Time with the children of God—‘Breakfast with Jesus’
Good morning, children of God! Did you have breakfast this morning? It’s very important for our bodies to start the day with breakfast! What do you enjoy having for breakfast? I usually have cereal for breakfast. I have some with me here.
In today’s Gospel reading, we hear that Jesus was by the Sea of Galilee and ate breakfast with his disciples. This was after Jesus had been killed on a cross and buried—but three days later he rose to life again! Jesus was real and he needed to eat breakfast just like us.
The disciples had gone out fishing. They worked hard all night, but they didn’t catch anything. Can you imagine how tired and disappointed they felt? Jesus told them “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” When they did as Jesus said, their net became so full of fish that they couldn’t even drag it in! When the disciples reached the shore, they saw a fire with fish cooking on it and some bread. Jesus invited them, “Come and have breakfast.”
Would you like to take one of these packets of cereal for your breakfast tomorrow? Next time you have breakfast, think about how Jesus invited his disciples to have breakfast with him. Jesus is with you when you have breakfast, and all through the day, everyday. When you face hard problems in life or feel sad, think about the story of Jesus having breakfast with his disciples whenever you need a reminder of his love and care. Pray to him and ask for his help. Jesus will always be there for you and just as he provided for the disciples, he will provide what you need to help you.
Let’s Pray
SERMON
There’s something special about hearing the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection in the Easter season. It is as though the pages of Scripture are a vortex which drag us through a portal to another time and place, to be with the risen Lord and the people to whom he showed himself. We are taken, in the cool of the early morning to stand in the garden with Mary outside the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. We sit on edge with the disciples in a room dimly lit by a flickering oil lamp, with doors locked in fear of the religious leaders. Our throats are dry and forehead beaded with perspiration as we ponder what our next move might be in a city hostile to Jesus’ followers. The smell of the countryside fills our nostrils as we walk seven miles to Emmaus, listening to Jesus explain the scriptures, and our hearts burn with joy, hope and anticipation within us.
Today, we are on the shore of the sea of Galilee as the first glow of sunrise bleeds through the ink-black of the night. Your arms are aching, your back is aching, your head is aching, having cast out the heavy nets, dragged them in, and cast them back out, all through the night, each time a little more disheartened at their empty return than before. Bending over to gather your nets in disappointment and disbelief, the sounds of the waves lapping, the boat creaking, and the odd call of an early bird are punctuated by the voice of a man calling out from the shore: “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” You stand up and look towards him, trying to make out who it might be.
The last we heard in John’s Gospel was Jesus’ appearance to Thomas and the other disciples locked in the house. Jesus pronounces peace to them and invites Thomas to touch his hands and side that had been torn by the soldier’s spear, for Thomas to see for himself that Jesus is not a ghost but physically risen. The very next we hear is that they are in Galilee. Simon Peter simply says: “I’m going out to fish,” and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got in the boat.
It’s not clear why the disciples went out fishing. At this point, it seems an abrupt and strange thing to do. But what we do know is that there on the Sea of Galilee, they had failed in their task, and at dawn their nets are just as empty as when they had started.
In John’s Gospel, Galilee is the place where Jesus’ ministry began. It calls to mind Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine, providing an abundance of the choicest beverage for the guests at the wedding at Cana. In today’s text, it is not an abundance of wine that Jesus provides, but fish: “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” Jesus calls from the shore. “No,” they answered. Jesus said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” What reason and logic could anyone point to that just changing sides of the boat from which we cast out would result in any more success? But the disciples did what Jesus said and were then unable to haul the net in because of the sheer volume of the catch—153 large fish.
This miracle began long before the apostles’ net is full, but when it was empty. Despite the Sea of Galilee teeming with fish, Jesus has kept the fish away from the disciples’ net all night, so that in the morning, it would be clear that it was only by his instruction that their net would be filled. This was to show Peter and the apostles that they needed to be reliant on Jesus alone. Where there looks to be no way for them by human effort and resources, he will make the way. The success of their ministry will not be by their own effort and capacity but by his alone. Jesus had earlier taught them: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).
When they land ashore, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus has not waited. He has already lit the fire and begun to prepare a meal. He is the provider, the host who welcomes them: “Come and have breakfast.” Then, after Jesus has satisfied their hunger, he nurtures them spiritually. He feeds the apostles before re-commissioning Peter to feed his flock.
This is crucially important. As Jesus welcomes the disciples to eat breakfast, they gather around a charcoal fire—a fire that likely reminded Peter of how his courage failed so catastrophically on the night Jesus was arrested. On that night, Peter also sat by a fire, warming himself, and publicly denied to a servant girl and others that he knew Jesus (Mark 14).
This is no trifling matter. Jesus had earlier taught them: “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33). So on the morning that the apostles eat breakfast with the risen Christ, Peter again finds himself sitting by a charcoal fire. Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time Jesus said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Why did Jesus do this? Why ask three times? Is this to shame Peter? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” Peter appealed: “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus wasn’t interested in condemning Peter or making him pay—otherwise, his pierced hands and wounded side were for nothing, and mean nothing. Instead, they are the wounds Peter could go to, run to, and hide in. Jesus did this, not because there was unfinished business between he and Peter. He did this to lift Peter, like the prodigal son, from shame to a place of honour amongst his colleagues. Jesus leads Peter to revisit the reason for his shame and guilt for the purpose of healing, restoration, and certainty of his calling. Jesus asks Peter three times for the sake of his conscience, so that he can confess his love for his Lord publicly for each of the times he denied him.
“Lord, you know everything” Peter pleads. Yes, Jesus—true God, son of the Father from eternity—does know everything. He knows everything about Peter and still loves him, still restores him to the office of apostle that he previously bestowed on him. Jesus publicly vindicates Peter in front of the others. This is the better feeding than the breakfast. Jesus has fed Peter’s soul. He has fed his hunger for grace, and honour and spiritual safety and comfort. If Jesus welcomes and restores Peter, so must they.
Today’s text is the fourth appearance in John’s Gospel of the risen Christ to his people. The first is Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene on Sunday morning at the empty tomb. It is only when Jesus says her name that Mary recognises him and reaches out to him, not as a ghost, but a body that can be held. Jesus then charges Mary to go to the disciples as a witness of the risen Jesus and tell them of his ascension into heaven.
On that same evening Jesus appears again. The disciples (except Thomas) are together behind locked doors, for fear of the authorities. Jesus comes and stands in their midst to proclaim peace, so that his divine words establish divine peace in their hearts. He then shows them the wounds in his flesh. He is not a figment of their imagination, or even a ghost, but really Jesus; really standing with them. He establishes his apostolic ministry, by consecrating and sending those who have seen him after his resurrection, with his authorisation to forgive and retain sins as his representatives, to unlock blessings from the Kingdom of heaven to all those who repent and believe.
Jesus revisits the house a week later, where the doors are again locked. He does this because Thomas was not there for his first visit, and Thomas has doubts that Jesus has risen. He wants to give Thomas certainty. So, he came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” And today’s text—the fourth occasion in John that the risen Jesus appears to his disciples—is to restore Peter and ensure the continuity of his ministry.
That is why these accounts are relevant for us. Notice the careful wording of our Easter greeting? Not “Christ rose from the dead” or even “Christ has risen”. But “Christ is Risen!” Jesus is alive. His kingdom is reigning. We are invited to confess and believe not merely a historical fact, but a present reality. Although he is unseen to us Christ is nonetheless with us, not as a ghost freed from a body, but the risen Person of Christ, body and soul, living, breathing, serving us, drawing us to recognise him, bringing divine favour and blessing to us, meeting us just as he did the first disciples.
We don’t have to go to another time and place to meet with Jesus. That is what today’s reading is all about. Jesus ensured Thomas saw him after his resurrection (a key criterion for an apostle) and reinstated Peter, so that Jesus’ continuing ministry would not be compromised by human absences, failings and limitations but succeed despite them. Jesus ensures that his apostolic ministry goes on, and by it, he has visited number 48, Brighton Road and appeared to us, to bring you his same blessing, favour, mercy and peace.
Like Mary, you also have met the risen Jesus when he called you by name in baptism, brought you into the communion of saints, so that as his baptised people we might bear witness to him in the world around us. The risen Jesus stands in this room to proclaim divine peace to us, to strengthen us by his word when the most powerful strongholds of our own making would otherwise be of no help against our enemies of sin, death and hell.
The word that the risen Jesus first spoke through his apostles, beginning at Jerusalem and continuing to all nations, he has spoken through your pastors too—Spirit-filled and Spirit-filling words of forgiveness that bring freedom from sin, guilt and hell, and every power that would seek to disrupt God’s mission of bringing his heavenly favour to you personally. Like Thomas, we have touched our Lord’s wounds when we have held his body and blood which he has placed in our hands from his holy table, through bread and wine, to feed us, body and soul.
God our Father does not want us to just believe something about Jesus—that he had risen again—but to trust in Jesus, the risen and living Lord of his church and world, for apart from Christ, we can do nothing. He provides for our needs and the future of his church is dependent on him. What might our times of emptiness be teaching us? When are the times that we have been so eager to do something in the service of God to fill empty nets, that our busyness has distracted us from the one thing needful—to wait on Jesus by hearing his word? For it’s through his word the risen Christ meets with us, calls out to us, beckons to us, welcomes us, gathers us together, and feeds us.
So often we see people as sinners, as disappointers, as hurters, as mistake-makers, as write-offs…and failures. How often do we see ourselves like that too—listening to the condemnation of the devil, of others, and ourselves. But Jesus’ restoration of Peter shows that Jesus turns his back to no one. Jesus sees people as people—people who need love, compassion, hope and grace that other people and the things of this world just cannot give.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! And he has called you and me too, gathering us with his saints of all times and places to come to him, to be fed by him, to be involved in what he is doing, that we might be his people of peace for the sake of the world: growing in his grace and sharing it with others, becoming a sanctuary for the shamed, where people, like Peter, are lifted to honour and can really live. Jesus stands among us, that we might be freed—not just to believe in Jesus, but meet Jesus, hear Jesus, believe Jesus, trust Jesus, as the One whose grave has swallowed up death and who is living and with us: the One who has freed you from guilt and shame, fear and condemnation, and has come in love to fill our spiritual emptiness with divine abundance. Amen.
