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John 21:1-19 (NRSV)
¹ After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. ² Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. ³ Simon 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. ⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ He 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. ⁷ That 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 sea. ⁸ But 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. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹² 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. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. ¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” ¹⁹ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

            Have you ever wondered what it would be like to “make it big”?  To be famous?  I found out an interesting fact this week that I just never had really thought much about.  When you make it big, you don’t have to do a lot of those things that lesser people have to do.  Like, when you leave your house, what do you almost always carry with you?  Probably your keys and a billfold or purse, right?  Not so for the president.  I read that when president Regan would leave to go somewhere, he seldom carried anything more than a handkerchief.  Why would he.  He didn’t need keys.  People drove for him.  People opened doors for him.  He didn’t carry a wallet.  People paid for him.  People could vouch for his identity.  I guess once you reach the level of president you don’t really need much beyond a handkerchief, and if you wanted someone to carry that too, you could probably find someone who would.

            But while Regan is a pretty recognizable name world wide – he pretty famous – I’m sure there are people more famous (or infamous) than him.  People like perhaps Churchill, or Hitler, or Lincoln, or Washington, or perhaps the most recognized name on the face of the earth, Jesus Christ.  You don’t have to be a Christian to know the name of Jesus.  The percentage of people around the world who haven’t heard of the name of Jesus is probably pretty low.  I think it’s safe to say that Jesus is pretty famous.

            But that wasn’t always the case.  As you know, Jesus had some pretty humble beginnings.  When he was born, no one other than a few shepherds and wisemen really took notice.  Not exactly what I would call a great following.  But as Jesus’ ministry progressed, so did his fame.  As he taught and performed miracles, news of Jesus Christ spread further and further.  But then the great legend of Jesus seem to come to a demise before his time.  Jesus was killed at what would have seemed to be the peak of his performance.  Maybe Jesus would be a James Dean, struck down in his prime… remembered for what a good young man he had been.  But Jesus’ fate would be quite different as he performed his greatest miracle of all.  On Easter morning he was raised from the dead.

            I guess you could say that Jesus had made it big.  He had quite the following, and it was continuing to grow.  He no longer had to carry his keys and billfold, so to speak.  There would have been people who would have been more than happy to do almost anything for Jesus.  Jesus was getting to the point where, if he chose, he would never really have to perform any menial manual labor again.  If he chose… but he didn’t.  Let’s look at this morning’s text and see what type of an example Jesus left.

            Our passage picks up by the Sea of Tiberius.  7 of Jesus’ disciples are out doing what they know best – fishing.  They go out at night only to have a pretty disappointing night.  It looks like they spent the whole night fishing, but even after such dedication, they have nothing to show for it.  When a pleasant gentleman on the shore calls out, “You guys catch anything?  Your boat looks pretty empty.”  (That’s my own paraphrase.)  Their solemn reply is “no.”  Then the apparent stranger on the shore calls out a suggestion which seems rather absurd.  “Why don’t you put your nets over on the other side of the boat.”  I’m sure these experienced fisherman had all they could do to keep from laughing.  It was the same sea on the right side of the boat as the left side.  But to humor him, they give it a try.  After all, what did they have to loose?

            I wish we could have read the minds of the disciples right about then.  They must have all thought about in unison, “That’s Jesus yanking our chain over there.”  After all, Jesus was the only person they knew who would have the power to pull something off like a net full of fish just for putting the net on the other side of the boat.  But John’s the first one to vocalize it.  He says, “It’s the Lord!”  Well Peter didn’t need any further convincing.  In about the time it takes everyone else to realize what’s going on, Peter is jumping overboard, swimming to shore.

            Eventually all 7 of them make it to shore to see that Jesus already had some fish and bread cooking on the fire.  And Jesus invites them to have some breakfast with him.  The fire is crackling.  Peter’s dripping from his impromptu early morning swim.  The disciples eyes are bloodshot from lack of sleep.  The smell of fresh baked bread is wafting through the air.  There’s no wine here this time… there’s no words of institution, but if the Last Supper took place that Thursday evening, I wonder if this wasn’t the first breakfast.  Think about it.  What is the Lord’s Supper? …what it communion?  Isn’t it time for us to have fellowship with Christ over a meal?  Isn’t that what Jesus and the disciples are doing here?  It’s an ordinary, everyday breakfast had around the camp fire with Jesus.

            Usually we read biblical stories and we want to blow them to biblical proportions.  But I wonder if this biblical story isn’t recorded to show that Jesus is in the ordinary… in the mundane.  Jesus is there in the morning to have breakfast with us.  Granted there was the miracle of catching the fish on the other side, and that may be meant to be significant and teaching, or it may be Jesus just having a little fun with his friends says, “Hey guys, it’s me, Jesus.”

            What if the lesson to be learned here is that Jesus isn’t only in the extrodinary mountain top experiences (although he is certainly there).  Maybe the lesson to be learned in this story is that Jesus is with us every day all day.  Jesus is the extraordinary smack dab in the middle of the ordinary.  I wonder if the writer of I Thessalonians didn’t have some understanding of this when he wrote, “Pray without ceasing.”  Jesus is with us all day every day, and we can live life in constant communication with him.

            Jesus is not only present during the ordinary times of life… he’s even participating in them.  Jesus could have easily waited on shore for the disciples to come and have them cook up some breakfast.  After all, I doubt the president cooks his own breakfast very often.  But no, Jesus is down there stoking the coals… flipping the fish.  He’s making breakfast for his friends.  And then sticks around to enjoy it with him.  Isn’t that what friends do.  They do little gestures of kindness for one another and enjoy time with one another.  Jesus had the right to demand treatment of royalty.  After all, he’s King of kings and Lord of lords, but no, here he’s just a friend to the disciples.

            Do we go through life taking to Jesus like he’s there, by our side, going through it with us?  When we have a meal, do we treat it as a little communion… a meal with Jesus?  Some people start a meal with prayer or end their meal with devotions.  Isn’t that a little communion?  Start your meal inviting Jesus to sit with you.  Share what’s been going on since you last talked.  Did you have a difficult conversation with someone?  Did you get good test results?  Maybe you just feel a sense of a accomplishment over what you’ve gotten done over the last several hours.  Maybe you had fun with you children or a good talk with you father.  Whatever it is. 

Jesus is in the big things, but he’s in the little things too.  He no longer calls us servants, but friends.  Friends talk about big things, but they talk about the little things too.  If we don’t invite Jesus into the little things of life, it is easy to begin to believe that he doesn’t care about the little things.  Not only that, but it can be harder to come to him with the big things.  Friendships are built on relation ships… relationships built through all of the different seasons of life.  When you’re driving to work, have a chat.  When your checking your e-mail, share your thoughts.  When your having breakfast, go over what his plans are for your day.

When Jesus came to earth there were plenty of problems in the world.  There was hunger and poverty… there was war and unjust governments.  Sounds a little like today, doesn’t it.  Jesus was God become man, and in that miracle Jesus could have spent his time working to end any of those, especially over the few short days between Easter and Christ’s Ascension.  But what did Jesus choose to do?  He chose to have a break with some of his old friends.  Jesus met his friends, and Jesus meets us where we’re at – he meets us with all of the concerns of life that are going through our minds even this morning as we sit in church – because if we don’t see Jesus in real life, we’re not going to see him much at all.  Jesus is still working to end hunger and poverty… war and unjust governments in our world today, but he also still has time to have breakfast with you and me.  Ordinary life is just that… ordinary.  Jesus might not be asking if we caught any fish, but he may be asking how the day at the office went, or how your day at school went, or how your day just relaxing went.  Then he asks, “do you want to talk about it?”

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.