Welcome to our worship in our ongoing celebration of Easter! We're glad to have you here with us or joining us on the radio. This is the third Sunday in the Easter season.   There are seven altogether. Why so many? Because this event we call Easter is the blockbuster of all time. Since God raised Jesus from the dead, how we look at everything in life changes. And so there is always more we can learn by focusing on Christ's resurrection at Easter.

 

I'd like you to close your eyes if you would and engage your imaginations for a minute or two. Imagine what it was like for Jesus followers during Holy Week. 

 

Imagine what it was like for Mary Magdalene to have seen Jesus enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with crowds of people cheering. 

 

Imagine what it was like for Peter to have been at the Passover table with Jesus as he shared the bread and wine with them at the Last Supper.

 

Imagine what it was like for James and John to have been there when Jesus was arrested by the soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

 

Imagine what it was like for Jesus' mother Mary to have seen Jesus beaten and crucified on Good Friday.

 

Imagine what it was like for Mary Magdalene and the other women, for Peter and John and the others to see the empty tomb on Easter and feel the uncertainty at first of what that meant. And then to experience the incredible joy of meeting the risen Christ.

 

Now keep your eyes closed for just a little longer. Can you imagine what a roller coaster of emotions it must have been for all of Jesus' followers? And then Jesus told them to go to Galilee where he would meet them. 

 

So his disciples went to the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Tiberias as it was also known. 

 

Now open your eyes. But continue to imagine you're with the disciples by the sea. You know Jesus said to meet him here, but you don't really know what's next. You still feel like you're on that roller coaster. You're on the verge of emotional exhaustion.

 

Have you ever felt like that? After some major event whether it was good or bad, you're just overwhelmed. Unsure of what to do or how to respond to anything.

 

Often in those situations of high emotion and uncertainty, our reaction is to return to something familiar. A familiar place, special friends, favorite activities. And so here are Jesus' disciples back in their home territory along the sea and Peter says "I'm going fishing!"

 

In Norman Maclean's book "A River Runs Through It" he writes that Rev Maclean's sons grew up knowing that Jesus' disciples were fishermen. But they assumed that meant the disciples were fly fishermen!

 

Not the case!---When Peter and the other went fishing they took a boat and nets and went out on the sea. 

 

It was Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John and two others that aren't named. They went out on the boat most of the night and caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore and called out to them, "Have you caught anything?"

 

Now, if you're a fisherman, and you haven't caught anything, you know how annoying that question is! But they were honest. They didn't try to make like they were catch and release fishermen and had let them all go. They just said, "No! We haven't caught a thing."

 

But to make it worse, this person on the shore who they didn't recognize yet has to show off his fishing knowledge by telling them to try fishing on the other side of the boat.

 

There was likely a lot of grumbling on that boat---but they were willing to try anything after a whole night with no fish---so they threw their net on the other side of the boat. And when they pulled the net in, there were so many fish they couldn't get the net into the boat.

 

You may remember that in Luke 5, when Jesus first called his disciples that Jesus' fishing advice also led to a boat overflowing with fish. And on the boat John remembers that and knows who is standing on that beach. He says, "It is the Lord!" Peter is his usual impulsive self and he dives into the water to swim to Jesus. It may just have been that he didn't feel like pulling all those fish into the boat. But more likely, Peter wanted to get to Jesus as quick as he could because he still had some unfinished business with Jesus. Remember that he denied knowing Jesus three times. And in the other resurrection appearances up until this time we've heard nothing about that matter being resolved.

 

When they get to the shore, they see that Jesus has made a fire and is already cooking some fish and some bread for them. Now you know that this event was retold by a fisherman because when they talk about their catch of fish, it doesn't just say there were a lot of fish. It doesn't just say there were about 150 fish. It says there were 153 large fish. Fishermen count and measure their catch!

 

But then as so often happens on fishing trips, the attention turns to food. Jesus tells them to come and have breakfast. John's Gospel records that Jesus took the bread and gave it to them and he did the same with the fish. And again they knew it was Jesus because they were reminded of the meal he hosted for them the night before he died.

 

And this section closes with the words, "This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead."

 

Each one of Jesus' resurrection appearances has much to teach us. Look at what Jesus does for his disciples. He helps them catch fish which will feed them and their families. He builds a fire for them to get warm after a night out on the sea. He prepares fish and bread for them to eat. He provides for their physical needs.

 

But he provides for their emotional and spiritual needs as well. He comes to be with them for the third time. He knows they can't handle all that's happened at once. He sets up a meal and time for him to be with them. He's there to reassure them that indeed he is alive and well. And he comforts them by doing some of the things they always enjoyed doing together in the past. 

 

And in the verses that follow in the part of chapter 21 not included in our Gospel reading this morning, we see Jesus' concern for Peter's emotional and spiritual health as Jesus shows his forgiveness for Peter's three denials by commissioning Peter three times to take care of Jesus' people.

 

This reunion along the shore at the Sea of Galilee clearly shows Jesus' concern for all of his follower's needs---physical, emotional and spiritual---and it demonstrates how the resurrection makes it all possible.

 

Imagine if you will that Jesus died on the cross and that was it. If that were the case then the fear and despair felt by the disciples when Jesus died would win out. Peter would always have lived with the guilt of his triple denial of Jesus. The hope Jesus preached for God's kingdom to be established would have been lost and empty. 

 

But because Christ has died, has risen and will come again, how we look at everything in life is different.

 

Julie Ackerman Link writes that "After my doctor announced that I had cancer, I tried to listen to what he said, but I couldn’t. I went home, pulled a blanket over my head, and fell asleep on the couch, as if sleeping could change the diagnosis.

 

When I finally gained enough strength to tell my loved ones, my friend Judy said something especially memorable. After expressing her sympathy, she said, “This is what will happen. You will feel really bad for 3 days. Then you will get up, figure out what you have to do, and get on with your life.” Then she added, “I think it has to do with death, burial, and resurrection.”

 

At the time, I didn’t believe it. I was sure that life as I knew it was over. Nothing would ever be the same. I couldn’t imagine feeling normal again. But she was right. Three days later I woke up and realized I didn’t feel quite so bad. And little by little, despite the physical misery of chemotherapy treatments, my emotional and spiritual condition improved significantly. I “died” to my old reality and was “raised” to a new normal.

 

Thankfully, God is in the business of resurrection. For those who have died in Christ, the death of one reality means resurrection to a new, glorious normal so that we can “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4)."

 

Christ's resurrection on Easter means that we all can be raised to a "new normal". We can see everything with new vision and insight. 

 

If we struggle with depression and despair, so did the disciples. They thought Jesus was leading them to places of status in his kingdom. When he died on the cross, their despair was crushing. Their lives had no purpose, no meaning. When Jesus rose, they came to realize that what they expected was not what Jesus offered them, but that what he gave them was far greater.

 

When you and I battle depression and despair, Christ can lift us to a new normal, a new view of what life means. It may mean learning to accept a different future than we anticipated, but as we turn over to the Lord the powerful emotions we have bottled up inside which have harmed us, Christ will bring us a new and life-giving vision of what can be.

 

If we tremble with fear at the things that threaten us in this world, so did Jesus disciples. They were sure they were next to be crucified. Nobody was going to sell them life insurance! But then Jesus rose and on Pentecost when he gave them the gift of his Holy Spirit, they became fearless preachers who stood up against the most powerful people in the world and spread the good news of Jesus even though they lived in constant danger. They knew that because Jesus lived, that even if they died for Christ, that no earthly power could destroy them. They had the promise of eternal life! And so do we!

 

If we are deeply hurt by relationships that have been strained and broken either with other people or with the Lord, so were the disciples. The guilt that Peter felt was a terrible burden. He knew he had failed his master and friend. He could never overcome that because Jesus was dead. But then Jesus was raised to life and he forgave Peter and gave him a whole new purpose to serve Christ and his people. 

 

You and I can always know that forgiveness that God offers us even when we have failed him miserably. God is always ready to forgive us. And even when some people may not be ready to repair our damaged relationships, through Christ we can know the strength to handle those difficult relationships and do our part to heal them.

 

All this doesn't imply an unrealistic view of life as if everything is magically changed because of Easter. Remember, that after Jesus rose from the dead, the scars were still there. The suffering of this world is very real. But Easter proves that God will always transform our pain.

 

Not despair or fear or hurt or even death can have a final hold on us because Christ's rising on Easter says that none of those things are permanent. Christ's love and forgiveness and offer of new life are what are real and lasting!

 

A trainer of seeing-eye dogs was interviewed about his work. "What is the most difficult thing to train one of these dogs to do?" The trainer said, "The hardest thing to teach these dogs is to raise their vision so they can see what's above them that might harm the person they're guiding. The dogs don't have any problem guiding a person around a pole or up a step. The problem is that they are not used to looking above their own height. We have to teach them to look higher since the person they're guiding may not be able to walk under some obstacle."

 

That's what you and I need to learn from our celebration of Christ's rising--to look higher! To see life from the perspective of the resurrection--to see a higher view of life!

 

So these weeks of Easter celebrating are not just about Jesus and his disciples, but about a whole new way of life for you and me and all the world.

 

Christ has died. Christ has risen! Christ will come again!

Amen.