Every town that has at least 20,000 people in it
always seems to have a store that specializes in lighting. Smaller towns, I
assume, figure you get lighting where you can, even if by candle ;). These
stores have a multiplicity of lighting apparatuses and lighting systems, from
very big, to very small, from very elaborate to very simple...and everything in
between! There was a great big lighting store in the area I grew up. I remember
going into this lighting store with my parents and being told very
seriously...."look, but DO NOT TOUCH!" It was a challenge for me, as
it would be for any red blooded 8 year old boy not to want to touch those
bright, shining and sometimes very awkward and, looking back on it, very
expensive lights, but I managed to go in there at least three times during my
childhood and not break a thing (notice I said not break, not "not touch,
but not break ;). There's a story of a little girl who also went into one of
these very exclusive lighting stores with her parents. Unlike me she minded
well and did not touch. When they left the store her mother asked her, "What
light did you like most?" The little girl responded, "The ones that
lights shine out!" There are currently 300,000 different churches in the
US today, and like the light store with its verity of lights, they all differ
in many ways. Some are big, some are small, some are all white, some are all
black, and some are a combination. Some speak English, some speak Spanish and
some speak in languages no ones ever heard of. Also like those lights in the
lighting store some shine bright, some are dim, and some are just plain turned
off and even unplugged! I think if we asked God the same question the little
girl was asked, but instead we asked about the various kinds of churches, God's
answer would be the same as that little girls, "The ones that lights shine
out!"
Thats what God wants from God's church, lights
shinning out, but how do we shine in this new word with its new challenges
coupled with its old issues. This new world where there are still wars and
rumors of wars, where there's destruction and violence and uncertainty, but now
on top of all that there's a new society where church matters less than
organized sports. Where families spend their Sundays at baseball diamonds,
hockey rinks and basketball courts instead of in worship. We still live in a
world of hopelessness and despair, we still live in a world that longs for
meaning and fellowship, yet the people in our world seem to be finding all
those things in other places! The truth is our post-modern issues of the 21st
century aren't too much different than Jesus' antique issue found in the 1st
century. Jesus' world was teetering on madness, filled with wars and rumors of
wars, famine, a world lost hopelessly in despair filled with people longing for
meaning and purpose, yet they found it in the person of Jesus Christ and that
hasn't changed...Jesus is still the answer!
Our passage this week, like last weeks, comes from
the gospel of John. John is a unique gospel. The others are unique as well, but
John says something’s that, in many ways, are much different than what the synoptic
(Matthew, Mark, and Luke) have to say. The Gospel of John is the most recent of
the Gospels written. Scholars estimate that it was written between 92-105 A.D.
This gospel has a high Christology, meaning it focuses on the divine nature of
Jesus more than his human nature. Since it's newer it has more developed
theological terms and assumes there are just some things the readers already
know and believe. A community of faith known as the Johanian Community
preserved this Gospel. They were a community of believers, maybe a church or a
district or conference of churches, but whatever they were called they were
devoted to St. John's vision of Jesus and the Gospel. It's widely accepted that
the person who authored the first 20 chapters did not author the last chapter.
Chapter 21 has a different author, meaning...it was not John or some kind of second-generation
disciple of John. Either way the community of the Johanian Church accepted it
as a divinely inspired work and added it.
This passage is one that my Systematic Theology
Professor, Dr. Chun, would say is "pregnant with infinite
possibility." Meaning that there is so much here for us to discuss and
"unpack." First this miraculous catch is just like the miraculous catch
when they were called to follow Rabbi Jesus. Is this somehow a second call or a
reminder of their first and only call. Next we see both Peter and John (the
Beloved as the Gospel of John refers to him) recognize Jesus and respond. One
responds in word (John, "It is the Lord!") and the other responds in
action (Peter, "jumps into the water and swims to shore."). This is
important because it demonstrates the full and complete response to the gospel,
word and action, finally there’s this issue with the number of fish that was
caught that morning. The Gospel says there was 153 fish caught, as if someone
counted them all. Why 153? This number has keep bible scholars and End time
fanatics busy for a millennium! Personally I think there's a simpler, more
practical answer. If there are 153 fish someone had to count them, it is a
specific number and not an outrageous number. One thing this number does is
give weight to their testimony about the risen Christ. Someone was there to
count the specific number of fish therefore it must of have actually happened…that’s
one reason. St. Jerome taught a more allegorical meaning. He said that the 153
fish represented all the fish species in the world. (There are actually more
than 230,000 fish species that we know of today) St. Jerome believed that this
was symbolic of all the nations of the earth...after all they had been turned
from fishers of fish to fishers of men. This was all Jesus’ way of telling them
to cast wide nets for the hearts, souls and lives of mankind. One other
interesting fact is that the nets never broke. The passage goes on and on about
the enormity of the catch and that the nets held regardless to how many jumped in.
Why? Because Jesus not only calls his disciples to cast wide nets over all of
humanity, but he promises that he will not lose them.
Some people we wish would get out of the net, some
races, some religions, some nations, some sexual orientations...even some other
kinds of Christians. For those we would gladly cut the nets open and allow them
to swim away, but that's not the plan, nor is it the purpose Jesus has for his
disciples. Contrary to its reputation, John is one of the most inclusive
stories of Jesus out there. Despite this being the Jesus whom my Comparative
Religions Professor, Thomas Tangeraj said was "A narcissist" I find
the message of this gospel to be one of universal salvation. Yes Jesus said we
has the way in John and yes he said there is no other way, yet it's clear that
it's his way of living that is the way and the only to the father is living
this way and then there's this invitation to all who desire to "jump in
the nets" to join him and then there's this mandate to his disciples to
spread wide those nets and catch any and every fish that jumps in and keep them.
This week we hear loud and clear Jesus calling to
any and all who would receive him. Most importantly for the Christian, Jesus is
instructing us not to count anyone out for any reason, but to cast wide nets
and trust that he will not lose any of them.
Blessed Easter three,
Pastor Josh
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