The Wednesday within the Octave of Easter
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
The appointed Gospel text for today records for us our resurrected Lord’s third appearance to the apostles as a group. As we know, our Lord made other appearances after His resurrection to individuals and groups beyond the eleven, such as the women outside the tomb (cf. Matthew 28:9-10), the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:13-35), the appearance to St. Peter (cf. Luke 24:34), and so on. Certainly, our Lord intended to ensure that there were numerous witnesses to His resurrection. But when St. John tells us that this was our Lord’s third appearance to His disciples after He was raised from the dead (John 21:14), he is referring specifically to appearances made to the eleven as a whole or a subset of the eleven. The first two of these appearances we will hear about on Sunday, in the so-called “Doubting Thomas” narrative. On Easter evening, our Lord appeared to ten of the apostles who were gathered in the upper room behind locked doors. There He bestowed upon them His Spirit and the authority to forgive sins in His stead. As we know, St. Thomas was notably absent. And, infamously, he failed to believe the report of the other ten, who told him of Christ’s appearance to them. And so, one week later, the resurrected Christ appeared in the upper room to the apostles. This time, St. Thomas was present. And being invited to reach out his hand and touch the Lord’s crucifixion wounds, he came to faith, confessing boldly: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). In our text for today, Christ appears for a third time to the apostles, this time a subset of seven. In this third resurrected appearance to the apostles, Christ teaches them that apart from Him they have nothing. It is true that apart from the resurrected Christ we have nothing both in a physical as well as in a spiritual sense.
Today’s text begins with a group of seven disciples going fishing. Having been given no specific task to do in the time between our Lord’s resurrection and His commissioning of the apostles for their public ministry on Pentecost, it’s no surprise that St. Peter and the other fishermen would return to their familiar occupation in the meanwhile as they awaited further instructions and the coming of the Holy Spirit. After all, life is not free, and fishing was the best way that Simon Peter and the others probably knew to make ends meet, as it were. We know that of the group that went fishing, at least St. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee were competent fishermen, having made their living doing so prior to Christ calling them (cf. Luke 5:1-11).
Like any good fisherman knows, fish are most active in the night hours, and so the seven went out in the prime fishing hours, likely visiting their familiar and favorite locations on the Sea of Galilee, where they had probably caught thousands of fish in the past. But this night was different than the good old days. They had no success—not catching a single fish. But then, when light had dawned, a voice came from shore: “Children, have you and food?” (John 21:5a). One has to assume that the response of “No” (John 21:5b) had with it a tone of frustration. Surely these experienced fishermen had many bad days on the sea. But to catch nothing—not even a few minnows—is embarrassing. Then the voice spoke again: “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some” (John 21:6). A normal fisherman would have objected to a random bystander telling them how to do their job (cf. Luke 5:5). But whether they were so sleep deprived that they didn’t think to argue, whether they reasoned that it was worth a try, or whether something seemed eerily familiar to the last time they had gone all night without catching any fish, they obeyed the voice. And they caught one of the greatest hauls of fish they had ever seen. It was at this moment that St. John realized who it was on the shore. So, he said to St. Peter: “It is the Lord!” (John 21:7). And St. Peter, caring nothing for the fish any longer, promptly dove out of the boat and swam to shore to be with his Lord. And there on the shore, Jesus already had a breakfast of fish and bread cooking, which they took and ate.
In the first place, this great miracle teaches that apart from the resurrected Christ, we have nothing physically. Our Lord gave these disciples an experience that many of us have gone through at times where our efforts and abilities are not enough to meet our own physical needs. The bank account is empty, the refrigerator is empty, the fuel tank is nearly at zero, and the Lord miraculously provides what we need, meeting our physical needs. As it was for the disciples, these moments are invaluable experiences through which Christ teaches us what is always true—that He is the one who provides for all of our physical needs.
In the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we ask the Lord to “give us this day our daily bread.” And, as Luther teaches us to confess regarding this:
God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving (Luther’s Small Catechism).
If the Lord has blessed you with one of these miraculous moments of provision, this is what He is seeking to teach you through it—that He is the provider of all things. By virtue of His resurrection, He rules and reigns over all things. And He provides for all your bodily needs. Sure, the pagans (or “evil people”, as Luther calls them) have their physical needs met as well. But, to what end? Their bodies will fail in the end, and the provision they had in this life will do them no good. But for those of us who know the resurrected Christ, His bodily provisions for us in this life are a foretaste and preparation for eternity, where He will provide for us forever.
But this great miracle of the catch of 153 fish not only teaches that Christ provides for all of our physical needs. It also teaches that apart from Christ we have nothing spiritually. As we alluded to before, this post-resurrection miracle was a reenactment of the miracle of the great catch of fish which accompanied Christ’s call of Peter and Andrew, James and John. There, He declared that:
“From now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:10b).
So it is that this miracle—the second great catch of fish—was a reminder of the first great catch of fish. Christ had promised that the disciples would be sent out to catch men, but to this point it hadn’t really happened yet. But now, after the resurrection, things were beginning to change. Christ was no longer with the disciples in the same way. Sure, He would continue appearing to them for a time, but in less than forty days He would be physically taken away from them in the Ascension. It was they who would now take up the metaphorical torch, preaching the Gospel to every creature (cf. Mark 16:15), becoming the fishers of men that the Lord had promised they would be. And how would they catch these men? How would they convert them to faith in Christ? Not by their own efforts, skill, or wisdom. It is Christ alone who will guide the apostles to catch the fish. It is Christ alone who will keep the nets from breaking. It is Christ alone who will assure that each one is numbered.
So it is, dear friends in Christ, that our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is living and active in His church today. Just because we don’t see Him physically among us doesn’t mean that He is not at work. The laborers may not be fishermen by trade, and the location isn’t the Sea of Galilee. But Christ is still with us here in Bristol, CT, guiding His church. He has made a way for you to be caught by the preaching of the Gospel. By His providence, He will assure that you are not lost. And by His Word and Sacraments, He will continue to feed and nourish you spiritually until that day comes when we, like Saints Peter and John, will see our resurrected Lord in the flesh. And we will dine with Him for all eternity in the new creation. For apart from Christ, we have nothing. But by virtue of His resurrection, we possess all things (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:10).
Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
