"Reconciliation" May 14, 2017

John 21:1-11 Acts 7: 51-60 I hope you enjoy the numerous Resurrection appearances of the season of Easter as I do. I love this 21st Chapter of John for several reasons, not least of which is fishing. One of my earliest memories was of having a bamboo pole and worms, catching sunfish on Pleasant Lake. In 1965 my parents, who were from Central NY bought a home on an identical lake in Northern Michigan. That same year, Field and Stream magazine, described having stocked that lake with fingerlings of Muskellunge. While we never caught one, Muskies were supposed to be a game fish that grew to enormous proportions. In the last few weeks I have had several who have reached points in their lives, like Peter, where it appears there is no future, no hope. This passage of Scripture is assurance that although we may not see God, dwelling on the past, replaying what we wish we had not said, Christ will never abandons us. The quest of faith is a search for reconciliation, for gathering up all the frayed loose ends of life, for finding meaning especially in the darkest, most difficult relationships, and in death that seems the ultimate finality. The 21st Chapter, similar to the prologue of John 1: “In the beginning was the Word…he came to his own people and his own people received him not…but to all who did he gave eternal life” …summarizes the recurrent themes of John’s Gospel of Jesus Christ: At the Wedding at Cana in Galilee, we exhausted the wine/ here exhausted fishing; when Jesus comes creating a superabundance both in quantity and quality. Nicodemus, in the dark of night, knew Jesus to be the Messiah sent from God, but suffered confusion and lack of understanding AND Jesus the light of the world provided illumination and depth of perception. Nathaniel and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, by a simple declaration: I saw you under the tree/ you have 5 husbands and this not your husband/ or having caught nothing on that side of the boat, try the other side; and the lonely stranger becomes a witness declaring: You are the Lord the Son of God. We have reconciliation: Peter denied Jesus 3 times and now vows his love 3 times, both standing before charcoal fires smelling the smoke, feeling the warmth. Jesus told the disciples to go to Galilee, and they went to the Sea of Galilee. In the Hebrew Scriptures: the Name of God: YHWH is “I AM.” In John, Jesus identifies I Am the Good Shepherd; I Am the Vine you are the branches; I Am the Bread of Life, I AM the SheepGate no one comes to the Father except thru me. Pontius Pilate asked if Jesus was a King? Here there were 153 fish. Astrology, Astronomy, numerology were common at that time, in Aramaic 153 corresponds to the letters “I AM God.” However, a subtle and vitally important thing, is that in the Bible we have accounts of being there with God at Creation, with Prophets and Kings, throughout the Gospels we have stories of being with Jesus, listening to him, seeing him. In the Resurrection appearances, you have people who know Christ died for us, who like us are going about their ordinary lives, walking on the road; meeting together for conversation, prayer and a hymn; fishing in a familiar sacred place; going about daily work; being lonely, listless, doubting, unfulfilled, when Jesus came to them. I think one of the earliest crises of the Church, a crisis of faith we each go through, is doubting “Where is God?” “Who is God?” “Will I live through this time, will I ever be happy or challenged, fulfilled?” The resurrection appearances indicate that even in the most common routines, When we are having a meeting discussing drainage… Running scales as a Choir… Celebrating a Wedding, Baptism, Memorial, Worship. Those are the times Christ comes to us, not to heal us of leprosy, not to replace our knees or hips, but to provide reconciliation of all the things that have troubled us; not simply to give us knowledge, but a limitless super-abundance, for everlasting. I imagine Jesus asked Peter three different times “Do you love me?” the importance of which being different. Whenever we have done wrong, let someone down, there is the feeling of being caught. There is also reflection on guilt that you wish you could have a do over. But the 3rd, I think is as a fresh affirmation of faith. As 8 and 10 year olds the imaginations of my brothers and I ran wild, because like Skaneateles we fished and swam in the same waters as Muskies. Although that lake was as pure and cold and clear as Skaneateles, swimming with a big fish with teeth, was frightening. Once, when I was about 35, I thought I saw that big fish swim passed me, Muskellunge, but my friends, family dismissed it as an idle big fish tale. In 2003 there was a movie titled “Big Fish” the main character of which is Eddie Bloom, who delights telling others fantastic mythic adventures about his life. His son’s favorite bedtime story, is about when Eddie and his friends were boys in this Village, and there was an old rundown house, overgrown with weeds, next to the swampy part of the Creek. Once when the boys were about 10, they went to this house at night, trying to get a look at the woman inside, whom they were certain was a witch. She has a glass-eye, that she keeps covered with a patch, and it is said that if you look into that dead eye you can witness your own death! The boys speculate whether they will die horrifically, or peacefully, whether alone or surrounded by loved ones? The other boys taunted Eddie to go look. Was he chicken, or would he march through her yard, walk up the front steps, knock on her door to look in the eye of death? Would you want to know? Maybe death is best left as a mystery. Knowing how, could mess you up, avoiding all the other occasions you faced the same circumstance, worrying about when, and why then. On the shore that morning, when three times over Jesus asked Simon Peter if he loves Jesus, and Peter responds with pledge of his commitment, Jesus does not say “I love you too” instead, as affirmation of Peter, who previously had feared confessing Jesus because he might be arrested and might be crucified beside him, Peter is told how he will die. All his life Simon Peter has been in control, and he will lose control of his life. He will become a prisoner for the Gospel and die for it. Rather than death the same as Jesus, he will ask to be crucified upside down, witnessing the world as all mixed up. On the night of Communion, the night of Jesus’ arrest, Peter had looked death in the eye and ran away in fear. Few things, even death, cause us the same fear as a loss of control. But witnessing his death for what he believed, Jesus says to Peter: Follow me. 10 year old Eddie Bloom nervously squeezed through the fence, and in the dark, crept through the overgrown weeds, then climbed the stairs and knocked at the door. He hears rustling inside, when suddenly the door swings open and the old patch-eyed woman is standing right there. Eddie says to her: “Maam, my name is Edward Bloom, and there are some folks out here who would like to look you in the eye.” He leads her back to where the other boys were hiding. Only two left are brothers, Zack and Don Price. Zack lifts the eye patch, and the film’s Director shows us what looks like a Black and White home movie where the 10 year old Zack now a grown man is standing on a ladder, when the ladder goes out from under and he lays on the pavement dead. Having fallen from a ladder, at that point, I was reaching for the remote. But Eddie turns to the woman, saying “I have been thinking about death. On the one hand seeing yourself die could really screw up your thinking. On the other hand, if you knew you would die in your bed, you would have no fear going to war, or driving a car, eating weird food, stopping a bank robber, because you know you would survive. So it could kind of help you to know.” The woman smiles crooked teeth at him, and lifts her patch. This time, the Director does not show us what Eddie sees, but we watch Eddie’s expression. When she replaces the patch, Eddie says “Huh, so that’s how I go.” Concluding the bedtime story to his son, Eddie says “From then on, I no longer feared death.” I have always trusted God with eternity, after I died, but now I am beginning to trust God with the ordinary things of my daily life. Ten years ago my brothers and I sold our parents’ lakefront home in Michigan. A year ago I saw on the internet, that the biggest fish in the State of Michigan had been caught, it had been caught in the water of that very lake, right in front of my parents’ home, living for years under the drift wood. They showed the photo of three adult men, standing side by side, with their arms outstretched, holding this 55 inch long, 50 lb 8 oz fish with rows and rows of teeth. But the best part is that Muskies were seeded in that lake 42 years ago. If this one had been found there and grown to this size, there were others…