Posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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EASTER WEDNESDAY

"Caught in the Apostolic Net”

John 21:1-14

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

He Is Risen!  (He Is Risen indeed!  Alleluia!)

One of the first questions that come to most people's minds when they encounter this third resurrection appearance of Jesus is, "Why 153 fish?”  Commentators throughout the centuries have had fun proposing all kinds of possible answers to that question.  But, at the end of the day, no one really knows what's up with the number 153.  I think the number is recorded by inspiration of the Holy Spirit simply to show that this is no legend, no myth.  That one of the seven apostles there took the time to count how many fish there were has the ring of eyewitness truth.  This happened.  It's not just a made-up story, but historical fact. 

The other conclusion we can draw from the fact that the fish caught that day were counted is that the Lord knows and numbers those who belong to Him.  You see, those fish, dear friends, are a picture of us, we who are caught in the apostolic net, captured by the Word of Jesus.  Like those fish, we died to sin, but were made very much alive in Jesus when we were caught by the apostolic Word and Sacrament Ministry and hauled into Jesus' Kingdom. 

When this miraculous catch of fish happens, the apostles are immediately reminded of that time a few years back when Jesus was in the boat with them and told them to throw out their nets one more time and they hauled in such a catch that their nets burst.  They knew that this was no stranger standing on the shore, but the Lord Himself.  The miracle had Jesus' fingerprints all over it. 

So excited is Peter that the Lord is there, he can't wait to get to the shore to be with Jesus.  He won't wait for the boat to get there.  He'll swim for it.  But, notice what he does before diving into the water.  He puts on his outer garment.  Seems odd, doesn't it?  Usually it's the other way around.  When you're going to jump into water, you usually take your clothes off, not put them on.  But, for Peter, being seen by the Lord naked just won't do.  Better a wet tunic than nothing at all.

    This little detail, too, is recorded by the Holy Spirit for us for a reason, dear friends. This is a picture of us in Holy Baptism, clothed with Christ, covered with His righteousness.  Adam and Eve were naked and ashamed in their self-awareness, and God had to cover them with clothing He provided, the skins of a sacrificed animal.  Think about the whole theology of clothing in the Bible.  The linen robes of the priest.  Joseph's multicolored coat.  The robe put on the prodigal son by his forgiving father.  The man at the wedding party who tried to appear without the proper wedding clothes.  That countless host wearing white in the Revelation, worshipping Christ the Lamb, their robes made white in His blood.  "For as many as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.”  You wear Jesus like a baptismal robe.

He bore your shame and sin in nakedness on the cross; the soldiers gambled for His clothing.  And now He gives you clothing to wear, to cover yourself.  He clothes you with His perfection and righteousness so that God sees His Son when He looks at you.

"Come and have breakfast,” Jesus invites them.  He is the host at His table, they are His guests, as we are.  He gives them bread and fish to eat, a reprise of His miracle when He fed four thousand and five thousand in the wilderness.  It was, and is, a messianic sign, a signal that the age of messiah had dawned when God's people would feast on bread in the wilderness and eat the flesh of Leviathan, the serpent of the sea.  This is Jesus, who conquered death and the grave, who gives us His own flesh to eat as bread, His own blood to drink as wine, who is Himself the Bread of Life.

That's how Jesus is recognized in His resurrection.  In the breaking of the bread.  In His feeding His disciples.  You wouldn't know Jesus to look at Him.  We don't know what He looks like.  You wouldn't know Him if you passed Him on the street or sat next to Him on a bus.  But He makes Himself known by what He does, in the signs, what we call the sacraments, by which He reveals His death and life for you - the water of Baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Word of Holy Absolution.

John's point, as it is throughout His Gospel, is that we have the greater signs going on among us here today.  Peter was clothed in a wet tunic in the sea.  We are clothed with Christ in our baptism.  The disciples ate bread and fish; we receive Christ's very body and blood.

The same Jesus who makes 153 big fish swim into a net and who feeds His disciples, who eats with sinners and justifies them in His death, gives us His Body as bread, His Blood as wine, His Baptism as our death and life in Him, His Word of forgiveness and life.  These, dear friends in Christ, are the greater signs, the greater miracles, going on among us today.  Jesus stands on the near shore of the resurrection, with a meal prepared, and says to you, "Come and get it!”  What're you going to say, "I'm not hungry.  I'm busy.  I don't feel like it.  I don't feel the need.”  Don't be foolish; don't be stubborn and unbelieving.

Instead, come and get it!  Come and be fed, be forgiven, be free.  Leave your inhibitions behind and do as Peter did - dive headlong into the sea of our Lord's grace, clothed in your baptismal garment, to get yourself to Jesus as quickly as you can.  He died and rose to save you, to welcome you, to embrace you, to clothe you, to feed you.  Come at His invitation to keep dying and rising with Him and join your voices with countless angels, singing: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!  And from here, dear friends, setting our minds on things that are above and not on things that are on earth, let's go fishing for disciples.  Let us spread the Word by word and deed, that others may be caught in the apostolic net and hauled into Jesus' Kingdom, just as we have been.  To Him be praise, honor, glory, and power, forever and ever.  Amen. 

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.