by Mike Pennell
3rd Easter: Acts 9:1-20; John 21:1-19
April 18, 2010
We are somewhat like the disciples in the gospel lesson from John. When we cast out the net for worship we draw anywhere from 175-200 each week, sometimes a few more. But when we cast out the net in the Family Life Center offering that famous secret recipe Poe Chicken well, we draw nearly 1000 every time.
Think of this as a metaphor. In addition to our great hunger for good food to satisfy the natural appetite, we have an even greater hunger for the food that satisfies the soul which is the love of God. All people are hungry for love. And the greatest love of all comes from God. When our bodies are wracked in pain from disease and treatment, when loved ones pass away and life feels empty for us, when human love is broken and betrayed, when we feel left out and alone, when our hearts are filled with regret over the sins we have committed, when we feel our life is over because something doesn't work out like we hoped, there is no greater food to lift us back up and get us going again than the love of God in Jesus Christ.
It is God's love that we are called to cast upon the waters to draw others to Christ. Though it might seem odd that the disciples would go back to fishing again after the resurrection, this story in John's gospel is far from being just a fishing story.
The scripture tells us that Peter "hauls" the net of fish ashore. The Greek verb for "haul" is the same verb used in John 6:44. "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me." The same verb is also used in John 12:32. "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
St. Jerome noted that in the days of Jesus there were 153 species of fish known to exist in the world. Therefore, he says that the 153 fish the disciples caught were a sign of the church's mission to the whole world to draw all people to Christ.
After eating breakfast on the shore, Jesus asks Peter 3 times if he truly loves him, and then, commands him to feed and care for his lambs. If fishing is a metaphor for drawing persons to Christ, then feeding and caring for the sheep means that those whom Christ draws to himself need to be nurtured in love so they can grow as his disciples.
When you add it all up then this is a story about the mission given by Jesus to his followers to draw all people to himself. It's about the mission for which he was sent and for which he now sends them. This is about how those disciples are changed by their connection to Jesus and how they must care for people in a new way. It's a story about extending the reach of God's love to draw everyone to him.
This is the mission of the church in all ages. It's about our mission here at Sherman UMC and how Jesus commands us to cast our nets into the sea of the community all around to draw others to Christ and nurture them in his love for the sake of the kingdom.
As we cast the net for Jesus in our community we invite and draw others without regard to their race, their age or their nationality. Every new member in the UMC is asked to affirm this. "Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races." (Baptismal Covenant I)
The Apostle Paul put it this way: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."(Gal 3:28)
When Jesus spoke to the disciples at dawn long ago he addressed them as "children." "Children, you have no fish have you?" As children they don't understand everything yet. They need further training and learning and instruction. They have their weaknesses and faults like we do. But they are still children. We are "children" too, some older, some younger, but all children just the same. We are part of one family, offspring of ONE GOD.
This is the good news. In a world where the 'lambs' of God can be sore oppressed by fears and worries, mistakes and accidents, mistreated, abused, mocked, rejected, suffer, persecuted, divided, how sweet it is hear Jesus call us "children." This tells us we are loved. That we all belong to someone greater than ourselves. God hasn't abandoned us, but comes in Jesus Christ to gather us in to be part of the family. God loves his children.
As a church that's the message in which we are called to draw others to Jesus. We are not a social club or clique where we get to choose who we want and who we don't want. Nor do we decide whom God deems worthy and whom God deems unworthy. Our role is to cast the net and draw those 153 varieties of people and more, all that we can because there is a great hunger in every human soul to be loved. And there is none more satisfying than the love of Jesus Christ. We are called like Peter to feed and care for one another so that together we can realize our fullest potential as God's children and as disciples of Jesus Christ.
God looks upon us as children. And when we look upon one another as children of God too, then instead of division there is a new community that works together. Instead fighting over turf, there is a generosity of the spirit to understand one another better. Instead of the good of this group competing against the good of that group, there is only one group seeking the common good. Instead of a broken world there is the beginning of a new creation. And that's exactly what the scripture says we become in Christ: a new creation. (2 Cor 5:17) Through the love of God in Jesus Christ all the children of God are healed and made whole.
In this spirit of drawing others and feeding them in love Jesus says to us as he said to Peter on the shores of the Galilee long ago: "Follow me."