Easter Wednesday

Easter Wednesday

April 15, 2020

Text: John 21:1-14

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            “Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus” (John 21:4; ESV).  So often this is the case in our Lord’s resurrection appearances.  The eyes of the disciples are kept for a time from recognizing Him.  We think of Mary, who meets Him outside the tomb, supposing Him to be the gardener!  It is not until He speaks her name that she recognizes Him (John 20:11 ff.).  We think of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who do not recognize Jesus as He converses with them, interpreting for them the Scriptures so that their hearts were burning within them, showing them how Moses and the Prophets were speaking about Him.  It is not until He takes the bread, blesses it, and breaks it that they recognize Him, and all at once He disappears from their sight (Luke 24:13 ff.). 

            So now the disciples are fishing, and Jesus is standing on the shore, and they do not know it is Him.  And there is an important point to be made here with regard to Jesus’ interaction with you: You don’t see the risen Jesus with your eyes.  Not now.  Not yet.  You will, in heaven, and in the resurrection of your body on the Last Day.  But for now, your fallen eyes are kept from recognizing Him.  Jesus did appear to many eyewitnesses in the forty days following His resurrection, and to St. Paul sometime after.  He did that to establish the factual evidence of His bodily resurrection from the dead.  But you don’t have the privilege of being such a witness.  Your eyes are not the organ of faith.  He makes Himself known to you in a different way, in the way that He has promised: His means of grace.  He calls you by name in Holy Baptism.  He takes bread, blesses it, and breaks it, and gives it to you, His own body, in the Lord’s Supper.  He is not apparent to your eyes, but neither is He gone.  His presence for you is now hidden under bread and wine.  And there He is speaking to you from the shore, and you hear His voice, and you follow.  And in the hearing and keeping of His Word, you recognize, as St. John did: “It is the Lord!” (John 21:7). 

            In the Gospels, and throughout the Scriptures, the boat is a picture of the Church.  It is Noah’s Ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved from the waters of the flood.  It is the storm-tossed boat in which Jesus is sleeping soundly on a cushion in the stern, and the disciples are blind to the fact that they are safe because God in the flesh is on board with them, and they need not fear (Mark 4:35 ff..).  Or again, the storm-tossed boat to which Jesus comes, walking on the water, and the disciples think it is a phantasm coming to get them and pull them down to Davy Jones’ locker.  They are blind to the fact that this is no demon!  God in the flesh is in the storm, coming to them to be with them (Mark 6:45 ff.).  And in both cases, the wind and the sea obey Him (Mark 4:41).

            Here in our text, seven disciples are in the boat.  The Church is gathered, and she is fishing.  The disciples, in their confusion and emotional exhaustion have gone back to what they know best.  They fish all night, and catch nothing.  A man stands on the shore offering advice.  Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.  They do not know who this man is, but there is something in His Word that leads them to obey.  And it happens, as He says.  And that is when it comes to John.  He’s seen this very thing before, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, this very miracle (Luke 5:1 ff.).  In the hearing and keeping of the Word, John is given to recognize Jesus.  His eyes are opened.  And suddenly the focus shifts from success in fishing, or lack thereof, to that man there on the shore: “It is the Lord!”

            Well, here we are in the boat, beloved, holy Church, and this is quite a storm we’re in, isn’t it?  A scary virus, economic meltdown, social unrest, and it is all preventing us from meeting together, from feasting on the Lord’s body and blood together.  If we trust our eyes, we’ll be convinced that Jesus is asleep and doesn’t care that we are perishing, or worse, that He is a demon out to get us and kill us.  If we trust our eyes, we’ll think He’s some man on shore offering advice about things He doesn’t understand, or maybe an unhelpful gardener who hid the Lord’s dead and helpless body away from us.  Do you see?  You can’t trust your eyes!  They’ll lie to you. 

            You can only trust the Word of Jesus Christ.  Hear Him in the Scriptures as He interprets them to you, the things concerning Himself.  Hear Him as He calls you by name.  Hear Him as He takes the bread and declares that it is His body, broken for you, given you to eat for the forgiveness of sins; the wine and declares that it is His blood, shed for you, given you to drink for your forgiveness, life, and salvation.  Hear Him as He calls to you from the shore: Cast the net of the Gospel, bring in the haul of fish, and come, eat with me… come, follow me!  That is how you know it is the Lord.

            Jesus is in the storm!  He is coming to you.  He is in the boat, the Church, with you.  He is the One who speaks, and the nets are full.  It doesn’t look like He is in the coronavirus crisis, but close your eyes and listen closely… To His Word!  Now, don’t listen to some voice in your heart or some feeling in the pit of your stomach… Those are as unreliable as your eyes!  No, listen to the Word of Jesus Christ revealed in the Holy Scriptures.  That is where you will know that He is with you always, to the very end of the age.  That is where you will know that the risen Christ calls you by name and is with you, bodily, in the breaking of the bread.  That is where you will know that your sins are forgiven and He will never leave you or forsake you.  Never mind the storm.  Never mind the fishing all night and catching nothing.  Never mind sickness and death and the weakness of your sinful flesh.  Those are the things your fallen eyes see.  Put your ears on Jesus Christ and you will know there is no reason to fear.

            For this is God in the flesh.  He died for you.  He is risen and lives for you.  He loves you.  You belong to Him.  You are engraved on the palm of His pierced hand.  You are safe in the boat, the saving ark of His Church.  He is calling you through the water to Himself on the shore where He has prepared for you a feast beyond all telling.  And as you come, as the boat pulls her catch into harbor, not a fish will be missing.  Each one, caught by the Gospel, will be accounted for.  Don’t look at the darkness.  Look at the man.  Hear Him as He speaks, and you will know.  It is the Lord.  Do you see?  He has come through the darkness and storm, through death itself.  And He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  Now He is bringing you through.  And that means all is well.  The end for you is life with Him.  Life without end. 

            Let us pray: “In these last days of great distress Grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness That we keep pure till life is spent Your holy Word and Sacrament.  Stay with us, Lord, and keep us true; Preserve our faith our whole life through—Your Word alone our heart’s defense, The Church’s glorious confidence” (LSB 585:2, 6).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.