Brent Kuhlman

+ Jesu Juva +

St. John 21:1-14

It's that time of the year.  Those nasty dandelions are popping up everywhere.  Can’t seem to get rid of them.  Even when I try. 

Jesus is like that too.  Always popping up.  Always there.  Last week we heard how He appeared two times in the locked up room.  Spoke the big forgiveness words of “Peace be with you” and flashed His wounds to prove it.  “My God and my Lord” was Thomas’ confession.

Today the Lord pops in again.  By the Sea of Galilee.

Peter, Nathanael, Thomas, James, John and two other disciples have been fishing.  At night.  Night.   Darkness.  That’s always big in John’s Gospel.  Nicodemus snuck it to Jesus at night.  “On the night he was betrayed Jesus took bread ...”   Night.  Goes with unbelief.  Confusion.  Just not getting it.

Fishing at night.  They don’t catch a bloody thing.

Then there’s Jesus.  At the break of dawn.  He is the Light of the world.  In Him there is no darkness.  But they don’t recognize Him.

“Children,” He says.  “Caught anything?”  No.  “Try the right side of the boat.  You’ll have a catch then.”   They give it a try.  A huge catch.  Can’t hardly haul the net in the boat.

John remembers the last time Jesus did that.  It was when He called them to be His disciples.  “It’s the Lord Peter!”

In the miracle Jesus reveals who His is.

Peter dives in the water.  Swims to shore.  The others row back with the huge catch of fish.

And when they get to the beach there’s Jesus.  Popped in for a little breakfast.  A fire’s going.  Fish and bread already cooking on the grill.  “Bring some of those fish you caught.”  153 big ones.  Cast your nets the Lord’s way and the catch is good.

“Breakfast is on me,” Jesus says to them.  They all know He’s Jesus.  Who else could He be?  Who alone could order fish around like that?

This is the third time the Lord Jesus came to them after His resurrection.  Takes the bread and fish He’s prepared and gives it to them.

Nice fishing story.  But why?  What the big deal for us?  I’ll give three answers.  Indulge me.

First, this is proof that Jesus really did rise from the dead.  He’s the same Jesus who died on the Cross for them and for us.  His tomb is empty.  His body raised.  Same Jesus.  Not a phantom, spirit, apparition or ghost.  The real flesh and blood Jesus.  And that makes all the difference in the world.

On the airplane last Sunday I sat next to two college students that were coming back from spring break.  I had my clericals on.  So out come the questions.  That always happens when I’m on a plane. “But we all worship the same god in different ways don’t we?”  “No,” I said.  “My God died and rose from the dead.”  “That is different,” they declared.  In fact it was scandalous.  Outrageous.  Because there’s no other God than Jesus who died and rose again. 

The risen Lord Jesus does make all the difference.  He is the One who was slain but now lives.  Whose blood bought people from all nations to be priests and kings for His Father.  Jesus alone is worthy to be worshipped.  He alone is worthy to sit on His Father’s throne as the reading from Revelation today described.  The resurrection makes all the difference.

Second.  This miracle taught the disciples and teaches us at Trinity to cling only to Christ and His Word.  For apart from Jesus we are nothing.  We can labor long hours well into the night.  Plan dozens of programs and run them with razor sharp efficiency.  But without the Lord and His Word, His Baptism, His Supper, His Absolution, without His real flesh and blood in our midst -- our nets will come up empty every time.

Jesus told His disciples that He would make them fishers of men.  So learn about fishing from the Lord.  “Cast the nets when and where I tell you and you’ll catch more than you could ever imagine.”  They followed His Word.  They obeyed Him.  The Church that refuses to obey the Lord will fail.  “Apart from me you can do nothing.” The Church who hears Christ’s Word and obeys it can look forward to bursting nets at daybreak when the Lord appears on the Last Day.

Do not trust in entertaining music.  Power programming.  Slick advertising.

The disciples learned a thing or two about numbers.  They had no idea how many fish they would catch.  Until Jesus popped up like a dandelion and spoke His Word they caught nothing.  With Him they caught 153.  Strange number.  70 would have been nice.  120 even better.  Or 144,000.  But 153?  That’s enough fish to make the point.  Not so many as to break the net.

There are big congregations.  There are little ones.  The Lord gives to each as many as it can care for.  As many as its net will hold without breaking.  As many as it can safely haul in.  Now that doesn’t mean that we sit back and do nothing.  But it does mean that we will be content with the catch on any given day.  It means we won’t complain about those who aren’t there.  And we’ll be grateful for those who are.

It’s like an old pastor said to a young seminarian who asked, “How many worship at your church on Sunday?”  “Oh, we have enough,” the old man said.  “As many as the Lord gives us.”

Third.  There is the strong whiff of the Lord’s Supper in the story.  Bread and fish are not the Lord’s Supper.  But this meal points strongly in that direction just as every meal with Jesus in the NT causes us to say something about the Lord’s Supper.  The risen Christ meets with His disciples in a meal.  He fellowships with them.  Feeds them.  You see He died and rose to have communion with us -- now and always.

Jesus was in charge.  He invited them to the breakfast that He prepared.  Their work was nothing.  He had the BBQ
ready long before they hauled in the big catch.  It’s all gift.  Grace.

Today Jesus calls us away from our work, our play, our struggles to earn more and have more, to survive, our frustrations and failings.  He calls us from the water of Baptism to meet Him in His Supper.

Here all our struggles, failures, broken lives, empty and broken nets are gathered in the presence of the risen Christ.  At this pulpit and altar we recognize Him and say:  “It is the Lord!”

He keeps on popping up all over the place.  To the disciples in a locked room in Jerusalem.  To the seven on the shore of Galilee’s Sea.  To Saul on the road to Damascus.  To John on the island of Patmos.  To you in your Baptism.  In His Word of forgiveness.  Today at the Supper.

Every Sunday.  “It is the Lord.”  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!