Fishing

Introduction

My fishing experience can be counted on three fingers of one hand. I have never made any claims to be an “outdoorsman.” I do not hunt, fish, track, or trap. The first time to go fishing turned into a non-event. I was with a group down in Georgia and we all agreed to get up early and go fishing. It would be my first experience. It ended up raining during the night and was raining at the time we were to get up and go. I didn’t know that. I was sleeping soundly. But one of my friends woke me to let me know that it was raining and that we wouldn’t be going fishing. Needless to say that I was unimpressed with that experience.

My second experience was with this same friend. At the time I was delivering newspapers in Nashville and so when I got off work around 4:30 in the morning (and my friend got off the late shift at the hospital), we went and got Krispy Kreme doughnuts and went to a fishing hole. We ate doughnuts, threw our baited hooks into the water and both napped. I got a sunburn but not any fish. I decided then that fishing wasn’t so bad as long as the fish were not biting.

My third and final experience fishing was at Hot Springs, AR. Gene Prescott, one of our former elders, felt that life was just not complete unless you caught a fish. So he took me to the lake and guaranteed that I would catch a fish. The crappie were biting good that night. I barely got the line in the water before I caught a fish. He took it off the hook, threw it back in the water and thus ended my third and final experience. From my three experiences I have decided that fishing is not only overrated, but the best part about it is what food you take along and if you can get a nap in. I am sure that many of you will disagree with me and will even want to prove to me the fun that can come from fishing. I tell you what you do. You go fishing, bring back your catch and show it to me, and I’ll eat a couple of doughnuts and take a nap. That way we both get something good from the experience.

I am so glad to preach from John 21 today and to preach from the text that is least preached on from this chapter. There is something inviting and exciting in this text. This text is about fishing. It’s a special fishing story. It’s a story that reminds us that with Jesus the mundane and failures of life can still be victorious purposeful events. Fishing can be boring and frustrating, but Jesus makes all things new. And in this text, Jesus gives new meaning to an old experience. Let’s be encouraged.

The Story

Seven disciples are mentioned in this story. They have all traveled from Jerusalem to Galilee. Why? Some believe it is because this is what Jesus has told them to do in Matthew 28:10 in which Jesus tells them to go to Galilee and he will see them there. John does not tell us why they are in Galilee but understanding Matthew’s text poses no problem for us. Peter is the obvious leader here. The events of the night of the betrayal have been forgotten or at least haven’t hurt his status among them. They decide to go fishing. Night is the time to go so that anything caught can be sold fresh at market the next morning.

They fish all night with nothing to show for their effort. The story then takes on a whimsical feel. Like anyone traveling by a bunch of fishermen, the question is posed “Did you catch anything?” The disciples not knowing this is Jesus call out their response in a friendly way. “Nope.” Frustrated, angry, or resigned to having missed out we don’t know. Then the friendly stranger tells them to try the other side. This perplexes me. It is dark perhaps with the first inkling of dawn. Can the man see the fish from his vantage point? Do these experienced fishermen lack the skills necessary to catch fish? If there are so many on the other side of the boat, why don’t they see them?

My guess is that these disciples are merely doing what they were instructed to do with no expectation of catching anything. Do we really think that fishing all night has taken place on one side of the boat only? Has Peter stubbornly said all night “Left side of the boat fishing tonight boys.” But when the fish start leaping into the net, they all know something special is happening. John puts things together first and Peter is the first to react. I do wonder what the others thought when Peter jumped into the water and left them to get the catch together. And Jesus and these seven disciples have breakfast together. So what?

Application

Some want to take this initial section and try to allegorize things. Some have focused on the number 153 and try to attach some spiritual significance to it. Jerome argued that 153 was the number of fish species Greek zoologists ascertained existed in the world. 153 thus typified the range, inclusiveness and yield of the church’s fishing mission. Augustine adopted a mathematical approach speculating that because 153 is the sum of the numbers 1-17 consecutively, the number 17 was therefore important. Were there not 10 commandments and 7 gifts of the Spirit? Cyril of Alexandria argued that 153 represented 100 for the Gentiles, 50 for the remnant of Israel and 3 for the Trinity. Another interpretation derived from an ancient practice of both Hebrews and Greeks called gematria where numerical values were mystically ascribed to letters of the alphabet (a=1, b=2, etc.). If John employed such mysticism, 153 could equal a word like “church of love,” or more likely, a reference to two Hebrew words in Ezekiel 47:10. There, Ezekiel prophesied about fishermen who will stand along the shore and spread their nets: “The fish will be of many kinds, like the fish of the great sea,” he said.

While all of this is wonderfully speculative, it seems that the number is there to prove eyewitness testimony. John is once again implicitly saying, I was there when this happened. So what is the point? We can speculate about why Peter and the rest are fishing. Are they just relaxing? Are they returning to their prior work giving up on the ministry stuff? Are they searching for significance? We don’t know. What we do know is that without Jesus, the fishing is fruitless. It makes sense only when Jesus is present.

These disciples are not going to return to their former occupations. Jesus has something different in mind. Jesus is going to refocus the disciples on their mission. That will be next week. But to do that he sets up the encounter. Fish on your own and there is nothing. Fish with me and there is something. We go to work everyday. We work for those we like and for those we don’t like. We sweat and slave for the paycheck. Some days are enjoyable. Some days are just days. And some days we wonder why we remain and then go home and eat and pay bills and we are reminded why we stay.

Whatever the job, it only makes sense when we work for Jesus. While Jesus is going to call Peter to a different role than fishing, he doesn’t call us all to change jobs. What he does call us to remember is that each day makes sense with his blessing. Just as he gave bread and fish to sustain and renew the disciples so he calls us to go into this world for him. He gives us what is needed to sustain and renew. Our work matters when we work for Jesus. As C.S. Lewis wrote in Weight of Glory: The work of a Beethoven, and the work of a charwoman, become spiritual on precisely the same condition, that of being offered to God, of being done humbly “as to the Lord.” This does not, of course, mean that it is for anyone a mere toss-up whether he should sweep rooms or compose symphonies. A mole must dig to the glory of God and a cock must crow.

The fishing was futile without Jesus. Whatever you do is futile without Jesus. Prayer. Invitation.

Follow Jesus

If you’d like to respond to this message or learn more about following Jesus, please reach out.