209 Breakfast on the Beach

    (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Breakfast on the Beach”, originally shared on April 25, 2022. It was the 209^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   What is the most memorable meal you have ever received? What meal was the most important? The most necessary? Today, we’re going to identify one meal that ties all those values together.

   Jesus had been crucified. Jesus had given his life and died dead as a doornail. Jesus had taken his life back again. He rose from the dead. He had appeared to his disciples. Twice.  OK, that is a lot to process.

   And then this happened, in John 21:1-8,

21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. ² Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. ³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. ⁷ That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. ⁸ But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

   Sure, the disciples had a lot to process. But Jesus had appeared to them twice! They had been given the Holy Spirit. They had been sent into the world.

   And what did they do? Seven of the remaining eleven of them went back to work. They went home. They made the nearly 80-mile trip from Jerusalem to their fishing grounds on the Sea of Tiberias (aka the Sea of Galilee), on foot, and they went fishing. They were commercial fisherman.

   They fished all night and caught nothing. Nothing. What does that feel like, to work without results? And how do you think they felt, given their circumstances? Like they had let Jesus down? Like they couldn’t get anything right, including their jobs? Like they were being punished by God. Ready to just give up?

   Then, just after daybreak, they were coming in and there was someone on the beach. They didn’t recognize Jesus for who he was. How could they not recognize Jesus? He was dead. Well, he had appeared to them. Twice. Was it not light enough yet? Were they just freaked out over seeing the impossible? Were they still processing what they had seen? Were they still in shock?

   Jesus knew what had happened in that fishless night. So, he told them to throw the nets out on the other side of the boat. Like, that would work! Why didn’t we think of that?! But they did, and in their obedience to Jesus, willing to do whatever he commanded, no matter how crazy it seemed, they caught so many fish that they weren’t able to haul in the net.

   They weren’t too far from shore, so they just used the boat to drag the net to the shore. Peter had let Jesus down even after Jesus told him he would. Three times! And yet Peter wasn’t so ashamed that he couldn’t fanboy over Jesus and he jumped into the sea to get to him, first putting on his clothes as a reminder that sin that separates us from God from the beginning.

   And then this happened, in John 21:9-14,

⁹ When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

   Some scholars say that the number 153 is the number of all the nations of the world known to the Jews at that time.

   And that makes sense, because this story includes references to God’s love for the whole world, such that Jesus died for the sake of the world, as well as of the disciples’ call to go into the world and make disciples.

   It’s kind of a Jesus’ greatest hits compilation. He reassured the disciples with references to where his divinity had been made plain to them. Where else did Jesus preside over a meal of bread and fish? The feeding of the 5,000. Where else was there a miraculous catch of fish? The calling of the disciples to leave their nets and come and follow Jesus. Sin and redemption from sin are referenced here.

   Jesus presided over this breakfast on the beach show that he still cared for them. To answer their denial with his confidence in them. To answer their fear with the gift of faith. To respond to guilt with forgiveness and reconciliation.

   This is the resurrected Jesus. This Jesus is alive! He was there to do something familiar: share a meal. Was he there to get the old band back together? What was happening?

   How does Jesus deal with us in our inadequacies, with our faithlessness, our divisions, our biting and scratching, when none dare ask where Jesus is when we all know that he is right here in the midst of us, and in our utter lack of interest in the mission God has given us to make disciples of all nations?

   Jesus reveals himself to us in a meal.

   Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:17-24,

  ²³ For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

   In Holy Communion we receive forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation. We receive the presence of God. We commune with God! We receive his mercy and the assurance that he abides in us. We are blessed to be a blessing.

   What is the most memorable, the most important, the most necessary meal for life?

   It’s Holy Communion.

   We don’t need to run around seeking the Lord. He comes to us.

   He is present there for us in the forms of bread and wine.