You Won’t Believe This Fishin’ Story
How empty tomb feelings evolve over time
Larry Thorson
Scripture Text: John 21:1-14
1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the
3 "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they
said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the
disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5 He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any
fish?"
"No," they answered.
6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat
and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net
in because of the large number of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It
is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the
Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off)
and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples
followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from
shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they
saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have
just caught."
11 Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It
was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast."
None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was
the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to
them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now
the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the
dead.
How
many of you like to fish? I heard a
description of fishing recently that compared it to watching grass grow. Now I have to admit I’ve only been fishing a
few times in my life. I can count the total
number of fish I’ve caught in my lifetime on my fingers, and not even have to
use my thumbs. Once I caught a very
agitated snapping turtle. I nearly came
to have one less finger to count with.
But
that’s enough about my fishing experiences mainly because there isn’t much to
tell. That’s not the case with a certain
Mr. Simon Peter in our Bible story. He
was a professional fisherman which means he made his living catching fish. You know about professionals. They’re the guys your wife always wants you
to call to do the jobs that you know that you could do yourself for so much
less and so much better IF
you had the time and IF you
could just spend a few hundred dollars on some new tools.
As a professional fisherman it
was Peter’s business to find the best ways to catch fish. But that night he and his buddies were
fishing as if they had just read my book on how to fish. It says they caught nothing.
I
used to have a boss whose father owned a very nice fishing boat with a matching
dually pickup to pull it. On that boat
he had the best sonar fishing equipment possible for locating where fish were
in the water. Each year when he came
back from fishing with his dad, we’d ask him how many fish he’d caught. His answer was always biblical. He’d quote verse 3 “they caught
nothing.”
Now that’s just plain
irritating. You’re up all night dropping
nets down into the water and pulling them back up empty. Down and up; always coming up empty. When you’re a recreational fisher person rhe
only thing that empty nets bring up for you is a damaged ego. Empty nets for these guys meant no
payday. No payday meant no food for them
or their family. It made them feel like
a failure. You’re a professional
fisherman but you can’t catch fish. It’s
like try to be a professional pianist and not be able to play a piano.
I
don’t know about you but I get all stressed out when I work hard on something
and come up empty. Like last year when I spent hours and days writing a new manual for
a new members’ class in my previous church and saved it to my laptop hard drive
only to have my hard drive crash. All my work came up empty. I
don’t mind working hard but I expect to see results for my work.
That’s the thing about empty tomb
experiences. We don’t expect them and we
don’t particularly appreciate them. They
throw us off balance. I had an empty
tomb experience recently. Friday,
Martha, Eric and I were scheduled to go on our first non relative centered
vacation. We were going t o drive up to
When the disciples discovered Jesus’
empty tomb they didn’t know what to do because they weren’t expecting his
resurrection. That confusion produces
stress. Prolonged stress from an empty
tomb experience will wear us out.
I came across the following statistics about stress on the
internet but I can’t footnote them. They
appear to be a compilation of a number of studies done on st:
_75% of the population experiences at least some stress
every two weeks.
_
Half of those that experience stress, experience
moderate to
high levels.
_
75-95% of physician visits are related to stress.
_
Stress contributes to heart disease, high-blood
pressure and strokes.
_
Stress the immune system and your ability to fight
illness is lessened.
_ Tranquilizers, antidepressants
and anti-anxiety medications account for one
fourth
of all prescriptions written in the
_ Stress contributes to the
development of alcoholism, obesity, suicide, drug addiction, cigarette
addiction and other harmful behaviors.
_ Stress is directly responsible
for more than one half of the 550 million work days lost annually.
_
Job-related stress costs 300 billion dollars each
year.
_ Many studies link the leading
causes of death to stress. Some
examples are: heart disease,
cancer, accidents and lung disease.
_ More fatal heart attacks
happen at
Down
and up, always coming up empty. It
wasn’t what these fishermen expected or hoped for that night. Their struggle was throwing them off
balance. Unexpected disappointment
(empty tombs) throws us off balance.
Being off balance puts a stress as we over compensate for the weak
area. We need the following things in
our life to balance our mind, body,
spirit and emotions.
1. Humor
2. Quiet moments
3. Play
4. Pleasure
5. Nourishment
6. Feeding your spirit
7. Rest
8. Travel
9. Love and friendships
10. Volunteering for a good cause
11. A space you can call your own
12. Sounds that sooth you
13. Clean air
14. Color
The
problem is when we’re experiencing the empty tomb feeling we don’t feel like doing
the things that bring balance to our lives.
It’s like the two guys whose boat sunk.
The one guy was so focused on trying to survive that he couldn’t find
humor in the other guy’s knock knock jokes.
People say to us “It’ll get better” but you don’t feel like you’re going
to get better. That’s because you’re out
of balance. Health is about being
balanced. Stress throws us off our balance. For example, try maintaining a diet when
you’re stressed out. It’s hard to
do. It’s like tying your shoe on a
tightrope.
Enter
Jesus into the picture. You’re
disappointed. You’re discouraged. You’re wet.
You’re cold. You’re
frustrated. You’re frustrated with your
job. You’re frustrated with your lack of
opportunities. You’re frustrated with
your friends. Nothing is going right
tonight.
There
he is, standing on the beach in front of a little fire. At first you don’t recognize him. He’s just some guy on the beach with an
opinion about how you should do your job.
“Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some” he
said.
Great. That’s just what you need after a long
frustrating night is a guy on the beach with an opinion. But I believe something spiritual took place
in their minds at that moment when he gave them the advice. They had a choice and it probably ran through
their minds. “Who’s this guy to tell us
how to fish” is a possible response because they didn’t know it was Jesus. To throw their net on the opposite side of
the boat would be an admission that they had been fishing wrong that night and
this stranger knew more about fishing than they did.
There was a pilot on
Captain
Garcez sensed something was wrong. At this point in the flight plan he expected
to be able to have visual contact with the Belém airport. Frustrated, the
captain executed a 180-degree turn, not recognizing the absurdity of his due
west/due east course. Having been notified by the flight attendants that the
passengers were wondering what was happening, Garcez lied. He announced there
was a power failure at the Belém airport, and that he would circle the area
waiting for the power to be restored.
Despite
not knowing where he was, Captain Garcez informed the Varig flight coordinator
on the ground he estimated the plane would be landing in Belém in five minutes.
He then ordered the flight attendants to serve a fresh round of drinks to the bewildered
passengers.
At
About
an hour later, out of fuel, Garcez made a remarkable crash-landing in total
darkness in a dense tropical forest. The plane was 700 miles from the intended
destination. Although all six of the crew survived, 13 of the 48 passengers
were killed. Both Captain Garcez and the first officer had their commercial
licenses revoked. They never flew again.[1]
Something
spiritual happened in the minds of Peter and his crew that night. When they made the decision to humble them selves
and throw their net over the right side of the boat instead of the left they
demonstrated that they weren’t all knowing.
The biblical book of Proverbs says “Pride comes before destruction…”
(Proverbs 16:18) While this story is not
about pride it is about experiencing Jesus.
There is no experiencing Jesus without humility. Humility means admitting that we’re not all
knowing and all seeing. It means
admitting that we’re not God who can save ourselves from destruction.
I
believe that at the moment the net filled up Peter had a spiritual moment. A spiritual moment is when you realize that
you’re not alone. We’re always saying
how God is here and we sense God’s presence and on and on but that unmistakable
moment when I know that God is right there literally gives me goose bumps.
Peter
had been on another boat and had another bad night on a previous fishing
expedition in Luke 5:4. “When he (that is Jesus) had finished
speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for
a catch. Simon answered, Master, we’ve
worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the
nets. When they had done so, they caught
such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.”
I
believe instantly when that net came up full Peter remembered that episode and
he no longer saw a stranger on the beach, he saw Jesus. That’s a spiritual moment. It says in verse 12 that “none of the
disciples dared ask him, “’Who are you?’”
They knew it was the Lord.”
Imagine
what the disciples felt when they sat down to have the breakfast Jesus prepared
for them. Not only hot food but they had
their leader and friend back with them. They
were still tired. Still a little
cold. But their night hadn’t been
wasted. Their three years of following
Jesus hadn’t been wasted. Their lives
had meaning and purpose. It was a
long ways from Easter Sunday and waking up to discover that Jesus’ body was
missing from his tomb to this breakfast.
Don’t
miss having breakfast with Jesus. Your
empty tomb feeling is going to end one day.
You will be healed, you will be well again but in the meantime don’t
miss having breakfast with Jesus.
I
knew man whose wife of many years died in 1993.
When I knew him ten years later he was still grieving as if her death
had occurred that year. There was an
attractive 79 year old widow which was close to his age who joined our church. She really liked him and he liked her very
much. They started getting together and
he seemed happier than any time I’d ever seen him before. One day she came to me and said that he
didn’t want to see her anymore. I went
to see him and discovered that while he really liked her he felt like he was
being unfaithful to his deceased wife by spending time with her.
Don’t miss having breakfast with
Jesus because you’re so caught up with what you don’t have. Don’t miss what could be the happiest moments
of your life, ever because you feel you have to hold onto your loss.
This week picture
Jesus standing on the beach waiting for you.
Breakfast is ready. You’re
invited. The fish is cooked, the bread
is warm. There’s a spiritual moment with
Jesus waiting to happen for you. But you
have to want it. You have to know that
you need it. You to be willing to repent
or change and give up the empty tomb feeling even when you’re starting to get
comfortable with it.
Author and
motivational speaker John Maxwell says "When it comes to change, there are
three seasons of timing: People change when they hurt enough that they have to,
when they learn enough that they want to, and when they receive enough that
they are able to." [2]
The
disciples hurt enough which caused them to listen enough and as a result
received enough to move past their empty tomb feeling. We hurt.
We listen. We receive. God hurts with us. God directs us and God gives to us. So get those nets ready. You’re going to have a fishin’ story that no
one is going to believe.
Study Guide
DAILY BIBLE READING
Monday Luke 5:1-11
What was Peter’s response to Jesus
when he caught all the fish? V.8
What did Jesus mean when he told
Simon Peter that “from now on you will catch men”?
Tuesday Proverbs 16
How does the Proverb say that you
will succeed? V.3,20
What’s the role of pride in
succeeding? V.18
What does this Proverb say about
gray hair?
Wednesday John
What size library would be needed
to record all that Jesus did while he was alive?
What do you think was the primary
reason for including the stories we have about Jesus’ acts in the Bible?
Thursday
John
What
was the context that brought Jesus and his disciples together for this meal?
Why
do you think Peter was hurt by Jesus’ questions? How would you have felt about Jesus’
questions?
Friday John
What
was the new command that Jesus gave his disciples?
What
was Peter more concerned about in this story than Jesus’ new command? How do you think that influenced what Jesus
told him on the beach in yesterday’s reading?
Saturday Psalm 89
What
role does love play in this Psalm?
How
would this Psalm help restore you when you were feeling down?
Sunday John
Read
this passage again from Thursday’s reading in light of what you have read and
thought about during the week. _______________________________________________
NEXT SERMON: Our Father’s Love
Brings Restoration
John 21:15-19