John 20:21 The Power of Easter: Power for Mission
John 21:1-14
For the past two months or so we have been working our way through the end of John’s gospel. Today our reading is from John 21:1-14:
After this, Jesus revealed Himself again to His disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed Himself in this way:
2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called “Twin”), Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of His disciples were together.
3 “I’m going fishing,” Simon Peter said to them.
“We’re coming with you,” they told him. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 When daybreak came, Jesus stood on the shore. However, the disciples did not know it was Jesus.
5 “Men,” Jesus called to them, “you don’t have any fish, do you?”
“No,” they answered.
6 “Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” He told them, “and you’ll find some.” So they did, and they were unable to haul it in because of the large number of fish. 7 Therefore the disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer garment around him (for he was stripped) and plunged into the sea. 8 But since they were not far from land (about 100 yards away), the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. 9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread.
10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus told them. 11 So Simon Peter got up and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish—153 of them. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
12 “Come and have breakfast,” Jesus told them. None of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish.
14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.
Lakeside BBQ
He is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!
It’s still Easter. Even though our calendars say that April 20 was Easter Sunday and that’s the weekend we had our Easter egg hunts and our family dinners and our big worship service here at church—Easter isn’t just one day. According to the church calendar, the season of Easter lasts just as long as the season of Lent. 40 days. Seven Sundays.
And more than that, as I mentioned last week. Jesus wasn’t just alive again on that one Sunday, He continued to appear to His disciples for another 40 days on earth. And, of course, we believe He continues to be alive in Heaven today.
And so, for our messages the first few weeks after Easter Sunday we’re looking at the resurrection appearances in the book of John. Thus, the scripture I just read. John 21:1-14. This is the fourth resurrection appearance of Jesus recorded in John, the third to His disciples.
And here’s the basic story: some disciples go for an all night fishing trip on the Sea of Galilee, but they don’t catch anything. As the dawn is breaking, Jesus appears on the lake shore but the disciples don’t recognize Him. He tells them to drop their nets on the right side of the boat and they end up with a huge catch—153 fish to be precise. Peter figures out that it is Jesus so he leaves the others to struggle with the nets as he swims to shore. Then Jesus starts a campfire and cooks them some fish for breakfast.
And that’s it. It’s sort of like a Boy Scout camping trip. Some fishing. A campfire. Barbeque fish.
Obviously, the point is to show us that Jesus is really alive. Ghosts don’t eat fish.
But I preached on why we can believe in the resurrection the last two weeks. And as I worked on this passage this week I really didn’t see a lot more I could add. I had a hard time building a sermon out of this story.
What Next?
But here’s the question that kept popping up for me this week: What’s next?
I mean the gospel writers all tell us that Jesus is alive again, but the resurrection is pretty much the end of each book. They want us to believe that Jesus is alive today—that it’s Easter—but He makes just a few resurrection appearances in each gospel and then He exits the scene.
The question comes up: if Jesus did all of this work of paying for sin and overcoming death, why doesn’t He make a little more noise about it? Why not show up in a bigger way? Why not rent a blimp and huge TV screen and fly around the world showing Himself to everybody?
Each of the gospel writers must have pondered the same thing (well, probably not the blimp). And they all answer the “what’s next” question in pretty much the same way. If the question is: What’s next? The answer is: We are.
We are what comes next.
Jesus’ plan was not to set Himself up on the temple mount and have everybody come and see Him. Instead, Jesus’ plan is that those He who follow Him will spread the word about what He has done. Jesus has a mission for us. We’re what comes next.
We call Jesus’ final instructions to us the “Great Commission”. Before going back to heaven, Jesus gives an assignment to His disciples. He commissions them. And each of the four gospels has a version of it. In Matthew it’s chapter 28 verses 18-20:
18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
In Mark it’s chapter 16, verse 15:
15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
The gospel of Luke actually has two parts—the book we call Luke and the book we call Acts. Luke’s version of the “Great Commission” is Acts 1:8:
8”But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
And the book we’ve been studying for the last 2 months also has instructions from Jesus for what comes next. It’s in John 20:21:
As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
This verse was a part of last week’s text, but we didn’t really take time to consider it. And so, as we wrap up the gospel of John, I think it would be good to take some time and look at it.
“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” We are what comes next.
The Sent One
So let’s think about this statement. “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” John’s version of the great commission is the simplest of the four, but it is perhaps also the most comprehensive. Jesus defines our mission as nothing less than carrying on the mission He was sent to begin. Our mission from Jesus is to be modeled on His mission from the Father. Jesus was sent. So are we.
There are two parts to this verse, so we’ll take them each in turn. First, let’s think about Jesus’ mission. “As the Father has sent me.”
In the Old Testament God tried the blimp and jumbotron approach to getting people’s attention (He didn’t use a blimp or TV, but it was big and flashy). At Mt. Sinai God showed up in a cloud of fire and lightning and the people of Israel were so frightened they didn’t even dare approach the foot of the mountain. But just because God showed up in a big way didn’t mean the people were all that good at following Him. The Old Testament is filled with stories of people who fell away from God.
So as the New Testament begins, instead of big and showy, God decided to get personal. He sent His Son. His plan called for Jesus to come to earth.
Jesus is very aware of his “sent”ness. In fact, this is one of His favorite expressions in the Gospel of John. At least 38 times in the gospel He refers to God the Father as “the one who sent me” or refers to Himself as “the one whom God has sent.” Jesus identifies Himself as the “sent” one.
In other words, Jesus is very aware that He is on a mission. That He has a job to do, and it’s not one of His own creation. A good example of Him talking in this way is John 6:38 where He says:
For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
Jesus never thought of Himself as free to do whatever He wanted. Everything He did was according to God’s will for Him. He was always carrying out God’s plans. God’s instructions.
Jesus was like God’s ambassador. Imagine if President Trump called you up and asked you to serve as United States ambassador to—I don’t know—let’s say Sweden. You’d go and live in Sweden. You’d stay wherever the Swedish capital city is and you’d work with the Swedish government on Swedish—U.S. relations type things. Treaties and what not.
And the whole time you are there, you’d have to remember that you had been sent. You’d have to remember that you were there in Sweden not to represent yourself, but to represent the U.S. The things you would say and do would have to be in keeping with United States attitudes and policies toward Sweden. Even if there were certain Swedish things that you didn’t like very much—let’s say you don’t like IKEA—you’d have to keep such opinions to yourself, or you might start an international incident.
You’d be a “sent” one. You’d be there to do the will of someone else.
And that’s how Jesus sees Himself. He’s on a mission for the Father. Everything He says and does reflects the Father’s will.
And Jesus’ mission involved the incarnation. His mission involved coming down to earth and making the love of God tangible and visible. Even though He was in heaven, highly exalted, the Son of the Most High God, eternal member of the Godhead; He didn’t consider His position something to be clung to but He willingly and humbly came to earth and took on flesh and blood to connect with us.
Incarnation. He took on flesh. He made God’s love human. He became one of us. John 1:14 puts it like this:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
This was Jesus’ mission. John Stott calls it the most spectacular instance of cross-cultural identification in the world. Jesus didn’t just touch down like an alien from out of space—or like an American in Sweden—He actually became one of us.
Take a moment to compare Jesus’ mission to the Apollo mission to the moon. Both are called a mission. Both involved risk and danger. But when the astronauts landed on the moon they never really identified with the life of the moon. They didn’t become a part of it. In order to survive on the moon, they had to bring a little bit of the earth with them. They needed oxygen tanks and pressure suits and the like.
But when Jesus came on His mission, He totally identified with life here on earth. He left heaven behind so that He could completely enter into life here. This is the total identification of love.
Incarnational mission. Jesus was sent to represent the Father to us by becoming one of us.
You Are Sent
And now, we’re what comes next. Jesus says, “I am sending you.”
Jesus is sent to teach us about love. He teaches us about God. He carries out God’s will by going to the cross to pay for our sins. And then He triumphs over death by walking out of His grave.
But He doesn’t do big and showy to tell the world about it. He doesn’t do a marketing campaign or go on a world tour. Instead, Jesus tells His disciples that He’s leaving it up to them to tell the world about what He did.
Jesus’ mission becomes our mission. “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Not that we replace Jesus, but we are called to carry on His work. And the way He completed His mission becomes a model for how we are to carry out ours.
We are sent. That means we need to be aware that we are always representing Jesus. Just like Jesus was always carrying out the will of the Father. Just like the U.S. ambassador to Sweden is always representing America. So too, if we wear the title of Christian, then we are always representing Jesus.
We are sent. Sometimes we think missionaries are the only ones who are sent. Our bulletin this week reminds us to pray for missionaries we support. Dr. Bernadeth and Adrian Bobb-Kelly in Nicaragua and Jessica Cramer Mwanza in Zambia. People who have been sent out of our culture and into another to represent us. We need people like that. We need missionaries willing to take that call.
But missionaries are not the only ones who are sent. We are sent too. Jesus says to all who follow Him: “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” We are all sent. We are all missionaries. Right here in Allison. In our families. In our work. In the church. We are all sent.
And we are sent to be incarnational. Our job is to put flesh and blood to the love of God in the word today.
There’s an old story of a little boy who was scared of thunderstorms. Every time there were lightning flashes and big booms he’d come running into his mom and dad’s bedroom. Mom knew that he was learning about Jesus in Sunday School and that he was learning how big and strong Jesus was and that Jesus was in charge even during bad storms. So every time the little boy got scared and came running she’d remind him that Jesus was there and Jesus was in charge and put him back to bed. But one night, after a particularly hard clap of thunder, as mom was saying: “remember Jesus is here” the little boy said: “yes, but I want Jesus with skin on.”
And that’s us. We are sent to be Jesus with skin on today.
Do you get what Jesus is saying here? You are sent. You and I, we’re what comes next. Jesus’ instruction to us is to take the mission that He was sent to accomplish and carry it on.
And so, parents. When you are struggling to discipline your child. When they are fighting you for independence but you know they are making bad choices and you have to steer them in another direction. Remember, you are sent. You are sent to do the will of God in that situation.
Or when your coworker is struggling through a divorce and is feeling lost and hopeless and you become that shoulder to cry on. Remember, you are sent. You are sent to tell them about the love of Jesus and encourage them to put their faith in Him.
Or when you have that elderly neighbor down the street whose family rarely visits, and who struggles to get the yard work done. Remember, you are sent. You are sent to show the love of God and lend a helping hand.
Really, this is what the Church of Jesus is all about. Putting flesh and blood to the love of God. Carrying on the mission of Jesus.
We are all sent. Each one of us is a missionary. Right here in Allison.
Apart from Me
All of this can sound pretty intimidating. Carrying on Jesus’ mission sounds like a lot of work. Always representing Jesus—being sent ones—puts a lot of pressure on us.
But here’s where I think we can go to that story I was supposed to be preaching on—the story of the disciples’ fishing trip.
The story that begins chapter 21 takes place at least a week after Jesus gives this commission. The disciples are back by the sea of Galilee and they decide to go fishing.
Nobody is really sure why they went fishing. Some people speculate that they still didn’t understand their mission and so were going back to their old way of life. If you take this approach, then the whole point of this story is that Jesus has to come and remind them of what they are really supposed to be up to.
I prefer to give the disciples the benefit of the doubt and believe the reason they went fishing is because they were fishermen. It’s what they knew, what they loved. Just because they wanted to do a little fishing doesn’t mean they had abandoned Jesus’ mission.
But it is also clear that there is some symbolism in this story as well. Three years earlier, when Jesus first called some of these men to follow him, He said: “I will make you fishers of men.” There’s always been a parallel between the mission of Jesus and fishing.
And so, what is striking is that on this particular fishing trip the disciples don’t catch anything until Jesus shows up. They spend all night in the boat without any success at all. But then Jesus comes along and their nets are suddenly full.
And I think for the disciples this would have been a reminder of something Jesus said to them before the cross. John 15:5, Jesus said:
Apart from me you can do nothing.
I don’t think it is stretching the story too much to suggest that maybe John sees a lesson here, and it’s one of the reasons he included this story in his gospel.
The disciples are sent on a mission. So are we. We are to carry on the work of Jesus. We are to be fishers of men.
And if we try to do it by ourselves it is an impossible task. But the whole point of the resurrection, the whole point of Easter, is that Jesus is still alive to empower this mission. While we are what comes next, that doesn’t mean Jesus has checked out.
He is still alive to give our work success. This story comes to us a reminder that we need Him to carry out the mission we have been given. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. But with Him, we cannot fail.
