I'm going fishing... "I'm going fishing." "We will go with you." Here in Grand County this could be a normal conversation. But these are the words of Simon Peter and several other disciples…after the resurrection…after Jesus had appeared to them. So why go fishing? It is as if they aren’t sure what to do next. So, they went back to what was familiar. They went fishing. All night. And caught nothing. And Jesus meets them there in their emptiness. He doesn’t ask them why they are fishing. He doesn’t chide them for not having enough faith. He doesn’t tell them that if they were real disciples, they’d be out telling the world about the resurrection and fishing for people. No. He grabs their attention with a miraculous catch of fish, opens their eyes of faith as he reveals himself to them over breakfast and calls them once again to follow him. Jesus calls us from the familiar…perhaps from our emptiness. He continues to open our eyes of faith as he reveals himself to us…not with a miraculous catch of fish…but in the breaking of the bread and invites us to follow him. Blessings, Matthew+
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP p. 224) |