Adam J. Copeland

First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.

April 18, 2010

Swim? Row? Faith.

John 21:1-19

The disciples are overwhelmed. Life, recently, has just been throwing a lot at them. They went from the dire diagnosis that Jesus — their buddy, their Lord — was dead. Crucified at the hands of the Roman authorities egged on by the crowds. Peter lost sleep over his denial. The group was scared, confused. Overwhelmed.

And then word leaked of Jesus’ resurrection. Mary showed up early on the third morning and the tomb was empty! But what did it mean? Mary immediately texted Peter — “OMG the tomb is empty!!!” — and the disciples came running as fast as they could. The tomb was, indeed, empty. A linen shroud was on the ground. Their hearts raced. Their voices trembled. Could it be? Jesus was risen from the dead. Talk about an emotional roller coaster.

Then Jesus starts turning up all over the place. He appears to Mary in the garden — she thought he was the gardener. Jesus pops in when the disciples were hiding from the crowds in a locked room. Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on them, and takes off. But Thomas was out on a drink run, and he missed the party and didn’t believe. So Jesus makes their hearts flutter one more time, appearing to Thomas. From the devastation of the cross, to the emotional high of the empty tomb, to Jesus’ continued appearances, life as a disciple recently has been as overwhelming as planting season with a broken tractor, no help available, and a tax bill you can’t pay.

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So what do you do when you’re overwhelmed? When life gives you too much to handle? Do you read a book? Check the fields? Do you cry…or don’t cry? Maybe you hang out with people, or maybe you spend time alone? Anyone water their facebook garden?

Well, Peter knew what he needed to decompress. “I am going fishing” he says. A few other disciples decided they’d go with him. There’s nothing like a night out on the lake to calm the mind. They might make some cash; but they’d be guaranteed some time with the guys. Goodbye overwhelming feeling. Hello fishing.

It turns out, though, the fishing thing didn’t lead to any fish. They were out all night and caught nothing. (I’m sure you don’t know the feeling.) But just as dawn was breaking, the disciples glimpse a figure out the beach who somehow knew they hadn’t caught anything. The guy yelled, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you’ll catch some walleye.” So they did. And the net got so full they couldn’t even haul it in.

Who was this miracle man on the beach? One fisherman figured it out pretty quick. “It is the Lord!” [John] said to Peter. And, before you could say, “jumping jehosaphat” Peter threw his tunic over his undergarments and jumped into the sea, swimming to his master on the shore.

You have to love Peter’s enthusiasm. It makes me think of my 8th grade dance. All of us shy junior high kids lined up around the edges of the room — near the punch table, by the bathroom for a quick exit. I sure as heck wasn’t going to me the first one to the dance floor. But as soon as the DJ started playing the music, one couple practically ran out to the center of the floor. They loved to dance and they were pumped for that song. Most of my friends, including me, were more than happy to let them break the ice. We joined them…eventually.

As soon as Peter realizes it’s Jesus on the beach, Peter jumps in and swims to his Lord. The other disciples in the boat had another approach. They rowed as quickly as they could to the shore, but there was no jumping in. They had those full nets to care for, after all. They were only 100 yards away, they figured Jesus wouldn’t leave that quickly. So as Peter swam, they carefully rowed the boat ashore.

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Now there’s two things we can do with this text — a simple interpretation, and a more challenging one. The simple reading goes something like this: Peter was the good disciple. When he knew it was Jesus on the shore, he jumped in and swam to the Lord. Our lives of faith should always be like Peter’s — quickly jumping at the first glimpse of the Lord. And in the simple interpretation, we’d bash the other disciples in the boat. They rowed too slowly. They cared too much about the fish. They didn’t embrace the immediacy of moment. They may have had faith, but it was stuck in second gear.

That’s the simple interpretation. It’d make a fine sermon — if I preached it, you might even leave here pumped-up to be like Peter.

But John’s gospel doesn’t say Jesus makes any distinction between Peter and the other disciples’ way of getting to the beach. In fact, when they finally got there, Jesus welcomed them and said, “Bring over some of those fish you brought in.” And they had a breakfast of fish and bread.

Jesus doesn’t actually make a big distinction between Peter’s dedication and the other disciples. A few verses later Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, but that’s mostly to reflect the three times Peter denied Jesus previously.

The challenging interpretation doesn’t make a stark value judgement between Peter and the other disciples rowing in the boat. We can note the difference in their responses, but we are challenged to ask: is one response really more faithful than the other?

And old theologian, John of Chrysostom, wrote long ago

When they recognized Jesus, the disciples Peter and John again exhibited their different temperaments. The one was fervent, the other more contemplative. The one was ready to go, the other more penetrating. John is the one who first recognized Jesus, but Peter is the first to come to him. [in Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol 2, p. 422]

If John didn’t recognize Jesus, Peter wouldn’t have been able to jump in and swim ashore. Recognizing the Lord is an important step, but so is responding — that was Peter’s gift. Who knows, maybe the disciples in the boat couldn’t swim.

Joseph Bessler affirms the more challenging interpretation, putting it this way: “Neither understanding nor action alone constitutes authentic faith, and thus one needs to unite the best of Peter and the best of [John] if one is to be a person of true faith.”

Ok, so what’s the best of Peter? In this text it’s Peter’s impulsive response to Jesus, his disregard for looking perfect (or staying dry), or being hip. When Peter sees the Lord he throws caution to the wind and dives in.

Of all the provocative Christian voices today, the Irish singer Bono is one of my favorite. Bono’s band, U2, often uses social, religious, or environmental themes. A few years ago Bono channeled Peter by saying, “To some people the church is their ticket to respectability, a certain bourgeois point of view, a safety net for when they go to bed. My idea of Christianity is no safety net, a scathing attack on bourgeois values, and a risk to respectability.” If we have faith like Peter, we care less about respectability and expectations. When we see Jesus we jump in, not caring if we get wet.

I think of Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King Jr., but I also think of those more regular folks who care less about what their neighbors think of them than following the Lord.

So we’ve got Peter’s approach to faith: the impulsive responder. That’s fine. That’s important. But it’s not the whole picture. The Beloved Disciple, the one often called “John,” is the one who sees Jesus first on the beach. But John doesn’t jump in. He tells Peter — who jumps from the boat — but then John rows ashore.

Maybe John’s cautious, but he’s smart. At dawn, he sees a man a long way away and he knows, he senses, it’s Jesus. John’s faith is one of recognition. If he was a superhero, he’d have telescope glasses or x-ray eyes. John sees what the others can’t.

This type of faith is essential too. Jumping in with both feet is great, but we need to know where we’re jumping first. Overabundance of caution is no good, but neither is complete lack of forethought.

If John saw our current political culture he’d totally freak out. Today’s media thrives on “experts” responding to news even before it happens. Who knows how many experts have already weighed-in on the next Supreme Court nominee — people on the left and right jumping in the lake with speculation and dissent before a nominee is even chosen. I heard this week that Justice Stevens, the first justice nominated after Roe v. Wade in 1973 wasn’t even asked about the case in his confirmation hearings in 1975. Nowadays, hours of airtime are expended on much more obscure questions than Roe v. Wade before there’s even a nomination.

The disciple John shows a reflective personality, not jumping into the fray, but floating wisely above it. This type of faith, too, is important. In fact, it’s sort of the stereotypical Presbyterian type — thoughtful, slow to jump, more proactive than reactive.

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With this more complicated reading of the text, we can’t really say Peter’s faith is any better than John’s. Instead, we respond to both Peter and John, trying to gain the best aspects of each disciple.

When it comes down to it, each of our faith lives will be quite different, and our faith will change over time. It will ebb and flow with life experiences. Sometimes we’ll need to rest on the faith of others, worshiping in this place seeking God’s presence just as much as we’re praising God. Sometimes our faith will be as reactive as Peter’s, jumping with excitement to respond to the next action of God in our lives. And, sometimes, we’ll look out with John, rowing the boat of faith with a clear and persistent purpose.

This text is less about holding Peter up as perfect than realizing we’re all in the boat together. So look around at your fellow passengers here this morning, and think about where you are on life’s waters — do you need support today, are you ready to offer some yourself?  Are you ready to jump in and swim?  Or do you need to be rowed for a while?

Thanks be to God, that we do so together. Thanks be to God that the tomb is still empty, and Jesus is calling us, standing on the shore, beckoning us to follow him.