"What Does God Call Us To Do Now?"

The Gospel readings, for the Friday of Easter week, are  taken from John 21.   It is the story of Jesus’  third appearance to his disciples after Easter morning. 

As I read it this morning my mind went to a question I read from the Upper Room on March 24, 2020: 

“The present is the only moment when faith can take action.  What does God call us to do now?”  

For clarity, the question asked had nothing to do with John 21.  

However, it is interesting to me what the disciples decided to do after Jesus’ death the resurrection:

²Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. ³Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’

They went fishing.  Don’t you find that intriguing?

I certainly do? 

These men were charged to continue Jesus’ purpose:

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ (John 20)

But they went fishing.

Now honestly it was a perfectly normal, human, thing to do.  After all it had been a stressful time.  Their world had been turned up-side-down.  They needed a break.

Any of us can understand that.  

I am guessing that Jesus understood it too.

So what did Jesus do?

He joined them on the beach.  He made breakfast for men that had had a disappointing night with no fish to show for their efforts.

And he did something more.  He gave them an amazing catch to begin their new life.

And then after a nice breakfast, sitting together on the beach, the lessons began.  He took Peter aside and told him exactly what he expected from Peter and the others.

You can read that in the rest of chapter 21.

There is a great lesson in this short little chapter about how we use these “moments” in our lives today.  Today, in 2020, when we are all a bit lost as to what to do and how to live in this totally new reality.

We like Peter have things to do with our faith and trust in God/Jesus.

We like the disciples are offered God’s Peace.  

He has breathed on us the power of his Spirit.

And He has sent us — asked us — to do as he had done.

Yes, even in the worst of the worst situations we are unexpectedly faced with.

“The present is the only moment when faith can take action.  What does God call us to do now?”

Pray,

   smile,

     call a friend,

send a card or text,

  Share God’s grace even in the tiniest ways,

    Take a walk and breathe the air and give thanks. 

And pray some more — pray a lot.

TwoAfter these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. ²Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. ³Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ ⁶He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. ⁷That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. ⁸But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. ¹⁰Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ ¹¹So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹²Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.(John 21)