This year, we’ve been exploring this idea that we can encounter God at any point of lives. That Sabbath, triumphal entry, and Easter doesn’t have to happen on a day that we have culturally set aside for the worship of God.
In fact, I would argue that more often than not, we experience God in unexpected places and in those vulnerable moments that we’d much prefer to keep the ourselves or to simply pull up our bootstraps and fix things on our own.
And this morning I want to wrestle with the question, “What are you supposed to do after everything you know about life changes?” That’s certainly a question I have been struggling with over the past few years and specifically the last 6 months.
If you’ve been a part of Logos Dei for any period of time, you now that things have changed some of those changes have been intentional but most have been forced upon us and I am sure there are times you have wondered– what are we supposed to do now?
It’s the same question the disciples were asking each other after the death and resurrection of their friend, Jesus. Now what?
They didn’t know. They didn’t know that resurrection was just the start—just the beginning of a whole new way of living.
Their work now was to look for signs of life—resurrection—all around them, and to nurture those little sparks of life until they grew into a movement that would change the world.
But that morning, they didn’t know what to do.
I mean, what are you supposed to do after everything changes?
Our passage this morning comes from the last chapter of John, and it’s one of the stories in the Bible of post resurrection appearances of Jesus that we will be exploring over the next few weeks.
It’s no coincidence that Jesus appeared to the disciples just as the earth was emerging from darkness, just as the sun had begun rising.
- Jesus was there to start over with these men who had gone back to what they knew.
- He was there to help them imagine a new way of living the gospel, a way that would continue even without his physical presence.
As the story begins, they were on the beach very early in the morning, maybe trying to imagine that nothing had changed and that life was the same as it always had been.
But of course, it wasn’t and they didn’t know what to do now.
They had been through the crucifixion, they’d even seen Jesus after his death, but they waited and waited and, well, . . . nothing happened.
And they realized that they couldn’t stay in a locked room forever, so they must have reached a point where they looked around at each other and shrugged their shoulders and said, “Well, I suppose we should get back to work.”
What that work was, of course was what they had been trained to do all along—catch fish.
So, there they found themselves out on the water, all night long, trying to begin again to earn a living in the way they knew how. But of course, their lives were forever changed.
Isn’t it interesting how life can change so drastically and yet things keep moving along as they always have? And we just try to struggle to keep up.
Perhaps that’s what Jesus’ disciples were thinking as they repeated mechanical motions—throwing out the nets and dragging them back into the boat, then doing it all over again.
Well, you know how the story goes. They fished all night long with no luck at all. Weary from the work of throwing out and hauling in the heavy nets, discouraged with their lack of success, they saw a man who was standing on the beach.
They talked about how the fishing had been the night before and the man on the beach yelled out some fishing tips. And I am sure there was at least one disciple annoyed by some stranger telling them how to fish.
But when their nets filled, suddenly, one of the disciples cried out with recognition, “It is the Lord!”
Called to breakfast on the beach, the disciples are reunited with Jesus and begin a deep conversation about what it means to live out resurrection.
Here’s what they learn:
- Resurrection was just the start—just the beginning of a whole new way of living.
- Their work now was to look for signs of life, to pick themselves up and start again, over and over, until new life flourishes in all the places we’ve come only to expect death.
Scholars tell us that this chapter of John was added to the book later—it wasn’t part of the original story. It appears that someone felt there were loose ends that needed tying up.
But the chapter is a gift to those of us walking around wondering what to do after everything we know about life changes because this is a story about second chances, about seeing signs of life, picking our discouraged and disheartened selves up, and finding resurrection where all we could see before was death.
Notice: in John’s gospel we don’t hear the story of the calling of the disciples, but the other gospels tell us at the very beginning of their stories about how Jesus was walking one day down at the beach, saw some fishermen working, and called them to come and follow him.
It’s been over three years. The whole world had changed for them. But there they were again, working on their boats when Jesus calls. It’s a restart, a sign of life.
And after a long night working with their nets and catching nothing, Jesus directs them to try one more time. The fish they catch then are so numerous the catch strains their nets and their backs and they can’t believe their eyes.
It’s a sign of life.
And Jesus, tending a small fire on the beach, cooks breakfast for them. Tired, hungry, scared, they are nourished by the food and comforted by his presence.
Another sign of life.
And then Peter, who just a week before denied Jesus three times in the courtyard of the high priest’s house, gets an opportunity to declare his love for Jesus—three times—like he’s getting a second chance.
It’s a sign of life.
That morning, after a long, hard night, Jesus helped the disciples learn again what you do after everything changes – after resurrection.
You pick yourself up and keep going. You look for signs of life all around you. And you nurture those signs of life with every ounce of energy, commitment, and courage that you can muster.
Because resurrection is just the beginning.
Perhaps we don’t know what to do after resurrection, either. We live in a world where resurrection, new life, seems cancelled out over and over again by unjust systems and corrupt leaders and a global climate crisis and so much despair.
But it’s perhaps now more than ever that we should be looking hard for signs of life, having the courage to look into places that are filled with death and darkness and find resurrection.
I recently read a story about finding signs of life in the face of what seemed like death. It’s another beach story, and on this Sunday a week before Earth Day, it seemed like a sign of life to me.
Ocean Sole is a Kenyan recycling company that’s manufacturing art and fashion from discarded flip-flops and other plastic junk, from the piles of garbage that wash up on Kenya’s beaches.
Let’s watch their story together.
Garbage into sustainable business that bolsters communities and cleans the environment. That’s noticing a sign of life and nurturing it into a movement that is changing the world. And it’s what you do after resurrection…you get up and start again, you watch carefully for signs of life, and you get busy changing the world.