First Baptist Church: Sermon

Message for April 7, 2002
by Pastor Glenn Layne
(John 21:1-14)

Bill was a member of the church I served in New Hampshire, and had been a member of the soccer team at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Once he traveled with an international student, an athlete from Ethiopia, to a tournament in Florida. They had plenty of time, so they drove down from Boston along the East Coast. The second night they met some Ethiopian friends in of all places, South Carolina. They decided to throw them an authentic Ethiopian feast.

Looking at the food, Bill didn’t recognize anything. It all looked weird and a little scary. I know the feeling. I remember being told, when we were in the Dominican Republic, if you don’t know what it is you’re eating, the best policy was not to ask!

So Bill just finally found a salad. Just a simple salad—lettuce with some olives on it. His Ethiopian friend came up to him and said, "Bill, you are such a good sport! I hope you are enjoying the pickled lambs eyes on that salad!"

Bill then promptly turned his stomach inside out.

Kind of like tarantula in Thailand, right? Our Thai team says that that’s the weirdest thing they ate there (and no, it doesn’t taste like chicken—I like Matt Cooper’s description: it tastes like burned hair.)

It’s interesting how we decide what we eat at what time of day. Eggs are for breakfast; pork chops are for dinner. They’re no rule, but I don’t know many people who have Fruit Loops for supper.

I loved the breakfast buffet we had when we were in Israel—especially the one at the Seven Arches Hotel on the Mount of Olives. Knowing that we’d be doing a lot of walking, and that lunch would be light, I would protein up with eggs and yogurt, with cream cheese and bagels. (Sorry, no bacon!) But there was one high protein item that my American stomach had no stomach for: fish. Little shiny fish—sardines or something like them. (Sorry, I don’t know that much about fish, and they just didn’t look good to me.)

Call me crazy, but I don’t like the idea of fish for breakfast. I did have fish for lunch by Galilee though. And I mean, they served the fish with eyes and fins and the whole nine yards. It was like those goldfish crackers—the "snack that smiles back at you." Lynann couldn’t handle it—they gave her chicken instead. (Her idea of fish is either from Red Lobster or Long John Silver’s.) I really don’t like freshwater fish, but I figured, hey, when’s the next time I can have Sea of Galilee fish?

But fish for breakfast? No thanks. Unless Jesus is cooking.

That’s the story we have here in John 21. I want to look at this fascinating story of the risen Jesus on two Sundays. In the first 14 verses, the central lesson is what it means to lean on—to be dependent on—the risen Jesus. In the second half of the chapter, verses 15-25, we learn about being sent by the risen Jesus to do a task for the sake of the kingdom of God.

John’s gospel records real historic events, but let me give you a clue on how to read and understand John 21. John loves to tell multi-layered stories. He loves to unearth Jesus’ symbolism in simple acts. It’s just his style of story telling. Keep that in mind as we read through John 21.

The story starts with…

A early morning catch of fish, John 21:1-11

Getting back to DUTY (vs. 1-3)

1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

It seems that about a week and a half after His resurrection, the apostles made their way back home to Galilee. Jesus told them that there was be a grand meeting on a mountain in Galilee, the one we mentioned last week that would involve over 500 witnesses.

But Jesus seems to have left the specifics in the "to be announced" category. These guys go back to the old home base, no doubt the town of Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee, which John here calls by its Roman name, the Lake of Tiberias.

Peter couldn’t just stand still. One evening he says, "I’m going out to fish. Who else is coming?" A total of seven go out to do what they were good at—to catch fish.

The rule Galilean fishermen followed was deep water at night with a dragnet; shallow water in the day with a casting net. All night they manned the dragnet; all night not one fish obliged. Did anyone there, I wonder, remember a similar night about three years before, another useless night on the lake with no fish to show for it?

Some have criticized Peter for going out to fish. I don’t. He knew, in his own fidgety way, that when you have no clear direction from the Lord, the best policy is simply this: do your duty. Do you duty to God, His people, your family, your friends, your country. Do your duty, don’t neglect it, and most often, in the midst of doing your duty, God will show you what He has next for you.

Duty interrupted by the COMMAND (vs. 4-6)

4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered.
6He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Now you can imagine that at dawn, the disciples gave up the effort to catch fish and began heading back to shore. As they do, a man on the shore asks them how the catch went. "Friends [literally, ‘children’], haven’t you any fish?"

A terse "no" is the reply.

Then the stranger says, "Throw off to starboard, you’ll find some there." Well, why not? Maybe He can see a school of fish darkening the water that we can’t see from here. So they do. And then something marvelous happens.

It seems that every fish in the lake is leaping into the net. God had whispered into their little fish ears, "Jump!" and they jumped.

This was no lucky cast. This was no meandering school of fish they’d happened upon. This is a moment that Jesus had to be involved in.

As a mentioned, the story is reminiscent of an incident that occurred some time before, early in Jesus’ ministry, probably on this very spot. (You can look it up if you wish in Luke 5:1-11.) It was another lousy night for fishing, another time that a man of the shore—the carpenter Jesus—had told them where to cast, the catch was overwhelming.

That was the clue, the proof, that the Man on the shore was no mere interested bystander.

Obedience to the command leads to RECOGNITION (vs. 7-8)

7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

John—"the disciple whom Jesus loved"—nudged Peter. "It is the Lord!"

Peter had seen the risen Lord now three times. Once by himself on the day of resurrection; later that day with nine other of the apostles; a week later with 11 apostles present (Judas of course was dead). Those three times had all been in Jerusalem. Now they were back home—on Peter’s turf, as it were. And perhaps Peter already senses that Jesus has some business to conduct with the Big Fisherman.

Peter was stripped down to a loincloth (think a European men’s bathing suit!) for work. He grabbed his other clothes, his outer cloak, and probably tied it high, trying to keep it fairly dry, probably failing to do so! THIS appointment he wasn’t going to miss.

John, writing these words many years later, I think is giving us a pattern. They did not recognize Jesus at first, even as we often don’t recognize what the Lord wants to do in our lives. Do your duty, and the Lord will come to you in and through those duties. Then when He calls, obey to the extent of your ability. In turn, that obedience will lead to a fuller, greater recognition of the Lord.

So Peter jumps in and swims to shore, leaving the other six to row in with their big catch. Let’s see what happens next.

Recognition leads to PROVISION (vs. 9-11)

9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."
11Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.

It seems that Peter and the boat didn’t land that far apart. Jesus already had some fish, roasting over a charcoal fire. (Where’d He get His fish? And the bread? Well, I don’t know, but I guess the best answer is, He’s the Son of God, He can do whatever He wants!)

Despite the fact that Jesus already had breakfast on the Barbie, He says, "OK guys, bring some of the fish you’ve just caught." Peter, fresh from his morning swim, is the one who jumps to it and drags in the full net.

Now there are two fascinating details here. First, the fact that the exact number of fish caught is remembered and recorded. The other is that the net was not torn. This is in contrast to the story in Luke 5, where the haul was so great the net began to tear.

First the detail—153 fish. As you can imagine, all kinds of symbolic speculation has surrounded this number. Just about all of the ideas on the special meaning of this number strike me as off the wall. One that may make some sense is the comment of Jerome, in the 4th century AD, who said that in Jewish lore, there are 153 species of fish in the world, and that the catch here points to the world wide scope of the gospel. It may be just a fanciful notion on Jerome’s part (we can’t confirm his comment from any Jewish source), but it does line up with what I think is the fairly obvious symbol of the unbroken net.

Peter, the Big Fisherman, is the one who drags this large net ashore with all these fish, and the net remains intact. If the haul of fish is any kind of symbol of the call to be "fishers of men"—to make known the gospel to all the nations—the significance of the unbroken net is that the message of the gospel will go forth in power to all nations—that the "gospel net" will not be broken. And Peter is the one who would have the privilege, in just a few weeks, of proclaiming Jesus to all the people on the day of Pentecost, back in Jerusalem.

It was Jesus, the risen Lord, who made all this possible. Jesus already had fish broiling when they arrived. He was the one who caused the fish to swim right into the net. In this we see Jesus, the one who provides. Peter didn’t provide; neither did John or one of the others. It was Jesus exercising His power of life who provided.

The whole episode reinforces the message He gave them the night before His crucifixion: In John 15:5, He said to them, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." The crucial words are apart from Me, you can do nothing. As they considered what would happen next, that’s exactly the lesson the risen Lord gives: lean on Me.

Maybe it would all be clearer when we look at the fact that in the passage, there are three commands of Jesus: THROW, BRING and COME.

1. THROW the net to the right (vs. 6)…obedience tested. The Lord wants us to obey, even when we don’t understand. Sometimes obedience is a "shot in the dark." It doesn’t seem like it will have any effect at all on anyone. God told Moses to throw down his stick. That’s odd. What would that do? Then He turned that stick into a snake. Another time He said to take the same stick and point it at the Red Sea. Big deal. But then the Red Sea parted. The examples can me multiplied to the ceiling.

Henry Blackaby arrived at a tiny, 10-person church in Saskatoon, Saskatchawan up in Canada. The very day he arrived, 5 men from the town of Prince Albert, 90 miles farther north, came and asked him to help start another church up there. If you ask me, it was nuts enough to be in Saskatoon, but Blackaby realized it was a God-moment. God was giving him an opportunity to join in with what He intended to do.

So he drove up to Prince Albert, through all kinds of weather (mostly nasty) and helped the church there get started. The new church there took off. The church there began to start new churches, and at last count had started 13 new churches, including four Native Indian churches (that’s the term they use in Canada). These Indian churches have started an annual Indian Conference for chiefs and tribal leaders that reach native leaders all over northern Saskatchawan. All because of one blind act of obedience on the part of one man who joined into what Jesus intended to do, to fill the nets with peoples from all nations. God said, "Throw the net" and this is what happened!

The second command is to

2. BRING some of the fish you’ve caught (vs. 10)…result celebrated. Here’s the lesson: we obey, and God brings the fruit. He provides the results. He changes the situation, He transforms the hearts, and He brings the healing. Then we celebrate. We gather in joy at the feet of Jesus to fellowship with Him and with His people.

That’s one of the reasons why we gather at the Lord’s table. We sometimes forget that when we gather, we come together not only to remember, but at least in part to celebrate His victory. This death saved us! And every time we gather, we pray that we have new brothers and sisters around the table. These new brothers and sisters are the "fish" caught in the net.

We celebrate! That’s why we applaud here when people are baptized. It’s one more fish Jesus had swim into the net. Pastor Steve is a wise man. (For the sake of our guests, he is our pastor for student and family ministries.) He said to me not long ago, "I’m convinced that when we’re ready to receive the fish, God will send them our way." How true! The "gospel net" will truly catch the lives of men and women from all nations! Bring in the catch!

3. COME and have breakfast (vs. 12)…fellowship enjoyed. Jesus invites us to share in the bounty He has provided. And the first item on the menu is not FISH, it’s His sharing of His resurrection life with His people.

Around the Campfire with Jesus

Look at verse 12-13:

Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

There are a couple of interesting details here. First, even up close, it seems that there’s something different about the way Jesus looked. This is the resurrected Jesus, remember; Jesus the permanently eternal. Second, there’s something vaguely communion-like in the way he distributes the bread and the fish. Bread and fish? I think I’ve heard this story before. Another time when a boy had just a little bread and fish, but in the hands of Jesus it was transformed into enough to feed a crowd.

The truth was…it all came from His hands. It was all of grace. Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe! Not only that, but the risen Lord was saying to them and us, "Enjoy my bounty. I will provide for you. Enjoy my presence. You will never go anywhere and I am not there. And rejoice in your call. I will never send you anywhere to do anything unless my hand is upon you as you go."

John concludes this first half of the story this way (Vs. 14):

This was now the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.

To be specific, this was the third time He had appeared to a group of His disciples. (He had also appeared to the one or some of the women at the tomb twice and once—it seems very briefly—to Peter while alone.)

His appearance was charged with meaning. In two weeks, we’ll see that He had some special business to transact with Peter. He had a commission for Him, and that commission is a reminder that whenever you encounter the Risen Lord, He has a joyous job for you.

But before we can talk going there must be being.

Once I had a short-wave radio. And one day it when kablooey on me, so I asked a short-wave affeciando in my church to have a look at it. He had it back in 24 hours, with a note on it. THE CORD WAS FRAYED. STEP ONE IS ALWAYS THIS: CHECK POWER FLOW.

Step one! Step one is always CHECK POWER FLOW. And Jesus says, "I will be with you always, to the end of the age."