Christ is Risen (And Cooking Breakfast on the Beach)
A sermon by Lanny Peters
Many, if not most, biblical scholars believe that the Gospel of John in its original form ended with this passage: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (20:30-31) That last verse in Chapter 20 does give a nice sense of ending to the story. Scholars also note that there are major differences in vocabulary and style between chapters 20 and 21. Therefore, Chapter 21 may have been a secondary addition, an appendix. But if it was added, it was added early on since all ancient manuscripts of John’s Gospel contain this chapter. And there are some familiar tones that echo other parts of John. Either way does not make much difference to me. I like the idea that someone else might have added it; that is the way community memory works. Someone may have thought, I know we can’t write all the stories about Jesus in this book but you left out my favorite, and so added an epilogue.
Last night I asked our resident expert on the Gospel of John, David Rensberger, his opinion of Chapter 21. It was during the intermission to “Enchanted April,” a delightful play with a wonderful performance by our own Lauren Gunderson. David said he thought of chapter 21 of John as an encore, which I like a lot. And so today I present to you, with my own Midrash or running commentary, the encore of John’s gospel.
“After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias and he showed himself this way. 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.” Let me pause to point out that this location is back in Galilee, where these disciples had been living before Jesus called them to drop everything and go following him around the countryside for three years or so. They were back home and this is the first thing they did: “Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got in the boat.”
Fishing is what most of these disciples had done to make a living before Jesus called them to follow him. It must have been comforting be back home and doing something that familiar. It felt so good that they fished all night. But we are told “that night they caught nothing.”
When I was a teenager, Clarence Edwards took his son Mickey and several of us fishing on occasion. Clarence liked to drink as much as he liked to fish and he was much more amusing when the fish were not biting. He would fume and curse and drink more until he could hardly drive the boat. Finally, he would lie down in the boat and fall into a deep sleep. Then we could take turns driving the boat while he slept. We could zoom around the lake and have a great time without any adult supervision. Now I don’t know if the disciples were drinking that night or what the explanation was but these professional fishermen caught absolutely nothing.
“Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know it was Jesus.” There is something playful about Jesus appearing after the resurrection as the master of disguises. Last week, we heard about disciples on the road to Emmaus walking and talking with Jesus yet not recognizing him until they invited him into their home and he blessed their meal. When Mary Magdalene first saw Jesus resurrected, she mistook him for a gardener. I imagine him with an old weathered straw hat leaning on a rake, saying gently, “Woman, why are you weeping?” and adding with a twinkle in his eye, “Whom are you looking for?” And here he is in today’s text standing on the shore dressed like a fisherman.
It seems one of the main lessons for the Easter season is that it’s a good idea to pay attention to strangers, since Jesus is liable to appear as someone you least expect. He once told them this a parable of the sheep and the goats and said he might appear disguised as someone who was thirsty or hungry, or even in prison, “So always do unto the least of these as if you were doing it for me.”
The person standing on the shore calls out to the disciples. “Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’” The word “children” as used here is an intimate term. Perhaps a better interpretation would be something like “lads.” Again, note the playfulness. You have been out here all night, but you lads don’t have any fish. “They answered him, “No.” Jesus then offers a little advice. “He said to them ‘Cast your net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’”
“Who is this guy telling us how to fish?” they must have thought, but to humor him they pulled the empty net out. On the other side of the boat, “So they cast it, and they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.”
Stunned, they looked at the stranger on the shore until, “That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’” I have two thoughts about this. First of all, here is the same unnamed disciple who appears throughout the Gospel of John. This could be an argument that it is the same writer. Regardless, I must admit I have always had a problem with this character in John’s story always referred to as “that disciple that Jesus loved.” I have always had trouble with people who think that Jesus loves them more than everybody else.
And second, why did this not ever happen to us when Clarence Morris took us fishing. If Jesus had shown up on the shore and helped us pull in a boatload of fish, Clarence might have stopped drinking and I would have learned to enjoy fishing.
Whether he was Jesus’ favorite or not, Peter was the most enthusiastic about seeing Jesus. “When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.” All the commentaries I consulted do not comment on why Peter was fishing naked, as if they are embarrassed to point it out. No explanation is given in the text either. But for me this is the best evidence that this is a true story, whether it was added later or not. Nobody could have made up such a strange little detail!
Peter scrambles into his clothes and then jumps into the sea. Too excited to wait for the others to row the boat in, he swims like crazy for the shore. Then he runs up on the beach with his clothes now all dripping wet. I have to imagine Jesus having a huge belly laugh watching all this. “But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it, and bread.” As casual as can be, “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, a hundred fifty-three of them, and though there were so many the net was not torn.” Now to me, this story is getting funnier and funnier. Here’s Peter jumping back in the water by himself and dragging the net ashore without any help, like a hyper kid out of control. And then, like excited kids, they counted the fish. “One hundred fifty-one…one hundred fifty-two…one hundred and fifty-three big fish!” Then they probably jumped up and down.
Now the exact significance of 153 fish would keep Bible pundits busy for centuries. One person deduced that it may derive from Ezekiel 47:10, where a river filled with fish flows from the temple and the place name yields a total of 153 if the customary numbers are assigned to Hebrew letters. (After the service, someone told me that he had once read that there were 153 known species of fish in the world at that time and that the catch included one of each.) Perhaps you heard of the guy who wrote a book several years ago about how the Bible contains these special hidden computer codes giving us all the answers to life’s mysteries. That is, except the mystery of how someone like that can get rich off such a scheme. Others can probably tell us when the world is going to end based on the number of fish.
Flannery O’Connor was once asked after a reading what was the significance of a character’s black hat. When O’Connor did not seem to attach any particular significance, the man insisted it must have some deep meaning. Finally, Flannery said, “Well, actually, the purpose of the black hat was to keep his head warm.” I think the significance of the number 153 fish is that was how many fish there were.
The disciples sat there and talked excitedly about how incredible it was the net didn’t rip, and all the while Jesus cooked up some fish and said, “Come and have some breakfast.” Here Jesus establishes the tradition of church fish fries which rural American churches still observe to this day to fund ministries. I would propose that we begin this tradition. The flyers could read, “Oakhurst Fish Fry this Saturday. 153 fish will be served. John 21:11.”
But I have a feeling it was not what they ate, but that they ate that mattered. Again like last week on the road to Emmaus, the Risen Christ shares a meal with them. Some of the most meaningful moments of Jesus’ ministry were at a table and Jesus’ inclusiveness of all kinds of people at his table was a sign he used for the kingdom of God. A number of his parables involved meals and banquets, such as the ending of the prodigal son parable.
As in that story, there is often a comic touch to Jesus’ banquet parables.
Fredrick Buechner describes another of Jesus parables like this, “God is the eccentric host who, when the country-club crowd turns out to have other things more important to do than come live it up with him, goes out into the skid rows and soup kitchens and charity wards and brings home a freak show. The man with no legs who sells shoelaces at the corner. The old woman in the moth-eaten fur coat who makes her daily rounds of the garbage cans. The old wino with his pint in a brown paper bag. The pusher, the whore, the village idiot who stands at the blinker light waving his hand as the cars go by. They are seated at the damask-laid table in the great hall. The candles are all lit and the champagne glasses full. At a sign from the host, the musicians in their gallery strike up, ‘Amazing Grace.’ If you have to explain it, don’t bother.” (Telling the Truth, The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale. Harper and Row: 1997, P. 67)
Like Buechner, I think the comedy of the gospels is often overlooked. It may contribute to the way fun and joy get taken out of going to church. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would often complain of being bored in church. Part of that had to do with just being a teenager. We loved to sing certain songs, not for their theology, but because they were fun. Like the one we will sing for our last hymn today.
After that quiet first verse with Jesus laying in the grave waiting the coming day, we liked the build up. We developed a little tradition that we would do if we thought the adults were not looking. We would all jump together on the word “up” as in, Uppp (jump) from the grave he arose. With a mighty triumph o’er his foes, we would bop each other on the head. We also liked joining the men coming in on the echo as our voices were just starting to deepen. If they noticed our exuberance and little jumps, some of the adults would give us a scolding look and others would have a bewildered look. Some, thank God, would just smile, and realize that playfulness certainly should be among the ranges of responses to the resurrection.
Leonard Bernstein’s Mass is both a tribute to the Roman Catholic mass, which he found so moving and mysterious but it is also an exploration of the crisis of faith. It requires a large pit orchestra and two choirs and a lot of it is in Latin, but playfully it also includes a blues band, rock band, and a street chorus, along with dancing originally choreographed by Alvin Ailey, and elaborate costuming. And it includes a piece the youth ensemble and Sanctuary choir will sing as soon as I shut up, with this playful text, Du-bing Du-bang Du-bong Du-Sing Du Sang Du Song Alleluia.
Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” This next line is the sweetest and funniest in the story to me. “Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord.” They still are not quite sure what is going on. This is fitting, because these fishermen had followed Jesus for three years but never quite got it. Though Jesus had warned them that his radical vision of the kingdom of God would lead to trouble with the rich and powerful who expected to have the best places at the banquets and call the shots about who gets invited, they were not prepared to follow to the bitter end. And they did not. They fled from Jesus after promising they would never abandon him. Like Peter, when the going got tough, they denied they ever knew Jesus to save their own skins. But Jesus does not talk about any of that. No, here is Christ risen and fixing breakfast on the beach. He does not mention their failures. They are still his friends and he is still counting on them to keep his memory and his movement alive, to be part of the resurrection. They are silly and broken and wonderful, just like us. That is all the risen Christ has to work with. By the grace of God, that is enough.
They still could not believe their eyes or ears or the mystery of Jesus risen. Surely, Jesus must have been grinning at them as they stared at him. “Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish.” At the last supper before his death, after they ate the disciples sang songs together. They probably did the same again that day on the beach. Maybe they sang something in the style of “Up from the Grave he Arose!”
Or Du-bing Du-bang Du-bong Du-sing Du-sang Du song. Alleluia and Amen.