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How the Story Ends

How the Story Ends
Nathan J. Hill
Text: John 21:1-19
April 21, 2007
First Christian Church
Boonsboro, MD

“Let’s go fishing.”

This was Peter’s response in our scripture this morning, Peter’s response to an unpredictable, painful week in Jerusalem. It was to be the high holy week of the year for them – the celebration of Passover. They had made their way there – Jesus, his disciples, and his ragtag band of followers. It was a special occasion.

Recent biblical scholarship, by theologians Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, suggest that while Jesus and his motley band made their triumphal entry into the city from one side, Pontius Pilate and his powerful parade of swords, shields, spears, and banners made their entry on the opposite side of the city. It was a bipolar image – the power of the empire on one hand and, on the other, a bunch of nobodies from Galilee.

For Jesus’ followers, the air was charged with excitement. Big things were happening. Change was coming. The prophecies were unfolding before their eyes.

Peter especially knew – he knew who Jesus was and had even told his rabbi. The Messiah. The one who would restore Israel and restore God’s reign over this land. The world was to be at peace, the oppressors were to be thrown out, and the people would be lifted up. Finally, finally, everything would be okay – God would dwell with his people.

But… it didn’t quite work out that way, did it?

Jesus was arrested, judged, tortured, and crucified. The events unfolded like a nightmare, an inconceivable tragedy. And in the midst of that, Peter denied him – denied his teacher, the one who had shown him a purpose for his life. Peter, who was so passionate to follow Christ, to risk so much, had fallen short.

Following that week, battered and lost and confused and hopeless, Peter suggests the only thing he could think of… “Let’s go fishing.” And he and his friends got into a boat and pushed out from the shore…. And shivered there through night, caught between all those emotions that held them – fear, anger, sadness, regret, and hopelessness.

And on top of all of that, their nets were empty.

This was not the way the story was supposed to end.

Over this past week, I too have wanted to go fishing. As the events of Monday unfolded and a gunman in Blacksburg, VA enacted a terrible, inconceivable rampage, I felt like it was a nightmare. How could someone do something like this? Why didn’t someone stop this from happening? How could that young man do such a terrible, evil thing?

Even though I had course work and assignments this past week, it was hard to concentrate. I’m sure some of you felt the same way. When a tragedy strikes so unexpectedly, our lives are thrown off, thrown out of control. We feel disjointed. Our internal compass is pointing the wrong direction.

The things we’ve come to know and expect as safe – they may not be as true anymore.

And so our responses as people, as a society, reflect that.

There are those of us who are angry… angry at the misguided man who did such an evil thing. There are those of us who are in fear now, fear of what might happen at our school, our workplace, our city… or to our kid. There are those who are simply overwhelmed by grief, too overwhelmed to know where to go, what to do.

The tragedy cuts deeply for me, as I am a young adult minister. I have a passion to serve young adults, especially those who are making difficult choices in college about their lives and futures, and I know that college can be a very lonely, lonely place. There are some students who are eager to be a part of a campus ministry and be in touch with others, but there are many students who simply do not let you in beyond that fence they erect around themselves. And yet those are the students we must be willing to work harder to help, to reach.

In addition, my wife is from South Korea. When the news hit that this young man was also from South Korea, she cried because she was scared. Indeed, the Korean community at Wesley also was afraid, and they assembled a hasty meeting with the President to figure out how to respond. Through my wife’s contacts in the Korean community in the area, she learned that one Korean bakery had already been attacked in some fashion – some prominent Koreans had also received threatening letters. There is fear spreading in that community… guilt and sadness and despair – they too are wondering how to respond – how could one of their kids do such a thing?

And so it seems… like the whole world, from South Korea to Blacksburg, VA, are engaged in this difficult time, this void. We are overwhelmed with these emotions, and yet we do not know how to respond.

It feels like we too are out in a boat on a cold night, wrestling with these emotions. And our nets are empty.
This was not the way the story was supposed to end.

But we can be thankful that the story did not end with their empty nets.

Jesus Christ appears on the beach and gives them a response they didn’t quite expect. Their nets quickly become overwhelmed with fish, and the disciple John realizes its Jesus. In excitement, Peter plunges into the water in a sudden rebirth, a sudden excitement, in a new baptism.

There on the beach, the disciples have gathered with Jesus, their teacher, their friend, the one who they thought had been killed… and they have some breakfast. The bread and the fish remind them of the feeding of the five thousand, how Jesus had miraculously multiplied so much from so little, and they are renewed. The rumors that the tomb was empty are indeed true. Christ has risen! The story is not over!

Clearly, the good news in this passage is that Jesus showed up in the midst of their pain and helped them see that the story was not over. Christ came to remind them of the awesome power of God at work in their world. Christ came to break bread with them again, to remind them that the power of God for healing, for hope, for resurrection is still available.

Peter’s story itself is a clear witness of the power of resurrection. The one who had been called as a fisherman to be a fisher of men, one who was so passionate about Jesus… the one who named Jesus before any others had figured it out, the one who had dared to step out of the boat into deep waters by faith, the one who had boldly declared his love and service to Jesus the Messiah…. And the very one who denied Christ three times on the night of his crucifixion. Peter who had now ended up back at his original job as a fishermen and a terrible one at that… Peter had experience the highs and lows that comes with a life dedicated to following hope. But when he realized it was indeed Christ who beckoned from that shore, Peter’s heart burst once again.

As he plunged into the water, he emerged recharged and reinvigorated, ready to receive the mission that Christ had called him – to tend to Christ’s flock and be the foundation for the church that would follow. From denying Christ three times, to announcing his love for Jesus three times – Peter was completing only the first part of a rollercoaster ride of life and faith to follow.

Christ met the disciples in the midst of their mourning and grieving and wondering – and broke bread with them to give them a new hope to move onward with their call.

Their nets were suddenly full.

And the story was not over.

For us, the good news is that Christ desires to meet us even now in the midst of our own grieving and pain over the tragedy that we experienced this week.

It can be good to dwell in that difficulty, in the mix of emotions, but it is also good for us to be ready to heed Christ’s presence in this time. God desires that we do not dwell forever in hopelessness, but that we, through the power of resurrection, move to respond to Christ’s call to bring light to the dark places of this world.

When the Korean community at Wesley met with the President of the seminary, he told them that… we love you, and we want you here.

There was a message of resurrection in that message for me – how often do we tell those we love and care about that we really do care… that we appreciate their presence? In some sense, that can be one of the most basic ways to tell the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to dare to really love someone, even if they don’t really trust you. We must share that message to our communities, especially after a tragic week like we just experienced.

My mother called during the middle of the week because she was concerned at how my wife was doing. She too felt frightened at what backlash there might be at the Korean community. And there was a resurrection message in her tale, because she told my wife that she was so concerned… that she wore her “I Love Korea” t-shirt that she bought while in Korea for our wedding last November… and she dared anyone to say anything bad about Korea. She was proclaiming the Gospel, she was putting her foot down against the power of fear and hate to fester in our communities.

There is hope through Christ and through the resurrection. We are indeed Easter people. The pain of the present may be powerful, and we may indeed need time to sit and ponder and figure out how to move forward, but let us be guided by Christ, who dares… who dares us to respond to evil with love.

On this morning, as we gather around the table, we can be reminded of Christ’s love for us and how Christ can take a little and transform it into something big. And it continues to give, it continues to spread. Indeed, Christ wants us to have breakfast with him this morning, so our nets will be full.

For you see, the cross was not the end of the story.

Peter’s denial was not the end of the story.

And our story will not end in this tragedy either.

For we are truly Easter people!