The Meal in the Aftermath

Stage Setting

Think about a time when you went away for a long trip. You had a lovely time, you saw distant wonders, historic sights, tasted new cuisine and saw the stars from a different angle. You relaxed, got away, felt a new sense of being in your own body by being in another place.

But there was also something good about coming home. Home to the place where you lay your head, to the place where your feet have worn paths in the carpet, the place with familiar scents and views. I bet you took time to put your belongings away, but eventually made your way to your favorite place to sit or to you bed, home from a long journey, which was grand in and of itself, but now you are in need of a reset, a homecoming that lets your body know the journey is over.

If the journey metaphor doesn’t work as well, consider a time when you finished a very hectic season of life. Perhaps you had something particularly demanding happening at work. Or maybe one of your children was getting married or going off to college or having children of their own. Maybe you’ve been in the early years of marriage yourself or have a young child. Or maybe its been a season of dealing with health issues, the demands put upon your body by treatments and endless doctor’s appointments.

Think about a season like that and what it is like, once again, to come home, to return to something familiar.

What do you do to reset during times like this? What do you do to breathe, to center, to return to your own body and find, once more, the presence of God’s Spirit in your midst?

Perhaps you go out to work in your garden, tilling the soil and reconnecting with the earth. Maybe you go for a bike ride or a run or a walk.

I think back to a particularly stressful time in my marriage about 9 years ago. I think, for the first time in my adult life, I realized that during that season I needed to do something active to engage a deescalation of stress in myself. So, I ran a lot. I trained, I used up energy with my body to help reset when times were difficult. It helped me to return home. To find my breath again.

What I’m describing, particularly in the stressful times, would be commonly called “self-care practices.” Things we do to root down once more when the ground feels uneasy. To find breath. To find the Spirit. To find home.

Today’s Scripture text finds us with a group of 7 disciples who had had a crazy few weeks. It had been a mix of brutality and hope, taking them to the ends of themselves as they also saw the world expand into something far more beautiful and amazing than they could imagine. Their picture of Jesus Christ, the one they had followed for the last few years, was totally reworked, resurrected — moved from pain to glory, death to life.

So what do Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathaneal, James and John and others do? They go fishing.

Their reset practice is to return to the place they came from, to start over, to get back into their boats and go out on the water. It is their way to return home after all that has happened.

Let’s hear their story and see what happens in the aftermath of this wild, passionate, life-bringing time with Jesus:

The New Revised Standard Version Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 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.

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to 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 there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

A few things I want to highlight as we unpack this text today.

First, there’s a feel of hiddenness to this text as we hear it. What I mean is, it almost feels like these disciples have snuck out onto the boat to try their hand at fishing again. Think about it, these guys have been hiding out, sulking around in the aftermath of the crucifixion. The rumors that Jesus has risen from the dead are circulating and some of them have seen him, but seem to be overwhelmed and possibly still uncertain as to what his return means. So these guys are still outcasts, still marginalized, still a ragtag group. So they head out on the water to do the only thing they know how to do — to fish. To get away from it all.

Second — think how disappointing it might have been to not catch anything. You go back to the thing you’ve been good at, the way you’ve made your living, hoping to feel a little more normal again, rooted in something you know how to do — and you don’t catch a thing!!

I mentioned that I ran to deal with stress in the past and in doing so, I got into pretty great shape. I ran a lot and loved it.

I’ve also taken breaks from running and then tried to return — you cannot go back into the race at the same pace, you can’t immediately get back to the “runner’s high” or the peaceful, fluid motion that comes from being physically fit when…you know…you’re not as physically fit.

So frustration at not catching anything.

And then there’s this goofball over on the shore who starts questioning you about whether you’ve caught anything. He calls you “children?” Excuse me? You look at your boat mates and roll your eyes — “Who’s this guy? Can’t we get some peace and quiet?” You breathe a deep sigh — “No, sorry, we haven’t got anything.” Well that’s embarrassing. And to make matters worse, he starts shouting advice — “Throw the nets on the other side, eh?”

Ok, fine, I will. But not because you told me to, I was already thinking of doing that thank you very much.

The Turn

But here, here friends, this is when it all changes. Because the disciples begrudgingly (my interpretation) throw their nets over the other side and they are overwhelmed with an abundance of fish.

What they thought was failure takes a turn to becoming something totally other, more than they can imagine.

After it all…they find themselves on the beach, cooking around a small fire, confounded at this man who they realize is Jesus.

What you thought was going to be a night in the easy chair, a run on a familiar trail, work to take your mind off the present — suddenly transforms into an invitation to a meal, a challenge, and a whole new direction.

What happens as they gather?

First, Jesus invites them into worship. Because the meal is no ordinary meal. Ever since Jesus broke the bread on the night of Passover, at the Last Supper, the meal has changed. This is now a sacramental meal, a meal filled with mystery, infused with both fish and life — food and hope.

Each meal, from then on, can have this marker of remembrance. It is so with us — every time we break bread, we can find the sacramental, the remembrance of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. We are invited to look for this in all we do, especially when we gather, pray, break bread and fellowship in Christ’s name.

Next, Jesus questions Simon Peter, the commissioned leader, and by extension questions them all. Now that you have feasted with me in the aftermath, will you carry on my work? Will you feed my sheep? Again and again he asks — not because they aren’t hearing him (Peter obviously is as he responds) but because the message is of such great purpose:

“Do you love me?” he says — not the kind of love of simple affection, but a love of purpose, a love in which lover and beloved share a common calling for how they will live in the world. Jesus is asking - will you carry on what I’ve begun?

So Jesus gathers his friends around a table of worship and questions them about whether they can carry on the work.

And then he sends them — “Follow me.”

Follow me doesn’t really sound like a releasing or a sending. It sounds more like a continuation of the work — keep following me.

But consider it this — it is an invitation to both acting following and to walking our own road — walking out in the particular places we are called. We follow Christ because Christ goes ahead of us into all things, preparing our way. But the work is ours, the love is ours to share, the compassion, the care, the liberating, the feeding like Christ fed — it is our work to do.

Fishing at night

Jesus challenges them - A greeting, a welcome into dialog

So where do we find ourselves at the end of this?

Jesus feeds them - The meal, the nourishment of word and sacrament

First, I want to remind you to seek out those places of rest and home — the easy chair, the fishing boat, the run, and the holy meal with one another. These are places of restoration and renewal. They should be places where our souls are nourished. Do you have these? Do you remember to engage these parts of yourself, these places in your life?

Jesus questions them - The practice, the deepening of faith

Second, I want to invite us all to hear the challenge of Jesus’ words: “Do you love me?” Each moment of our lives is an opportunity to reengage this question. For many of us, the journey has been long and filled with affirmations of this: “Yes I love you Lord.”

Jesus sends them - The benediction, the prophecy, the next steps

In that, hear the reply — keep feeding the sheep. Feel the encouragement to keep going out into the world to bring nourishment, hope, compassion, presence to any and all in need. Because you’ve found those places of refuge to be restored, you can also go out to the places of the world’s greatest need. Because we find solace and hope in the gathering of God’s people here, we are then equipped to go out like the disciples to love and serve. So keep loving in reply.

4-fold pattern

Finally — the invitation is to establish a rhythm of these first two practices — Rest and Engagement. To come again and again to the table where we eat together today and to find the initiative and strength to reengage the wicked problems of the world. The two must be done in rhythm — restoration and engagement. Back and forth. When you are weary, return to what is home. When you are filled, enter in and keep doing the work of love. A rhythm of grace.

The invitation is to find this rhythm in community, here, with others who are seeking God’s purpose. At St. James, in this church, we are a community of welcome and rest and also a community of engagement and service. We must be this together, not one in place or superseding the other. Together, a tandem rhythm that empowers Christ-followers to love in all the places we are called to go and be. May you find this here and may you be sent to the world with Christ’s loving presence in you.

The welcome

The word

The table

The sending

Another story highlighting the variety of faithful responses to Jesus in the aftermath of the resurrection. Not all responses look alike. All are faithful, all are noted.

How do you respond?

With wholehearted exuberance, like Peter?

With intimate connection and quiet, reserved reverence, like John?

With physical questioning and faith demanding answers, like Thomas?

With stories of the good news, told far and wide, like the women at the tomb?

How do you respond to the good news?

Your response says more about your gifts to the Kingdom than it does about whether it is adequate faith or not. Christ’s faithfulness is sufficient for each of us — the question is whether we will come bring our gifts to dine with Christ and be made whole again.