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DID
YOU CATCH ANY FISH? John
21:1-8 Bishop
Jonathan D. Keaton INSTALLATION
ADDRESS University
UMC, October
17, 2004
In some quarters, one hears the argument that Methodism has lost
its way. The house that Jack
built, that’s what Daddy Wesley called his son John, is losing
members. If the truth be told, we’re gaining them too. We always have.
So, what is true? Membership
loss outstrips membership gain. Closely
related to the issue of membership is another query, “Did you catch
any fish?” Jesus puts this
interrogative to his disciples on the beach.
Underneath the tone of the question, certain presuppositions come
to mind. Nothing shall
separate Jesus’ disciples from the obligation to catch fish; not
doubt, not denial nor death on the cross: not fear of the Jews, the
absence of their leader or the threat of persecution; not theological
spats, not economic boycotts nor disagreements over social issues.
Then as now, our Lord stands on the beach of our lives raising
the question many of our churches would rather not answer, “Did you
catch any fish?” Ponder
this interrogative using these prompts:
Jesus’
disciples go fishing. Jesus
disciples’ catch nothing. And
Jesus’ disciples fish successfully.
JESUS’
DISCIPLES GO FISHING
How ironic!! Seven of
the disciples who had been charged to become fishers of humankind, could
think of nothing better to do after the resurrection and two
post-resurrection appearances of their leader than to fish for walleye,
pike, salmon and tuna. More
than ever, Jesus needed them to make disciples.
But his disciples were a basket case.
To be sure, the effort to get rid of Jesus failed.
Still, the moment required that his message, his mission, his
momentum not be allowed to die. Steady
growth had occurred in his movement.
Virtually every ethnic and racial group: Jew and gentile,
Pharisee and Sadducee, Samaritan, the rich and the poor, Greek and Roman
were represented. Too much
had been gained to let the consumption of trout, catfish, and mahi-mahi
get in the way. Devotees
of fishing, I have no quarrel with your passion.
Fishing and solitude can feed the soul.
Imbibing Mother Nature at the crack of dawn speaks of God’s
creation. Battling the tug
and pull of a big fish caught on the end of your line has its own
thrill. Some of you find
release just sitting in a boat or standing on the bank of a river or
stream with a pole in hand. Maybe
the seven enjoy some or all of the above.
Nevertheless, the disciples find their discipleship at a major
crossroads. On one hand,
they are Jesus’ disciples, under covenant to fish for persons.
On the other, they suffer from disorientation.
One does not get over the events of Holy Week in a moment.
For example, exhilaration on Palm Sunday gives way to the somber
mood of Maundy Thursday, the devastation of Good Friday, the waiting and
vast unknown of Saturday and the ecstatic joy of Easter.
Processing the cause and effect of such climactic events takes
time. 9-11 is no small
example. Oft times, a
reaction to crises, disorientation and/or Durkheim’s anomie is
reversion. Do we not observe
a moment of reversion in the The
moment of reversion yields a lesson in the text.
A routine declaration of intent provides direction for the
directionless. In John
21: 3, Simon Peter said to them “I am going fishing.”
They said to him, “We will go with you.”
Note the effect of leadership.
All seven disciples decide to go fishing because of Peter’s
expressed intent. Not one of
the disciples knows exactly what to do in the aftermath of the
resurrection. Death threats
leave them fear stricken. But
in a so-called reversionary act, the seeds of going forward -- of future
growth are being planted. They
go fishing. I
am convinced that the seeds of new growth have already been planted in
the Michigan Area. I am
convinced that God hath not limited our invitational and discipling
power to a mere 174, 000 members. I
am convinced that the power and authority to make disciples of Jesus
Christ thrives among the people of God.
In the midst of our so-called backsliding on membership, I’m
reminded of the promise Christ made to the disciples prior to his
Ascension, “And you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost shall come
upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Judea, JESUS’ DISCIPLES CAUGHT NOTHINGEnthusiasm
broke in on the disciples with blasted hopes.
Everybody came on board with the goal.
Commitment reached an all time high.
All night, the disciples fished.
If my imagination dictated their experience, not a single
theological argument deterred the seven from their common goal.
Withholding themselves or their resources was out of the
question. Questing for
position and power seemed passé. No
one jumped ship. The
disciples had a common goal. They
wanted to catch some fish. But
after a long night of fishing, reality stared the disciples in the face.
They fished all night and caught nothing.
Gone, was their enthusiasm. Then
at daybreak, a stranger raised the question, “Did you catch any
fish?” “No,” they answered. Here
was failure, deeply felt. Jesus
exposed their futility. Ironically,
nobody recognized him. At
least, Jesus’ disciples told the truth.
They fished all night and caught nothing.
According
to some critics and observers, that is the dilemma of the
November 1, 2001, Richard P. Heitzenrater presented a paper to
the Council of Bishops entitled “Take Thou Authority: Ministerial
Leadership in the Wesleyan Heritage.
In it, Heitzenrater argued that Wesley’s dynamic leadership was
not all it’s cracked up to be. “In a population of nine or ten million, Methodism during Wesley’s lifetime never came close to having a membership equivalent to one per cent of that population. Especially in the earlier years, Wesley often preached to as many as twenty to thirty thousand people during the week, or even just the weekend. And yet, the Methodist societies in Great Britain only grew at an average rate of about 1,500 per year (about 30 per week)” Given
the Heizenrater analysis of Wesley’s limited disciple making, the fact
remains Wesley does have a successful record fishing for persons.
Can we make the same claim?
Looking closer at the dilemma of the seven disciples, one cannot
easily discern the cause of failure.
In their former lives, most of the disciples were commercial
fishermen. The seven were
knowledgeable. In essence,
they had the right boat, the right net, the right time, the right
method, the right strategies, and the persistence of good fishermen.
Yet, they caught nothing. Have
you ever gone fishing and come home empty handed?
Have you ever told the wife about the one that got away?
Here is my story. Years
ago, a fish made me mad. It
stole my bait. Worse still,
it refused to bite the hook so I could catch it.
Disgusted, I haven’t been fishing but once or twice since.
My fishing story can be seen as parabolic.
Aware that many people in the neighborhood haven’t darkened the
doors of the church; too many pastors and laity have grown disgusted and
stopped fishing. Has that
phenomenon occurred in the Michigan Area? Or,
has the church jettisoned the net as an outdated strategy of yesterday
in favor of the fancy rod and reel of today.
Has the church decided that the preferred methodology for fishing
is one fish at a time? To be
clear, a caught fish is a caught fish.
However, anything might get caught if the church fished with a
net, the rich, the poor, folks with class and none at all.
The
one fish I nearly caught reminds this preacher of another dynamic
concerning fishing. Fishing
engages fisher folk in a spirited battle with fish.
Be they fish on dry land or fish in ponds, streams and rivers,
fish are not willing to lie down and be caught just because it is our
mission/objective to catch them. Use
lures or live bait. Go,
early in the morning or late at night.
Fish can and will outwit you.
Many local churches speak of the fish that got away while the
true fisherman pines over the big one that got away.
In either case, both share the fate of seven disciples.
They go home empty-handed.
JESUS’
DISCIPLES FISH SUCCESSFULLY
Empty-handed is not the circumstance of Rev. Veronica Brown.
In the October 1, 2004 United Methodist News Service Digest,
“Veronica Brown’s pulpit is the local Job Corps office in Dallas.”
She ministers to kids down on their luck. In need of a second
chance and the opportunity to live better lives, Veronica’s
congregation includes 650 teenagers.
Because Veronica dares to fish in a non-traditional manner, she
is reaping a harvest
Mr. Wesley reaped the harvest when George Whitefield challenged
him to alter his preaching style, by addition.
History buffs of Methodism know that John Wesley changed his
perspective about preaching egged on by George Whitefield.
Banned from preaching in most Anglican churches, Wesley began
Field Preaching. You’re
right; he had never done it that way before.
Excerpts from Wesley’s Journal for March 29 and April 2nd,
1739 paint this portrait. “I
could scarcely reconcile myself at first to this strange way of
preaching in the fields, of which he set me an example on Sunday.
I had been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every
point related to decency and order that I should have thought the saving
of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.”
Soon after, Wesley changed his mind.
He preached in the fields like John the Baptist preached in the
desert. “I submitted to
more vile and proclaimed in the highways (and byways) the glad tidings
of salvation.” Bearing
such witness, Wesley’s net filled continuously.
If the statement on John Wesley in the October 1, 2004 United
Methodist News Service Digest is correct, Wesley crossed the border of
tradition with great fervor. Rev.
Dottie Escobedo-Frank attributed the following quote to Mr. Wesley, “I
set myself on fire, and they come to see me burn.”
I
recall a recent visit to Sycamore Creek UMC.
They meet in a Christian school.
Worship is contemporary not traditional.
All parts of a typical liturgy are extant.
Members pray and sing. They
read scripture and take the offering.
Announcements of upcoming events occur, as does a time of welcome
for visitors. Children come
forward for their time with the pastor.
Of course, there is a sermon.
Like other churches, Sycamore Creek UMC flips the script.
The preacher dresses down not up.
So does most of the congregation.
An excellent praise band with singers, keeps the church on its
feet for a pulsating 10 to 20 minutes.
When scripture is read, Bibles are available for everyone to
follow along. A significant
number of fish, average age 30 to 35 and their children, are drawn into
their net.
The fishing techniques of Rev. Veronica Brown, Rev. George
Whitefield, Rev. John Wesley, John the Baptist and Rev. Barbara Flory
provide some perspective on the sudden success of the disciples.
Jesus’ disciples get in tune with an atypical suggestion of a
stranger. They comply with
the directive; “Cast the net on the right side of the boat.”
What the seven did was not easy.
To follow the command of the stranger, they had to turn their
backs on traditional fishing methodologies.
Maybe those methods included casting the net from the stem, stern
and left side of the boat but not the right side.
Maybe, those methods had always yielded enough fish to make a
living. And yet, that
fateful night, those methods failed.
And the disciples were stuck.
But our Lord offered them a way out.
A way out none of them had tried.
“Did you catch any fish?’ asked the Master.
“Nay,” the exhausted fisherman answered.
“Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find
some.” Like us, the
disciples had learned well the Seven Last Words, “We never did it that
way before.” When they
followed through, the net was filled.
Let
me add a note of caution. Successful
fishing for Christ does cause problems.
Finances are the least of them.
Fishing with a net means having less control over who gets caught
in your net. It is guaranteed that your net will catch fish not wanted
or well liked. For example,
some will be pro-life; others will not.
Some will support Kerry; others will favor Bush.
Some fish will press the claim for war; others will advocate
peace. Some fish will be
Native American, Hispanic, Asian, Black, and White.
Some fish will be rich, others poor and middle class.
Some fish will be old; others will be as young as the babe in a
manger. Lovers of
contemporary or traditional worship come.
Let me re-iterate. If
God’s disciples preach, teach, love and live out the gospel of Jesus
Christ in church and society, the whole human family will enter your
doors. Given
this caution, we still remain under obligation to make disciples in the
light of the Great Commission. “Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
obey all that I’ve commanded you and lo I will be with you, till the
end of the age.” (Mt. 28:19) Without
obedience to Jesus’ prescription, we will “miss the boat.”
For those of you, who feel the Great Commission quest is opposed
to other religions, hear this. Nowhere
in the Great Commission does Jesus the Christ say make disciples with
guns, knives or propaganda. Then
as now, persons from all nations respond without force to the person,
work and mission of Jesus the Christ.
All of the above must be seen in light of the main reality; it
was a miraculous catch of fish. Why?
Because the same sea, the same boat, the same fishermen, the same
bait, the same knowledge and the same commitment produced no catch at
night and a great catch at daybreak.
What was different? First,
the disciples utilized a non-traditional strategy offered by Jesus.
But let’s be clear. He
fine-tuned their fishing methodology without declaring all aspects of it
irrelevant, null and void. Second
and most importantly, the
disciples did not catch any fish until they did what Jesus said.
Jesus was the difference, nothing more, nothing less.
CONCLUSION In
conclusion, the question “Did you catch any fish?” carries the
disciples beyond their corporate failure.
Truthfully, their corporate failure is temporary.
We are talking about one night out of 365 nights.
One night, they do fail. One
night, things do not come together.
One night, all their methods and strategies fall short.
And their net is empty. But,
early the next morning, Jesus appears on the beach.
Early the next morning, Jesus says, “Cast your net on the right
side of the boat.” Early
the next morning, the disciples do what Jesus says do.
And their net is miraculously filled.
Doing what Jesus says do. That
is our challenge. That is our goal.
To
the saints in the Michigan Area, your bishop is going fishing.
I am going out with the net of the gospel.
I am going out to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
“The world is hungry for the Living Bread; lift the Savior up
for them to see. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I’ll draw
all persons unto me.” And
just in case, there is someone this evening caught in the net of the
gospel just preached, someone without a church home, someone who wishes
to join the church of Jesus Christ, come forward and stand with me while
we sing, “And Can It Be that I Should Gain.”
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