Last week, I got to preach on one of my favourite Bible passages, the second half of John 20. Today, I have disregarded the Lectionary, which would have taken us to the Emmaus Road story, which was the Bible reading at our wedding, to follow John 20 with – er – John 21, which is also significant for me. It was hearing a Local Preacher speak on this passage in 1985 that began my journey to theological study and eventually ordained ministry.
But today, I don’t want to speak about ordination. I want us to look at how the risen Jesus transforms everyday life.
Firstly, the risen Jesus transforms work:
The disciples have met the risen Lord. He has promised them the Holy Spirit. But they haven’t been transformed yet. They haven’t begun the mission Jesus has described for them. Simon Peter is hanging around, twiddling his thumbs.
‘I am going fishing,’ he says, and the six friends with him join him. Back to the day job. Back to something familiar. Back to something he knows all about.
But for all the knowledge and experience of fishing among those assembled on the boat, the expedition is a failure. They have gone out to fish at night, which was generally the most fruitful time, but they have caught nothing.
Until a knowing voice from the shore calls out: ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ How did he know from that distance?
‘No.’
‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ How could he tell from that distance? He couldn’t see a shoal swimming under the water from there.
But lo and behold. A hundred and fifty-three fish. Many scholars have tried to find symbolic significance in that number, but really it’s just an eyewitness account that testifies to the abundance in contrast to the prior lack. On this occasion, Jesus doesn’t draw a spiritual parallel, such as when he had talked about ‘fishing for people.’ He simply blesses the work of fishermen.
Jesus loves to bless our work. In creation, the human race was made stewards of all God had made. If you look closely, you can see that in so many professions.
It’s not just the obvious work of ministers. Nor is it some of the other professions we have lauded, like medicine and teaching – although we are grateful for them. Do you remember the slogan popularised by Christa McAuliffe, the teacher chosen as a space shuttle astronaut, but who sadly died in the Challenger disaster in 1986? ‘I touch the future. I teach.’
But think also of how engineers steward the resources of the earth. Think of those who in many ways engage in creative management of the world’s assets. Consider someone who daily enables people to communicate through electronic means. Think of a hairdresser whose clients leave her feeling better about themselves. Are these not things Jesus wants to bless?
Whether you are still in paid work, or like the majority of this congregation well into retirement, can you consider inviting the risen Jesus into those daily activities? How might that make a difference to you?
Secondly, the risen Jesus transforms our daily needs:
There is one detail in this story that has puzzled me for a long time. Simon Peter and the gang have struggled to catch any fish, but when they get to shore with a bulging net, there is Jesus, with breakfast ready for them. Including fish! Where did Jesus get his fish?
No scholar has been able to explain this. Was it miraculous? Did he buy them from another fisherman?
Whatever the explanation, Jesus knows his friends are coming off a physically demanding night shift. They will be ravenous. The kippers are ready. (I’m sure he would have made kedgeree if he’d been in Haslemere.)
It’s a minor detail, but it shows Jesus caring for ordinary, everyday needs. Sometimes, we don’t like to bother him with the small things. Surely he’s too busy upholding the universe? But he cares.
My late father and aunt grew up as children in the Depression of the 1930s. Their father was out of work for five years. This was before all the provisions of the Welfare State that we know. Their mother would skip meals herself and be on her knees in the kitchen, praying for God to provide. Food parcels and other items the family needed would appear on the doorstep in the nick of time.
Do not leave Jesus out of the smaller, regular features of life. Does that mean you can pray for a parking space? Well, yes, but with certain provisos! For one, just be sure you’re not just using him to get you off the hook. For another, leave him enough time to organise an answer to your prayer. And also, don’t let it distract you from also praying about the weightier matters of life, like justice and poverty. He cares.
Is there something niggling at you right now? Do you keep thinking, this is trivial? It may be something you can deal with by handing it over to Jesus. He cares about our daily lives and needs.
Thirdly, the risen Jesus transforms our wounds:
Let’s go that central conversation after breakfast between Jesus and Simon Peter. We assume – rightly, I think – that the three times Jesus asks Simon whether he loves him are to mirror and replace the three denials he made in the high priest’s courtyard. Not only that, each exchange finishes with the calling to feed Jesus’ sheep.
This is all the more confirmed when you notice one other details. It happens around a charcoal fire, the one Jesus had used to cook the fish and the bread. There is only one other place in the New Testament where a charcoal fire is mentioned, and it is when Simon Peter warms his hands in – the high priest’s courtyard.
Everything in this little episode is about Jesus taking Simon Peter back to those painful denials and healing them. I believe Jesus cares about the wounds we carry from the past. He does not want emotional damage to determine how we live today.
Let me tell you a story. The details I am about to share have been public for many years. I am not breaking any confidences.
I once had an elderly church member who had been an only child. Her father had adored his little girl, but her mother had wanted a boy. Tragically, her father had died young, leaving her to be raised by the mother who did not want her.
One day, we talked about this, and I suggested we pray together. I asked her in the silence to invite the Holy Spirit to show her an incident from her past. In her mind’s eye, she saw a time when she was a child, baking a cake in the kitchen. Her mother came in, told her she would never be any good at this, and snatched everything away from her.
Next, I suggested she should ask the Holy Spirit to show her what Jesus was doing there. Now she saw Jesus come into the kitchen. He gently eased her mother out of the way. Then he spoke to her. ‘You and me, Joan, let’s make this cake together.’
From that time on, she was healed of those parental wounds. For now – although those past events obviously didn’t change – she knew how Jesus regarded her.
I would hazard that many of us are living with old wounds. What if we too invited the risen Jesus to show us where he was when we were hurt? Might we too find his restoring love and live more healthily as a result?
Fourthly and finally, the risen Jesus cares about our future:
The final part of the story is the other conversation Jesus and Simon Peter have, where Simon is jealous that the ‘Beloved Disciple’ may have a future vastly different from his, which will end in his own execution. Jesus has told him he will end up being led somewhere he does not want to go, and you may know of the legend that Simon Peter asked to be crucified upside-down, because he was not even worthy of being crucified in the same way as Jesus, unbearably cruel as that was.
Comparison is the thief of joy, goes the saying. How many of us have wasted energy and maybe even years of our lives wanting to be someone else? I have wanted to be more outgoing. I have wanted to be musical – and not least when churches have torn themselves apart in ‘worship wars.’
But it’s all fruitless. We can only find fulfilment when we embrace the gifts and callings Jesus has for us. And when we each discover the place God has allotted us in the Body of Christ, then we can play our part healthily in the divine purpose.
A few months ago, Ray Goddess led the circuit staff in the Network course from Willow Creek Church in the USA. It helps people discern their spiritual gifts, but not only their gifts: how these match with their personalities and their passions. It didn’t reveal to me any gifts I didn’t know I had, but it did show me that I was undervaluing one of my gifts, and I need to work that out.
We have just run the course at Lindford church. While we are still processing the results, it has nevertheless been exciting for some people to be confirmed in where God is leading them, and others to be genuinely surprised by what this has opened up for them.
And so, I wonder whether you are settled in your heart and mind about the future God is calling you to. The world has lots of self-centred ways that claim to offer you fulfilment in life, but the one that brings true peace and satisfaction is in knowing what God has given you and has spoken to you. Whatever it is, it is not something where he leaves you on your own to work it out. It is always framed with those words of the risen Jesus to Simon Peter: ‘Follow me.’ He will be there, with us, and going ahead of us.
Conclusion
Indeed, perhaps ‘Follow me’ is the message for all of us in every aspect of what we have considered today. The risen Jesus says to us ‘Follow me’ into the world of daily work and let me transform it. He says, ‘Follow me’ and you will find me providing for you in your daily needs. ‘Follow me,’ he says again, and your old wounds will no longer hold you back. ‘Follow me,’ and you can be liberated to follow the calling he has for you without worrying about others.
Where are you hearing Jesus say, ‘Follow me’?
Big Circumstance 