This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21:14)
John recounts the two previous appearances in Chaper 20 of his Gospel, which many churches heard last week on the Second Sunday of Easter.
The first two appearances took place indoors, where Jesus’ disciples were hiding from the authorities who crucified him.
By his third appearance, the disciples were back out in the open, on the shore of the lake where several of them had history as commercial fishermen.
Jesus makes these three miraculous yet patient appearances to tease out what he has called his disciples to be, what we now call the Church, representing him to the world.
His first appearance was an assertion of his triumph over death. Locked doors could not keep Jesus out, any more than a sealed tomb could hold him in.
He showed them the wounds of his crucifixion. Here was the actual man who was killed on the cross, now standing alive in their midst.
This witness to Jesus’ resurrection would become a defining qualification for the first generation of Church leadership. Their encounter with Jesus risen from death — Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord — would set the stage for Peter’s guidance for the young Church,
In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “…one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” (Acts 1:15, 21-22)
The first appearance also announced the disciples’ coming leadership of what the Nicene Creed would call the holy catholic and apostolic Church.
It would be holy through the guidance and authority of the Holy Spirit to represent godly order and discipline. …he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:22-23)
It would be catholic in its universal reach, offering Christ’s forgiveness to any.
It would be apostolic in being sent with the delegated authority and plan of God: Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. (John 20:21)
Jesus is teasing out the long haul ministry of the church, filling its foundational leaders with joy, testimony to his resurrection, holiness and spiritual power.
Jesus’ famous appearance to Thomas is, in popular understanding, a chiding of Thomas’ doubt and need for proof.
But it is another teasing out of the Church’s coming role. These eye witnesses to the resurrected Jesus (now including Thomas by Jesus’ intentional intervention) will provide the testimony by which all future generations of Christians will believe,
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)
Jesus is teasing out the long haul ministry of the Church, giving it a witness to faith that will move across time,
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20),
and place,
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
OK, this one gets a little goofy. I think of it as Jesus teasing out the humanity of the Church.
Given some confidence by Jesus’ first two appearances, the original disciples (including Thomas) have come out of hiding. But they don’t seem clear on what to do.
A little group of seven, including the fishermen Peter, James and John, have returned to the Sea of Tiberias (a Roman designation of Galilee).
Apparently, they are considering just getting on with normal life. They’re by the lake with a fishing boat ready right there. But they seem to be hanging around without much direction, until Peter says, “I’m going fishing,” and the other six say, “Sounds good. Count us in.”
And these seven witnesses to the risen Christ, who have received the Holy Spirit and authority to forgive and retain sins, can’t catch a fish. They spend the night on the water and get blanked.
So Jesus shows up this third time, waiting for them on the beach. He goofs on them: Children, do you have any fish? And with either a glum groan or a wimpy whisper, all they can say is No.
With an authority they’ve experienced numerous times and seem to keep forgetting, Jesus tells them to cast their nets and they bring in a big haul of fish.
John recognizes Jesus; Peter jumps in the lake and swims toward him; the others get the boat and the straining net to shore. And Jesus already has some cooking done and says, Come and have breakfast.
Jesus comes to them in their humanity. He comes to them in their lack of understanding, slowness to recognize his presence, and preoccupation with fruitless efforts. And he teases them and feeds them.
He is teasing out the church for the long haul, as those first flawed witnesses to the reality of the resurrection will be succeeded, around the world and across the ages, by more flawed witnesses, moved by a great faith for which their (OK, our) witness is so often inadequate.
And yet Jesus keeps appearing, sometimes in miracles and visions, but most often in the day to day lives of imperfect people who know him and want to honor him — but struggle to do so. As Scripture testifies,
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)
And in his surpassing power, God still sets a table for us in the all too human Church, to tease us out of our fruitless doings if only for a little while to eat and drink with Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.