Date:
April 18, 2010, Third Sunday of Easter
Author: The Rev. Dr. James D. Kegel
GLORY TO THE FATHER AND TO THE SON AND TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW AND WILL BE FOREVER. AMEN.
“Until further notice, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.” As many of you know, I enjoy being on Facebook— some of you are my Facebook friends. One friend is Pastor Duane Pederson, bishop of the Northwestern Synod of Wisconsin and a former pastor, as were John and I, of Edison Park Lutheran Church in Chicago. It is a difficult time being an ELCA bishop with some congregations leaving the church body and other congregations cutting mission support. Another Facebook friend, Pastor Ryan Fischer in North Dakota said that their bishop wanted the synod assembly to be about mission, but instead it was about cutting programs and personnel. It is a difficult time being a bishop or a pastor or a church leader. We are facing some hard times but I do not want to say there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps, we have been looking down the wrong tunnel, looking for light in the wrong place. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” We need to look to Jesus, listen to Jesus, and be willing to be directed by Jesus.
Our Gospel text speaks to our need for Jesus. It is an appearance story of the resurrected Jesus. It is an odd story about the disciples; they are back fishing the Sea of Galilee. Presumably Zebedee has given his sons, James and John, and Simon Peter their old jobs back, catching fish. The disciples had given up everything to follow Jesus. He had been arrested and executed. Then Jesus rose again, showed himself to the disciples and appeared again the following week. Jesus had even breathed on them the Holy Spirit. Finally at the end of chapter twenty, the writer of John concludes, “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 Christ, Messiah, the Son of God, and through believing you may have life in his name.” Now we have chapter twenty-one which seems almost an addendum. Why are the disciples back trying to catch fish? They are not doing a very good job of it. Why are they not proclaiming good news and catching people?
Scholars debate whether or not this epilogue is original to the Gospel although there is no evidence that John was ever without it. Stylistic differences are minimal and many have argued that a resurrection without some commission to spread the good news is not enough. Christ’s resurrection is not good news only to twelve men and some women but good news to the whole world. Others see the chapter as continuing a strange balance in this Gospel between Peter, the man of action and John, the beloved disciple who is quick to see and believe. The Church needs both. Whatever the reasons for the return to the disciples to the seaside and for this chapter to be appended, we can not say. We are simply at the sea. It is dawn. The disciples have been out all night without a catch of fish. They kept letting down the nets on the left side with no result. A man appears on the beach and calls out to the boats, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answer, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat and you will find some.” They do as the man says and they are not able to bring the nets in because the catch is so great. John recognizes the man as Jesus and he says to Peter, “It is the Lord.” Peter hears John, puts his clothes on and jumps in to swim to shore—now that is odd, he is fishing naked but puts on his clothes to jump into the lake and swim to shore. The other disciples bring the boats in with a hundred and fifty three fish in an unbroken net. Jesus invites them to breakfast, takes bread and fish and eats with them. It is a Eucharistic meal. The disciples were successful only when they looked to Jesus, listened to Jesus and were willing to be directed by Jesus.
Why do we keep throwing our nets to the left side of our boats? Why do we keep our own counsel and keep trying to do things our way? You’ve heard the phrase, “Insanity to doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Either Einstein said this or Benjamin Franklin. I ask myself—why do I want to stay in my comfort zone, do the things I am familiar with? I am one of the people who knows what he likes and likes what he knows. I read once that most of us are most comfortable with things as they were when we were ten years old. I think that is true. I have heard pastors out here say that Lutherans in the Pacific Northwest like church the same way it was when they left the Midwest or East Coast whenever that may have been. I don’t doubt that we are, many of us, a bunch of golden oldies liking the greatest hits of the fities, sixties, seventies and eighties. We are comfortable throwing our nets over the familiar left side of our boats even if we don’t bring in that many fish!
Friends, it is a real problem for our churches. Take a look at the Lutheran pastors of Eugene-Springfield. Every last one is in his (note the his) fifties or sixties except Pastor John who is turning fifty in December. I was ordained at twenty-five. I served half my ministry before that age. Where are the young shipper-snappers with all the new ideas? At a recent gathering, people shared how many years they had to retirement—well, Pastor Phil Schoenherr of Grace and Pastor Troy Mooneyham of Bethesda both retired early--otherwise, the pastors were saying, five years, six years, seven years, nine years. If people like things the way they were when they were ten, then at least among the clergy here, we have people missing 1955, 1961, 1970. It isn’t only Eugene; it isn’t only America. We were in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, last week. On Sunday there were some people worshipping at the beautiful parochial church with a crowned steeple said to be modeled after that of the Empress Carlota. There was also a rock concert, rappers, outside in a park with police blocking the streets because of so many people. Keyboards, guitars, wailing; strobe lights flashing. It was loud. I didn’t like it. Then I saw that behind the stage was the representation of a crucified Jesus. It was a church service! I still didn’t like it at all. Then on television I watched a German language program on religion. I did not get all the language but the thesis was that religion and spirituality in Germany today is a personal choice and there are many choices. Some people were into meditation, yoga, Eastern thought. Others followed the pop star Madonna into Kabbalah. Many spent time in the forests and mountains or combined religion with physicality such as hiking the pilgrim’s route to Santiago de Compostela. Apparently a best-selling book in Germany right now is by a famous comedian who just walked the route. Then there is the church. The program interviewed a Lutheran pastor from Einbeck who described how the church was changing to meet the needs of the people. It showed the traditional Lutheran service with a fair number of people looking like most of us. Then it showed family church with skits and a house band. It was pretty full. Now that did not appeal to me either but even in Germany, Bach and Handel are no longer enough. What was encouraging about the program is that people were asking questions about faith, questioning not just traditional religion but also irreligion. It may not be so much replacing something by nothing, but replacing nothing by something else.
I do not know what that something else is or should be or will be. But I do know this—it should be Jesus. We need to seek the Lord and ask for the Lord’s direction. In our Gospel the number one hundred fifty-three fish is important. Apparently it was a symbolic number of all the languages and ethnicities known to the ancient world. Following Christ’s direction in faith means bringing in all God has chosen and bringing them safely to shore. It means repenting and reforming. Luther said the life of a Christian is continual repentance and one of the descriptions of the true church is Ecclesia Semper Reformanda, the church must always be reformed. We must stop doing things our way and start doing them God’s way even when we may not like it very well. It means seriously asking ourselves in an honest way and not as a cliché, “What would Jesus do?” “What does Jesus want me to do?”
It will take those with strong faith to see Jesus standing on the shore and recognizing Jesus’ voice. We need the Johns. It will take those willing to take action, to throw on their clothes and jump into the sea and start swimming. We need the Peters. It will take the rest of us to patiently row the boats and haul in the nets. The rest of the disciples are important too. But what we especially need is Jesus. There is no light at the end of our tunnel. It has been turned off. The same efforts will not yield different results. But there is Jesus, the light of the world. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. We need to stop putting our nets on the left side but see Jesus, listen to Jesus and follow Jesus’ direction. Then cast them on the right side of the boat. Amen.
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