An Uprising in the Works

John 21:1-15

 Jesus 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.  Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.  This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Resurrection meals occur on more than once instance and in more than one gospel in the days after the empty tomb story.  In Luke, the road to Emmaus story ends with Jesus being recognized in the breaking of bread around a supper table.  Then, in the gospel of John, we have this story of a man standing on the seashore, calling to the disciples after an unsuccessful night of fishing.  He calls to them and tells them to cast their nets on the other side... and an abundance of fish suddenly fill their nets.  After this, the disciples come ashore and share a breakfast of grilled fish with the man, whom John and Peter have already recognized as the Risen Christ, but whom now all those gathered finally recognize... again in the sharing of a meal.

What these stories say to us is that in the post-resurrection journey we are on with Jesus, we find him in the ordinary events of life.  That he has a way of infusing himself into the routine and regular meals of our lives and nourishing us for our own walk of faith. As Eugene Peterson puts it, "We're formed in the routines." (Living the Resurrection, Navpress, 2006, p. 70)

During that breakfast on the seashore, Jesus encourages Peter to "feed my lambs," an initiation into this new world of being disciples who embody a Christ within, rather than following a man among them.  We are also called to that same level of discipleship.  A recognition that being a disciple doesn't mean admiring a man, but embodying his example in the world today. A recognition that being a disciple is more about bringing Christ's love into the ordinary and routine aspects of our lives... cleaning, shopping, walking the dogs, caring for our families and friends... than it is about being some sort of inaccessible and perfect "Christian."

Feed my lambs.  All of us are called to do just that.  In the most ordinary of ways.  How can you be a true disciple of the Risen Christ in your own daily life? In your context?  Do you have ideas about how NUMC can embody the Risen Christ in this community and in the world? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

He is risen, therefore We are risen. Indeed.