2004-04-25 Easter 3C Resurrection Flashes.lwp - Page 2 of 3
I thought it would be good for you to hear the story from me because 1) I was there and saw
the risen Lord and 2) I understand what it’s like for Christians to wonder about the “Easter absence” of
Jesus.
Do you think it was easier for us? Maybe you do - after all, Jesus did appear to some of us:
Mary Magdalene was the first apostle one to see him; later that day he showed himself to more of us;
and again a week later - to Thomas who wasn’t there the first time and needed to see for himself. But
the next generation of Christians didn’t see him Lord the same way the we did.
So what I hope you will learn from me is that it wasn’t easy for us either. Seeing the risen Jesus
is one thing - knowing who he is and remembering those “resurrection flashes” - the times we did know
- well, that’s something else.
This was the third time Jesus showed himself. It was by the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee, which
happens to be very close to the site of another miracle involving loaves and fishes - “feeding of the
5,000.” And, yes, it was a miracle - really two miracles. You might even say it turned out to be billions.
It had been more than a week since that first Easter Sunday when Jesus appeared to us and
breathed on us and gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. He gave us a lot of hope. Peter and I and five
others left Jerusalem to go back to Galilee where it all began. We were so sure of where we were going
and what we might do, so full of the Spirit.
And once we got to Galilee we tried to keep the memory alive and get things back the way they
used to be. We tried to do what Jesus taught us - all those things that used to bring in the crowds.
We had some success - but mostly failure. Without our connection to Jesus we just didn’t know
how to get the spiritual energy back for this ministry we thought we called to. Pretty soon our surprise
and amazement at seeing the risen Lord were overcome by our perplexity and confusion. We were even
fighting among ourselves about things that had nothing to do with our mission and ministry..
We didn’t know what to do - maybe we could find a new leader to give us a vision.
But we did know - or some of us did - how to fish, and often after a long day we sit around and
talk about the good old days out in the fishing boats. No one would say it, but you could tell what was
on their minds. I mean, we were pretty impulsive in the way we just got up and followed Jesus, but at
the time Jesus never told us anything about going to Jerusalem and that whole scene.
Maybe it was time to rethink our commitment. Maybe it was time to go back to what we knew
Peter said it first: “I’m going fishing.” Thomas, and I and the others said, “We’ll go with you.”
And so we went out and got in the boat. Well, we fished all night and didn’t catch a thing. And
now it was morning. The old ways weren’t working either. Maybe we couldn’t survive.
It was time for a miracle - but we didn’t believe in them.
Picture this: Jesus was standing on the beach, and we didn’t know it was him. He called out to
us, “Children, you have no fish, have you?”
We thought it was just some guy who was asking us for food, and it made us sad to think we
had nothing to offer him. When Jesus was with us, there was always plenty to go around.
Well, those days were gone. All we could answer was, “No.”
Well, says this stranger, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” And
I don’t know why we did it - why we didn’t just tell him we already tried it and it didn’t work - maybe it
was the way he said it and his confidence in our ability to do it - but we it - and couldn’t believe our
eyes. Now there were so many fish that we couldn’t haul it in.
It was a miracle - but we had stopped believing in miracles.
Things happened fast after that. If it sounds confusing to you, it was to us, too - then.
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