6th Sunday of Easter – C                                                                                LSB #’s 894, 719, 699
Text – Acts 16:7
 
And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 
 
MY WILL, OR THY WILL, BE DONE?
 
 
At least in the Lutheran circles I’m grew up in,  it is a common ending to prayer: But Thy will, not mine,  be done.  Amen.    If God’s will  were yours   the sermon might end  right there.  “Pastor,  that was the best sermon ever – short & to the point!”       So,  how do you handle things when it becomes clear  that God’s will  is not your will? 
It’s one of the greatest dilemmas of being a member  of the kingdom of God.   It is God’s kingdom & not our own.  Somewhere along the way,  everyone who follows Jesus must come to grips with the fact  that He is not just  our Savior.    Jesus  is also  our Lord.   As Lord, He says to us, “If you love me,   you will keep my commandments.”  (John 14:15 ESV) 
That verse is not a prescription for how to get into the kingdom of God.    Rather,   it describes how people live  when they know why  they are already members  of God’s kingdom.  If you have ever been extremely thankful  for a gift you received,  then you’ve experienced what Jesus describes, “If you love me,   you will keep my commandments.”  (John 14:15 ESV) 
When we’ve experienced true gratitude for something,  then we’ve experienced what it is that motivates true obedience.   Loving Jesus as Savior  is what motivates our obedience to Jesus  as our Lord.  Once we get to heaven,  living that out will be simple & true.   Here on earth,  our sinful nature has corrupted our will  & causes  almost constant  spiritual amnesia. 
We learn the lesson of heartfelt obedience one moment.   We forget that lesson  the very next.   We realize that living as a child of God is a cyclical process  of learning & forgetting.    That process  necessitated Jesus’ death & resurrection.  In forgetting our lessons,  you & I  die.   Then the blood of Christ washes away our sins  & raises us back to life.  Learning & forgetting, death & resurrection,  that is life  in the kingdom of God  here on earth.  So,  how do you handle things  when it becomes clear  that God’s will  is not your will?   In the reading from the book of Acts,  Paul, Silas & Timothy  demonstrate how to handle it. 
Their intention, was to go to the churches Paul had planted in a previous journey, check on them & strengthen them.  They revisit the churches Paul planted in Derbe & Lystra, but then God redirects  their plan & they obey.   The book of Acts continues:
“…they went through the region of Phrygia & Galatia,  having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.  And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia,  but  the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.   So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.  And a vision appeared to Paul in the night...”  (16:6-9 ESV) 
Paul, Silas & Timothy had made their plans,  proceeded to travel,  & twice  God’s Spirit interfered, making it clear that their will was not God’s.  The Bible doesn’t give us detail on what the interference was,  but all of us have been in those shoes.   We’ve made plans & things just didn’t line up,  leaving us frustrated, discouraged & at times, angry.   Obedience is not easy. 
Our lives are not recorded in the book of Acts, as Paul’s ministry was.   So,  when our plans are interfered with,  we don’t have God’s direct explanation of why.   However,  viewing Jesus as Lord, helps us resist Satan’s temptation to demand answers.   In 1 Peter,  it is written:
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.”  (1:14 ESV)   Those are not pleasant words to hear,  but they  well describe  our sinful nature.   Demanding answers of God  makes our ignorance  all too clear.  Psalm 25 describes the attitude of the saintly nature that God’s Spirit created in His children:
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.  Lead me in your truth  &
teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;  for you  I wait all the day long.”  (25:4-5 ESV)   In my life,  God spent six years teaching me to wait, while I was in the US Navy.   According to Holy Scripture, waiting is anathema to our sinful nature.  It is a skill that must be taught & granted by the Holy Spirit,  & it is learned  against our stubborn will. 
To wait for the Lord  is to put into use the gift of the Holy Spirit that we call patience.  Waiting for the Lord to act  is the essence of faith.  You don’t wait for someone when you’re convinced they won’t show.   You wait  when you have hope that they will. 
Paul, Silas & Timothy didn’t know what God was going to do,  when He changed their plans.  However, they did trust that God would show up  along with His change in their plans.  They thought it best to share the Gospel of Jesus in one part of the world,  yet,  God directed them to another.  As we read the book of Acts,  it’s all wrapped up into a neat & tidy package. 
As we live our lives in complete ignorance of the future,  we don’t necessarily experience life’s changes  in a neat tidy package.  Our doubts & fears kick in.  Worry can overwhelm us.  What if questions  can appear everywhere we turn.   In my case, 5 years into my electrical contracting career,  God began to interfere  with thoughts that seminary might be in my future. 
What if  I have to get a bachelor’s degree first?  What if  the course work is too much for someone my age?  What if  I can’t afford to make it through?  What if  I can’t get over my fear of public speaking?    The devil knows our weaknesses  & constantly seeks to exploit them.   God’s Spirit  knows our weaknesses too,  & is wise & powerful enough  to overcome them. 
No matter how often we learn that lesson,  when the next challenge comes,  we typically forget  & need to be forgiven.   Because we cannot see the future,  life is what happens   while we are making other plans.   Jesus is Lord over all creation.   He sees & He knows the future,  & He brings it  into existence.  That ultimate future is what the reading from Revelation pictures for us: “‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, & showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,  having the glory of God,  its radiance like a most rare jewel,  like a jasper,  clear as crystal.”  (21:9b-11 ESV) 
That picture of holiness & perfection is the Christian Church.   Here on earth  it is much ridiculed & chastised.  It’s easy to look at the Church on earth & find fault,  but when you & I look at the Church on earth,  we are not seeing  as God sees. 
Likewise, it was easy to look at Jesus on the cross & ridicule Him for not being able to save Himself.  Yet, in heaven He is glorious.  Our eyesight is corrupted.  We see  only by faith.  Our crucified & resurrected Lord is  bringing a glorious future into existence  even as we worry about all the “What if” questions we can muster. 
When our health fails, we often ask, “Can this be what God wants for me?  This certainly isn’t the place  I want to be!”  We easily can end up frustrated, discouraged & at times, angry.   Obeying God’s will is not easy.  Trusting Jesus as Lord  is not as pleasant as trusting Him as Savior.  Yet, insisting on my will is idolatry & presumes that I am wiser than God. 
Jesus came  so that grace could be offered to us instead of judgment.  Grace is possible because of the One who  in the garden prayed, “Thy will, O God, not mine, be done.”  Grace comes to us because the Servant of the Lord submitted to the will of the Father to crush Him. Jesus was crushed by the judgment upon our rebellious idolatry.  
God’s Son went to the place where we should go – to hell itself.  But there  Christ also declared His victory over sin, a victory He shares with us in this Easter season & forevermore!  God closed doors in Asia & opened a door into Europe.  Paul went to Philippi in Macedonia.  There the Holy Spirit used Him as a messenger to bring the Gospel to people who’d never heard it before.  First Lydia was converted, then her household, then a jailer in Philippi.  Over centuries, much of the continent of Europe was converted!  From Europe the Gospel mission spread throughout the world.  It all happened  because Paul went  not to where he wanted to go, but where  God sent him.  
Some days we know, understand & agree with  where God is sending us.  On other days, we are completely oblivious.  Nevertheless, God’s Spirit is always with us, guiding, directing & forgiving us.  Wherever He is sending you  His grace will sustain you.   Wherever He sends you, the grace of almighty God  will be delivered through you. 
As the words of the Introit said, “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.  But I call to God, & the LORD will save me.  Evening & morning & at noon  I utter my complaint & moan, & He hears my voice.  He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage.”  (Psalm 55 ESV) 
Living as children of God is a process  of learning & forgetting.  In forgetting our lessons, we die.   Then the blood of Christ washes away our sins  & raises us back to life.   Learning & forgetting,  death & resurrection,  that is life  in the kingdom of God  here on earth.  It is our Lord’s gift to us,  & it is His will,  that we be rescued from this vale of tears. 
So we pray each day, “Lord,  Thy will, not mine,  be done.”  Amen. 
 
 
 
God knows what must be done to save me;  His love for me will never cease.   Upon His hands He did engrave me  with purest gold of loving grace.   His will supreme must ever be;  what pleases God,  that pleases me.     My God has all things in His keeping;  He is the ever faithful friend.   He gives me laughter after weeping,  & all His ways in blessings end.   His love endures eternally;  what pleases God,  that pleases me.  Amen.  LSB 719:2, 4.

​5th Sunday of Easter – C                                                                                LSB #’s 685, 708, 818
Text – John 16:22
 
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, & your hearts will rejoice, & no one will take your joy from you.
 
EVER SINCE GENESIS 3
 
 
Before the days of modern car suspensions, traveling from city to city was a rather jarring experience.   Two centuries ago, a famous American essayist wrote: “There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, it is often a comfort to shift one’s position & be bruised in a new place.”[1] 
No doubt, each of you has had similar experiences living in the brokenness of this world.  Maybe you also find relief in being bruised at least in a different way or place.  Due to the wealth of our nation, today’s bruises are as much emotional as physical, but the pain & sorrows of life are still all too real.   It has been that way ever since Genesis 3:
And to Adam [the Lord God] said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife & have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns & thistles it shall bring forth for you…  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, & to dust you shall return.”  (Genesis 3:17-19 ESV) 
 
As the season of Lent begins, many churches impose ashes with the words, “you are dust & to dust you shall return.”   It’s one way we remind ourselves that the wages of sin is death.  (Romans 6:23)   Adam & Eve brought the effects of sin into our very DNA, & unless we are rescued death would be the end of us all.   Ever since Genesis 3, we have needed a Savior. 
In the sermon text from John, Jesus points out to His disciples that He is that Savior: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, & your hearts will rejoice, & no one will take your joy from you.”   Once they come to truly understanding Jesus’ words, then His followers will rejoice, & no one will be able to take their joy from them.  The problem is, Jesus says these things on Maundy Thursday & there’s no way His disciples can understand.  These words are being spoken so that months later those words would have their proper effect:
“A little while, & you will see me no longer; & again a little while, & you will see me.”  (John 16:16 ESV)   His followers will not see Jesus while He’s resting in the grave.  Then He’ll be resurrected in a little while & they will see Him again.   And, once the day of Pentecost arrives, the Holy Spirit will fill them with understanding of all that happened to Jesus.
Then their hearts will rejoice, & even as the apostles are martyred for proclaiming the name of Jesus, their joy will not be taken from them.   Have you noticed that you are not always filled with joy?  Sometimes, even many times, we are filled with frustration, discouragement & even anger.   That’s because these specific words of John apply only to the 12 Apostles. 
  It’s part of their role, as described in Ephesians 2, “…you are fellow citizens with the saints & members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles & prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.”   You & I are not the foundation of the Christian Church, so we don’t need to feel guilty if we are not constantly filled with joy. 
That was a special blessing given to the men who would found the Christian Church to the point of their own deaths.  “So also you have sorrow now, [that is while Jesus is being crucified] but I will see you again, [that’s after the resurrection] & your hearts will rejoice, & no one will take your joy from you.”  (John 16:22 ESV) 
In this life, your heart & mine will not constantly be filled with joy, yet the reason for the joy of the Apostles does apply to each of us.  Jesus is no longer dead, & that He lives is constantly a cause for joy even in our lives.  That cause is often drowned out by the pain & suffering of this sinful world, but the cause still exists.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!   As you let go of your fears & your worries, as you focus on your Lord & Savior, joy will once again begin to seep into your heart & your mind.  It is in the risen Christ Jesus that the peace of God will guard your hearts & your minds.  (Philippians 4:7 ESV)    As Hebrews 12:1-2 says:
“…since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, & sin which clings so closely, & let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder & perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, & is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” 
Jesus also had a joy that could not be taken from Him even through crucifixion.  Letting go of our fears & our worries is to lay aside every weight, & sin which clings so closely.  Then, leaning on the Holy Spirit, you & I are enabled to run with endurance the specific race that God sets before each one of us.  Our races may be different, but the Holy Spirit is the same. 
Ever since Genesis 3, the endurance that the Holy Spirit gives has been a necessary ingredient for living a faithful life amidst the wreckage of this broken world.  The sorrow & grief of the cross cannot be avoided ever since Genesis 3.   Jesus must drink His Father’s cup.  He must leave His disciples.  He must go into death ever since the sin of mankind.    
Yet, Jesus goes willingly, for you & for me, because of the joy of that was set before Him.   What is that joy?   It is your presence in heaven, with your Lord & Savior, for all of eternity.   Jesus was crucified because He loves you.   In the sermon hymn, specifically verse 3, you invited the angels of God to take you home, to heaven! 
Ever since Genesis 3 death has reigned over the world in which you & I still live.   We know that our days are numbered.  Our clock is ticking!  The train whistle is blowing.   We know & have felt  the sorrow of death,  but we also know the message of Easter – that God’s enemies did not win,  & the world will not win,  & that after the final resurrection, we shall live in paradise forever.  The 26th chapter of Isaiah paints a very telling picture:
Like a pregnant woman who writhes & cries out in her pangs  when she is near to giving birth, so were we  because of you, O Lord;  we were pregnant,  we writhed,  but we have given birth to wind…   Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.  You who dwell in the dust, awake & sing for joy!   For your dew is a dew of light, & the earth will give birth to the dead.  (26:17-18a, 19 ESV) 
 
Our efforts, without Christ, lead to nothing but wind.   With Christ, the dead shall live again in eternal splendor.  By the hand of God, though we came from dust, we shall not remain as dust forever.  Though we endure pain & suffering, it will be forgotten once we appear in heaven.  In John, it may be that Jesus is alluding to the words of Isaiah as He says:
“When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, & your hearts will rejoice, & no one will take your joy from you.”  (John 16:21-22 ESV) 
The point of the text is not that “good” Christians on earth will always be joyful & never be sad.  The point is that we do have sorrow now & it will come to an end one day because we will see Jesus with our own eyes at the final resurrection.  Then, our joy truly will never end. 
We’ll never again need to be satisfied with the comfort that comes from shifting our position to be bruised in a new place.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Lord, let at last Thine angels come, to Abraham’s bosom bear me home, that I may die unfearing; & in its narrow chamber keep my body safe in peaceful sleep until Thy reappearing.   And then from death awaken me, that these mine eyes with joy may see, O Son of God, Thy glorious face, my Savior & my font of grace.   Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend, & I will praise Thee without end.  Amen.  LSB 708:3. 


[1] Washington Irving

4th Sunday of Easter – C                                                                   LSB #’s 435, 540:1-4; 540:5-6
Text – Revelation 7:17
 
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, & He will guide them to springs of living water, & God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 
 
THE LAMB AS OUR SHEPHERD
 
 
In the Ozark mountains there’s a well-worn riddle that begins, “What makes more noise than a pig  stuck under a fence?”    The too obvious  answer is, “Two pigs  stuck under a fence.” 
What have you been squealing about  these past few days?   Have you gotten anyone to join you  in your squealing?   As the saying goes, “Misery loves company.”  People of like minds love to gather & complain about the injustice of their lives.   However, few of us would choose to brag about the complaining we do. 
What would we learn  if we put a body camera on any of us for seven days?   I’m sure we’d be surprised  by the amount of squealing we do.   The effects of sin in this life often leave us  like pigs  stuck under a fence.   We need someone to rescue us,  & while shepherds are normally associated with sheep,  if you are a pig stuck under a fence,  you need a shepherd too. 
Unlike those in the Left Behind tradition, our denomination does not view Revelation as a book  primarily about predicting an earthly future.   In Revelation,  we see John painting a picture  for people who are like two pigs  stuck under a fence.   John writes  for people who cannot rescue themselves.  He writes for people waiting until the shepherd rescues them. 
St. John’s vision was penned  not to decipher our surroundings  but to help Christians in his day  as they struggled in difficult times & culture.   From Rome on down,  life was hard with ungodly values promoted  by society.   Take heart, John says, for this, too, shall pass,  & God will hold His own  in His hand.   Chapters 4-7 have as their theme – the Church  in tribulation. 
During these chapters, six seals have been opened & they’ve introduced horrifying scenes
that could have melted John’s heart like wax.  There’s been revealed the red horse of slaughter,  the black horse of poverty & injustice,  the pale horse  of Death.  Now, between seal number six & seven, there’s an interlude.  John gets to take a breather & he sees two scenes,  both of which are meant to bring comfort. 
It’s not that John  doesn’t know about suffering in this life.  He’s seen His Lord & Savior brutally tortured & then nailed to a cross.  He’s aware that all his fellow Apostles have suffered death for proclaiming the name of Jesus. 
Since the Son of God is  the Truth,   Christianity  is not a Pollyanna religion that reveals only the glories of heaven.   Revelation was written to set those glories of heaven  in an honest context,  one that also reveals the trials & tribulations of this red, black & pale horse life  that we experience.   St. Paul writes of that in the reading from Acts 20:
“And now, behold,  I am going to Jerusalem,  constrained by the Spirit,  not knowing what will happen to me there,  except  that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city  that imprisonment & afflictions  await me.”  (20:22-23 ESV)   Prior to his conversion, St. Paul was one of the people administering to Christians  imprisonment & affliction.
It takes a strong sense of the glories to come  to travel from city to city  knowing that imprisonment & affliction is waiting at each turn.   It would be cruel & inhumane to knowingly send people on a mission  without warning them of the dangerous context.   That’s why these words of Jesus are so well known:
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33 ESV)   There are plenty of earthly shepherds offering to guide us through this life.  Jesus promises  that in Him  we will have peace  no matter our circumstances of trial & tribulation.  He is offering to be our shepherd in a world that is very twisted & inhumane.   Yes, there is plenty  in this life  to complain about.   On account of that, John offers the words of the sermon text: “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, & He will guide them to springs of living water, & God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  (Revelation 7:17 ESV)   
No earthly leader can wipe away every tear.   Many Christians despise president Trump even though  they have never met him.  Some refuse to acknowledge that he is their president.  An equal number of Christians despised  president Biden  even though  they had never met him.   Some of them  refused to acknowledge that he was their president. 
Many of the negative opinions toward our earthly leaders  are the fault of those sinful human beings.  However, many of those negative opinions are also the fault of the sinful people who hold those negative opinions.   After all, it was the official church of Jesus’ day  that condemned Him to death.  Religious people are anything but  immune from sin. 
St. John, in this book of Revelation, is painting a picture of a very  different leader – a Lamb who is the perfect shepherd.  Everyone in heaven loves & worships this shepherd because He sacrificed His own life  in place of theirs.   John’s Gospel gives an overview of leadership that is qualitatively different  than any earthly leader or US president  could ever supply:
“My sheep hear my voice, & I know them, & they follow me.  I give them eternal life, & they will never perish, & no one will snatch them out of my hand.”  (John 10:27-28 ESV)    In this life there will be tribulation,  but even now,  not even Satan can snatch us out of the hand of our Lord & Savior.  In the next life,  Satan will have zero ability even to tempt any of God’s children. 
Today, when you feel like a pig stuck under a fence,  instead of squealing,  you can say a prayer.   Then your Shepherd will guide & comfort you,  even if He doesn’t release you immediately.  We never have to go it alone, though Satan often tempts us with that depressing thought.  Life here  always involves tribulation – not the least of which we experience as the internal battle between our sinful & saintly natures.   Life in tribulation is not easy.  It hurts.  Tears result.  The struggle, the agony of life in tribulation, must not be minimized, even though Jesus is already our shepherd even now. 
In heaven,  you will never find yourself stuck under a fence.  Misery will no longer love company  because there’ll be no misery for anyone.   There’ll be no squealing in heaven.  There will be an endless, uncountable crowd  yet God will tenderly give individual attention to gently wipe away any tears from every saint’s eye.  
The text from Revelation lifts our eyes off of the trials & tribulations of this life to a scene too glorious for words.  This was written to encourage Christians who were suffering persecution in the days of St. John two thousand years ago.  The Holy Spirit is still working through this text  today  to encourage you & me in our struggles & challenges. 
There is a better & far more glorious day  to come,  & it is a gift to us from our heavenly Father. 
“After this I looked, & behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes & peoples & languages, standing before the throne & before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, & crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, & to the Lamb!’”  (Revelation 7:9-10 ESV)
Amen. 
 
Christ,  the Word of God incarnate,  Lord & Son of Abraham;  Christ, the radiance of the Father,  perfect God, the great I AM;  Christ, the light,  You shine unvanquished,  light & life You bring to all;  light our path with Your presence,  grant us grace to heed Your call.    Christ, our good & faithful shepherd,  watching all Your lambs & sheep;  Christ, the gate that guards the sheepfold,  never failing vigil keep.   When we stray, Good Shepherd, seek us,  find us,  lift us,  bear us home;  Lamb of God, our shepherd keep us;  let us hear Your voice alone.  Amen.  LSB 540:1, 4.  

​3rd Sunday of Easter – C                                                                                LSB #’s 868, 485, 774
Text – John 21:5
 
Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?”  They answered Him, “No.” 
 
They answered Him, “No.”
 
 
In Christian circles, much has been made of the fact that among the 12 men Jesus chose to be His disciples,  at least four  had been fishermen.   The Gospel of Mark highlights that in the very first chapter:
“Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon & Andrew,  the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.   And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, & I will make you become fishers of men.’”  (Mark 1:16-17 ESV)   So it is interesting to note  that in all four Gospels  never once  do the disciples catch a fish  unless  Jesus helps them. 
“Jesus said to them, ‘Children, do you have any fish?’  They answered Him, ‘No.’   He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat,  & you will find some.’  So they cast it,   & now  they were not able to haul it in,  because of the quantity of fish.”  (John 21:5-7 ESV)   
Maybe you  have been in those shoes.   You’ve been working your tail off  to get something done.    Nothing is going right.    Everything is going wrong,  & then someone shows up & says, “Just try it this way,”  & everything falls into place.   You’re not sure if you should be happy that it’s finally done,  or mad  that you wasted so much time  getting nothing done. 
With the incident John describes in the Gospel reading,  you might say Jesus has bigger fish to fry  than merely making His disciples happy.  He had promised to make them fishers of men,  but first Jesus had to suffer,  die  & rise from the dead.  Until that was accomplished  the disciples would not be able to understand  what God was trying to do with them. 
Up to this point,  even knowing that Jesus had risen from the dead,  His disciples were scattered,  aimless,  & as their night of fishing revealed – unsuccessful.   Not a single fish was in their boat  as they were returning to shore.  Fishing had been their livelihood & they took pride in their work.  For many years they had found their identity  in their ability to fish.     What are you good at?   In what do you take pride?   Are you a hard worker, reliable & responsible?   How would you describe yourself to someone  the first time they meet you? 
Like the disciples, all human beings tend to define their identity by what we do well,  by what we value about ourselves.  Where I grew up,  the auto industry was the largest employer, & it was common for union workers to define their value by the work they did.  Statistics said that the average  union retiree  lived only 18 months after retiring. 
One conclusion,  drawn from such data,  is that when an auto worker retired,  he lost his sense of identity & purpose.  He struggled to find value in what he was doing with his life, which caused a steep decline in his overall health.   It is not our Lord’s design  that you or I  place so much value in what we are able to accomplish.   God does not define our identity by what we do. 
Jesus begins to highlight that for us when He asks the question, “Children, do you have any fish?”  The grammar of the original Greek, in which language Jesus asked the question,  tells us that He already knew the answer was, “No.”   In essence, Jesus pointed out their failure, because He wanted them to know that their value & worth was not dependent upon what they do. 
In their new vocation, as fishers of men, it was going to be much more difficult to “see” the success of their mission.  Many of you have raised children & tried to pass on to them your faith in Jesus as Lord & Savior.  The end result of that is clearly not as obvious as the end result of manufacturing car parts, or installing those parts in a car. 
When going through a psych eval for my application to seminary, the shrink noted that my previous occupation of electrician brought immediate satisfaction.  When I installed a light fixture,  I could tell  that I did well  once the light was switched on.  He warned me  that in being a pastor  I would seldom gain  such immediate satisfaction.  Preaching a sermon, or teaching a Bible study,  never brings such clear & obvious results.  Many of you  have gone fishing.  It’s often  not easy to catch fish,  but then end result is always clear & obvious.  Jesus showed up when His disciples had completely failed,  & He points it out,  but not to embarrass them. 
Jesus has bigger fish to fry  than merely making His disciples happy.   Jesus wants to change the very essence of how they define  the value & the worth of their lives.  He finds His disciples scattered,  aimless  & unsuccessful.   In that moment, He gives them incredible abundance.    Jesus defines their value & their worth  by what,  by their relationship  to Him. 
Highlighting that  is the instruction Jesus gave.   Do you recall the circumstances?  They’re on their way in.  The boat is coming close to shore.  They earned their living fishing for deepwater fish.  You don’t catch an entire net full of them  anywhere close to shore,  but what did Jesus say?  “Cast the net on the right side of the boat,  & you will find some.”  (John 21:6a ESV) 
Jesus gave them a foolish command,  based upon all human  fishing  wisdom.   Yet, “…they cast it,  & now they were not able to haul it in,  because of the quantity of fish.”  (John 21:6b ESV)  The only reason that many fish were there  was because Jesus made them be there.  He wants His disciples to understand that God  is the only source  of all success  in this life. 
Remember, Jesus does not point out their failure in order to embarrass them,  nor to gloat in His success.  Jesus points out their failure  because they need to know that their heavenly Father still loves them,  & it is He  who provides any of their successes in this broken & tragic world.  And God is able to do that  while flying in the face  of any human wisdom. 
Listen again to the 11th chapter of John, as He comes to the tomb of Lazarus: “Jesus said, Take ye away the stone.  Martha,  the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord,  by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.”  (11:39 KJV)   The human wisdom of Martha, even in the KJV,  was indisputable.    Nevertheless,  Jesus flies directly in the face of human wisdom & “…cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus,  come out.’”  (John 11:43 ESV)   Do you know that the once rotting  body of Lazarus  walked out of that tomb  alive & well? 
Jesus did not defy Martha’s wisdom  in order to embarrass her.   He defied her wisdom  in order to reveal to her  that He is the Lord  of life itself.   As Jesus put it, “I am  the resurrection & the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die,  yet  shall he live.”  (John11:25 ESV)   
That is where you & I will find a perfect identity – one that will last  forever & ever.  Even our retirement from a career cannot in any way damage or destroy that identity in Christ.  As the scene unfolds in the Gospel lesson, the disciples were scattered, aimless & unsuccessful,  but Jesus finds them there,  & Jesus helps His disciples to find themselves in Christ. 
Without Jesus, the disciples, & any of us, labor to no purpose.   As Jesus said, “Abide in me, & I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,   unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me & I in him, he it is that bears much fruit,  for apart from me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:4-5 ESV) 
“Jesus said to them, ‘Children, do you have any fish?’  They answered Him, ‘No.’  (John 21:5 ESV)   How often in your life  have you thought  you had nothing?  
The disciples watched as Jesus was arrested.  They ran away.  They saw Jesus beaten, hung on a cross, & dead.  They heard He was taken down & placed in a tomb.  The Son of God who was part of their lives for three years, healing, teaching, leading, was gone.  They left family & work to follow this Rabbi & now   were without Him.  Their grief was monumental. 
Jesus is teaching His disciples that He’s present with them  in ways they cannot control or understand.  Jesus is with them even when they do not see Him.  He hears their conversations, listening as Thomas says he needs to place his hands in Jesus’ side.  Jesus understands their guilt, knowing Peter cannot escape the burden of his three-fold denial.  And, again & again, Jesus makes Himself known.  Through His word, through His presence, through His miracles, through His Spirit... Jesus is awakening His disciples to a new reality. 
Jesus wants us to wake up to that new reality as well.  Though we cannot see Him,  He does  see us,  & hear us,   & He longs to provide for us   with His abundance.  He abundantly forgives our sins.  He abundantly strengthens us to obey  what we are tempted to see as foolish commands, like “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” 
In this resurrection appearance, Jesus reveals Himself to us in this way that we may know  He is not far from any of us.   Jesus lives,  & He is near  to you  today.   He hears your cry.  He knows your heart.  He offers you His word, His Spirit, & His presence  that you might wake up each morning to His love & presence in your life  especially in this world of brokenness.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Christ is risen!  Grief & sighing,  sins & sorrows, fall behind;   fear & failure, doubt, denying,  full & free forgiveness find.   All the soul’s dark night is past,  morning breaks in joy at last.         Morning breaks, & Jesus meets us,  feeds & comforts, pardons still;   as His faithful friends He greets us,  partners of His work & will.    All our days, on every shore,  Christ is ours forevermore!  Amen.  LSB 485:4-5.