John 21:1-25; Romans 8:31-39

I was a gymnast when I was growing up. I spent a considerable amount of time each week with a group of other girls and coaches in a gym practicing routines, learning new skills, and drilling basics. Other than school, gymnastics was my life. By the time I left the sport, I had been competing for years, spending 16-20 hours a week in the gym. Then, when I was 16, I was done, and I had to figure out what my life looked like now. What should I do with my time now? The life that I had known, the familiar routines, were gone, and I had to figure out how my time and energy would be spent now.

This week is the first Sunday after Easter, and we find the disciples in much the same place. Last Friday, we mourned. Friday brought grief and fear. Then, on Easter morning, the grief was wiped away. Jesus wasn’t dead, like we thought. He is risen; he’s alive. But he is no longer present in our midst, and we aren’t quite sure what life looks like now for us. What do we do now that we aren’t following Jesus throughout the countryside, watching him perform miracles and listening to his teaching? A week after Easter, we are in the place of the first disciples. What does life look like with a risen Jesus?

Read with me John 21:1-14.

¹ Después de esto Jesús se apareció de nuevo a sus discípulos, junto al lago de Tiberíades.^[a] Sucedió de esta manera:² Estaban juntos Simón Pedro, Tomás (al que apodaban el Gemelo^[b]), Natanael, el de Caná de Galilea, los hijos de Zebedeo, y otros dos discípulos.
³ —Me voy a pescar —dijo Simón Pedro.

—Nos vamos contigo —contestaron ellos.

Salieron, pues, de allí y se embarcaron, pero esa noche no pescaron nada.
⁴ Al despuntar el alba Jesús se hizo presente en la orilla, pero los discípulos no se dieron cuenta de que era él.
⁵ —Muchachos, ¿no tienen algo de comer? —les preguntó Jesús.

—No —respondieron ellos.
⁶ —Tiren la red a la derecha de la barca, y pescarán algo.

Así lo hicieron, y era tal la cantidad de pescados que ya no podían sacar la red.
⁷ —¡Es el Señor! —dijo a Pedro el discípulo a quien Jesús amaba.

Tan pronto como Simón Pedro le oyó decir: «Es el Señor», se puso la ropa, pues estaba semidesnudo, y se tiró al agua.⁸ Los otros discípulos lo siguieron en la barca, arrastrando la red llena de pescados, pues estaban a escasos cien metros^[c] de la orilla.⁹ Al desembarcar, vieron unas brasas con un pescado encima, y un pan.
¹⁰ —Traigan algunos de los pescados que acaban de sacar —les dijo Jesús.
¹¹ Simón Pedro subió a bordo y arrastró hasta la orilla la red, la cual estaba llena de pescados de buen tamaño. Eran ciento cincuenta y tres, pero a pesar de ser tantos la red no se rompió.
¹² —Vengan a desayunar —les dijo Jesús.

Ninguno de los discípulos se atrevía a preguntarle: «¿Quién eres tú?», porque sabían que era el Señor.¹³ Jesús se acercó, tomó el pan y se lo dio a ellos, e hizo lo mismo con el pescado.¹⁴ Ésta fue la tercera vez que Jesús se apareció a sus discípulos después de haber *resucitado.

The disciples are gathered, knowing that Jesus has risen, but probably still a little lost as to what his resurrection means for them. They had left everything to follow Jesus, and now the disciples don’t have a teacher to follow throughout Palestine. They are a little aimless, but it is in their aimlessness that Jesus reveals himself to them. They are waiting in Galilee, and Peter decides to go fishing.

And it is at the end of a long and disappointing night that Jesus chooses to reveal himself. The disciples have toiled all night to catch fish, and they have gained nothing. At daybreak, “Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘Lads, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No.’ They replied. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. The disciples get more than they bargained for when they drop that net. They have a net bursting with fish. And the Beloved Disciple gets it. He exclaims, “It is the Lord!” The Beloved Disciple has the eyes to see Jesus even through his loss, toil, and disappointment. He offers a testimony to what he sees, telling the others that Jesus is standing on the shore, and as a result, leading them to Jesus.

It is here, in the midst of the disciples’ uncertainty, that Jesus shows them what it means for them to live after the resurrection. Jesus promises the disciples that he will reveal himself to others. Peter hauls in a net full of fish, is asked if he loves Jesus more than he loves fishing, and he gets told to care for God’s sheep instead of those fish. Jesus has called Peter to be a fisher of people, and the catch is large. That morning Jesus brought fish up to the boat, but the disciples had to follow his instructions to cast in their net and then work to bring the fish to Jesus on the shore. Jesus works through the disciples, and the disciples follow Jesus. And they see a huge blessing, a huge harvest coming out of a night of disappointment.

Living in the resurrection means following the instructions of Jesus. The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus standing on the shore, but they followed his instructions anyway. When Jesus told them to throw their nets back into the water, they obeyed, and their obedience allowed them to see Jesus perform a miracle and reveal his presence on the shore. Sometimes we don’t recognize Jesus around us. Life is chaotic, difficult, busy, and sometimes discouraging. We can lose sight of Jesus and not realize that he’s standing right before us. But, he has given us his teachings, and we are to obey them, even when we can’t see God. We love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we love our neighbors as ourselves. We care for the broken and discouraged. Then, we see Jesus work miracles in our day too, in the lives of those around us and in our own lives. For the disciples, Resurrection life is a life of obedience and seeing Jesus revealed to us.

Resurrection life is also a life of proclaiming Jesus’ presence when our eyes are opened to him standing before us. For the Beloved Disciple, resurrection life means exclaiming, “It is the Lord!” when the nets fill with fish. Not all of the disciples had the eyes to see Jesus standing on the shore. They were astounded by the catch of fish, but the miracle wasn’t enough for them to catch on. For the Beloved Disciple it was, and his job was to proclaim to others what had been revealed to him. That’s our job too, in the resurrection life. It is our job to proclaim God’s presence when he shows himself to us, so we can help others recognize God in their midst as well.

Finally, Resurrection Life is inviting outsiders into our midst. The disciples gather on the shore for the third “communion” meal in John’s gospel. But this isn’t the communion meal from the upper room, enclosed from the community by walls and locked doors. This communion meal is out in the open, surrounded by outsiders, and it includes an expectation that the disciples will serve those outside, drawing in that huge catch of fish. They have food enough for everyone present, and Peter is told just after this to feed Jesus’ lambs. The disciples are to go to others.

We see here the communion meal of a church that is continually going outside its own walls because they realize that Jesus cannot be kept inside those walls. They have seen Jesus walk right through the walls to meet them inside, and now they have seen Jesus leave those walls behind to meet them on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is already out in the community, and just as he drew the fish to the boat, he draws people to himself so that Peter (and the other disciples too) can feed his sheep.

Resurrection Life means that we are to take the communion meal out into the world, surrounded by people who are not normally part of our community, and we are expected to serve out in the open. We are seeing, again, that Jesus can’t be kept locked inside walls, either the literal walls of our churches and homes, or the invisible walls of our communities and hearts. Jesus is going out into the neighborhoods, calling people to himself, and waiting for us to proclaim that “It is the Lord” to those who cannot recognize him.

Let us take communion here this morning, as a community that lives the Resurrection Life, obeying Jesus’ teachings, proclaiming his presence, and then taking his communion and his love out into all the world, loving those Jesus already loves. Amen.

First Sunday of Easter - Ps 16:8-11, Jn 20:19-31, 1 Pet 1:3-9

As we walk through this season of Easter, the people and stories of the Bible are our companions. They will be in the same place we are in this Easter season. Today we are here after the resurrection, having celebrated last week. Today we begin to discover what it means to live with a Risen Lord, not simply alive, for he’s been crucified and buried. But he’s not at all dead, for Jesus walks in our midst. We start to learn what it means to have a Jesus who lives forever and walks through walls. On this journey, we have the disciples gathered behind locked doors and we have Peter’s church. We journey together.

Today is the Sunday after Easter. Somewhere along the line, a people began calling today “low Sunday,” some of them because the number of people sitting in the pews tends to drop the Sunday after Easter. But for others, today became “Low Sunday” because Easter was an emotional high, a mountaintop experience; and this Sunday the church had reentered the valleys, the emotionally mundane.

One of my favorite Christian musicians is Bebo Norman. I listen to him while I’m studying and in my car. His songs find their way into my workout mixes and into my prayers. And this morning, one of his songs is finding its way into my sermon.

As I thought about Easter being a mountaintop, the words of Bebo’s “Walk Down This Mountain” started playing in my mind. “It’s a better place / Standing high upon this mountain / I’ve seen your face / full of the light that only this height can show / A blistered hand is what you’ve given / But you’ve been given all you’ll ever need to know.”

The mountaintop is good. We see God’s face on the mountain. The air is clearer. We are free of smog and traffic, free of busyness and worries, free of jobs and crying children. We have time to listen and time to be with God. The mountaintop is our spiritual vacation where we relax in God’s presence and are refreshed. Think of the mountaintop as your place of escape for a moment. Close your eyes and picture it. Laying in a meadow watching the clouds rush past. || Sitting on the beach as the waves crash on the sand. || Walking through a forest as the sun reflects off of the trees. || Sitting in your own private garden. || Here you can feel the stillness. The noise is silenced long enough to hear your own thoughts. The chaos is halted long enough for you to meet God. This is the mountaintop. On the mountaintop, we meet God, and Easter is certainly a mountaintop for the church.

On Easter we see Jesus resurrected, and we see him revealed as who he really is. The god incarnate; God made flesh and dwelling here in our midst. Throughout the Gospel of John, we have been told that Jesus’ actions are signs, signs pointing us in the right direction. And here at the end of the gospel, we see the greatest sign of all, the cross and resurrection, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. What a mountaintop. We have seen Jesus raised. We have seen God.

As we sit here this morning, the United Methodist Church in Haw River, North Carolina, 2008, we join a long line of people who have met God on the mountain. It is an important place for the people of God. Moses met God on the mountaintop and came down with the ten commandments. Elijah went up on the mountaintop an defeated the prophets of Baal when God sent fire from heaven to consume the evening sacrifice, and he came down to an Israel that had turned away from idols. Jesus went up on the mountain with his disciples and was transfigured there, and they came down having seen the glory of God in Jesus. Upon on the mountaintop we meet God. But none of these people stayed on the mountain. They came down and returned to life among the people of God. But something had happened on the mountain. They were changed. The time on the mountaintop transformed life in the valleys.

So we gather here this morning having been on the mountain. We have met God. We have waited through the cross and the tomb, and we have seen the Risen Jesus. And we too have been changed as we reenter the valleys on this Sunday after Easter. Life in the valleys looks different after the resurrection.

Thankfully we are not alone on this journey. We have as traveling companions the disciples and Peter’s church, the people and the stories of the scriptures. The disciples are gathered in the house behind locked doors. They know about the empty tomb. That morning Peter and the disciple Jesus loved had seen the grave clothes laying in the tomb. And Mary had seen Jesus and talked with him. She had told the disciples everything Jesus had said. Yet that night we still see the disciples locked behind closed doors, locked in fear.

The disciples have good reason to be afraid of the Judeans. They were still in Jerusalem after all, and it was the temple leaders in Judea who had put Jesus to death. They had already decided in Jn 9 that everyone who said Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. And the Jerusalem leaders wanted to kill Lazarus as well because many people believed in Jesus because of Lazarus. Peter knew to be afraid. He had stood in the high priest’s courtyard when the girl recognized him as a follower of Jesus. Yes, the disciples had good reason to be afraid.

But Mary had told them that Jesus was alive, and they themselves had seen the empty tomb. They knew Jesus was not dead. They had been to the mountaintop of Easter morning. The disciples knew Jesus was alive, but like us, they had to learn how the resurrection transforms the valleys.

Into a room full of fear and death, Jesus enters, right through the WALLS! The first words out of Jesus’ mouth are “peace be with you.” Peace, not fear. It’s hard to be afraid of the Judeans when the person they killed comes back to life. Fear has no power. “Peace be with you.”

Then Jesus shows them his hands and his side. He isn’t a ghost or a vision. Jesus really stands in the room. He has a real body, and he still carries the signs of his death. But death doesn’t have any power either. A resurrected, living man bears those holes in his hands, feet, and side.

As the disciples recognize Jesus, he says again, “Peace be with you,” and he sends them out to do God’s work. The first person they go to is Thomas. They tell him that they have seen Jesus, but he doesn’t seem to know what that means for life in the valleys. We can’t really blame Thomas for not understanding. After all, the disciples didn’t understand either when Mary told them.

So a week later, Jesus comes again, and this time Thomas is present. Again he says, “Peace be with you.” Peace, again? Jesus really wants to convey that his risen presence brings peace doesn’t he? In 7 verses, he says it 3 times. Peace, do not fear. Peace, Jesus is alive. Peace, all of your doubts disappear in his presence.

Jesus tells Thomas to put his fingers into the holes in his hands, but Thomas doesn’t do it. Jesus’ presence and his proclamation of peace actually bring peace for Thomas’ doubts. He proclaims, “My Lord and my God.” And Jesus responds with his famous line, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Blessed are those who have believed the testimony of others that Jesus is risen.

Blessed is Peter’s church. Peter encourages the people with the words, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him.” Yes, Peter’s church also stands with us in the valleys after the mountaintop of Easter, and Peter is helping them navigate life in the valleys.

[Read from Bible] “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade,” and “in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” This church is certainly in the valleys. They are being persecuted because they live in Christ. Later in the letter, we read that the people used to live as the pagans did, partying at the festivals, drinking for days, satisfying their lusts, and committing idolatry, but now they have stopped partying with their friends and started worshipping God. Their friends are persecuting and abusing the Christians. They are suffering under trials, but they rejoice in God’s power and strength.

The resurrection has transformed this church and its time in the valleys. They have been born into a living hope and they are not troubled by the trials and temptations. They are not afraid, and they are not doubting. They are not consumed by worry. They live in a state of peace. They have been given new birth. Birth is not a fleeting or occasional gift. When we were born, we entered the state of being alive. We are now a part of the world, and we cannot simply choose to be unborn whenever we like. This is Peter’s description of Christians. We have received birth into hope and an eternal inheritance. We have been born into joy and a peace which remains in spite of this life’s trials.

This is one of the ways we navigate life in the valleys. We are born into a state of peace when the Risen Jesus enters the room and transforms our lives. Think about life without Jesus. It is controlled by fear and worry. There is no one who has conquered death. There is no hope for transformation, and there is no confidence that God will sustain. People worry that their children’s career choices will never work out. They worry that they might one day get sick. Often they die in terror, worrying about the end of their existence. In a world of fear and worry, peace is one of our greatest witnesses to the Risen Jesus.

Think of the tax commercial playing this year. The men are in a sauna, and the one says that he can’t sweat anymore. The other men say he will sweat because of tax season, but he says that he has people. We are like that man. We have Jesus, so we live in a state of peace. We follow Jesus, unafraid of how we might be treated. Maybe the boss will be unhappy that we won’t work on Sundays, but we know that the boss’s opinion is not the one that really matters. Maybe our friends will ridicule and stand up against us, but we know that Jesus has promised to surround us with his power. Maybe children will make poor choices, but we know that Jesus has promised to be with them and is working to lead them to live wisely and follow God faithfully. In a world where many conversations are filled with worry, fear, and stress, the church who sees the risen Jesus and lives in peace is quite a witness.

Peace is the reality of the Christian life. It is like we are standing in the middle of a garden. Tranquility reigns, and our hearts and minds are stilled to be with God. But the world outside of the garden is busy, tired, stressed, and afraid, and there are many doors leading into this world of worry. We are constantly tempted to leave the garden of peace and worry like the outside world worries. If you have left the garden, look back to the Risen Jesus who stands in our midst and come back to this state of peace. Your presence in this realm of peace will draw others in as well, and they too will meet the Risen Lord.

WE live lives of peace transformed by the presence of Jesus standing in our midst. Easter was a mountaintop, and it was peaceful up there. But the valleys are also changed by our time on the mountain. Our companions today have show us that life in the valleys is also a life of peace, even in a world of worry and fear. But as we walk down this mountain into the valleys, the peace we have because we have seen the Lord witnesses back to the mountain, to Easter, to the resurrection, and to the Risen Jesus who stands among us. So walk down this mountain with peace in your hearts.

As Bebo’s song plays for us, I invite you to go to God in prayer and ask whether you have been seduced to leaving the garden of peace. Ask if your life of peace is witnessing to the mountaintop. Finally, ask if you are crouched on the mountaintop and God wants you to walk down the mountain transformed for the valley to witness to his resurrection.