The Resurrection

John 20:1-21:25

Now this is exceeding good news! How wonderful that this disciple, who has seen these things with his own eyes wrote it down so that we could know his story was the truth.

Mary sees the tomb is empty and runs to get help-she didn't want to go in alone, nor did she know what to make of this. The two disciples came running, and yet seeing with their eyes, they did not know what this meant...so they went home. To ponder? To weep? We don't know. We do know that Mary stayed to weep. And it is then that she sees the angels.

What do you think of these two angels? Sitting where the body had been, but was no longer? Had they been with Jesus while he was in there? Were they ministering to him as we heard they did when he was in the dessert? These are the first ones who don't say "Fear Not." Why? Was Mary so upset, she didn't have the heart to be fearful? Had she seen angels before and knew who these were?

She sees a man-who she thinks is the gardener. Huh? What is he wearing that she thinks he is the gardener? Not his grave wrappings because we just heard they were still in the tomb. Certainly not naked, because gardeners don't work in public gardens naked. Hmm. Anyway he asks why she is weeping, and it is when he calls her by name that she recognizes him. And she grabs hold of him. (He obviously isn't a vision if she grabs hold of him.) Jesus sends her to bear these good tidings to the guys! Jesus goes to see his father with this note that His Father, is our father, His Father is God-His God and our God...

They don't say anything about how this news was received, but we see that the guys were holed up in a locked room...and it doesn't say they were celebrating. Jesus comes on in and says "Peace!" And shows them his wounds-he answers their unwritten question 'is it really true?' Now Jesus gives them marching orders. They have things to do and things to understand. Poor Thomas wasn't there-but I am glad because he is given the proof that we might wish for. Jesus says to him-see, touch, believe.

This Gospeler gives an account of why he has written the book as he has, by giving these signs for us we might believe just as Thomas does. That we might be able to cry out with joy: "My Lord and my God!"

And now the guys ...go fishing? Huh? They are out in the boat not catching anything. No wonder, it isn't time for fishing - for fish any more. It is time for something else I think. They don't catch anything until Jesus says put your nets on the other side. And right away they know this is Jesus. This time Peter doesn't wait for Jesus to say "Come." Peter just jumps out of the boat and swims in to shore. Then Jesus says, 'what are you doing with all those fish-I'm hungry.' and out Peter goes to haul it in. One hundred fifty three fish. That is a lot of fish, but it isn't written as just 'a lot' it is written as one hundred fifty three. Someone counted them. It doesn't say about a hundred fifty-no it says one hundred fifty three. Well, I like that. These were real fish, and Jesus was really hungry. They cooked these fish and ate them together.

Jesus tells Peter to 'follow' him. Last time Peter followed, but he denied knowing Jesus. This time Jesus asks him: "Do you love me, more than these?" I heard someone talk about these questions one time and they said the words are somewhat different, but I don't see these differences in the English-just the repetition of the question do you love me. This does drive the question home and allows Peter to firmly state his case. It does allow Peter to recognize that this task he is being given is important. The answering three times allows Peter to convince himself of his answer. At the very least it does these things. If in fact Jesus does ask him 'do you love me like your Lord' And Peter does answer 'I love you like a brother' I don't know. It would help to explain why Peter is saddened by the repeated question. Peter isn't annoyed at having to repeat his answer as he might be if someone wasn't listening...there is certainly more than that going on here. But it is enough for me to know that the question is important to Jesus, the task is important to Jesus, and the answer is important to Jesus-and to Peter.

In the end Peter wants to know about 'the other disciple' and Jesus says pay attention to yourself-what I ask YOU to do-not to him and what I ask him to do. And for our sake the Gospeler says I wrote this for YOU. So you might know and believe. And if you wanted me to write everything down...well that is the world, and how could you write down all of life and the whole world and have it contained inside the world? Jesus is bigger than that. God is bigger than that. But I think what has been written has been enough for us to go on with.

See you tomorrow.
-maggie