Passages like the one from today’s Gospel are why I love John so much. Today John provides his fourth account of Jesus appearing to us after His resurrection. In the past two Sundays we heard about the three earlier appearances. First, Mary Magdalene encountered Jesus in the garden outside the tomb. Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener before God’s light reveals to her that the man is Jesus. Late on Easter Day, Jesus appears in the house where the disciples had been staying, only Thomas is missing at that time and does not believe when he is told of the encounter. Jesus returns a week later when Thomas is present. Thomas believes because he could then see Jesus with his own eyes. I really think Thomas gets a bad rap for his initial doubts: he goes down in history as the “doubter” when the others couldn’t identify Jesus even using their eyes, like in today’s story.
But to me, today’s fourth story is by far the best. At this point, some time has passed. We don’t know how much. The disciples had left Jerusalem and returned to Galilee, back to the safety of the countryside. Away from the Roman government, away from the chief priests and away from the Pharisees in the temple. Back to what was comforting and familiar to them. Home. It’s what you do when you grieve.
Peter and several others decide to go fishing, something they’d done all of their lives. They are returning to the normalcy of their routine. They fish all night, without any luck. A man (Jesus of course but they don’t recognize him at first) tells them to cast on the other side of the boat, and they are richly rewarded with a net full of fish. They come ashore, and Jesus invites them to sit around the fire and rest from their labors. Jesus says to them, “come and have breakfast.”
It's beautiful. It is what I imagine will happen when I arrive at the room Jesus has prepared for me. My family and close friends are around the fire. Jesus welcomes me, invites me to rest from the labors of my life. Come, have breakfast. This is your new beginning.
It’s a scene that gets me through the toughest of times.
This passage is the last appearance of Jesus that John recounts. John is the only Gospel in which the story appears. John provides four examples of when Jesus is revealed alive after His death, and suggests that there are more.
Other passages from the New Testament mention other encounters. Luke 24:13 recounts Jesus encountering Cleopas and Simon on the Road to Emmaus. He reveals the scriptures to them and then disappears. Matthew 28:16 explains that the disciples went to a mountain in Galilee where Jesus met them and proclaimed the Great Commission to go into the world and make disciples of all the nations. St. Paul writes in First Corinthians 15:6 about Jesus appearing to five hundred brothers and sisters.
And Jesus appears to Saul in our first lesson today, taken from Acts 9. In their song Saint of Me, the Rolling Stones, forever the world’s greatest rock and roll band, describe that encounter in this way:
St. Paul the persecutor was a cruel and sinful man Jesus hit him with a blinding light and then his life began.
Kinda catchy if not accurate, as Saul wasn’t St. Paul yet, but that’s essentially the story.
But it is the scene at the campfire that resonates the most with me. What a scene: our risen Lord, standing on the beach making breakfast for his friends. Yes, it is miraculous that the apostles encounter their risen friend. Yes, it is miraculous that they catch so many fish that their nets were bursting at the seams. But to me the real miracle lies in the simplicity of the moment: it is everyday life. Jesus met the disciples where they were, just as he will meet me. Welcoming. Comforting. Forgiving.
This is how Jesus meets us now. And, really, it’s the same way He always has. Like the fishermen at the campfire, Jesus meets us in the drudgery of our daily lives. Jesus is with us, all the time. Jesus is part of everything we do. Look out at nature or civilization, and there is Jesus. Look out at our beautiful lawn that Kevin and Corby so carefully and beautifully maintain, there is Jesus. Walk along dilapidated Wishkah Street in downtown Aberdeen, and Jesus is there, too.
Why does Jesus choose to reveal himself in this way? Surely he had the power to march into Pilate’s office or go see Herod or to confront the high priests who condemned Him. He could return now and march to Capitol Hill, or the Kremlin, or take over Facebook or the airwaves. But He didn’t and He hasn’t. Jesus makes his presence much more subtly, and much more personally, and I think much more effectively.
But why this way? As a lawyer, I always want all the proof I can get my hands on. From an evidence standpoint, it’s easy to attack: the brief encounters with a few private people don’t cut it, especially when the witnesses initially weren’t even sure it was Jesus they were seeing. I don’t know if I’d present that case to a jury or not. I’d probably do it and hope for the best. Maybe that’s what Jesus wants us to do: make a pitch from our own experiences.
A parable may help. In Luke 16:19 Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (the other Lazarus). In that story, a wealthy man dressed in purple and fine linen encountered the beggar Lazarus at his gate. Lazarus longed to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. After they both died, the rich man was sent to Hell, and while there he saw Abraham far away, across a chasm, with Lazarus by his side. The rich man called out to Abraham begging for pity and to be relieved from the fires of Hell. Abraham said no, that the rich man was where he was because of his misdeeds and could not then cross the great chasm separating them. Resigned to his fate, the rich man then asked for relief for his brothers, who were still alive but headed on the same course. Again Abraham said no, saying that the brothers could listen to the teachings of Moses and the prophets on their own. The man claimed that if someone from the dead contacted them, they would repent. Abraham responded: “if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” The parable suggests that no matter what the evidence is, non-believers will find a reason for their decision. Those that do believe have understood scripture and will be rewarded.
Jesus appeared the way He did so that we can make that judgment for ourselves, and so that He can work with us and through us. We can tell our own resurrection stories. We can relate to each other about life’s journeys, our struggles, and how we pull through with our faith. It is deeply personal when Jesus meets us where we are, instead of from a mountain top.
In her haunting and deeply moving memoir, Pastrix: The Cranky Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint, Nadia Bolz-Weber relates her recovery from addiction to face the rawness of life. Through her recovery she became a Lutheran pastor and found a way to minister to “her people” – the addicts and downtrodden among us. It’s a fascinating read. The book is much more than the facts of her recovery. Often profane and always irreverent, it is also a meditation on the beauty of life, the beauty of faith, and the beauty of scripture, even in the most ugly and difficult of times. It is also firm in its belief in the sanctity of the lectionary calendar.
Life isn’t easy this way, and it isn’t meant to be. We shouldn’t want it to be easy, either. In her Lenten guide this year, Duke Divinity School professor and author Dr. Kate Bowler reminded us that sometimes hope can smell like compost. Sometimes you wonder what could possibly grow from where we are. But hope can grow.
By meeting us where we are, Jesus helps us to feel all of the feels. To truly experience our lives. As a result, we need to look for Jesus when we don’t expect to find Him. We should reflect and recognize what is happening around us and think about how His presence impacts these daily experiences. Are there times when Jesus is here and we do not recognize Him, just as the disciples failed to see Him? Are there times when, like Mary Magdalene or the fishermen, we are not expecting to see Jesus, so we don’t?
Today’s Collect reminds us that God’s blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of the bread. And so we pray that God will open our eyes, that we may behold Him in all of his redeeming work. Lord, give us the eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts and minds to understand, and hands and feet willing to go and do what we hear in the Word today. Let us smell the air, feel the warmth of the sun. To just be.
Amen.