John.21.1-14; Third Sunday of Easter; April 5, 2019
Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN
After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of
Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the
Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his
disciples were together. 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. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the
shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them,
“Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them,
“Cast the net on 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 of the quantity of
fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for
he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples
came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the
land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a
charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to
them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went
aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although
there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have
breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew
it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with
the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples
after he was raised from the dead. ” (John 21:1–14,
ESV)
“Our God is the God
for people who make mistakes.”
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ.
Alleluia! Christ has risen! He is
risen indeed! Alleluia!
You’ve heard that old joke. Earlier today I was sure I had made a
mistake. I wasn’t sure because it is so
rare for a guy like me. But upon
reflection, after thinking about it for a long time, I realized that I was
mistaken. I didn’t make a mistake after
all… oh wait; I guess I just made one.
Maybe the other thing was a mistake after all?
Well, that’s not me. I make mistakes all the time. Lot’s of times the mistakes I make are right
out in front of everyone. Have you made
a mistake this morning? Preparing to
come to church, did you use the wrong toothpaste, use too much hot water in the
shower and leave everyone else cold?
Make a wrong turn? Say the wrong
thing to your spouse?
Really though, those kinds of
mistakes are one thing, we’ve all made mistakes like those, but we’ve all made another
kind, too. I’m talking about the ones
that keep you up at night. The ones you must
keep pushing into the back chamber of your mind. I’m talking about relationship destroying
mistakes, bridge burning mistakes. Things
you did that change your life in ways you never liked. The ones you say to yourself even years
later, “If only I had done that differently.”
I’m talking about the kind of mistakes that eat away at you in
regret. Now they’re not always big mistakes
either, sometimes the littlest thing can bubble up in your memory, like a minor
offense against a long-lost friend that can now never be taken back.
Now before we go on, I want to make
a point. It would be a mistake to
classify all our sin as mistakes. That
makes it seem that all our problems are accidental, as if somehow, we weren’t
to blame because (as we often say) “nobody’s perfect.” That’s just an excuse to try to push the
blame away. Let’s be clear. We are sinful people. We live in the sin that we were born with. We can point at our parents and blame them
because we inherited our sad state from them, but we have plenty of blame on
our own. The mistakes that we make
accidentally are only a by-product of that sin.
You have heard me talk about “not living in a perfect relationship with
God.” The First commandment says, “You
shall have no other Gods. What does this mean? We should fear and love God
above all things.” And we don’t. Primarily we love ourselves above all
things. That’s the real nature of
sin. We want to be god instead of
letting God be god. When our selfishness
shatters that part of the law; all the rest, all nine of other commandments, fall
like dominoes. Without a perfect
relationship with God, it is impossible to have a perfect relationship with
anyone else. Mistakes, especially those
in our relationships with other people, are a part of that “not living in a
perfect relationship with God.” The
regret that we feel, the self-inflicted pain that we suffer is the law that is
written on our hearts that tells us that things should be different.
Today’s texts are about
mistakes. Well to be more accurate they
are about God (that’s really the case with the whole bible). These texts are about the God who is the God
for people who make mistakes. And talk
about regrets, St. Paul had a whole bucket full of them. He had no illusions about where he was before
Jesus met him on the road to Damascus. He
wrote in his letter to Pastor Timothy:
The saying is
trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this
reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect
patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. (1
Ti 1:15-16, ESV)
When Paul was still called Saul, he
“breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord…” He didn’t just make life tough for them; he
did everything he could to cause them to be killed. When we first see him, he is standing among a
crowd of angry people, approving of their stoning of Stephen. “I stood watching and approving.” He said
later. Paul wasn’t just an enemy of
Christ’s Church; he was an outspoken and active persecutor of it. There was real blood on his hands. In some ways it puts our simple regrets to
shame. And he had no illusions about who
he was. And yet, Jesus met him on the
road. Paul, chief of sinners, because
Jesus greatest Apostle. Had Paul made
mistakes? Yep, did Jesus forgive? Yep. And
look at the result.
Now the disciples too were plagued
by mistakes. When the soldiers came to
arrest Jesus in the garden, they ran for their lives like scared rabbits. They left Jesus alone, even though they knew
exactly who he was: They had seen miracle after miracle and heard every word he
spoke. And Peter even more. When he was confronted with being Jesus
disciple as a he stood outside at Jesus trial, he denied that he knew the man
who he saw walk on water, and who invited him to do the same. “I will lay down my life for you!” Peter told
Jesus, but to the woman who accused him of being a disciple, he said with a
curse, “I am not!” I think you can see
their regret. Remember where they were
on the first evening of Jesus resurrection? After they had heard from the women
that Jesus was alive? They were huddled
together in a darkened room with the doors locked, “for fear of the Jews.” And maybe even for fear of Jesus. They had left him to the cross. Peter had denied. When the news of Jesus alive again reached them,
I can imagine they really weren’t all that anxious to see him again. “If only I hadn’t done that.” “If only I hadn’t said that.” The minds must have been full of regret. Their actions, their failed courage, their
running and hiding and denying, were all mistakes they must have wished they
could take back. But as I said Jesus is
the God for people who make mistakes.
When he appeared to them, the very first time after the resurrection, he
said, “Peace be with you.”
John tells us another account of
Jesus appearing to them. When they
didn’t know what to do, they went fishing.
It sounded like a good plan. But
even though they were accomplished, professional fisherman, they didn’t catch
anything. Jesus appeared to them (even
though they didn’t know it was him) and directed them to a large catch. It must have seemed just like the old
days! Peter swam ashore, and the
disciples dragged the net ashore. Jesus
allays all their fears and eats with them.
It was a sign of forgiveness and acceptance. It was like saying “Peace be with you” again. Jesus appeared to bring them peace, to remove
their regrets, to accept them despite their mistakes.
Jesus accepts you despite your
mistakes. But you should know that he
doesn’t just sweep them under the rug.
Remember the real problem isn’t mistakes, it’s “not living in a perfect
relationship with God.” That’s our real
problem. That the real nature of sin in
us. And what we deserve for that is
God’s anger. He wants to be in
relationship with him and we simply push him away, for our own selfish reasons,
because we want to be our own god. Imagine
how hurt you’d be if you invited someone to diner and they just said, “No. I
won’t come and eat with you.” Well,
Jesus takes care of our broken relationship.
First, he did live in a perfect relationship with God, the Father. That first commandment that we can’t begin to
keep; Jesus did, and all the other nine, too.
Perfect, complete, and finished. And
then he took stood in our place as God let out all his anger against sinful
people. As Jesus hung on the cross
dying, he wasn’t just suffering from nail holes and struggling to live, he was
suffering what human beings should have suffered. Eternal punishment for their rejection of
God. Jesus withstood the punishment of
hell for you. Jesus withstood the death of sinful people for
you. We are selfish, he was
selfless. In love he gave up his life
and he suffered punishment for you. Now
because he suffered the punishment, we don’t have it to suffer anymore. Through faith in Jesus we are connected to
God again. Our imperfect relationship is
made a perfect, though incomplete. You
see, he doesn’t just sweep aside sin; he deals with it in the only way it can
be dealt with. The punishment is received,
and the relationship is restored.
Since regret and mistakes are only
a symptom of the real problem, they all go with it. Mistakes, and regret, willful sin and
accidents, hurts and pain, trouble and sorrow follow Jesus in death into the
tomb. But only life comes out again when
he rises from the dead. That’s why he
can bring peace to the disciples. The
peace he brings evaporates the regret they feel from their mistakes and
failures. That’s why he can turn Saul to
Paul, and along with a name change a change of heart. Paul’s regrets are done away with and Jesus
uses him. And even you, even the regrets
that you have… they are done away with by Jesus. Those mistakes that you made are taken care
of.
You might well ask the question, why
would I want to be a Christian? Why would I want to be religious? Out there every day, and more and more every
day, when you leave our little ‘protected’ corner of the world, you are going
to find a world that is hostile to your faith.
You will be challenged in your faith from every direction. You will have bosses, friends and family who
will tell you that your church is old fashioned and doesn’t really know the true
nature of things. They will tell you
that the world is the result of accidental forces of nature not created by any
god. They will tell you that if you
believe homosexual behavior is a sin you are bigot. Your friends and family will tell you that
sex outside of marriage isn’t wrong and everyone cheats a little bit. And you will be tempted to keep quiet when
you know the truth of God’s Word. And
you know what? You are going to make
mistakes. You are a sinful person. Life is challenging. Why do you want to be religious? Why is Christianity so important to you today
and tomorrow and all the rest of your life?
It’s not the reason most people think.
It’s not because you’re going to be perfect, or even because you’ll get
to be better than anyone else. It’s because
you will make mistakes. You will
sin. You will fall short of your
expectations. But our God is the only true
God, He is Jesus Christ, and he is the God for people who make mistakes. He is the only One who has taken the regret
that you are going to feel and put it to death and buried it in the grave right
along with the punishment that your sin deserves, right were it belongs. The very same thing that Jesus did for the
disciples and Peter on that beach in Galilee, the very same thing that he did
for Saul / Paul on the road to Damascus, is what he has done for you. And that’s what it means to be a
Christian. That’s what it means to
belong to the God who is the God for people who make mistakes. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ has risen! He is
risen indeed! Alleluia!
The peace of God that passes all
understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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