Sermon: The Story Continues

John 21:1-19

The Story Continues

James Sledge                                                                                       April 10, 2016

When I go to the movies, I’m one of those people who sit there as the credits roll. I’m not sure why. Sometimes I’m actually looking for something such as song that was in the movie. Other times it’s just what I do. And every once in a while, something pops up after the credits, a blooper from the filming, an epilogue, a teaser about a sequel.

Something similar happens in today’s gospel reading, though given the way we use scripture in worship, reading a few paragraphs each Sunday morning, it’s easy to miss such things. But go back a page or so and you’ll see it. John has told us of the empty tomb and the risen Jesus speaking to Mary Magdalene early on Easter morning. Then we read of Jesus appearing that night to the disciples, and then appearing again when Thomas, who missed the previous appearance, is present.

Then the gospel seems to conclude saying, Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through believing you may have life in his name. The End. Let the credits roll.

If you’d been listening to an audio version of John’s gospel in the car, you might well turn it off at thispoint. You might leave during the credits and completely miss our reading for today. Jesus reappears, after the credits, after the gospel is over, after the story has been told.

This reappearance has sparked much discussion as to why. Had some problem arisen in the congregation for whom John is originally written? Might some of them have thought that Peter was unfit to be a leader because of denying Jesus on the night of his arrest? Had a different author attached this new ending? Scholars debate such questions endlessly, and they are interesting questions. But I wonder if they miss a bigger point.
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In most church congregations, the two really big events during the year are Christmas and Easter. It’s not always been that way in the Church, but in our day a great deal of energy and preparation and build up culminates in a huge celebration. Then everyone can rest and relax. The pastor takes vacation. The choir may take a Sunday off. The poinsettias or lilies wither away, and life gets back to normal.

Easter and Christmas celebrate events that happened in the past, remembering and retelling stories from long ago. But the stories of Christmas and Easter are over. They have run all the way to the end. The credits have rolled. And we are living on the other side.

In a sense, so were those first disciples. They had lived the story. They had been there to see and hear Jesus. They had witnessed his arrest and execution. They had seen the risen Christ. But that story had ended. The Jesus of that story was in the past. Their time together with him was in the past. The end. The credits had rolled and the story was over. But then Jesus shows up again.

Naturally no one recognizes him. Jesus belongs to the past, to a story that had ended. And yet the risen Christ meets them in their day to day. He directs and guides them. Suddenly their fruitless efforts bear much fruit, and they realize it must be him.

The scene turns almost comical as Peter can’t wait for the boat to make it to shore. He throws on some clothes so he’ll be halfway presentable. I suppose that meeting Jesus with your clothes soaked and dripping is better than having on no clothes at all.

Once ashore, they discover that Jesus has breakfast ready.  He asks them for some of the fish they’ve just caught, but I’m not sure why. He already has fish on the grill, and bread. Maybe the gospel adds this so it can report the ridiculous number of fish they’ve caught, 153. If there’s some significance to the number, no one seems to know what it is. Maybe it just means there were a whole lot of fish.

There’s something else going on in the story that’s easy to miss, communion. We don’t think of fish with Lord’s Supper, but apparently the early Christians did. There are mosaics and other depictions from the Church’s early centuries that show fish on the table. And in today’s gospel, after the credits have rolled, Jesus joins his followers for a meal. He takes bread and gives it to them.

The threefold exchange with Peter is perhaps the most obvious part of the story, leaving no question about Peter’s status. If the last time we heard Peter speak he was denying Jesus three times, now he has the chance to profess his love three times and to hear Jesus commission him three times. We also learn that the frightened Peter who denied Jesus is now someone who will not turn aside even in the face of death.

And then Jesus says, “Follow me.” But wait a minute. Does this belong here, after the story, after the credits? This is from the beginning of the story. At the start of his ministry, Jesus called fishermen to follow him, but that story is ended. Jesus has ascended to the Father. How can we go back to the beginning, well after the end?

But maybe that is the point. The story is not over. We are not yet at the end. “Follow me. Become a part of the story. Take your place in the unfolding drama of the gospel.”

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There is much in the way we do this church thing that might make people think Christianity is largely about being a spectator. We speak of going to church, much like going to the movies or a concert. We often critique the experience in a similar manner. Did we like the music or sermon? Did it touch or move us in some way? Was it good or bad?

And the focus on belief doesn’t  help much. Watch, listen, and decide if you believe. That can be done without ever getting out of our seats. But then Jesus meets us after the story is ended, after we’ve said, “Christ is risen!” And he says, “Get up, get moving, Follow me.”

Perhaps you think I’m getting a little too creative here, making a big deal about two little words spoken out of place, after the story. But the other gospels do something similar. Luke’s gospel continues on in the book of Acts, describing how the Spirit inspires and equips the Church for its ongoing work in an ongoing story. And Matthew has the risen Jesus meet the disciples and commission them, along with the Church they will found, saying, Go therefore and make disciples of all peoples.”  Not believers but disciples. Not spectators but followers.

So the story continues, and you and I have a part in that story, a roll in the drama. What part does Jesus have for you? Where is he calling us when he says, “Follow me”?