John 21:1-19
The Story
Continues
James Sledge May
1, 2022
Peter
Koenig, Breakfast on the Beach, 20th Century, from Art
in the Christian Tradition,
When a movie ends, the scene fades to
black, “The End” appears, and the credits begin to roll. But rare is the movie
where we don’t know it’s the end without these cues.
Parish of St. Edward,
Kettering, UK
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library
Music works in similar fashion. More often than not, we can detect that the piece has ended even when we’ve never heard it before. Any musical tension and dissonance resolve into something that feels complete, finished, and we know we are at the end.
In movies, in plays, in novels, in music, this pattern is familiar to us. Things need to be brought to a conclusion. The war must be won. The broken relationship must be repaired. The killer must be caught. The jury must come in. The lovers must find one another. The last note must be played. Otherwise we are left with a sense of loose ends.
The gospel of John has dealt with its loose ends. Jesus has been raised from the dead. Mary Magdalene has seen him. Then he has appeared to the disciples, commissioned them and given them the Spirit. Finally he has appeared again so that Thomas, who was somehow absent when Jesus appeared that first Easter evening, might see and believe.
But just as we prepare to get up from our seats, suddenly the story resumes. After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It’s all rather jarring. Just when we thought we understood exactly how things came out, the story starts up again. It breaks into the feeling of completeness. All that dissonance that had been resolved is stirred up again.