lord!” cried
John. Jesus has come again, calling them out of their stupor, away from their
attempt to return to an ordinary life, and toward the changed life they had been
preparing for. What has changed? They have. They are no longer fishermen, but
disciples, apostles, preachers, teachers, bearers of the gospel, and when they
eat breakfast on the shore it is Jesus who prepares the meal.
The journey,
the adventure, changes us. The journey doesn’t have to be a physical one – I
have gone on many adventures through novels, films, and occasionally sitting in
church. What matters is getting outside of the ordinary, the things we are used
to and that are so familiar that we don’t even notice them anymore. We go, and
when we come back, we are different. It’s kind of like visiting your old
elementary school. The hallways seem shorter, the ceiling lower, the desks
smaller. The school is the same; it is we who have changed. We are different because
of the journey. We have learned new things, seen wonders, and our perspective
has expanded. We can try to go back to our old ways, but we’re out of practice.
We used to do this stuff without thinking, but now we can’t stop thinking.
Not everyone is
so changed by the journey that they go off to start a religion. Jesus didn’t
call the crowds to breakfast on the shore. It was the disciples, the ones who
had been in training, that were reminded that their life was to be radically
different. But the story speaks to us as well, about the change that can happen
in us.
“Jesus came and
took the bread and gave it to them.” A rather ordinary act for people gathered
for a meal – someone please pass the bread. But this simple act was, for the
disciples, infused with meaning. “They knew it was the Lord.” They had been
changed by their journey with Jesus, and now the sharing of the bread held
oceans of meaning – the last supper, the broken body, the sacrifice of the Son,
the spiritual food. Because of their experiences, everything took on new
meaning, and even who they were had changed. They were no longer fishermen,
they were disciples who fished.
This can happen
for us as well. We can be changed by our journey, by our adventures, by our
walk with Jesus. We only need allow our perspective to be changed, remember
that we are a changed people, and not slip back into old ways of thinking. I am
no longer a farmer; I tend God’s garden. I am no longer a baker; I prepare
bread for the Lord’s Supper. I am a servant of God, and everything I do can be
done in the name of God. The temple of the Lord is no longer a building, but encompasses
the whole world.
My vocation is
being a Christian. Ministry is more than the work that I do, it is a way of
living, and we are all called by God to our own ministry. Each of us is invited
to share the meal, and we can all find the living God in the bread that is
shared. When we allow the journey to change us, we can live in a new way, as
new people.
Living a
Christian life means bringing a sense of the sacred to ordinary tasks, doing
the small things with great love, and viewing the world with awe. It means
remembering that we belong to God, that we work for God, and that God is
present with us in every moment. It means to pray without ceasing, to praise
God with every breath, to make every action count. Our intention, our purpose,
can change the day-to-day living of a life into an act of holy worship.
What has
changed? Only everything.
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