Something New

We've just passed the resurrection, just passed Easter, and we seem to have let out a collective sigh. All the energies we spent getting to this big day, this big moment, and now, we get to just go back to our lives. Get back to the way things were. Rest a little, maybe. 

Yesterday, we talked about how quickly after the resurrection we found the disciples fishing. Our logic tells us that at the very least, we can assume that Peter, Andrew, James, and John were out there casting their nets into the sea - a testimony to what it's like to just go back to what we know. How easy it is to return to our old patterns. How comforting that can be when we aren't sure what comes next. 

But the Bible doesn't tell us that Peter, Andrew, James, and John were out fishing; the Bible tells us that the disciples were out fishing.

And that introduces a whole new set of ideas with it. 

How many disciples were on that boat? And why? 

It could be that they had truly become a band of brothers, so used to being with one another that it only seemed natural to continue to hang out. There have been seasons in my life that I have tried to hang onto through social connections, long after I probably should have. We get comfortable with folks, so we stick near them. 

Maybe they just couldn't go back to what they had known. Maybe being with Jesus had changed them. Those who weren't fishermen could have come to learn the trade. Simon was a zealot, someone highly invested in a violent revolution, but maybe seeing the way that Jesus lived and died had changed his heart and he wasn't interested in waging war any more. So what else is he gonna do? These other guys can teach him to fish, and that seems like a decent living. 

Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus called him. Maybe he didn't want to go back to the tax booth. Maybe the Romans wouldn't have him. Maybe the Jews wouldn't let him. So what's he supposed to do to make a living? Fishing seems like a good trade. Folks love to eat fish. Seems like stable work. So maybe Matthew is out on the boat, learning a (another) new life. 

Jesus saw Nathaniel sitting under a tree, pondering life and not really doing much with his own. Maybe he can't go back to doing nothing. Maybe he needs something new. Maybe Jesus was the catalyst he needed to, as we'd say today, grow up and start "adulting." Fishing could be a great career move for him. Maybe he's out on the boat, fishing with the others. 

Maybe...maybe these guys had gotten so used to following someone around that when Jesus was gone, they were just looking for someone else to follow. Maybe one day, Peter was like, "You know what? I think I'm going fishing," and ten other guys who had been following for three years were like, "Cool. Sounds great. Let's go fishing." Because they had reimagined themselves for so long as followers that what else were they going to do now? They were just going to follow whoever had a plan. 

The Bible tells us the disciples were out fishing. A good question for us to ask is - what does that mean? How many of them were out there? 

Because in them, we may find ourselves. We may see our Easter Monday out on that boat somewhere, somehow, in some capacity. And if it wasn't just Peter, Andrew, James, and John going back to what they knew, then what does that mean for those of us who aren't ready to just go back, either? 

What can we learn about ourselves if not all of the disciples on that boat were former fishermen?