Speaking Of Life 4023 | A Different Sort of Power
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Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4023 | A Different Sort of Power
Jeff Broadnax
The historian and moralist known as Lord Acton held the opinion that a person’s sense of morality diminishes as their power increases. You have probably heard quoted some version of his statement, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
That’s a pretty bold statement. However, with every passing chapter of history, Lord Acton is continually proven to be right. Notorious examples of absolute power can be seen in people like Napoleon Bonaparte who reached a point where he saw fit to declare himself an emperor. Even worse are the Roman emperors who went further to declare themselves gods. This kind of power is a self-determining power where might makes right. If you have the power, you can do whatever you want and be whoever you want. You answer to no one.
Today, we still have power players who crown themselves arbiters over everyone else and declare themselves to be all-knowing demigods who are above question. There is a long list of powerful people whose corruption stains the pages of history. It seems Lord Acton knew what he was talking about.
But, it’s not just the powerful elite who suffer from such corruption. It is in all of us to want to be masters of our own fates and captains of our own souls. And this futile pursuit has not only stained the pages of world history, but it has left a stain on our personal histories as well. And there is no amount of power that we can possess to undo it.
There is one, thankfully, who is powerful enough to rub out the stain. Only, his power is of a different sort. It’s the power that comes in the form of a slain Lamb. He ushers in his kingdom not through brute force and domination, but through the power of sacrificing his very self. Rather than, leveraging power for the sake of himself, he leverages his power for the sake of all of us.
It’s the power the Apostle Paul equated with the Cross. This is not how we think of power. For the powerbrokers of the world, this sounds like foolishness. But, Jesus, the slain Lamb of the cross has broken the chains of our self-determined sinfulness and erased the stains of our corrupt history.
Listen to the vision of his throne recorded in the Book of Revelation:
“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.”
Revelation 5:11-14
Jesus’ power does not come by self-appointment. It is received from his Father, who sent him into our world to rescue and redeem us. For this reason, the Father gave him the name above all names. He is the one we answer to. For this reason, we bow down to the only one who is worthy, and whose power never corrupts.
I’m Jeff Broadnax, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4023 | A Different Sort of Power
Jeff Broadnax
The historian and moralist known as Lord Acton held the opinion that a person’s sense of morality diminishes as their power increases. You have probably heard quoted some version of his statement, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
That’s a pretty bold statement. However, with every passing chapter of history, Lord Acton is continually proven to be right. Notorious examples of absolute power can be seen in people like Napoleon Bonaparte who reached a point where he saw fit to declare himself an emperor. Even worse are the Roman emperors who went further to declare themselves gods. This kind of power is a self-determining power where might makes right. If you have the power, you can do whatever you want and be whoever you want. You answer to no one.
Today, we still have power players who crown themselves arbiters over everyone else and declare themselves to be all-knowing demigods who are above question. There is a long list of powerful people whose corruption stains the pages of history. It seems Lord Acton knew what he was talking about.
But, it’s not just the powerful elite who suffer from such corruption. It is in all of us to want to be masters of our own fates and captains of our own souls. And this futile pursuit has not only stained the pages of world history, but it has left a stain on our personal histories as well. And there is no amount of power that we can possess to undo it.
There is one, thankfully, who is powerful enough to rub out the stain. Only, his power is of a different sort. It’s the power that comes in the form of a slain Lamb. He ushers in his kingdom not through brute force and domination, but through the power of sacrificing his very self. Rather than, leveraging power for the sake of himself, he leverages his power for the sake of all of us.
It’s the power the Apostle Paul equated with the Cross. This is not how we think of power. For the powerbrokers of the world, this sounds like foolishness. But, Jesus, the slain Lamb of the cross has broken the chains of our self-determined sinfulness and erased the stains of our corrupt history.
Listen to the vision of his throne recorded in the Book of Revelation:
“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.”
Revelation 5:11-14
Jesus’ power does not come by self-appointment. It is received from his Father, who sent him into our world to rescue and redeem us. For this reason, the Father gave him the name above all names. He is the one we answer to. For this reason, we bow down to the only one who is worthy, and whose power never corrupts.
I’m Jeff Broadnax, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 30:1-12 • Acts 9:1-6, (7-20) • Revelation 5:11-14 • John 21:1-19
This week’s theme is resurrected restoration. The call to worship Psalm emphasizes healing and recovery from the Lord that prompts eternal gratefulness. A reading from Acts recounts Paul’s transformation from a persecutor of the church to a chosen instrument of the Lord. The Gospel reading from John reports the appearance of the resurrected Lord to Peter who is restored and commissioned to feed Jesus’ sheep. The Book of Revelation points to the source of all restoration with the vision of angels singing praises around the throne of God to the Lamb who was slain.
The Dawn of a New Day
John 21:1-19 (NRSV)
Easter Sunday is a big day for the Christian Church. Celebrations abound with music, drama, decorations, and food that are rarely seen on other Sundays. It is also the day most churches have their biggest day of attendance. But Easter is more than just one big special day. It’s a season. In fact, we have seven Sundays to celebrate Easter this year. We find ourselves today on the third Sunday after Easter, barely halfway through the season. I’m sure you have noticed that after Easter Sunday the remaining Sundays in the Easter season look like business as usual. The heightened celebration and crowds have dwindled back to the regular ebb and flow of a typical church gathering.
We may be disappointed and wish every Sunday would look like Easter Sunday. But if we are honest with ourselves, this dynamic of the Easter season probably reflects our own worship of the Lord more than we would like to admit. Every day is not High Easter in our daily lives. In fact, some days our lives don’t reflect the fact that he is risen at all. We are just going about our lives “business as usual.” Sound familiar? If so, the text we have before us may be just the reminder we need. It’s the story of Peter and other disciples, who have met the resurrected Lord on Easter Sunday, but seemed to be returning to their lives as it was before they even met Jesus. I guess if it happened to Peter, the one Jesus chose to build his church on, we should not be surprised that it can happen to us. But, we will see that the Lord does not intend for us to remain stuck there. Let’s take a look at how it played out for Peter and his fellow fishermen.
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (John 21:1-3 NRSV)
This story begins with seven disciples gathering at the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had already appeared to them so we may be left scratching our head as to why they are out fishing. Peter is recorded as saying, “I’m going out to fish.” Notice his orientation. He is no longer acting like a a man who dedicated himself to following Jesus, he is choosing for himself what he is going to do. One could say he is returning to a self-determined approach to life. Not only that, but he is also influencing the other disciples to follow him in this self-determined decision. Peter was called to be the one who would lead the early church. This doesn’t appear to be a good start for leadership. Instead of leading others to be followers of Christ, he has led them to follow himself.
Have you seen yourself ever slip back into self-determining patterns of thinking and acting? It happens to us all. Let’s face it, the culture we live in celebrates and continually barrages us with the temptation to “be your own man” or “be the captain of your own ship.” Self-determinism is a virtue that must be attained in a culture where self-worship runs rampant. We are called to be followers of Christ, but we often find ourselves, just like Peter and his fishing mates, returning to our boats and tackle, as if Easter Sunday meant Jesus had decided to move on without us.
Peter and the other disciples give us a glimpse of how a self-determined life will look apart from Jesus. They proceeded to answer for themselves a series of questions in order to fulfill their self-determined quest. They determined for themselves what they would do – go fishing. They determined for themselves where they would go – out to sea. They determined for themselves how they would do it – by boat. They determined for themselves when they would do it – at night. This self-initiated task in the end produced for them a net full of NOTHING! We are reminded that Jesus told his disciples that apart from him they could do nothing. Been there? You return to your boats, make your best plan, gather your favorite tools, and give it all you got, only to end up with the same results before you knew Jesus. Nothing! Nothing worth counting anyway. Usually, we end up with less than nothing – often making a mess of our lives and dragging others down with us. So far, we have a pretty dismal start for our third Sunday of Easter. But don’t go away, the sun hasn’t come up quite yet.
Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. (John 21:4-7 NRSV)
It was “early in the morning” when Jesus appeared on the shore, and everything begins to change. Although Easter Sunday has come and gone, with Jesus, it is always the dawn of a new day. The disciples did not recognize Jesus. They answered for themselves every what, where, how, and when question but they did not have an answer to the “who” question. Who was this man on the beach? Jesus asked a question of his own with, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” Here Jesus gives the disciples the opportunity to admit that their way is not working. After fishing all night with nothing to show for their efforts they are honestly able to admit that the only answer they have is “No.”
We can note that Jesus’ timing is for our good. He could have saved the disciples a lot of toil by showing up earlier, but Jesus waits till the morning. This is Jesus’ third appearance to the disciples in John’s Gospel. By appearing at sunrise, Jesus offers a reminder of Easter morning. Jesus also has the disciples in a place where they are ready to cast aside their pride. They are now ready to listen to another voice other than their own. A mature disciple, in time, learns that the voice worth following is the voice of another who loves us so much we want to turn our ears toward him. When Jesus said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat,” the disciples followed his instructions, leading to a catch so great they were unable to haul into the boat.
With this miraculous catch, the disciples were able to realize that, “It is the Lord!” Jesus helped them answer the only question that is truly important – the “who” question. And he does this by reminding them in very personal ways of who he has revealed himself to be through his relationship with them. The disciples no doubt remember when Jesus first told them to cast their net on other side of the boat – with the same results. When we fall back into our self-determining patterns, forgetting who our Lord is, Jesus is gracious and loving in his approach to us. He comes to us in ways we can recognize, often with little reminders of who he is as we have come to know him.
Notice how Peter finally saw who was standing on the shore. His eyes were opened when one of his fellow disciples said to him, “It is the Lord.” Peter’s excited response is comical. He jumps off the boat and swims to shore. It seems that seeing Jesus also helped Peter see the futility of being captain of his own destiny. He couldn’t abandon ship fast enough. This is why it is so important as we gather together as fellow disciples to remind each other of who the Lord is. How often is it that we can’t see the Lord present with us until someone reminds us who we have lost sight of? There is something about a brother or sister in Christ coming alongside you in your times of doubt and confusion to remind you of who Jesus is. To remind you that it is the Lord who is with you, who is calling you friend and calling you to himself. Many a self-determined life has been turned back to the Lord thanks to a faithful disciple who shared what the Lord opened his eyes to see. May it be so with us in our relationships with one another.
But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21:8-14 NRSV)
Now that Peter is following Jesus again, and not his own self-made plans, he has rightly reclaimed his calling as the one upon who Jesus said he would build his church. Notice the disciples in the boat are now following Peter to the shore where Jesus is, and not out to sea. As Peter follows Jesus with self-abandonment, the other disciples follow suit. This is the primary calling of any church “leader.” It is to be a follower of Christ.
When all the disciples were on the shore, we find that Jesus is already cooking some fish. Jesus does not need our catch, but he invites us to participate in what he is doing. Jesus tells them to bring some of the fish they had just caught, and then he invites them to a communion style breakfast. Jesus gives them credit for the catch of fish they just hauled in. Even though they know it was Jesus who was the one that enabled them to catch the fish, Jesus doesn’t mind sharing his glory. This is the Lord the disciples had grown to know during their time with him. He was not a Lord like the religious and political tyrants of their time. He was a glorious Lord who shared all that he has with them. After this invitation we see that “None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” The “who” question had been settled for these disciples.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:15-19 NRSV)
It’s after receiving this communion type meal that Jesus restores Peter to the ministry of feeding the sheep. In the series of three questions to Peter about his love for Jesus, Peter is once again brought face to face with the futility of his own self-determined love and loyalty to the Lord as he is reminded of his three denials. This shot to Peter’s pride hurts, but ultimately leads him to the admission that the Lord knows “everything.” Jesus even predicts that Peter will not waver from his new orientation of following the Lord over following himself. Jesus contrasts how Peter once lived by going where he wanted, but who will now remain faithful in following another even when it leads to death. Peter will grow more and more to look just like Jesus.
After this we see a new Peter who is ready to follow rather than lead. And his role as “leader” in the church is defined clearly as one who nourishes and takes care of the sheep that belong to the Lord. And he will do this by feeding the sheep only with that which the Lord has fed him. And that doesn’t mean literal fish. John records Jesus feeding the disciples with bread and fish in a communion fashion. Peter is charged to feed the sheep with only what he receives from the Lord. In this way, the church is the place where sheep are fed by being reminded of who Jesus is with his word and are invited into his presence at the communion table.
In summary, when Jesus shows up everything changes. Night turns to day. Fruitless fishing becomes an abundant catch. Toiling at sea becomes a rest on the shore. As Jesus answers the “who” question for us, we can reach a point where we place our full confidence and faith in the Lord who knows all things. We can leave our boats of self-determinism and let go of our frantic desire to be captain of our own destiny. As we do so, we are fed by the Lord and are invited to participate in his feeding of his sheep. And we do that by obeying Jesus’ last words to us in the passage: “Follow me!”
Resurrection Fish Fry w/ Jeff McSwain W1
Program Transcript
Resurrection Fish Fry w/ Jeff McSwain W1
Anthony: Let me read the first passage that we have this month. It’s John 21:1-9. It’s a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the third Sunday of Easter on May the 1st.
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. [NSRV]
Jeff, I couldn’t help but think of the movie Forest Gump when I was imagining Simon Peter jump out of the boat. If you remember the scene, Forest jumps in the water and he’s trying to swim to Lieutenant Dan, and here we see Peter doing something similar.
But as you’ve already mentioned, the primary question of theology and therefore the heralding of the gospel is: who is this God revealed in Jesus Christ? So, what do the actions, the words of Jesus in this passage tell us about the Triune God?
Jeff: What a great passage! It says it’s a third time and when you think about, there might have been an in-between encounter that Jesus had just with Simon Peter before this. 1 Corinthians 15 seems to mention, he appeared to Peter, so I don’t know if this is the one that Paul’s talking about or not.
But the point is that we all know that Peter is fresh off of these three denials. And we’ve taught lots of sermons about [how] the three denials match the three questions, and that Peter had oddly put his clothes on before jumping in.
I have some thoughts about this passage that relate to what we’re talking about. When I think of a fishing net, first of all, I think of a matrix. I think of the placemat. And I think of the fact that, here are these fishermen—remember when Jesus first stepped into Peter’s boat? He was like, get away from me, Lord, I’m a sinful man. And Jesus said, don’t worry about it. Sinful people are all I got to work with, so I’m stepping into your boat.
But the point from the very beginning, there’s this contradiction in Simon Peter that Jesus seeks to speak into. And, if you wanted to think about this in theological, metaphorical terms, you could think of the fact of that net representing the tangled and conflicted humanity of those men in the boat.
It’s interesting that, Jesus tells them, throw it over on the right side of the boat, and that there’s this abundance. There’s nothing on the left side, call that the red side. And then there’s this abundance on the other side. And the red side, it speaks to me as the bad tree cannot produce any fruit, nothing, no fruit. No good fruit can come from the bad tree. It’s absolutely nothing. We have nothing in our flesh to offer. Flesh gives birth to flesh, not the Spirit, and we have nothing to offer there.
And it’s interesting that, if you wanted to look at this as John does (he’s telling this story), there’s lots of layers to it. If you wanted to excavate some of the layers, we could talk about the fact that the flesh produces nothing but flesh. The bad tree produces nothing but bad fruit. There’s nothing.
Apart from me, you cannot do a thing. John 15:5
So, you’ve got that part. And then you’ve got this abundance. It comes from the other side, and that is in the abundance of the Spirit. It’s not a static red and green, at all. These are two determinations, two movements that are going in each of us at the degree of 180, Barth says. They’re absolutely oppositional to one another. And in the Spirit though, we go from green to green to green to green; we go from fullness to fullness to fullness to fullness. It’s not a zero-sum increase. It’s the increase of the fullness that we have manifesting in such a way that it goes from completeness to completeness.
That’s what Peter experienced and all those guys experience in this catch of fish. That’s the first thing. And yet Peter still puts his clothes back on, which to me symbolizes that he’s still living in the shame and in the Genesis 2 and 3, as opposed to the Genesis 1 account. He’s clothed with shame, just as God mercifully clothed Adam and Eve after their shameful acts.
And so, this is interesting. And yet when Simon [Peter] gets there, he is exposed by Jesus, but in the most tender and loving way, allowing him to be reconciled, not only to him, but to one another—the disciples to one another.
Can you imagine? They were asking about each other at the table that night during the betrayal. Was it me, Lord? Was it me? Pointing at each other, wondering who it was. And even now they’re probably blaming each other. You ran away from Jesus. You ran away from Jesus. What about him? And then Jesus says, don’t worry about him; he has his own story here at the beach, on the fish fry day.
There’s a lot going on here, but one thing I want to hone in on before we jump is these three questions. Do you love me? 1 John tells us that we love God because he first loved us.
I believe in creation—and Julian of Norwich says this plain as day, it’s a beautiful passage—that when God created us, he loved us, and we loved him. Now, of course, that’s the case. When God created us, called us very good, he loved us, and we loved him. And what my book title means when it says created in Christ, Humanity in Christ Before, During, and After the Fall, means that total green never diminishes. Original sin is bad, but it’s not as deep and strong as original belonging.
The Spirit is deeper than the flesh, and the green is deeper than the red, so to speak. And what that tells me is that when Peter says, Lord, you know that I love you, he’s actually speaking truth back to God as a representative of every human being. And when we speak truth back to God, to me, that’s repentance.
It’s repentance to speak truth back to God because we know we can’t make the truth by our repentance, but we can participate in it. So, “you know that I love you,” harkens back really to Peter’s true self, which always loves God. And my contention is that every single person—no matter how villainous or how demonic their actions are in the flesh—every single person is living to God, loving the Lord, living to God in Christ Jesus (which means it’s moving from Jesus to the Father in the Spirit), loving the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Every single person is doing that unconsciously before consciously. That’s what the ontology of the vicarious humanity of Christ teaches us. And that cannot be short circuited. That’s happening! That’s happening for every one of these disciples. Peter now is participating in that, “Lord, you know that I love you.”
Then Jesus says, okay, you’re onto something here. Let me just remind you that there’s transformative actions that cannot help but issue forth from the identity that I’ve given you in myself. And of course, Peter’s life was changed. You see that in the first chapters of Acts; the turnaround is absolutely amazing! And it’s not just the resurrection itself. It’s the love! It’s the love that changes him. And so, to me that’s really where it all begins for Simon Peter and his ministry.
Anthony: We see (and I heard you mention it) abundance, “right side of the boat” abundance. Just take a moment, Jeff, and describe the abundance of our God that you see born in this passage.
What can we take away about who God is and his abundance?
Jeff: It’s funny that they count the fish, isn’t it?
Anthony: It is! 153.
Jeff: I don’t know exactly what that means, but somebody might know [or] do a numerical study on that. And come up with what that means for John when he wrote that, when he recorded the number that day or from that tradition.
But I don’t know, but I do know that’s a lot. And I really think that it actually gives abundance a bad rap in a way, because it only represents the unlimited abundance of what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians when he is talking about, from glory to glory [3:18]. One degree of glory to another sounds like a zero-sum game, but the actual words are from glory to glory, transformed into his likeness from glory to glory, likeness, image, likeness.
He talks in that same area of 2 Corinthians about Jesus Christ is the image of God. We’re created in the image; we’re created in Jesus Christ. And the abundance that comes from just who we are in Christ—which is the same as who we are in the Spirit. There’s never a point where, who we are in Christ is the foundation, and then we have to add the Spirit in later as if the Spirit is an add-on. It goes back to the idea that to do that is to diminish the homoousion, the oneness of being between the Son and the Spirit. Who we are in the Son and who we are in the Spirit are not two different things.
Fullness of the Spirit is included in the total righteousness that we have in Christ. It’s not that we’re a gas tank on half full, and that then grows up to—that’s taking a worldly metaphor and undercutting the totality of who the Spirit is and how she has given us this abundance and the fullness that has been poured out on all flesh, as Pentecost bears witness to.
So, yes, this is abundance, baby! This is more abundance than we could shake a stick at. This is more abundance than we could imagine.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can understand what God has prepared for those who love him. [1 Corinthians 2:9]
I used to think, okay am I one of the ones who loves him? And then I began to realize, yes! Because of what Jesus Christ and his vicarious humanity has done for every single human being, I love God. God loves me, and I love him. We love God because he first loved us is a literal statement. It’s not that God loved us first; now it’s up to us. Let’s see if we can love him back.
No, we love God because God first loved us. That is the ontology. It starts with God. And then it’s a reciprocal human response to God in the mediation of Christ. That is the template for every single human being and every single human relationship, every single human action.
Anthony: And there it is.
Program Transcript
Resurrection Fish Fry w/ Jeff McSwain W1
Anthony: Let me read the first passage that we have this month. It’s John 21:1-9. It’s a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the third Sunday of Easter on May the 1st.
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. [NSRV]
Jeff, I couldn’t help but think of the movie Forest Gump when I was imagining Simon Peter jump out of the boat. If you remember the scene, Forest jumps in the water and he’s trying to swim to Lieutenant Dan, and here we see Peter doing something similar.
But as you’ve already mentioned, the primary question of theology and therefore the heralding of the gospel is: who is this God revealed in Jesus Christ? So, what do the actions, the words of Jesus in this passage tell us about the Triune God?
Jeff: What a great passage! It says it’s a third time and when you think about, there might have been an in-between encounter that Jesus had just with Simon Peter before this. 1 Corinthians 15 seems to mention, he appeared to Peter, so I don’t know if this is the one that Paul’s talking about or not.
But the point is that we all know that Peter is fresh off of these three denials. And we’ve taught lots of sermons about [how] the three denials match the three questions, and that Peter had oddly put his clothes on before jumping in.
I have some thoughts about this passage that relate to what we’re talking about. When I think of a fishing net, first of all, I think of a matrix. I think of the placemat. And I think of the fact that, here are these fishermen—remember when Jesus first stepped into Peter’s boat? He was like, get away from me, Lord, I’m a sinful man. And Jesus said, don’t worry about it. Sinful people are all I got to work with, so I’m stepping into your boat.
But the point from the very beginning, there’s this contradiction in Simon Peter that Jesus seeks to speak into. And, if you wanted to think about this in theological, metaphorical terms, you could think of the fact of that net representing the tangled and conflicted humanity of those men in the boat.
It’s interesting that, Jesus tells them, throw it over on the right side of the boat, and that there’s this abundance. There’s nothing on the left side, call that the red side. And then there’s this abundance on the other side. And the red side, it speaks to me as the bad tree cannot produce any fruit, nothing, no fruit. No good fruit can come from the bad tree. It’s absolutely nothing. We have nothing in our flesh to offer. Flesh gives birth to flesh, not the Spirit, and we have nothing to offer there.
And it’s interesting that, if you wanted to look at this as John does (he’s telling this story), there’s lots of layers to it. If you wanted to excavate some of the layers, we could talk about the fact that the flesh produces nothing but flesh. The bad tree produces nothing but bad fruit. There’s nothing.
Apart from me, you cannot do a thing. John 15:5
So, you’ve got that part. And then you’ve got this abundance. It comes from the other side, and that is in the abundance of the Spirit. It’s not a static red and green, at all. These are two determinations, two movements that are going in each of us at the degree of 180, Barth says. They’re absolutely oppositional to one another. And in the Spirit though, we go from green to green to green to green; we go from fullness to fullness to fullness to fullness. It’s not a zero-sum increase. It’s the increase of the fullness that we have manifesting in such a way that it goes from completeness to completeness.
That’s what Peter experienced and all those guys experience in this catch of fish. That’s the first thing. And yet Peter still puts his clothes back on, which to me symbolizes that he’s still living in the shame and in the Genesis 2 and 3, as opposed to the Genesis 1 account. He’s clothed with shame, just as God mercifully clothed Adam and Eve after their shameful acts.
And so, this is interesting. And yet when Simon [Peter] gets there, he is exposed by Jesus, but in the most tender and loving way, allowing him to be reconciled, not only to him, but to one another—the disciples to one another.
Can you imagine? They were asking about each other at the table that night during the betrayal. Was it me, Lord? Was it me? Pointing at each other, wondering who it was. And even now they’re probably blaming each other. You ran away from Jesus. You ran away from Jesus. What about him? And then Jesus says, don’t worry about him; he has his own story here at the beach, on the fish fry day.
There’s a lot going on here, but one thing I want to hone in on before we jump is these three questions. Do you love me? 1 John tells us that we love God because he first loved us.
I believe in creation—and Julian of Norwich says this plain as day, it’s a beautiful passage—that when God created us, he loved us, and we loved him. Now, of course, that’s the case. When God created us, called us very good, he loved us, and we loved him. And what my book title means when it says created in Christ, Humanity in Christ Before, During, and After the Fall, means that total green never diminishes. Original sin is bad, but it’s not as deep and strong as original belonging.
The Spirit is deeper than the flesh, and the green is deeper than the red, so to speak. And what that tells me is that when Peter says, Lord, you know that I love you, he’s actually speaking truth back to God as a representative of every human being. And when we speak truth back to God, to me, that’s repentance.
It’s repentance to speak truth back to God because we know we can’t make the truth by our repentance, but we can participate in it. So, “you know that I love you,” harkens back really to Peter’s true self, which always loves God. And my contention is that every single person—no matter how villainous or how demonic their actions are in the flesh—every single person is living to God, loving the Lord, living to God in Christ Jesus (which means it’s moving from Jesus to the Father in the Spirit), loving the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Every single person is doing that unconsciously before consciously. That’s what the ontology of the vicarious humanity of Christ teaches us. And that cannot be short circuited. That’s happening! That’s happening for every one of these disciples. Peter now is participating in that, “Lord, you know that I love you.”
Then Jesus says, okay, you’re onto something here. Let me just remind you that there’s transformative actions that cannot help but issue forth from the identity that I’ve given you in myself. And of course, Peter’s life was changed. You see that in the first chapters of Acts; the turnaround is absolutely amazing! And it’s not just the resurrection itself. It’s the love! It’s the love that changes him. And so, to me that’s really where it all begins for Simon Peter and his ministry.
Anthony: We see (and I heard you mention it) abundance, “right side of the boat” abundance. Just take a moment, Jeff, and describe the abundance of our God that you see born in this passage.
What can we take away about who God is and his abundance?
Jeff: It’s funny that they count the fish, isn’t it?
Anthony: It is! 153.
Jeff: I don’t know exactly what that means, but somebody might know [or] do a numerical study on that. And come up with what that means for John when he wrote that, when he recorded the number that day or from that tradition.
But I don’t know, but I do know that’s a lot. And I really think that it actually gives abundance a bad rap in a way, because it only represents the unlimited abundance of what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians when he is talking about, from glory to glory [3:18]. One degree of glory to another sounds like a zero-sum game, but the actual words are from glory to glory, transformed into his likeness from glory to glory, likeness, image, likeness.
He talks in that same area of 2 Corinthians about Jesus Christ is the image of God. We’re created in the image; we’re created in Jesus Christ. And the abundance that comes from just who we are in Christ—which is the same as who we are in the Spirit. There’s never a point where, who we are in Christ is the foundation, and then we have to add the Spirit in later as if the Spirit is an add-on. It goes back to the idea that to do that is to diminish the homoousion, the oneness of being between the Son and the Spirit. Who we are in the Son and who we are in the Spirit are not two different things.
Fullness of the Spirit is included in the total righteousness that we have in Christ. It’s not that we’re a gas tank on half full, and that then grows up to—that’s taking a worldly metaphor and undercutting the totality of who the Spirit is and how she has given us this abundance and the fullness that has been poured out on all flesh, as Pentecost bears witness to.
So, yes, this is abundance, baby! This is more abundance than we could shake a stick at. This is more abundance than we could imagine.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can understand what God has prepared for those who love him. [1 Corinthians 2:9]
I used to think, okay am I one of the ones who loves him? And then I began to realize, yes! Because of what Jesus Christ and his vicarious humanity has done for every single human being, I love God. God loves me, and I love him. We love God because he first loved us is a literal statement. It’s not that God loved us first; now it’s up to us. Let’s see if we can love him back.
No, we love God because God first loved us. That is the ontology. It starts with God. And then it’s a reciprocal human response to God in the mediation of Christ. That is the template for every single human being and every single human relationship, every single human action.
Anthony: And there it is.
Small Group Discussion Questions
From Speaking of Life
- Can you think of other examples where power led to corruption?
- Contrast how the world typically thinks of power and how Jesus displayed power.
- Discuss the difference between being masters of our own fates and captains of our own souls with being people who trust and rely on God’s grace.
From the sermon
- The sermon noted how our Easter season celebration tends to dissipate after Easter Sunday. Can you see this parallel in your personal walk with the Lord? In what ways do we return to “business as usual” even after being encountered by the risen Lord?
- The sermon pointed out how Peter was returning to living a “self-determined” life instead of following Jesus. Share how you have seen yourself slip back into self-determining patterns of thinking and acting instead of being a follower of Jesus.
- How does the cultural inclination of self-determinism create damage in the church? What do you see in Jesus’ teaching and in his life that would counter the cultural fixation of self-determinism?
- The sermon indicated that Jesus waited till “early in the morning” before appearing to the disciples to give them the opportunity to come to the end of their self-determined efforts. Do you sometimes wish Jesus would have showed up earlier than he did in your life? Can you think of examples where you had to come to a place where all your self-determined efforts amounted to “nothing” before you could recognize Jesus and what he was giving you?
- The sermon pointed out how Jesus helped the disciples recognize him by personal reminders of his relationship to them. Can you think of times when Jesus reminded you of something personal in your relationship with him that helped you recognize him or know he was talking to you?
- The sermon related how Peter’s eyes were opened when one of his fellow disciples said to him, “It is the Lord.” Can you think of times when it was another believer that helped you see Jesus when you had lost sight of him? What does this say about the importance of our fellowship with one another in the Lord? How might we help one another see Jesus?
- The sermon claimed that the primary calling of any church “leader” is to be a follower of Christ. How does being a follower of Christ best equip one to be a leader in the church? What difference does it make for church leaders to first be followers?
- After restoring Peter, Jesus instructs him to feed his sheep. According to the sermon, what should be the main diet the sheep are fed?
