Often after a big event, we can feel a letdown after a big party, wedding, graduation, or trip that has been memorable. Sometimes you need the next few days to rest a little longer in bed with some lethargy and pull together again our thoughts and energy.
My trip this past week was great! I got to see people and places where I went to college and experience some worship with the orchestra, organ, and old friends. There were nights I was so wound up that I had a hard time falling back asleep! And now I am getting back to normal life and my own bed again — at home.
We celebrated Easter Day two weeks ago. We had the Bishop here! There are lots of people, flowers, new banners and music to declare and celebrate an empty tomb. What’s it like to live on the letdown of Easter?
After such excitement, we can be a bit cynical that life and people never really change. And sometimes the ordinary is comforting and necessary. And sometimes we can crave more or miss the energy and excitement.
How do the first disciples respond to Christ’s triumph over death? They return to the humdrum of their ordinary life. And they go fishing.
Peter says he’s going fishing, and the others reply, “We will go with you”. After the resurrection had unsettled what they thought about the world, after the shock of everything that had just happened—Jesus, who had been dead in the tomb, appeared to Mary Magdalene and then surprised the fearful disciples in their locked room (20:1–23)—the disciples are back to their routines.
The cosmos has been altered. There has been a shift in existence. Another world has broken through into this one. Life is fundamentally totally different now. “Up from the grave, He arose / With a mighty triumph o’er His foes.”
And the disciples eat breakfast and go fishing.
Life goes on as more or less the same for the disciples.
After Easter morning, there’s still the oppression of the Roman Empire, there’s still work, there’s still pain and fear, and there’s still breakfast.
Does new resurrection life of Jesus make any difference in our world and our lives?
Today’s readings give us pictures of life on the letdown of Easter. The story of Paul’s conversion tells about Paul getting thrown off his horse as a light from heaven flashes around him. He is humbled under God’s might power to make a radical change in life from a persecutor and tormenter to a great witness of faith. A radical truth opens his heart and scales fall from his eyes.
Our physical and spiritual lives might be so dramatic and such a conversion, but we want very much for God to work so that scales continue to fall from our eyes and God’s truth directs us in greater love, mercy, justice, and faith.
And then the second reading has another vision from the book of Revelation. All the reading’s symbolism about the persecution under the imperial powers reads like a vision of life after. From Revelation, one thing can know for sure about heaven is it that is a place of a lot of singing. Writer Kathleen Norris once wrote that she is attracted to the book of Revelation because it takes a stand in favor of singing. She writes: [Revelation] proclaims that when all is said and done, of the considerable noises human beings are capable of, it is singing that will endure… I think this a cause for hope.” And the heavenly hymn from the Revelation reading is one we sing in worship “This is the feast of victory for our God.” It goes on: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
Of course, there are times when we just want to get to heaven and wonder if there is value in life now. Dealing with a serious illness, grief, or pain can leave one waiting and hoping for a better life.
Yet the gift of Easter is for the here and now. This is the other side. This is the feast. Throughout our lives, we learn to sing the song of heaven, even here on earth, even in our despair and hurt, that we might make this earth a heaven. That we might get beyond ourselves and get a glimpse of God in all of life. In our ordinary breakfast and even back in our own bed is the power of the sacred, the presence of God.
In the Gospel, after the letdown of Jesus’ death, it appears that the disciples have gone back to fishing. And they’re not catching much. It’s a slow day which reflects their daily lives. The Risen Christ invites them, and challenges them, to let down their nets and the other side of the boat. And the catch is immense, abundant, amazing. We are not sure why they counted every single fish, but they caught 153. You would think they might just estimate and say — a lot of fish or about 200, but no someone counted. They caught 153. There are a lot of theories about why and what it means.
Peter Gomes writes, “Try the other side. Cast your net in some other area, in some other place. Try something else, something new, something different, try responding to the invitation of Jesus. For many of us, living consists of maintaining unfulfilled lives, and doing what we do because we cannot imagine doing anything else. When Jesus says to try the other side, he is offering new life to those of us who are trapped in making a living and not in making a life. He is offering the possibilities of freedom, freedom from our routine and the captivity of what we’ve always done, and freedom for a new and abundant life that is full to overflowing.”
Maybe that is our Easter call as well. To let down our nets on the other side.
Cautious and Cowardly Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times receives a three-fold questioning from the Risen Lord: Do you love me? Then feed my sheep. Live your abundant life. Give generously and share abundantly. Be a witness to the resurrection. Give your very life for me as I gave my life for you.
The disciples had a fish breakfast with the risen Jesus. I love broiled fish for breakfast and many jest at me that it is not a healthy or respectful breakfast like eggs, bacon, cereal, and waffles. Through the ages, the fish has been a symbol of Christ. Our ordinary feast is a foretaste of heaven. There is life before death. On the letdown of Easter.
It sounds underwhelming as a reason for the resurrection—that Jesus conquers death so he can come back and be with his disciples, enjoy another meal, fellowship around the fire, and linger with his friends for as long as he can. But that’s what God has wanted from eternity: to be with us. Jesus returns from the dead because he wants another meal with his disciples—nothing special, some fish and bread.
And having been fed we are called, like Peter, to feed others. To invite others to try out the other side; try on some new perspective and new ways.
The crucified Jesus is now resurrected, and he wants nothing more than to feast with his friends.
