May 1, 2022

Easter 3 C – George Yandell

It was around 34 C.E. Paul was in his early 30’s. From the passage in Acts we read, Paul was converted in or near Damascus, Syria. But contrary to popular interpretation, he was not converted from a Jew to a Christian, but it was a conversion within Judaism, a deepening of his own tradition. He was very devout as a youth, raised a Pharisee, and knew Hebrew and Greek. His hometown of Tarsus on the coast of today’s Turkey was a Greek-speaking environment. Tarsus is roughly 400 miles north of Jerusalem. Damascus is @ 150 miles north of Jerusalem.

Paul was a Pharisee, according to his own account. To be a Pharisee, one had to have an intense religious impulse. After the Damascus road experience, Paul had repeating, frequent mystical experiences of Jesus resurrected. Unlike other followers of Jesus, he experienced only the risen Christ, not Jesus during his earthly ministry. Our view today is: if the crucified Jesus can be experienced alive by a Pharisee who was persecuting followers of Jesus, then God had said yes to Jesus – God had vindicated Jesus against the forces of the empire when God resurrected Jesus. Paul was transformed in Damascus to proclaim that vindication. Paul stands as the most persuasive witness of resurrection the world has known.

Together with Peter, featured in today’s gospel reading, they were the two best fishers of humans to follow the resurrected Jesus.  As John tells the story, he leaves the impression the disciples weren’t doing much of anything, just standing around, maybe wondering what on earth they’d got themselves into. But then Peter broke the spell. “I’m going fishing.” At least, I’m going to do something while I’m not doing anything, anyway. So they all said, in effect, “We’re not doing anything either, so we’ll go with you.”

It’s amazing now to remember how simple this little scene was, and how simple-minded were these fishermen. They couldn’t even recognize Jesus who stood on the beach. It wasn’t all that long, remember, since the resurrection, an event, we could expect might just have caught their attention and set them in motion as much, maybe, as a tornado coming across the water. (The 3 preceding paragraphs adapted from Out of Nowhere, 4/20/07, an online commentary by Lane Denson.)

I’m fascinated by the gospel reading’s telling us of the incredible catch of fish after Jesus instructed the weary fishermen to cast the net on the other side of the boat. They caught 153 fish. I’ve read countless gospel commentaries and none can say exactly why it counts 153 fish. To me 153 symbolizes a huge catch of humans, the net is the fellowship of Jesus, and the fact it’s not torn (the Greek word is the root of our word ‘schism’ = not torn) means the whole fellowship is united, in one big net. Peter throwing on his clothes, diving in to swim to the shore to be with Jesus, suggests abundant joy at realizing we are fishing together for new disciples for Jesus.

The temptation in every age is for the Church to be all dry and cozy in our own little boats, not doing much of anything. We shy away from casting the net too broadly, or else we may upset the tidy boat, and haul in some fellows that aren’t all to our liking. My experience is when we stop casting with abandon, our nets begin to rot from disuse. We’re always prone to being tossed about by the tragedies of the days we live in. Often the horrors of humans’ treatment one of another makes us Jesus-people no longer venturesome. The horrors make us more prone to protect ourselves. The radical sharing community that Jesus initiated and Paul expanded loses its way. We forget that Christians are always to be expanding, engaging, aiming together for that mystical communion with Jesus that Paul knew. 

Some time ago Maya Angelo, the renowned American poet and children’s advocate, told this story. She was talking with a woman who had listened to Angelo at a public gathering. The woman contested one of her points and said to her, indignantly, “Well, I am a Christian.” Maya Angelo responded, “What, already?” Knowing we’re not fully realized as disciples, knowing we’re prone to failure, I propose this conundrum: To shrink from engagement, or to engage? That’s our question. 

If we’re actively casting the big net, it means we’re bold in the world, bold about following the Way of Jesus. Casting the big net shows others we want to be together with them in all the pains and joys of living. We want to be with them because we’ve sampled joy with Jesus in diving into the fellowship. It means we look to God in everything, in all our pains and joys, and we seek to support each other in walking through our fears. In short, we’re like Paul and Peter.  Even when we get sideways with each other, even when we’re not living fully the Way of Jesus, even when we’re beat up and despised by others for our faith, we can count on one another to correct and coach us. That’s pretty much what Jesus was doing on the beach wasn’t it? Offering instruction, sustenance, and fellowship to some worn-out fishermen. Remember, he is resurrected, and he is here. Would you like to share the meal he’s prepared?