Hope Lutheran Church, Irmo SC, WELS

Wasn’t Easter Sunday glorious? Yes, Easter really is the most glorious day known to mankind because of what Christ accomplished for all of humanity that wonderful morning. But if that’s true, then what makes this Sunday? Is it not as glorious? Are these Sundays after Easter like the day after the Super Bowl or the NCAA basketball championship – a big let down, even if your team did win? It’s hard not to feel a bit down after Easter because we put in so much effort to get ready for it. We make special meals. We buy new outfits. We prepare joyful music. But then when it’s all over the adrenaline rush ends and we feel exhausted and life goes on. But life is not the same. Our lives cannot be the same old, same old as we live them in the afterglow of Easter. On Easter Sunday we sang with all our might: “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Today we’ll see that, yes, he really lives…to bless me with his love, and to help me in time of need. That fact makes this day, every day (even Mondays), glorious.

Jesus’ disciples too seemed to suffer from the post-Easter let-down. Today’s text tells us that they were in Galilee where Jesus told them to go. But once there, the disciples were unsure of what to do since Jesus had yet to arrive. Never one just to sit around, Peter announced that he was going fishing. Six other disciples, including John, said they would go along. So fishing they went. But if this activity was meant to cheer them up, it didn’t work, at least not initially. The disciples had fished all night and didn’t catch a thing. As they were pulling into shore, tired and defeated, someone called out to them through the early morning mist: “Friends, did you catch any fish?” (John 21:5) Great. Here was someone to rub in the fact that they had just wasted a good night’s sleep chasing fish that proved to be elusive. When the disciples admitted that they hadn’t caught a thing, the stranger had the gall to suggest they throw their net on right side of the boat.

Now fishermen, professional fishermen at that, aren’t typically in the habit of taking suggestions from strangers. Yet there was something authoritative about this man. Perhaps it was how he said: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will (not you might) find some [fish]” (John 21:6). And sure enough, no sooner had they thrown the net starboard did it fill with so many fish that they couldn’t even haul it aboard! At that John realized that the man was no stranger. This was Jesus! When he shared his observation with Peter, the impetuous disciple threw his cloak on and jumped into the water to swim ashore. The other disciples followed in the boat dragging the catch behind them (John 21:6-8).

There are a number of truths worth pondering here. One is that life, no matter how well we are prepared for it or hard we work on it, is fruitless without Jesus’ blessing. Look at the disciples. They had done everything right to catch fish. They had the right equipment. They went at the right time. Some of them were even professional fishermen and knew what they were doing. And yet even after toiling all night they had nothing to show for their efforts. It was only when Jesus showed up and directed them that their efforts bore fruit.

In the same way, we can make plans. We can gather the right equipment. And we can work until we’re ready to collapse but unless the Lord blesses our efforts, our work won’t amount to much of anything. That’s important to remember. It’s important to remember in our personal lives and in our life together as a congregation. Our new building addition is pretty-well complete. What a tool for doing even more ministry work in our community! But just having a nice new addition and working really hard to reach out to people to come and be a part of what’s going on at Hope, doesn’t mean that all of a sudden we’ll be bursting at the seams with new members. Even if we all work to the point of exhaustion, our efforts alone cannot make more disciples for the Lord. It happens only as Jesus himself blesses our efforts.

That’s also true of our individual lives. You may have a dream. Perhaps there is a career you want to pursue, and a certain age you want to be able to retire at. So you’re taking all the necessary steps and making sound decisions to ensure that those dreams come true. Maybe it’s the way you’re working hard to get good grades and to take part in a number of other extra-curricular activities so you’re a well-rounded individual. You’re careful with the money you earn. You’re careful to spend wisely, save as much as you can, and make prudent investments. You’re working hard in your career – faithfully doing your work and looking for opportunities for job advancement and career enhancement. You’re careful to cover all your risks with insurance and healthy behavior. You’re doing all of it in order to make your dream become a reality. But again, unless Jesus offers his blessings, your best efforts by themselves aren’t enough to make your dreams into meaningful, lasting realities. That’s pretty humbling isn’t it?

So if everything depends on Jesus’ blessings, then why work so hard? If God wants to expand the ministry of our congregation, he can make it happen without our efforts, right? So let’s just forgo all the ministry work and sit back and wait for God to do his thing! Why work so hard and evaluate each decision and map possible paths for our own lives? Just let go and let God do it all for us and we’ll all be fine.

It’s true that the disciples caught fish only when Jesus spoke his blessing but they wouldn’t have “caught” Jesus’ blessing had they not been out fishing! So yes, God could draw new members to Hope without any of us inviting friends, relatives, acquaintances or neighbors to come if he wanted to. God could miraculously fill our retirement accounts with more wealth than we would know what to do with this very moment if that’s what he felt like doing. But he doesn’t usually bless His people in those ways. He sends his blessings through their efforts. So we will work as if everything depends on us, all the while knowing and trusting that God must bless our efforts if they are to bear fruit. We do so trusting that God will bless us in his way and in his time. We can be certain of this because our Redeemer lives for that very purpose.

The other thing worth mentioning about the first part of our text is that Jesus’ death and resurrection changes our relationship to him. Remember how at the beginning of his ministry Jesus performed a similar miracle as the one found in our text today? Peter witnessed that miracle yet his response was different. On that occasion Peter said to Jesus who was in the boat with him: “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) But now, after the resurrection, Peter can’t wait to be by the Lord’s side so he dives in the water with his clothes on! Why the difference? It wasn’t that Peter was any less sinful. In fact just a couple of weeks earlier Peter had denied knowing Jesus. Yet now he swims to Jesus because he knows that Jesus paid for his sins and Jesus’ resurrection is a guarantee of that, like the receipt you show at the door at WalMart is proof that you paid for the items in your shopping cart and therefore the guarantee that they’ll let you leave the store.

In the same way, Brothers and Sisters, live with resurrection-confidence. When the guilt of your sins weighs you down, don’t hide from the Lord, instead dive head first into prayer and swim to Jesus because you know that he has already forgiven you because he died and rose again to take your sins away forever!

Since Jesus has forgiven you, trust that he will also care for you and help you in time of need just as he did the disciples. I’m not talking about the miraculous catch of fish anymore; I’m talking about the miracle breakfast Jesus provided afterwards. What a Savior! Not only does he die for sinners; he makes breakfast for them. Not only does he care for their greatest needs, the needs of their souls; he also takes care of their temporary needs, the needs of their bodies too. And what was on the menu? Bread and a fish. That’s right: one loaf of bread, and one fish. Now how was that going to feed seven hungry men who had been out fishing all night?

Well didn’t Jesus tell Peter to bring some fish from the catch to cook over the coals? That’s how the NIV translation makes it sound but a better reading of the Greek implies that Jesus did not tell Peter to bring some of the fish to cook but simply to take care of the catch before breakfast. What that meant is that the disciples were to sort through the fish, throwing back the small and keeping the big. Once done, John informs us the exact number of big fish they caught and kept: one hundred and fifty-three. Now the disciples were ready for breakfast. But again, how could one loaf of bread and one fish feed so many mouths? The answer is simple. The disciples would eat their fill because Jesus was their host. Just as he had provided for the five thousand when there was only five loaves of bread and two fish, it would be no problem for Jesus to feed seven men with one loaf and one fish.

What did the disciples learn that morning? They learned that Jesus, their resurrected Lord, lives to help in time of need. This miracle was beneficial to the disciples, not just because they were hungry at the moment, but because preaching would become their full time occupation and as far as they knew this was not a high-paying job so how would they eat? They didn’t need to worry about that because their Savior was on the job, and he’s still on the job today. Not only does Jesus provide our daily bread in the Cheerio’s we eat in the morning and the hamburgers we eat at night. He’s also the one who gives us our eyes and ears our minds and abilities, our strength and our intelligence. He’s the one who gives us the ability to work – as well as the work to do. In all of it he can take our small efforts and multiply their impact and their reach beyond anything we could ever ask or imagine – that he’ll use our efforts to bless others and along the way he’ll bless and take care of us too. That’s both comforting and exciting to contemplate!

This Sunday might not be Easter Sunday but it is a Sunday after Easter and therefore it’s glorious for the Son who rose two thousand years ago still shines brightly on us today. If death could not diminish Jesus’ power, neither can time. As we bask in the Son’s glory let us not think we can sit around as if lounging on the beach. No, we’ll be active in what God has called us to do. We’ll be faithful students, devoted parents and grandparents, conscientious employees, caring employers, and eager servants of God’s Word and God’s people. We’ll live this way because we know Jesus lives to bless our efforts, and he lives to help us - even provide breakfast for us. Sure, Easter Sunday was glorious but so is this Sunday, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…every day is glorious because I know that my Redeemer lives and because he does everything we do, we get to do in love and service to Him. And that’s the greatest blessing of all! Amen.