“The Call of Easter”

Scripture: John 21:1-19

During Jesus’ ministry, he not only taught the masses and healed their woes, but he developed a strong relationship with all who would follow him. He had intimate conversations with his disciples, sometimes explaining his teachings in more detail, sometimes giving them experiences to firm up their faith, and sometimes he held them accountable for what they had heard and learned.

No one was “let off the hook” when it came to the truth of God – not those who opposed him, and definitely not those who professed faith in him. Even after his resurrection, the teaching and the calling and the accountability continued.
When Mary Magdalene encountered him in the garden, he wouldn’t allow her to worship him – he gave her a task – to go and deliver a message to the men who were still hiding in that locked room. (John 20:10-18)
When he joined the men in the locked room later that day, he breathed his Holy Spirit on them, and told them that they needed to spread his message of forgiveness to others. (John 20:20-23)
When Thomas returned and Jesus called him to account for his doubt, the man was told to stop doubting, presumably so that he could get on with the ministry that the Lord required of him. (John 20:24-31)
While the two men walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, he opened the scriptures to them, showing them that everything that had been prophesied had come true, and they rushed back to Jerusalem to spread the word that Jesus was alive. (Luke 24:13-35)

He had spent three years preparing his disciples to assume the ministry that he had begun, and now, he was moving them beyond their fears and uncertainty, and into a sense of hope and promise. So far, his appearances had been in and around Jerusalem, but would he remain there? Would those who believed in him have to come to the city to experience his presence? Or would he be wherever the faithful were?

Read John 21:1-3

Jesus would appear to his disciples – not in Jerusalem, but in the Galilee. There has been some discussion through the years as to why the disciples left Jerusalem to return to their “home ground”. In Matthew 28:8-10, Jesus tells Mary to take a message to the men – that they are to go to Galilee, and there they will see Jesus again. This journey north was not so much an escape from the glare of the Roman and Jewish officials, as it was to follow Jesus’ order.

So they went, and while they waited for Jesus to arrive, they decided to go fishing. Peter, John, and several others were very comfortable with this activity, so they went out on the lake – to relax, to get away from others, and very possibly to discuss the happenings of the past several weeks.
But the fishing didn’t go so well, and as any fisherman knows, some days the fish just don’t cooperate! This was one of those nights – the fish had all gone elsewhere. But as they visited and reminisced on what they had learned from Jesus, one of them may have remembered Jesus’ call to them to leave their life on the lake in favor of following him so that he could remake them into “fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:18-22) They certainly had no luck in their own attempts at fishing, and they may even have thought that “fishing for men” might be just as fruitless! The lesson, though was actually that either form of fishing would be unproductive without Jesus’ guidance.

There is a lesson here for us, too – that without approval by God, anything that we do, whether in our secular activities, or in our faith expression, if our life’s efforts aren’t centered on the Lord, success will be a fleeting thing.

Read John 21:4-8

On their own, they were unsuccessful, but when they followed the Lord’s instruction, the victory was far greater than they had ever expected! Have we ever had a similar experience? To strike out on our own, thinking that we are working within God’s will, only to discover later that this wasn’t what he intended for us at all!
But when they did as Jesus said, they caught more fish than they could handle! And that is when they recognize their Lord. Have you noticed that in each of the encounters that the faithful had with the Risen Christ, they had difficulty in recognizing him at first? Mary needed to hear her name called; Thomas needed to see the unhealed wounds in Jesus’ hands and side; after walking for miles with the Lord, Cleopas and his friend would finally realize who he was when the bread was broken at dinner. And now, Jesus’ identity is revealed when the men follow his instructions.

Do you see a pattern developing? Jesus acts, speaks, calls, teaches, and we respond – it isn’t the other way around! God doesn’t respond to our desires – we are to respond to his.

Read John 21:9-14

Have you noticed that Jesus has made all of the preparations for the disciples’ breakfast? He arrives at the seashore at just the right time, he provides the hot coals to cook the meal,he already has fish on the fire, and bread ready to eat, he tells them exactly where and when to catch even more fish – and it would be the most incredible harvest of fish they had ever seen, he makes the net strong enough so that it didn’t break, and he even offers the invitation to join him in the meal. He did it all! And all the disciples had to do was to do as he told them.

There was no question as to who this was. Who else could have put this incredible experience together - at just the right place, at just the right time, and in just the right way? And what did the men have to do? They had to show up and follow!

Jesus provides. But when we put so much of ourselves into an effort that we become exhausted and discouraged, it just might be that we are doing far more than what God ever intended for us to do!
Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting that we can just sit back, doing nothing, expecting that the Lord will do it all! Not so. The disciples didn’t just sit back, waiting for breakfast to be prepared – they had to be on the lake, they had to cast their net in just the right spot, they had to drag that heavy catch to shore, and they had to accept the invitation to eat. They didn’t have to row all over the lake searching for just the right fishing hole, they didn’t have to devise some plan to get that excessive number of fish to swim into their nets, and they didn’t have to prepare the fire. Jesus brought it all together for them, but they had to be there, and had to accept some responsibility, if it was all to work out to God’s glory.

The disciples, and we, are called to join with the Lord in ministry. They, and we, are called to share in bringing others to salvation in Jesus’ name. Jesus’ ministry has become a joint effort between Almighty God and us. Remember the words “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. [You] will do even greater things than these …” (John 14:12) We are called to do the things that Jesus did – never alone, but always together with him.

Read John 21:15-19

The three questions that Jesus asks of Peter seem to irritate him. As well they should. We remember that night not so long before when Peter denied even knowing Jesus, let alone confessing that he was a believer. (Mark 14:66-72) And now Peter is being asked, not just if he loves his Lord, but he is told that if he truly does, he is to show that love to others. Over and over, Jesus describes his followers as his sheep, and that there are many folds but one flock. (John 10:14-16) Peter has just been called to care for them all.

If he had really thought about it, he would probably have wondered what Jesus was up to. He had not yet to come to the realization that the gentiles might become part of this Great Flock that we know as the Church. But he was more concerned with the last part of Jesus’ statement – that in the years to come, there would be a time when others would have control over his movements. Jesus wasn’t referring to his leading, but rather to Peter’s arrest and crucifixion. But regardless of what was to come in the future, Peter was to care for Jesus’ “flock” wherever and whenever he could.

Jesus never taught just for the people of that day – his word is for all time. This passage isn’t about the Lord’s call on Peter, James John and the other’s lives – his call is for all, throughout time, who believe in him. These words aren’t meant to only challenge the men who had breakfast with him that morning – they are the challenge for the people of yesterday, today and beyond.

Do we trust the Lord enough to follow wherever he leads us, to do whatever he asks of us, to love whoever he places in our care? Matthew 11:28-30 tells us that we are yoked with Christ – that means that we must work together to accomplish the will of God, and that where one goes, the other must also go. A yoke allows the load to be distributed between the workers to the extent that each is able to carry. And since God is always infinitely able - he leads, we follow, and we can trust his words that “[his] yoke is easy and [his] burden is light.”

And that is an offer that we all must accept, and serve in, and live with.