Afterword

Afterword from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.

Acts 9:1-6

1Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, when to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

John 21:1-19

1After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon 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.

4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6He 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. 7The 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. 8But 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.

9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11So 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. 12Jesus 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. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15When 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.” 16A second time he said to him, “Simon son of Joh, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He 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. 18Very 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.”

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the word was God..." The Gospel of John opens with a portrait of an Awesome God, reigning in wisdom, power, and love. It retells the story of creation with the Word of God at its center, giving life and light to all people. The prologue to the Gospel of John speaks hope into all of creation, sweeping us along on a story that transcends its own setting in the way that only good poetry and good theology can...

But this morning, we are not in the formless void out of which God spoke creation into being. We're not following a climactic encounter between order and chaos. We're not swept along by the urgency of the prophet's testimony.

This morning, we're not in the prologue, we're in the afterword. "After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples..."

Two weeks ago, we celebrated the unbelievable good news of the empty tomb. Easter Sunday is rightly observed with powerful organ music, brass fanfares, and voices joined in praise and celebration, both in the choir and in the congregation. And let me just say that for a 103 member congregation, having 103 in worship is pretty wonderful.

But it's hard to maintain that energy. At some point, we're just emotionally spent from the intensity of the good news. That is, I believe, where the disciples find themselves in our gospel passage this morning.

There's an everyday-ness to this story, this afterword to the Gospel of John. We have seen the magnificent and unbelievable good news, Jesus has already given us the Holy Spirit and eased our fears and doubts. Then today, "Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going fishing.'" He needs a break from all the wonders going on around him, he needs a little bit of the everyday.

And you know what? I really get that. The past two weeks have been really wonderful, first with our Holy Week services, then with Presbyterian CREDO last week. But after those two extraordinary weeks, both of which will shape our life together, I’m eager for some steadiness for a little while.

So Peter and the other disciples go fishing together. “They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” The next morning, they were reminded that even though there is an everyday-ness to this story, life is different now. The Afterword is, after all, defined by what happened at the turning point in the story.

“Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ 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.” In the presence of Jesus, what had once been nothing is now more than we know what to do with. Our everyday lives continue, but in a different way than before. In other gospels, even in other places in this same gospel, the disciples would have been amazed at what he has done, many would have come to believe, and other miracles would have followed.

But this is John’s Afterword, a story of how the disciples find their new way of living every day, re-formed by what they have seen. So instead, they simply join Jesus on the shore for some breakfast. No sermon is given, no new miracles or teachings, Jesus doesn’t scold them for going back to the nets they gave up so long ago. “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. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.”

It’s the third appearance to his disciples, and they simply share a meal together, just like they had done countless times during Jesus’s earthly ministry. The Gospel whose prologue sets us up for cosmic-scale transformation finds, in its afterword, that God is present at a simple breakfast, sharing a common meal with his friends.

Here in the Afterword, the disciples lives have been reformed by Jesus’s action on the cross and in the empty tomb. Here in the Afterword, they’re settling in to their everyday lives, but their lives are transformed. Here in the Afterword, we find that God is still present in simple moments in our common life.

Not every moment is going to be life-changing. Perhaps the role of the Church in the life of each of its members is to remind us how our lives are already changed because of the love we have for Christ. The Church is called to tend Jesus’s sheep by teaching them to recognize Jesus in everyday moments, like breakfast with a few friends, or in the rhythms of a faith community, or in the struggles and successes of school and work.

We’re all going to need reminding. We’re all going to forget to look for Jesus from time to time. We’ll get overwhelmed by stress at work, we’ll worry about loved ones, we’ll just get distracted by our everyday lives. From time to time, in our everyday walk with God, we’ll even deny Jesus. But when we do, we know we’re in good company.

“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.’” Peter, who had denied Jesus three times in the days leading up to the crucifixion, is asked three times if he loves Jesus, and each time he is charged to do something to enact the love he claims. “Feed my lambs…Tend my sheep…Feed my sheep.”

But setting aside the tiny changes in word choice that make this grammar nerd excited, Jesus’s final charge to Peter comes with a prediction of how Peter’s love will shape his life. “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.”

It’s amazing the places that our love for Jesus Christ will take us, because there’s no other reason why we would go to some of the places we end up. But the love of Christ leads us there, and our love of him takes us out of sanctuaries and into the everyday world, with all its struggles, stresses, and triumphs.

The Awesome God who reigns in the prologue to the Gospel of John is the same God as the approachable Jesus who shares his breakfast with us in the afterword. We will have life-changing moments on our walk together, but most of our life will be defined by the everyday walk of loving God and loving one another.

And you know what? God is equally present in both. God is present and active in the world and we disciples are learning how to recognize him together, as the Church, paying attention together to the ways in which love is leading us to different places.

But it’s in those places, in those everyday moments, where we have the opportunity to sing God’s praises, and to have our wandering hearts bound to Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, who knows everything and knows that we love him.

Because God is the fount of every blessing, and loved us first.