Sermon for Sunday, May 4, 2026

 May 4, 2025

By Kristin Berkey-Abbott

 

Gospel: John 21:1-19

 

 

I was going to write a different sermon.  I had it planned out in my head.  It was going to be about the disciples not knowing what to do with all they had seen, so they go back to the life they had known before, their pre-Jesus life, their fishing life.  I thought that the previous chapter of John was vague enough about which disciples had seen the risen Lord that maybe they don’t even know about the Resurrection yet.

And then I went to seminary class on Thursday night, my very last seminary class, where we studied the Resurrection narrative in the book of John, which includes this chapter.  My seminary professor mentioned that this is the first time in the book of John that the disciples fish.  Sure, they are still from Galilee, a fishing culture to be sure, but the depictions of the disciples as fisherman come from other Gospels.

I knew that John had been written last of all the Gospels, so I asked if the writer of John knew of those Gospels.  My professor said that scholars have a 50/50 split—50%of them think that the writer did know, and 50 think not.  And it’s been this way since we’ve had the Gospel of John, unlike other Gospels, where our thinking about them may have changed radically along the way.

 

And when John mentions “the disciples,” the way that he does in the previous passage of John, the one we heard last week when the resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples in the locked room, the writer of John usually means all the 12 disciples, and probably more.  In today’s reading, it’s only 7 of them, and they’re named.

 

So, back to today’s passage and the strange response to the resurrected Jesus which happened in the previous chapter.  Instead of focusing on why Peter decides to go fishing, and I don’t really have the answer for that, let’s focus on the ways this passage feels familiar.  We know that the Gospel of John was written last, and there’s never been a manuscript of John without this last chapter—so the writer intended it to be there.  We also know that several hundred years later, when church fathers decided which books would become the Bible, they chose only these 4 Gospels, and they decided to put John last.  Modern readers and believers might be frustrated at all the ways the Gospel writers create stories about Jesus that don’t always agree with each other.  The early Church fathers chose these four Gospels because of how they work together to give us a more complete picture, not because they are the four that are the most accurate.

 

This last chapter of John feels like a fitting conclusion to all 4 Gospels.  There’s the fishing, which ties the book of John to the earlier Gospels and connects us to the idea of the new mission of these disciples, to go and fish for people.  They are fishing on the Sea of Tiberias, which is really the Sea of Galilee, renamed when a Roman ruler wanted to feel important.  The shadow of empire is long, even in this post-resurrection world.

 

The men have fished all night and caught nothing—another familiar element, another tie to earlier Gospels.  Jesus tells them to try again, and now they have so many fish that they can’t haul the nets into the boat—they have to drag it to shore behind the boat.  In some ways, it’s a foreshadowing of what Jesus says will happen to Peter when he’s older and will need to be led.

 

This abundance of nets full of fish that will be used for food—that’s a reference back to an earlier abundance, the feeding of the 5000 in the sixth chapter of John, which also happened by the Sea of Tiberias.  Over and over again, Jesus shows us the contrast between God’s power and the power of earthly empires.  An earthly ruler renames the Sea of Galilee after himself and raises the taxes so high that most people can barely survive.  And what does Tiberias do with the money?  Beautify the royal palace, of course.

 

Jesus, on the other hand, offers miraculous provision:  more fish and bread than we can eat, and basket after basket of left overs.  Jesus shows us who has the power to provide, and it’s not the earthly empires that demand our allegiance.

 

It is this abundance that enables the men to recognize Jesus, and even though they are only 100 yards from shore, less than a tenth of a mile, Peter cannot wait—he jumps in the water and swims ahead.  Jesus has cooked them breakfast

 

 

Jesus has been cooking breakfast over a charcoal fire—the only other time we see a charcoal fire in the book of John is when Peter betrays Jesus, saying not once but three times that he doesn’t know Jesus, as the people try to warm themselves beside a charcoal fire and determine if a traitor is among them.

 

Jesus gives Peter another chance to answer questions—three times, Peter has a choice to decide on his allegiance.  In much less scary circumstances, Peter has a chance to claim Jesus—and this time, he does.  It’s a powerful lesson for Peter, and a powerful lesson for us.  Here once again, as with Thomas last week, Jesus meets a disciple where he is.

 

Notice this final lesson in the book of John.  Jesus leaves the tomb and doesn’t look back.  Still bearing the physical wounds of betrayal, Jesus goes back to his friends.  He wants to share a meal, and that’s what he does.  I imagine it’s what we’d like to do with all the loved ones we have lost.

 

You might be looking at that rather ominous part of the message, about being led where we do not want to go.  The Resurrection message can be lost in the magic of the chance to have a meal again.  Post-resurrection life is not a return to the old life, even if it does have some of the markers of the old life:  a meal of fish and bread, a command to care for others similarly, an abundance that earthly powers cannot match.  It’s one of the central mysteries of our faith:  through Jesus, the powers of death are defeated, but for much of our lives, it very much appears that they are still in control, as we succumb to doubt and perhaps denial.

 

But rest assured, by the Sea of Tiberias, and forward through human history, the story of Jesus is one not of reversal of power, but of a redefinition of power.  Jesus shows us what is important in the breaking of the bread, the drinking of the wine, in all that those acts mean.  From the beginning of his ministry to the last meal on the beach, Jesus commands us to love God and love each other, and Jesus shows us what that love looks like.  Jesus shows us a quality of mercy and models that mercy for us—we can forgive each other the way that Jesus forgives Peter.  Jesus shows us how to feed each other physically and spiritually. 

 

We live in a world where Powers and Principalities don’t feed us, but instead try to train us to fight over the scraps left over from imperial rulers who don’t have our best interests at heart.  Jesus shows us that another world is possible, a world of abundance for all, not just for the ones at the top.  Let us show the same enthusiasm as Peter, diving into the water, an all-in response to our savior who waits on the beach, cooking us breakfast, offering forgiveness again and again. Let us cast down our nets again, even if we’re sure that it’s a pointless endeavor.  Let us recognize the abundance God offers, nets full to the point of breaking, breakfast waiting on the shore, sustenance for us all.