Lee Griess
There's a story of a man who went to his doctor complaining about terrible neck pains, throbbing headaches, and recurring dizzy spells. The doctor examined him carefully and pronounced, "I'm sorry but I have bad news for you. The diagnosis is not good. But from what I can tell, you must have an unspecified brain tumor causing the problem. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do for you. It seems that you have only six months to live."
The doomed man left the doctor's office shaken and crushed, but he vowed that he would live his life to the fullest in the six months that he had left. Subsequently he went out and quit his job, cashed in his savings, and bought a new sports car, a closet full of new suits and expensive shoes. Then he went to an exclusive men's shop to buy a supply of the best quality tailored shirts available. He entered the shop and had the tailor measure him. As the tailor took the man's neck size, the dying man noticed him write down "size 16, neck."
"Wait a minute," the man said. "I don't wear a 16. I've always worn a size 14 shirt, and that's what I want now." "But if you wear a size 14," the tailor said, "you're apt to experience terrible neck pains, throbbing headaches, and recurring dizzy spells."
Without knowing it the tailor had unmasked the man's real problem. And that's the title for the sermon this morning -- Real Solutions To Real Problems.
In some ways, this last chapter of John's gospel presents us with a problem. As we read it, it strikes us as strange. It's almost as if the evangelist John has concluded his gospel before writing the last chapter. At the end of chapter 20, he writes that his gospel has shown by the signs and wonders that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing (we) may have life in his name." As we read those words, it is clear that here, in effect, John lays aside his pen and closes the book. But suddenly he remembers more. He realizes that the story is not yet finished. And so once again he takes up his pen and writes the final chapter. It's as if he remembers some final details, some loose ends that need tying up, some problems without clear solutions.
So he picks up his pen to write an epilogue -- Chapter 21. He begins that epilogue with Peter and six of the other disciples. Remember -- John has already told the story of Jesus' resurrection. He has already shared with his readers the appearance of Jesus to Mary and the disciples and to Thomas. But to tell the story of those resurrection appearances is not enough. There is more!
And so in today's Gospel reading, John tells another story -- this time the story of Jesus' appearance to Peter and some other disciples, this time not in Jerusalem, not in Bethany, not some place where Jesus has been -- but home, back home with the disciples. Back home fishing. And in doing so, it is almost as if John wants to remind us of something we might overlook elsewhere.
It is an interesting story, is it not? It is a story we can well identify with, especially this third Sunday after Easter. It is a "back to usual" story. It is a "fella's got to make a living" kind of story. Look at Peter and those disciples. They might as well have been twentieth century Christians by the way they acted, by their response to Easter, as quickly as things returned to normal in their lives. Having walked with Jesus, having heard his words and witnessed his miracles, having experienced the grief of the cross and the exhilaration of the resurrection, what do the disciples do? They go back to their boats. It is almost as if the past three years had not happened, as if it had all been a dream.
I told you a while ago that the theme for the sermon this morning was "Real Solutions To Real Problems," and that is what this story is about. However, as we look at the way the disciples acted after the resurrecton, you may be wondering. For the disciples it appeared as if the resurrection had made no difference in their lives. It's back to normal. Fishing can be good therapy, but it can also be lousy! Catching fish is one thing, but when the fish are not biting, there is plenty of time to think. And try as we might, it is often impossible to set our minds off of troubling events. It's like trying to keep your tongue from finding its way to the empty space left where you've lost a tooth.
It's not hard to imagine Peter's thoughts, is it? They must have gone back to the upper room and Jesus' words of warning that Peter would deny him; back to the Garden and the disciples' weariness and failure to watch with Jesus; back to the fire in the courtyard and his own unforgivable moments of denial. Why wouldn't Peter want to start over? Why wouldn't he want to get back to the boats and forget what had happened?
And that's why this morning's Gospel story is so important -- for Peter and for each one of us. This morning's story is for all who have ever wished they could go back and start again, for everyone who has wondered what life would be like without God's forgiveness, without Easter and God's love. The story shows us what life would be like with only its idleness and self-directed busyness, its vanity and vulgarity, its failures and successes. The disciples show us that life without Easter adds up to futility.
Someone once said that half the mental health admissions each year would be unnecessary if the persons could only believe in the reality of Easter, if they could experience and believe in God's forgiveness and trust in the words of the resurrected Christ when he says, "I am with you always." These are words of promise not only for the troubled and guilt ridden, but also for the successful and self-consumed. Words for everyone who has ever experienced the truth and meaning of the words, "That night, they caught nothing." In the end when all was said and done, it added up to nothing.
Real solutions to real problems -- that's the message this morning. Real solutions for real people -- people like Saint Paul on the road to Damascus, his life consumed with hatred and directed at persecuting the new Christian church until he met Christ and his life was changed. People like Peter in the boat, his heart filled with hurt and weighed down by his own failure until he met Christ on the shore and experienced forgiveness.
The story this morning reminds us that after the resurrection nothing can ever be the same. Peter and the disciples may try to return to their boats, but they cannot for they have become fishers of men. They may go back to the same place. But they are not the same people. For the resurrection has changed them. Three years with the Master has changed their lives. Too many cripples walked. Too many graves were made open. Too many hours were spent listening to his Word and witnessing his power. Oh, this may be the same lake, the same boats, the same failure to catch fish, but these are not the same people. The resurrection has changed them. Nothing can ever be the same.
And perhaps that's what John wanted to tell us when he wrote the last chapter of his gospel. After the resurrection nothing can ever be the same. That's why Jesus appears to Peter and the disciples again -- to remind them of that. It is God's grace for sinners, God's forgiveness for the fallen, and God's love for you and me. There on the shore of the Lake of Galilee we see how God treats us -- with love and respect, with kindness and forgiveness. For just as Jesus stood on the shore and called to Peter, so he stands near us and calls to us as well. For his promise to us is the same. "Lo, I am with you always."
Did you ever wonder about these resurrection appearances of Jesus -- how he keeps popping in and out of the disciples' lives? Here one moment and gone the next. It began the first evening of Easter and continues in the story today. What is the message he wants us to know? Could this be Jesus' way of underlining the words of his promise -- "Lo, I am with you always"? There each moment they needed him most. There with the disciples in the grief and sadness as they gathered in the upper room. There with Thomas in his time of doubt. And now here today with Peter when his heart was filled with regret. It's almost as if Jesus is trying to demonstrate to the disciples the truth of his Word that he is near them always. Always ready to come in time of need. Moving in and out of their lives so naturally that soon they would come to expect him with them always.
An old man became gravely ill, and when the pastor came to visit, the pastor noticed a chair beside the man's bed. "Oh, goodness," the pastor said, "you've already had a visitor today." "Oh, no," the man replied, "let me tell you about that chair. Years ago, I told a friend that when I prayed at night, I frequently fell asleep right in the middle of my prayers. And my friend suggested that I put a chair beside my bed and imagine that Jesus is sitting there with me, because after all, he really is. So I started doing that, and you know what? It really helped. Sometimes I can even sense him sitting there beside me."
After talking with the man a while longer, the pastor went home and later that night he got a call from the man's daughter. She said, "Pastor, my dad just died. Can you come over?" So the pastor went to see her. The daughter said, "You know I was in the room and everything was fine. He wasn't struggling or anything. He was just lying there peacefully. So I left the room for a moment. When I came back, he had passed away. But what's strange is that when I came back in the room, I noticed that the chair was pulled back up beside his bed. Somehow he had managed to roll over on his side and stretch out his arm to the chair beside him."
Real solutions to real problems -- that's what the resurrection of Jesus can mean to us. God's power and love flowing into our lives. The forgiveness and newness that can be ours in Jesus. The assurance of his presence with us always. Jesus calls to us today to drop down our nets and receive his blessing, to trust in his Word for us and to live in his presence. The same peace and contentment, the same joy and dedication that filled the disciples' lives can be ours. For the same Christ stands near us and speaks the same promise, "Lo, I am with you always." In Jesus' name. Amen.
There's a story of a man who went to his doctor complaining about terrible neck pains, throbbing headaches, and recurring dizzy spells. The doctor examined him carefully and pronounced, "I'm sorry but I have bad news for you. The diagnosis is not good. But from what I can tell, you must have an unspecified brain tumor causing the problem. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do for you. It seems that you have only six months to live."
The doomed man left the doctor's office shaken and crushed, but he vowed that he would live his life to the fullest in the six months that he had left. Subsequently he went out and quit his job, cashed in his savings, and bought a new sports car, a closet full of new suits and expensive shoes. Then he went to an exclusive men's shop to buy a supply of the best quality tailored shirts available. He entered the shop and had the tailor measure him. As the tailor took the man's neck size, the dying man noticed him write down "size 16, neck."
"Wait a minute," the man said. "I don't wear a 16. I've always worn a size 14 shirt, and that's what I want now." "But if you wear a size 14," the tailor said, "you're apt to experience terrible neck pains, throbbing headaches, and recurring dizzy spells."
Without knowing it the tailor had unmasked the man's real problem. And that's the title for the sermon this morning -- Real Solutions To Real Problems.
In some ways, this last chapter of John's gospel presents us with a problem. As we read it, it strikes us as strange. It's almost as if the evangelist John has concluded his gospel before writing the last chapter. At the end of chapter 20, he writes that his gospel has shown by the signs and wonders that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing (we) may have life in his name." As we read those words, it is clear that here, in effect, John lays aside his pen and closes the book. But suddenly he remembers more. He realizes that the story is not yet finished. And so once again he takes up his pen and writes the final chapter. It's as if he remembers some final details, some loose ends that need tying up, some problems without clear solutions.
So he picks up his pen to write an epilogue -- Chapter 21. He begins that epilogue with Peter and six of the other disciples. Remember -- John has already told the story of Jesus' resurrection. He has already shared with his readers the appearance of Jesus to Mary and the disciples and to Thomas. But to tell the story of those resurrection appearances is not enough. There is more!
And so in today's Gospel reading, John tells another story -- this time the story of Jesus' appearance to Peter and some other disciples, this time not in Jerusalem, not in Bethany, not some place where Jesus has been -- but home, back home with the disciples. Back home fishing. And in doing so, it is almost as if John wants to remind us of something we might overlook elsewhere.
It is an interesting story, is it not? It is a story we can well identify with, especially this third Sunday after Easter. It is a "back to usual" story. It is a "fella's got to make a living" kind of story. Look at Peter and those disciples. They might as well have been twentieth century Christians by the way they acted, by their response to Easter, as quickly as things returned to normal in their lives. Having walked with Jesus, having heard his words and witnessed his miracles, having experienced the grief of the cross and the exhilaration of the resurrection, what do the disciples do? They go back to their boats. It is almost as if the past three years had not happened, as if it had all been a dream.
I told you a while ago that the theme for the sermon this morning was "Real Solutions To Real Problems," and that is what this story is about. However, as we look at the way the disciples acted after the resurrecton, you may be wondering. For the disciples it appeared as if the resurrection had made no difference in their lives. It's back to normal. Fishing can be good therapy, but it can also be lousy! Catching fish is one thing, but when the fish are not biting, there is plenty of time to think. And try as we might, it is often impossible to set our minds off of troubling events. It's like trying to keep your tongue from finding its way to the empty space left where you've lost a tooth.
It's not hard to imagine Peter's thoughts, is it? They must have gone back to the upper room and Jesus' words of warning that Peter would deny him; back to the Garden and the disciples' weariness and failure to watch with Jesus; back to the fire in the courtyard and his own unforgivable moments of denial. Why wouldn't Peter want to start over? Why wouldn't he want to get back to the boats and forget what had happened?
And that's why this morning's Gospel story is so important -- for Peter and for each one of us. This morning's story is for all who have ever wished they could go back and start again, for everyone who has wondered what life would be like without God's forgiveness, without Easter and God's love. The story shows us what life would be like with only its idleness and self-directed busyness, its vanity and vulgarity, its failures and successes. The disciples show us that life without Easter adds up to futility.
Someone once said that half the mental health admissions each year would be unnecessary if the persons could only believe in the reality of Easter, if they could experience and believe in God's forgiveness and trust in the words of the resurrected Christ when he says, "I am with you always." These are words of promise not only for the troubled and guilt ridden, but also for the successful and self-consumed. Words for everyone who has ever experienced the truth and meaning of the words, "That night, they caught nothing." In the end when all was said and done, it added up to nothing.
Real solutions to real problems -- that's the message this morning. Real solutions for real people -- people like Saint Paul on the road to Damascus, his life consumed with hatred and directed at persecuting the new Christian church until he met Christ and his life was changed. People like Peter in the boat, his heart filled with hurt and weighed down by his own failure until he met Christ on the shore and experienced forgiveness.
The story this morning reminds us that after the resurrection nothing can ever be the same. Peter and the disciples may try to return to their boats, but they cannot for they have become fishers of men. They may go back to the same place. But they are not the same people. For the resurrection has changed them. Three years with the Master has changed their lives. Too many cripples walked. Too many graves were made open. Too many hours were spent listening to his Word and witnessing his power. Oh, this may be the same lake, the same boats, the same failure to catch fish, but these are not the same people. The resurrection has changed them. Nothing can ever be the same.
And perhaps that's what John wanted to tell us when he wrote the last chapter of his gospel. After the resurrection nothing can ever be the same. That's why Jesus appears to Peter and the disciples again -- to remind them of that. It is God's grace for sinners, God's forgiveness for the fallen, and God's love for you and me. There on the shore of the Lake of Galilee we see how God treats us -- with love and respect, with kindness and forgiveness. For just as Jesus stood on the shore and called to Peter, so he stands near us and calls to us as well. For his promise to us is the same. "Lo, I am with you always."
Did you ever wonder about these resurrection appearances of Jesus -- how he keeps popping in and out of the disciples' lives? Here one moment and gone the next. It began the first evening of Easter and continues in the story today. What is the message he wants us to know? Could this be Jesus' way of underlining the words of his promise -- "Lo, I am with you always"? There each moment they needed him most. There with the disciples in the grief and sadness as they gathered in the upper room. There with Thomas in his time of doubt. And now here today with Peter when his heart was filled with regret. It's almost as if Jesus is trying to demonstrate to the disciples the truth of his Word that he is near them always. Always ready to come in time of need. Moving in and out of their lives so naturally that soon they would come to expect him with them always.
An old man became gravely ill, and when the pastor came to visit, the pastor noticed a chair beside the man's bed. "Oh, goodness," the pastor said, "you've already had a visitor today." "Oh, no," the man replied, "let me tell you about that chair. Years ago, I told a friend that when I prayed at night, I frequently fell asleep right in the middle of my prayers. And my friend suggested that I put a chair beside my bed and imagine that Jesus is sitting there with me, because after all, he really is. So I started doing that, and you know what? It really helped. Sometimes I can even sense him sitting there beside me."
After talking with the man a while longer, the pastor went home and later that night he got a call from the man's daughter. She said, "Pastor, my dad just died. Can you come over?" So the pastor went to see her. The daughter said, "You know I was in the room and everything was fine. He wasn't struggling or anything. He was just lying there peacefully. So I left the room for a moment. When I came back, he had passed away. But what's strange is that when I came back in the room, I noticed that the chair was pulled back up beside his bed. Somehow he had managed to roll over on his side and stretch out his arm to the chair beside him."
Real solutions to real problems -- that's what the resurrection of Jesus can mean to us. God's power and love flowing into our lives. The forgiveness and newness that can be ours in Jesus. The assurance of his presence with us always. Jesus calls to us today to drop down our nets and receive his blessing, to trust in his Word for us and to live in his presence. The same peace and contentment, the same joy and dedication that filled the disciples' lives can be ours. For the same Christ stands near us and speaks the same promise, "Lo, I am with you always." In Jesus' name. Amen.
