They Answered Him, "No"

​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.