Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
We are nearing the end of the Gospel of John
Last week we looked at the purpose of this Gospel - that John wrote it so that you would believe the Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through His name you may have eternal life.
Today we are going to look at an amazing day.
It’s often bed said, that a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.
We are going to look at a day of fishing that started out bad - then turned amazing.
John 21:1-14
Let’s Pray
This is one of my favorite sections of scripture.
Jesus had just died on the cross for the sins of the world, he rose from the dead, and had visited the disciples on two separate occasions.
Now the disciples are in Galilee - maybe waiting on Jesus to appear again.
So what do you do?
You go fishing.
John 21:1-3
7 of 11 disciples are in Galilee
Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, John and James (the sons of Zebedee) and two unnamed disciples.
I love this because Peter, Andrew, John and James were all fisherman.
Jesus told them that he was going to Galilee - Matthew 28:10
Matthew 28:10
Some times we wait on Jesus.
The disciples knew that Jesus was going to meet them in Galilee.
But where was he?
So what does Simon Peter do say?
John 21:3
I love fishing.
But I’ve had days like this.
In Hawaii - I took an 8 hour deep sea fishing tour.
The day was absolutely beautiful.
The ocean was nice and calm.
The dolphins were following our boat.
It was a gorgeous day for fishing.
We went all the way around the island of Maui and after 8 hours - no fish.
In Costa Rica, on my honeymoon, I went deep sea fishing.
We had a hurricane on the Pacific side of Costa Rica and I was fishing on the Atlantic side.
So we were catching the rain bands.
The ocean was so stirred up that when the boat went down into the trough of the wave, I couldn’t see over the wave behind us.
Think about that - I am over six feet tall, the boat is three feet out of the water, that is 9 feet and I couldn’t see over the waves.
Guess what - 8 hours of fishing - we caught nothing.
Peter, John and James, were all professional fisherman and they caught nothing.
These disciples, healed the sick, drove out demons, but when it came to fishing - they got skunked too.
Life can be that way - we try everything we know to do.
We do the best that we can, and at the end of the day there are days where we have nothing to show for it.
We can work all day, or in the case of the disciples all night, and have nothing to show for it.
So what does that tell us?
John 21:4-6
When it comes to scripture we need to be careful.
If we read scripture too literally - we would only fish on the right side of the boat.
If we read scripture too loosely - we miss that Jesus is the one who controls the waves, the wind, even sometimes the animals like the Noah’s Ark story or Jonah’s story.
In scripture there are all types of literary devices.
Narratives, Epic’s, Laws, Tragedy, Poetry, Pastoral Literature, Wisdom Literature, Prophetic Literature, Revelation, Gospels, Epistles, and Apocalyptic Literature.
We need to be careful when we read scripture.
At some level we need to understand what we are reading.
We can’t take this scripture literal that the only way to catch fish is to fish off the right side of the boat, because this is a narrative, not a law.
Believe me, I have tried to fish off the right side of the boat before just because of this scripture, and I have been skunked.
That doesn’t mean that scripture is false, it means we need to have a better understanding of scripture.
They caught such a large number of fish that they were unable to haul in the net.
John 21:7-8
Peter has been fishing in his skivvies.
The Greek word means that he was naked, or nearly naked while fishing.
He ties his outer robe around him and jumps into the sea for a 100 yard swim.
100 yards! 100 yards to the Savior of the World
Peter who was first to say I am going fishing - is also the first to leave the catch behind and go for Jesus
Following Jesus with reckless abandon.
Leaving everyone behind.
Got to love Peter.
John 21:9-10
There are only two mentions of charcoal fires in John.
The first was when Peter was standing by the fire denying Jesus.
If you come to church next Sunday we are going to look at Jesus reinstating Peter around the charcoal fire as we finish the Gospel of John.
John 21:11
Over the years this verse has been discussed a lot.
Some people have tried to say that 153 represents the number of species in the Sea of Galilee - but the actual number is 157.
Some people have tried to say that if you had 1+2+3…+17 you end up with 153.
That may be true but what does that mean?
Some people think that if “17” is the magic number of adding 1+2+3…17 - then 10 + 7 = 17 which means 10 is the 10 Commandments and 7 is the perfect number of God.
Or maybe - there were literally 153 fish.
The guys fishing were professional fisherman - if you watch any professional fishing show - like Deadliest Catch with the crabs in the Bearing Sea - what do they do - they count their catch.
What’s the first thing that someone says to you when they come across you fishing - “did you catch anything?”
or “how much did you catch.”
Let’s say they were fishing for profit - they would have split the catch betwen the 7 disciples - they needed to know how much they cost.
See it’s easy to chase rabbit holes when you look at scripture - but be careful.
If you were to read the church history of this verse - great scholars have tried to rationalize what the symbolism was of 153 - what if it was just 153 fish.
We miss the point of the next verses.
John 21:12-14
Some scholars think that this a communion style breakfast.
Aren’t you thankful that we eat bread and drink juice.
And not eat bread and eat fish for communion.
Other than the disciples having breakfast with the risen Lord it does not appear to me to be a Eucharist/Communion style event.
Jesus served the disciples.
Even after his death and resurrection, Jesus came to serve.
What a breakfast it must have been that morning.
Jesus already had the fire prepared, the fish and bread cooking.
He was just waiting on the disciples.
Ready to serve.
We are called to follow Jesus.
Jesus is called the suffering servant.
We too are called to serve.
Who are you serving?
Conclusion
Sometimes we wait on the Lord - The disciples were told that they were going to see Jesus again in Galilee.
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