Sunday April 17, 2022

Going Fishing

Today is Resurrection Sunday! Praise God! He is risen indeed! But now my question is this: What happens the next day? How does the reality of the resurrection of Christ affect the rest of your walk with Him?

We are all very familiar with the story of the resurrection…maybe too familiar. We go to church on Resurrection Sunday excited to once again hear the greatest story ever told. We know all the characters and the parts they played. We have read the last chapter and know the last page by heart! Will it empower you? Change you? Or will it be just another day…a day to just go fishing?

Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together (seven of the eleven). “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. (Jn.21:2-3)

Did you catch verse? After all the excitement, wonder, and divine mystery, the disciples simply went home This is a very interesting event in the lives of the disciples. What arrests my attention, is that this happened after the events of the first day of the week. They decided to go fishing. This was after Mary came running to them with the news that she had seen the risen Lord. It was also after Jesus came to them in their apartment. It was after Thomas was told to touch the wounds in Jesus’ hands, feet, and side. (See WORD WISDOM for a deeper study of mystery)

I would understand it if they had not yet know about the resurrection. But at this point they were well acquainted with the risen Lord. Why did they go back to the same old routine? Especially since fishing is what they did before they had even met Jesus. Where are we today? Are we stuck in the same old stuff we’ve always been doing? It’s funny just how like the disciples we seem to be.

It was in this setting that the disciples had another encounter with the risen Lord. This time He broke into their everyday world and turned it upside down. They realized that they couldn’t even go fishing without the help of the Lord.

But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. (Jn.21:4-8)

This is the moment when Jesus told Peter, “Feed My sheep.” For Peter, life would never be the same again.

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. (Jn.21:17)

Everything changed. There was no going back. Because of the resurrection, the very course of their lives was changed. This is what resurrection power is all about…changing the course of our lives!

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. (Eph.1:19)

The “mighty power that raised Christ from the dead” is in fact “God’s power for us who believe him.” The Greek phrase translated here as “for us” (eis hemas) could mean “for our sake.” But, most literally, it means “into us” and is probably a stylistic variation of “in us.” This translation is supported in Ephesians 3:20:

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us (en hemin), to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Eph.3:20)

Just think of it! The same power that shattered Jesus’ prison of death sets us free from all that binds us. The very Spirit of God lives in us to empower us for the ministry of the kingdom of God. Resurrection power is for us, in us, and at work through us. What about us? Today, we celebrate the Risen Lord. How does it affect us today? How can we live a “normal” life knowing what Christ has accomplished? Allow the truth of the resurrection to fill your thoughts. Don’t just consign it to one Sunday a year. Let it set you on a new course…a course that will turn the world upside down.

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Related Scripture

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

— Matthew 28:1-7

Word Wisdom

mystery

Greek "musterion" (moos-tay-ree-on) Strong's #3466

From "mueo," "to initiate into mysteries,' hence a secret known only to the initiated, something hidden requiring special revelation. In the New Testament, the word denotes something that people could never know by their own understanding and that demands a revelation from God. The secret thoughts, plans, and dispensations of God remain hidden from unregenerate mankind, but are revealed to all believers. In non-biblical Greek "musterion" is knowledge withheld, concealed, or silenced. In biblical Greek it is truth revealed (see Col.1:26). New Testament "musterion" focuses on Christ's sinless life, atoning death, powerful resurrection, and dynamic ascension.

So...

Little Philip, born with Down’s syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in a leadership magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully.

The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought L’eggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh.

Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, “That’s stupid. That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.”

Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.”

“Philip you don’t ever do things right!” the student retorted. “There’s nothing there!”

“I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “I did do it. It’s empty. The tomb was empty!”

Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.

There is power in the empty tomb!