Gone Fishin’

Intro

All of us have something we do when we just want to tune out, turn off, and escape

And it’s not even necessarily a negative

If anything, we often neglect the Biblical mandate to rest and over schedule ourselves

Until we just need to get out

That’s why there are shirts like “I’m done adulting, let’s go to Disney”

Or a song declaring that it’s 5:00 somewhere

And for some, it’s going fishing

As we turn to our passage today, we are going to see the disciples, after everything that has happened in the last few weeks, hang up the gone fishin’ sign

Turn with me to John 21

Scripture Reading: John 21:1-14

John 21:1–14 ESV

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Pray

Retell the Story

Let me quickly recap the story here because it’s been a wild few weeks for these guys

Going back to Palm Sunday, Jesus was ushered into Jerusalem with shouts of “Hosanna”

By Thursday, the whole tenor in Jerusalem had shifted

After dinner with his disciples, Jesus is:

Betrayed by Judas

Arrested

Denied by Peter

Condemned by crucifixion by Pilate

Beaten by the guards

And hung on the cross to die

Three days later, on Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead

And Jesus then appeared behind closed doors to his disciples twice

Once on the day he rose from the dead

And then again the following Sunday

Like I said, wild few weeks

So Peter decides to go fishing and six of the other disciples go with him

They fish all night and catch nothing

Now one of the reasons I don’t like fishing much is that not catching anything drives me crazy

Maybe they are frustrated at not catching anything, maybe they don’t care since the escape of fishing was goal anyway

And this becomes the occasion for Jesus’ third appearance to his disciples since his resurrection

After fishing all night and not catching anything, they hear someone call out from the shore if they have caught anything

They say no and then this voice - for they didn’t realize it was Jesus - tells them to put the nets off the right side of the boat

They do it and suddenly the nets are packed - 153 fish to be precise!

It’s at this moment that John realizes who it is on shore and turns to Peter to tell him that “It is the Lord”

Then Peter does one of the weirder and tougher to explain things in the Bible: he puts on his outer garment and jumps in to swim to shore

Again, I don’t claim to be a fishing expert, but this feels like reverse skinny-dipping…

Maybe best if we don’t ask too many questions about this

The rest of the disciples use a little more common sense and just bring the boat in to shore

But as they walk up onto the shore and see Jesus, they see a fire already burning and fish already on the fire

He invites them to bring some of the fish they just caught and add it to the meal and they all have breakfast together

Transition

The last time we saw the disciples go fishing was way back at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry

Peter and John and others were out fishing - unsuccessfully I might add - when Jesus to be his follow him

They leave their nets behind and follow Jesus

Now, the parallelism of that moment to this moment should not be missed

But I think, too often, the wrong conclusion is reached

This passage is often told as if the disciples were backsliding, just going back to what they knew before Jesus

Or that they were disobeying Jesus’ call to ministry by going back to fishing

But what if, just as Jesus called them at the beginning of his ministry out of fishing to be fishers of men, so now Jesus is reminded them that he had called them… that he loved them… and that his death and resurrection had been the plan all along

Main Point

Here we are: the third time Jesus appears to his disciples since his resurrection

And here is what I want us to see in our passage:

When we are inclined to hang up the Gone Fishin’ sign and escape, the resurrected Jesus greets us with his gentle words and bountiful provision to give us confidence in the mission

Escape

We’ve already looked at the idea of escape

I’m reading a book right now entitled You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s a Good Thing

We are, by God’s design, finite beings with limitations

That’s why God gave us the gift of Sabbath, even if many of us are really bad at slowing ourselves down

Until we do

Which is why we dream of vacations or times away or hobbies

But let me offer two cautions:

First, there are some bad, harmful, destructive ways to escape

If that is you, encourage you to confess that to God and ask for freedom from those harmful inclinations

Second, and much more insidious because it is much more subtle, is when we turn to otherwise good things as escapes instead of finding our rest in the goodness of Jesus

Encourage you to evaluate the places you turn to escape - where in your life do you have the Gone Fishin’ sign - to see if you are enjoying that thing as a gift from God, or a distraction from God

Jesus Greets Us With Gentle Words

Let’s look again at the words Jesus speaks in this passage

John 21:5 “Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?””

John 21:10 “Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.””

John 21:12 “Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.””

We live in a moment where words are used as weapons and rhetoric is designed to escalate anxiety and animosity

But notice the gentleness of the words of the resurrected Jesus

Jesus is so counter the world in this

Instead of confronting them, asking where they have been, asking why they are out fishing, he calls out “παιδία” - or “children” or “fellows”

Informal relational calling to them

And then he invites them to breakfast

Let me ask you this: Where do you need to hear the gentle words of the resurrected Jesus in your life?

Jesus Greets Us With Bountiful Provision

In addition to greeting the disciples with gentle words, he also greets them with a bountiful provision

First, they hadn’t caught anything all night

But as soon as Jesus tells them to put the nets in on the other side, they get a huge haul of fish

And we even get an exact count - 153 fish

But it gets better

Second, and I love this, look again at 9

John 21:9 “When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.”

Yeah, Jesus is going to invite them to bring some of the fish they just caught to cook up

But there was already a fire… already fish on the fire… already bread

Where did those fish come from?

Did Jesus get there really early and catch them from the beach?

Did Jesus just command some fish into his net?

Did Jesus make the fish appear, already filleted and on the pan on the fire?

I don’t know - the text doesn’t tell us

But the how they got there isn’t the point

The point is the source: Jesus

Jesus provides… and not just provides… but provides bountifully

Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,”

Jesus is able to do more than we even dare to ask… and he provides bountifully and joyfully

Confidence in the Mission

Look again at verse 2

John 21:2 “Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.”

This is a conspicuous group

Peter denied Jesus

Thomas is known for his doubting

Nathanael once questioned whether anything good could come from Galilee

And as we read these names, we are reminded that they are not spiritual giants and heroes, but failures and complainers and doubters and runaways

Jesus, by greeting them with his gentle words and bountiful provision, instills confidence in the mission he has for them

These are the same disciples that three years earlier told, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”

I wonder how much they wondered if that was still on the table

They had messed up, they had blown it, they had watched from a distance as Jesus died

And here is the beauty of Jesus greeting them in the place

“These are the ones who do Christian work - normal people, with all the failings we are heir to, not fictitious characters of superhuman faith and fortitude.” - James Montgomery Boice

Like the disciples, we can have confidence in the mission God has for us not because we are characters of superhuman faith and fortitude, but because Jesus has called us

Conclusion

This all takes place at the Sea of Galilee, a sea known for incredible storms that would come unexpectedly over the mountains

And in the Bible, the sea is often associated with chaos

But in this case, the chaos was not from a storm in the sea, but chaos of the heart

Were they still the ones Jesus had called and told them they would be fishers of men?

You can see why they would be in turmoil and want to escape

But the mission Jesus gave his followers - both then and now - will be filled with chaos and cannot be done on our own

It requires the presence of Jesus

Because when we are inclined to hang up the Gone Fishin’ sign and escape, the resurrected Jesus greets us with his gentle words and bountiful provision to give us confidence in the mission

Pray