Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the LORD!'
-John 21:7a, NIV
Someone told me recently that a pastor had said to him there was one thing you could always be sure of - the Senior Pastor would NOT be preaching the Sunday after Easter. Most of the time he is right. Those of us who preach most every Sunday look forward to a break at the end of Lent and the many services of Holy Week. But this coming Sunday after Easter, he would be wrong! I am preaching this Sunday -- and not because I have to, but because I really want to!
I want to finish up the "Passion Is . . ." series of messages we began at the start of Lent. When I first looked at these different stories from John's Gospel, I knew I wanted to talk about the story when Jesus appeared to the disciples after they had returned to fishing on the Sea of Galilee following that first Easter.
One of the main reasons I wanted to preach on this story is because of what it means to me personally. I will be talking more about that this Sunday, but it all has to do with what happened when I visited the place on the Sea of Galilee which is traditionally thought to be where Jesus appeared to the disciples and told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. It was only then that they recognized the resurrected Jesus.
This past Easter Sunday we talked about what it would be like to encounter the resurrected Jesus. I can tell you that my experience by the Sea of Galilee was perhaps the closest I have ever come to experiencing the resurrected Jesus myself.
While there is the tendency after Easter to go back to doing what we were doing before - like the disciples did when they went back to fishing on the Sea of Galilee - my hope is that we will keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open for the spirit of the risen Jesus in our lives each and every day. See you Sunday!
Prayer for Today
Risen Jesus, open our eyes, ears, and hearts -- so that we might recognize you in the everyday events of our lives. Amen.
