Mark 16:1-8;
John 21:15-19

Have you ever observed two people arguing where it seemed that what kept the argument going was the determination by each person to have the last word?  Maybe you have been one of those people. It is as if getting in the last word is equated with winning the argument.  There is a sense in which the Easter story is about who gets the last word.
           
There is a lot of tragedy wrapped up in the Easter story, a lot of tragedy leading to Easter.  Many of us prefer to avoid the tragedy or play the game, “Ain’t it awful.”  You know that game?  “Ain’t it awful that the disciples seemed so unaware of what was happening. “Ain’t it awful that Judas betrayed Jesus!”  “Ain’t it awful that Peter denied knowing Jesus!”  What may be more tragic is our failure to see how much we are like the disciples, especially like Judas and Peter.  We are more like Judas and Peter than we are like Jesus.  Jesus’ story would indeed be tragic if Friday were the final word.  Judas thought what happened on Friday was the final word and so he took matters into his own hands.  What a tragic result!  Peter thought Friday was the final word but fortunately he took no definitive action before Sunday and was around to hear a redemptive word, a word of hope when he discovered what God does when we are in God’s hands. 
           
The text from John's Gospel provides images of hope, assurance, and inspiration for us.  The opening paragraphs of John 21 express post resurrection attitudes similar to ours.  Seven of the twelve apostles are named.  There may have been other disciples present.  We don't know.  The Disciples of Christ had had the double shock of their lives.  First, they could not believe that things got so utterly out of control that Jesus had been betrayed by one of their own, denied by another one of their own, and then crucified.  While they were in the pit of remorse, engulfed by anger, guilt, and self-pity, they had been told that Jesus was alive and many of them had seen him.  How unbelievable that had been!  They were washed out emotionally and wrung dry.  They could not even think about the events that had transpired.  Thinking made their brains hurt.  Emotionally, their systems were overloaded and shut down. 
           
In this context Peter announced, "I'm going fishing!"  Why would he go fishing?  Why not?  Fishing was what he knew.  Fishing was familiar.  Fishing was what he could do naturally.  It was second nature to him.  He didn't have to think to fish.  Just throw out the net, pull in the net, throw out the net, and pull in the net.  Haven't you done what Peter did?  Some situation in your life sapped all your energy and motivation.  All you wanted to do was something you could do by remote control.  You did not want to think or use any energy.  Whatever you did you wanted it to be something simple and familiar.
             
Was Peter about to abandon being a disciple of Christ?  Maybe.  He had gotten a close look at himself, and he did not like what he had seen.  He thought if there was anyone that Jesus could count on, it was he, but in the courtyard of Caiaphas, Peter had found out differently.  Reality is whatever you’re up against, and Peter was up against a vision, an image of himself that he had never faced before, and what he saw was disturbing.  Maybe he thought, “Enough of this discipleship business.  I thought I was committed.  I thought I would be faithful.  I thought it would work, but it hasn't.  I need to do something worthwhile and productive with my life.  It's back to the boats for me.  I'm going fishing.”
           
Peter's fellow disciples said, "We will come with you."  There is no indication that Peter invited them.  He may have wanted to go fishing alone.  Maybe he wanted to be by himself and let the cobwebs clear out of his mind.  After all he had been through and this new view he had of himself, Peter certainly didn't need a bunch of people around him. 
           
Perhaps the other disciples were feeling just like Peter.  They had been on the same roller coaster he had been riding.  They had been up and down and up and now they were down.  Fishing sounded good to them too.  Peter had said what all of them were thinking. 
           
Off they went fishing.  They fished all night and didn't catch a thing.  I've done that.  I grew up in Kentucky near Lake Cumberland.  Supposedly, at certain times of the year nighttime is the best time to catch fish.  I've gone to the lake with lantern and pole in hand, sat there all night next to a rock cliff with just the right bait on the hook and caught nothing all night.  I realize there are people, who just enjoy fishing, being out in the boat, on the water, and it doesn't matter to them whether they catch anything or not.  I am not one of those!  I have my doubts that all seven disciples who went fishing were the types who just enjoyed being on the water.  After all, fishing was their livelihood.
           
While these men were fishing, someone yelled from the shore, "Catch anything?"  Now, it is bad enough to go fishing, to fish all night and not catch anything without having someone yell for all the world to hear, "Did you catch anything?" and you have to respond "Not a thing."  But that's what the disciples had to report.
           
Who was this guy standing on the shore yelling out to them?  Where had he been all night while they were at least out there trying to catch fish?  Then he offers them some advice:  "Cast your net on the other side of the boat."  Just like a know-it-all.  Don't bother to wet a line or throw out a net but freely tell those who do how to fish.   What good would it do to cast the net on the other side of the boat?  One side is just as good as another, isn't it?  Maybe the man on the shore could see a school of fish breaking the surface of the water on the other side of the boat.  The fishermen working the nets would have their backs to one side of the boat.  Why not try the other side?  They certainly hadn't caught anything over the side of the boat they had tried. 
           
So they tried the other side.  What a catch!  They caught so many they couldn't pull in the net.  What a contrast!  In one cast of the net they went from famine to feast.  Then someone on the boat recognized the know-it-all on the shore.  "It is the Lord!" he exclaimed.  Peter grabbed his cloak, threw it on, why I don't know, jumped overboard, and swam ashore.  Fine captain of the boat he was!  He was the one who wanted to go fishing and here he is leaving boat, net, and fish for the rest to manage. 
           
When the others finally docked the boat, Jesus had a fire going and invited them to bring some fish to cook for breakfast.  It was Peter who rushed off to get the fish.  Now, Peter was able to do alone what all of them had been unable to do together.  He pulled the net full of fish in all by himself and apparently took time to count them before he took any to Jesus to cook. 
           
There were 153 fish, and the net did not tear.  Being that specific about these two facts must have significance.  Greek zoologists claimed there were 153 kinds of fish.  The net was able to hold every kind of fish and not tear. Just as the net could hold every kind of fish and not tear, the church is to be open and have room for all types and every kind of person there is.  The church can be inclusive of every conceivable type of human being, and the church need not fear that all these kinds of people will rip or destroy the church.  Actually, the opposite is true.  If the church is not open to all kinds of people, it will self-destruct. This understanding is why it is so important for us to communicate that, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome at Glenview Community Church.”
           
Refusing to be open to all people has led to arguments and disagreements which have resulted in dissention and division in the church.  Regrettably, this is how many congregations and denominations have been formed.     
           
William P. Barker tells about a small town in Tennessee that had a place of worship with a sign in front:  Left Foot Baptist Church.  A student had passed it many times and had often wondered about the meaning of the name of the church. Finally, one day, waiting for his bus, the student asked someone in the town about the significance of the unusual name for the church.  Several years earlier there had been a split in the local congregation which practiced foot‑washing. The break occurred over which foot should be washed first. The group insisting on the left foot taking precedence finally withdrew to organize its own church, and named its congregation accordingly!  Apparently these people believed that if the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handed people are in their right minds.  Such a division in the body of Christ would be funny if it were not so tragic. 
           
In the early years of the church, there was unity but not uniformity.  The crucifixion of Christ had been such a tragic, life threatening event that the followers of Christ experienced the truth stated many centuries later, "We must hang together or we shall all surely hang separately."  Those early disciples learned what every family has to learn, what people in any significant relationship must learn.  The major events, the big things do not divide, disrupt, and destroy unity and relationships.  We usually realize that a big problem, a major catastrophe has such potential for destruction that we must join efforts against it.  If a decree went out that this church would have to close its doors if we did not average 600 in worship service for six consecutive weeks, we would have no problem holding off action on such a decree.  With such an obvious threat, we would rise to the occasion.  But the gradual drift of taking the congregation for granted happens quietly and with subtlety.  One day we may wake up to discover we can't find 100 people interested in what goes on here. 
           
History also has shown that the church can stand against any opposition from outside the church.  The illustrations are numerous.  The early church suffered severely under the persecution of Roman emperors like Nero and Domitian.  In recent years we have heard of the oppression believers experienced in the former Soviet Union, but believers remained and shared their faith with others.  Even more astounding has been the situation in China where the church doors were closed for several decades.  When that oppression was lifted, more than one million Christians were identified in that nation.
           
What the church cannot survive is deceit, bickering, and backbiting from within.  Consider this congregation.  One person could begin a campaign of griping and complaining, be argumentative with others and find one or two to join in the bickering.  If people perpetuate such an approach, trust erodes, bickering escalates, and the congregation is destroyed.
           
In The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Screwtape (the devil) gives advice to his nephew, Wormwood, the recruiter for hell working here on earth. Screwtape told him how to get recruits. "The church is a fertile field," he said, "if you just keep them bickering over details, structure, organization, money, property, personal hurts, and  misunderstandings...One thing you must prevent‑‑don't ever let them look up and see the banners flying, for if they ever see the banners flying, you have lost them forever."  That is pretty effective strategy for defeating the church, "Keep them bickering...." 
    
The tragedy of a bickering church is illustrated in what happened in Russia 1917.  That year the Bolshevik party was boldly, efficiently, ruthlessly carrying out its plans for revolution, overturning the oppressive government of the czars and putting in place another oppressive government, a government characterized by the atheistic philosophy called Communism. 
           
At the very same time, on the very same day, the largest Christian denomination in Russia was holding an all‑day meeting. The meeting was filled with harsh, vindictive conflict, all centered on one divisive issue. What was the issue?  Was it how the Christian church should respond to the new government that was coming to power?  Was it how the church would carry out its mission under the oppression of avowedly atheist rule? 
           
No, the issue was the candles in the sanctuaries of the Russian churches!  The church was bitterly divided over whether they should be 18 inches or 22 inches high!
           
The potential for bickering and mistrust was present early in the church's life, but the risen Christ sought to be certain that light overcame the darkness and trust rose over mistrust.  That is why the text today from John's Gospel is so important.
           
At breakfast Jesus took bread and fish and gave these to his disciples like he had given them bread and wine at the supper before his crucifixion.  The sharing of these common elements, typical food items of the day, signified the bonding they had in common and expressed the importance and the need that they be bound together. 
           
After breakfast Jesus and Peter had an important conversation.  It was years later before people realized how important the conversation was, but I suspect Jesus and Peter realized at the time how essential it was.  Jesus said, "Simon, son of John."  This is what Jesus called him when he really meant business, and if Jesus ever meant business, it was now.  Jesus asked, "Do you love me?"  Peter said he did.  Jesus asked the question again and again.  In all, Jesus asked the question three times, I suspect to make up for the three times Peter denied him.  Maybe the second time Jesus asked the question, Peter was annoyed, but I imagine by the third time the question was spoken, Peter got the point.  Peter had missed Jesus' point on other occasions, but he did not miss it this time. 
          
  Were it not for John's Gospel, we would not have this last, important conversation between Jesus and Peter.  You recall Peter was the one who asked Jesus early in their relationship if forgiving a person seven times were the limit.  Jesus said that forgiveness is unlimited.  Do you think by the time this last conversation between Jesus and Peter took place that Peter was delighted to know that forgiving a person was not limited to seven times?  In a matter of an hour or two, Peter in Caiaphas' courtyard found he was in need of forgiveness three times.  And he experienced the assurance of Jesus' forgiveness in this last conversation we have of Jesus talking with Peter. 
           
Apparently the early followers of Christ knew of this conversation because eventually they forgave Peter, and he became a prominent leader in the life of the early church, even identified in the Roman Catholic Church as the first Pope.  The story of Peter comes close to everyone who has ever failed; therefore, it comes close to you and me.  Is not the story of Peter valuable because we see ourselves in Peter?  We deny Christ.  Then a rooster crows somewhere, or someone's eyes penetrate ours, and we know they are the eyes of Christ.  We go out and weep bitterly.  Like Peter, Christ keeps calling us, forgiving us, inviting us to nurture one another in our growth and development as children of God.  We keep being raised to new life and new heights of fulfillment.  When we have done our worst, regardless of what it is, that is not the last word.  God has the last word and the last word is hope.  The last word is hope, because no matter what we have done or what has been done to us there is more life, more love, and more forgiveness to come.  This gives us hope and we experience our own resurrection.  God has the last word and it is hope.  Let us hear it.  Let us receive it.  Let hope live in us and let God raise us from deadness to aliveness.  The last word is not your word or my word.  God has the last word and the last word for all the world, the last word for Peter, the last word for you and for me is hope.  Thank God for hope.  Thank God for hope!