Sermon preached by The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The Third Sunday of Easter
On a cool, fall day two old duffers were seated on a river bank, fishing. Not a single bite for a couple of hours. Along came a little boy, who sat down between them and caught one fish after another. “How do you do that?” asked one of the old boys.
The lad mumbled something, but the men couldn’t understand what he was saying, so one of them admitted, “Son, I’m hard of hearing. What did you say?”
The little fellow spat several worms out of his mouth into his hand, and practically shouted, “You got to keep your worms warm.”
Some of the disciples had gone fishing. The events of Holy Week had transpired. Jesus had been arrested, tried, found guilty, was scourged, made to carry his own cross, and then crucified. Not only was it an indescribably horrible ordeal for our Lord, but also it was terrifying for his disciples. A similar fate was possible for them as well.
They had put all of their hopes in him as the Messiah who would be King of Israel, overthrowing the powerful Roman government. What had they been thinking? They should have known that wasn’t possible. They should have been more realistic. No one’s going to overthrow Rome.
And there was the shame of it all. Not only had Jesus been their Master, but also he had been their friend. Everyone but John had deserted him when he needed them most. And Peter’s shame was the worst of all. He had denied ever knowing him, not once, but three times. Every time he hears a rooster crow, he remembers his shame.
Now Jesus had risen from the dead. They had been with him. They had seen him, talked with him. They had even eaten with him. He had been victorious over death. But still, everything has changed. He clearly was not going to be the King of Israel. Those plans were gone for ever. What were they to do now?
So some of them went home. They went back to Galilee to their familiar surroundings. Peter said, “I’m going fishing,” and the others said, “We’ll go with you.” They returned to what was familiar. After all, that probably was what they would eventually do anyway—go back to their old way of living before they knew Jesus. He was in another reality they didn’t understand, but they were still very much in this world. They were going to have to make a living, and they might as well start right now.
They cast their nets, over and over again, but each time the nets came up empty. Jesus came and stood on the shore, but they did not recognize him. He called out to them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. So they did as he told them, and they caught so many fish they could barely haul them in. John knew then that it had to be Jesus. They went ashore, and had a feast for breakfast with their risen Lord. John tells us this was the third time Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after he had risen from the dead.
We’re told in this resurrection story that they caught exactly 153 fish. There has been much speculation over the centuries about the meaning of this particular number of fish. In his commentary on the Gospel according to John, William Barclay gives several examples of what various fathers of the Early Church thought about that particular number, and there were some very creative ideas. “Cyril of Alexandria said that the number 153 is made up of three things. First, there is 100; and that represents the ‘fullness of the Gentiles.’ 100, he says, is the fullest number. The shepherd’s full flock is 100 (Matthew 18:12). The seed’s full fertility is 100-fold. So the 100 stands for the fullness of the Gentiles who will be gathered into Christ. Second, there is the 50; and the 50 stands for the remnant of Israel who will be gathered in. Third, there is the 3; and the three stands for the Trinity to whose glory all things are done.
“Augustine has another ingenious suggestion. He says that 10 is the number of the Law, for there are 10 commandments; 7 is the number of grace, for the gifts of the Spirit are sevenfold. ‘Thou the anointing Spirit art, who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.’ Now 7 plus 10 makes 17; and 153 is the sum of all the figures, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4….up to 17. Thus, 153 stands for all those who either by law or by grace have been moved to come to Jesus Christ.
“The simplest of the explanations is that given by Jerome. He said that in the sea there are 153 different kinds of fishes; and that the catch is one which includes every kind of fish; and that therefore the number symbolizes the fact that some day all (people) of all nations will be gathered together to Jesus Christ.
“This great catch of fishes was gathered into the net, and the net held them all and was not broken. The net stands for the Church, and there is room in the Church for (people) of all nations. Even if they all come in, she is big enough to hold them all.”
One interesting aspect to all three of these ideas about the meaning of the number 153 is that they all assumed the fish were symbolic of people coming into the Church. Nowhere is that mentioned in the text, but you can hardly hear this post-resurrection account without thinking about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when he called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew away from their fishing business to be his disciples, and when doing so he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Surely when Peter realized that the person on the shore, directing them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, was Jesus his memory must have gone back to that first day with Jesus when Jesus promised he would make Peter a fisher of men. In taking up fishing again, he had perhaps thought that that vocation, that calling, to bring others to Christ was somehow no longer in force.
What does this Gospel say to us today? I think the message is fairly simple and clear. The Church is for all people, and we must do everything in our power, by the grace of God, to bring others to the risen Lord. The Church is the result of the resurrection. Our response to the resurrection should be an attitude that continually moves us to bring others to Christ through the Church. On occasion I have heard some Christians say, “You don’t bring people to the Church. You bring them to Christ. I have to say, that makes absolutely no sense to me. Jesus established the Church. The Church in fact is the Body of Christ. As St. Cyprian said, “He cannot have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother.” You bring people to church and you are bringing them to Christ. You bring people to Christ and you are bringing them to the Church.
To celebrate the resurrection, why not invite someone to come to church with you? We all should do everything we can to make people feel comfortable who visit this church. We have a few people who are wonderful at showing hospitality to people they see whom they think are new. People like Chuck and Flo Miller, Carl and Jill Stockton, Mary and Bob Hills come to mind right away. When these folks see someone they don’t recognize in Gillespie Hall, they make a point of speaking to that person and getting to know him or her. The visitor who runs into people like these folks is fortunate. But we all need to show the hospitality of Christ to all who enter the doors of Redeemer. Have you ever helped to bring someone to Christ, to his Church? We are all called to assist in that mission. May God help us and bless us as we become fishers of men and women and children.