Gone Fishin' - Easter 3C

Saint John 21:1-14

This may surprise you but one of this highest rated cable networks does not feature talking heads screaming at each other but rather “countdowns”.  In addition to “Countdown to Christmas” and “Countdown to Valentines Day” they also have mysteries such as (and I am not making this up) “Murder, She Baked,” “Morning Show Mysteries” and “Fixer Upper Mysteries.”  What we are talking about here is The Hallmark Channel.

 In the midst of television mayhem it is a pleasant place to be and I much confess that in troubled times I find myself turning to it more and more.  I like to because I know that no matter what I am watching everything will turn out fine in the end.  The answer to every promo on the channel is always “Yes.”

 “Will the woman who goes to Paris to start a vineyard and a man who is rebelling against his father who owns a winery fall in love?”  “Yes!”  “Will the local baker find the killer in her community with the help of a police detective who is also her love interest?”  “Yes!”  “Will the couple who buys houses, fixes them up, and sells them find love in the lumber yard?”  “Yes”  

 (Come to think of it all these promos need is a voice over by Marv Albert.  “Love from the three point line?  Yes!”)

 The feeling may come when we get the occasional glimpse of what could be but then look around and say to ourselves “as things were so shall the ever be, you can’t change nothing in this world.”

 The feeling may come when we have tried and tried our very best and still come up short.  It is then we may want to give up and give in, on a job, a relationship, even our future by just announcing that we’ve “gone fishin’”.

That is exactly what the disciples did.  They trudged back to exactly the same thing they were doing before Jesus called them to be his followers.

  

 They had a wonderful ride with him.  They heard some great ideas on how the world should be and saw things that were miraculous.  They were feeling that, like in a Hallmark movie, everything was going to be alright.  Then their friend who they tied their whole lives to had gone and gotten himself killed.

 The period of time for them that we commemorate with real Hallmark Easter cards was one of total confusion.  Jesus, keeps popping in and out of their lives.  A little of him here, a little there.  If he would stay in one spot everything would be fine but his buzzing about is more than a little upsetting.

 So they go back to the business they knew best - fishing.  This people fishing stuff didn’t seem to have much of a future to it so they go back to fish fishing.  It seemed like the reasonable thing to do.  It fits their skill set.

Now they are even having trouble even in their former trade.  They fish all night and come up with nothing.  They can’t even seem to get “going fishin” right.  Their empty nets must have seemed to them like a symbol for what they felt.  They must have felt like total failures unable to do something they knew how to do.   There is a real danger here that their failure may become permanent.  

 It’s that way for us too.  It comes in those moments when we have tried to make things better and have come up empty.  When even “going fishin” doesn’t seem to be working we may be tempted to ask ourselves who was I to believe that anything could change?  Who was I to think I could make a difference?  Who was I to think that it would be different this time?”  When we begin to think that failure will be permanent and that it will never get any better than this we scare ourselves stuck.1

 That is where the disciples were.  They were stuck on a boat, on a lake, with nothing to show for a nights worth of work.

 It is then that Jesus appears to them but only as a figure on the beach.  I think they didn’t recognize him because they were still staring at their empty nets and thinking about what failures they were.  It is only when they wiped the sorrow from their eyes and looked up could they hear him say, in one of my favorite paraphrases: “Any fish, boys?”2

 They have to admit that they have “gone fishin” and have caught nothing.

Then in almost a minute by minute, word for word, recreation of their original call in Saint Luke’s Gospel Jesus suggests that instead of being stuck they try another strategy.  He merely suggests that they might be fishing in the wrong spot.  He suggests that they move their nets to another spot and, wonder of wonders, they do!

Some people I know who love fishing tell me that this may be Jesus’ biggest post-resurrection miracle.  Based on the premise that “you can always tell a fisherman but you can’t tell them much” they contend that getting the disciples to listen and take his advice to move their nets was a huge miracle.  To get seasoned fisherman to admit that they might have been wrong about anything and give into someone else’s idea is big stuff indeed.  

When they do as their told and their nets are almost breaking someone calls out, “It is the Lord.”  Pandemonium ensues as the weight of all the fish in nets almost causes them to break.  Peter is leaping  through the water and the disciples are dragging their catch ashore.

 Over all the commotion Jesus invites them to come and have breakfast.  Jesus gives these tired, hungry, disciples who have “gone fishin” on him and maybe even the rest of their futures exactly what they need.

This is not a gourmet meal at Joe’s Seafood and Stone Crab, or Shaw’s, or even Red Lobster.  This is only some broiled fish and some  bread but coming from the hands of the Jesus, the master chef, it is more than enough to get them back on their feet and back on their journey.  It is enough to get them unstuck.

Easter is not a Hallmark movie.

 If we think that Easter and the risen Christ means that Jesus has erased all discouragement, frustration and failure from our world and from our lives, we will be sorely disappointed.  We will remain scared and stuck.  While we may go fishing on Jesus, Jesus will never go fishing on us.

When we are tempted to shrug our shoulders, walk away from his resurrection and go back to our everyday routines, Jesus will be there.  The promise of all the resurrection appearances is that even in the midst of our failures, Jesus shows up and gets us moving again.3

All we have to do is to look up from the empty fishing nets and see where Jesus is and then be willing to move to the place where Jesus wants to meet us so that he can give us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.

 It’s not quite a Hallmark movie but for real life, real faith, real encounters with Jesus, it will have to be enough.  Because for those of us who have looked up and seen him, it is more than enough. 

Don’t you think?

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1.  Michael Bos. "Where Do I Go from Here?" Sermon, Sunday Morning Worship, Marble Collegiate Church, New York, New York, April 28, 2019.

2.  Saint John 21:5.  (TLB) [TLB=The Living Bible]

3.  William H. Willimon, "Fishing, Failure, and a Future" Sermon, The Third Sunday of Easter, Year 3, Richmond, Virginia, May 4, 2019, May 1, 2019, accessed May 4, 2019, https://www.dropbox.com/s/zj9bma4dk75uohd/Will Willimon, John 21.pdf?dl=0.