Title: THE PRESENCE OF THE RISEN CHRIST

Focus: The risen Christ prepares his disciples and us today for a different way of encountering his presence as we await his final coming.

Function: To encourage the people to seek Jesus’ presence through table fellowship, prayer, worship and proclamation and teaching of God’s Word.

Text: John 21:1-14

For many people, Jesus’ physical absence from us is a problem. “It would be so much easier to believe in Jesus if you could see him and touch him and hear him speak today,” so they say. Others are troubled by Jesus’ prolonged physical absence. “We have been waiting for more than 2000 years for him to return,” they say. “How much longer do we have to wait?”

Frankly, I don’t know the answer to that question. No one does! God’s timetable is certainly quite different from ours. But we should not be surprised by Jesus’ physical absence from us, for the Lord Jesus has prepared his disciples to seek and experience his presence today in a far different way than before his death and resurrection.

Before his death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus would spend much time in the company of his disciples: they could hear him, see him, touch him, and spend time with him whenever Jesus made himself available. At that time, Jesus communicated his presence the same way you and I do today.

But after his resurrection the risen Lord Jesus revealed to us that his resurrected, glorified body has some astonishing properties that enable the Lord Jesus to come and go as he pleases, to appear and disappear at will, so it seems. For 40 days, the Lord Jesus communicated his presence to his disciples in a different way than he used to do before his death and resurrection.

Those 40 days of resurrection appearances, then, provided the disciples and us today with teaching moments. Those teaching moments help us to seek and experience Jesus’ presence today as we await his final coming. In this Easter season and time of waiting and anticipation of Jesus’ return, we must seek Jesus’ presence through table fellowship and prayer, through public corporate worship, and through teaching and preaching and hearing God’s Word in reliance upon Christ’s Holy Spirit.

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Chapter 21 is the final chapter of John’s gospel. In that chapter, the apostle John “ties together a number of loose ends,” and he reinforces his theme that we should believe in the Lord Jesus because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing we may have life in his name (20:31).

Chapter 21 consists mainly of two parts. The first part is about Jesus manifesting himself to the disciples as they were fishing; the second part is about Jesus restoring Peter to a reconciled relationship with him and giving Peter a mandate to shepherd God’s people. We read the first part of chapter 21 and we ought to take note of a number of things:

(1). The Frame of the Passage: In verse 1, the apostle John writes, “Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias.” That’s the opening statement that frames the story found between verses 1 and 14. In verse 14 John writes the closing statement: “This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.” Thus we see that John frames the story in verses 1-14 with an emphasis on Jesus’ manifestation or resurrection appearance. The story, then, must be understood in terms of Jesus’ presence and absence or resurrection appearances to his disciples.

(2). The Frame Inside the Passage: Within the opening and closing framework of the passage, we find another framing. For example, in vs.4 we read, “Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.” This statement emphasizes that the disciples were unaware of the risen Christ’s manifestation or presence. They saw someone but they did not expect that someone to be Jesus, nor did they recognize that person as Jesus.

Verse 4, then, frames the disciples’ failure to recognize Jesus’ presence on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias. Then, in vs. 12 we hear Jesus’ invitation to his disciples to “Come and have breakfast,” and says Scripture, “None of the disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.” That statement frames the story within the passage.

So why is it important to observe these things in the text? The framing of vs. 1 and 14 draws us to focus on the manifestations of the risen Lord Jesus. And the inside framing of vs. 4 and 12 zeroes in on our focus and understanding on seeking and recognizing Jesus’ presence and manifestations to us between his resurrection and his final coming. The disciples must not expect the physical presence of Jesus during this time of waiting. Rather, we must seek and experience Jesus’ presence in a different way.

(3) The Focus of the Passage: The N.I.V. translation uses the verb “to appear” to zero in on Jesus’ resurrection presence to his disciples. A better translation of the original language would be “to manifest,” or “to reveal.”

The Greek word for “revelation,” or “manifestation,” however, may lead us into a wrong direction. For example, people may conclude that what the disciples saw was a “spook,” or “ghost,” rather than the risen, glorified Jesus in the flesh. Some will argue that what the disciples saw on that shoreline was an “apparition.”

But such a conclusion would be contrary to the Scriptures. Rather, the word “to reveal” or “manifestation,” underscores the idea that Jesus is no longer dwelling with the people as he had done before.

It’s true: Jesus suddenly appears and disappears. But while he is with his disciples, they see the glorified body of the risen Lord. He speaks to them, touches them, makes a fire, breaks bread and eats fish with his disciples. Our focus, then, is on the presence of the glorified, risen Lord Jesus—it’s a physical presence, yet unlike Jesus’ presence before his death and resurrection.

(4) The Passage’s Subtle Hints that Brings Things and Thoughts Together: When you read the story, there are fleeting moments that you say, “where have I seen that before?” There are moments in the story that connects you with other stories. These are “déjà vu” moments. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the apostle John makes very subtle connections as he tells the story to us today.

For example, the story about fishing connects us with Jesus’ words to his disciples spoken at the very beginning of his earthly ministry: “I will make you fishers of men.” At this very strategic moment, when Jesus is about to ascend physically to his heavenly Father, the disciples are ready to go back to their old trade of fishing. By manifesting himself to the disciples at this moment, Jesus re-directs their intention of going back to their fishing trade. “Your job will be to fish for people to come into my kingdom.”

The disciples’ failure to catch any fish and the Lord Jesus’ command to cast the net on the other side of the boat are also subtle connecting points reminding us of other stories. And their huge catch of 153 fish (while the net does not tear) is a vivid lesson for the disciples that success in fishing (esp. in fishing for people) depends entirely upon Jesus’ direction and blessing. Listen to Jesus’ commands. Pay attention to his direction in life as you interact with people around you.

There is another déjà vu moment in this story. It’s that charcoal fire on the beach. Where else in the gospel of John do we learn of a fire? And what happens at that fire? In chapter 18:18 we find Peter in the courtyard of the high priest. It’s there by that fire that Peter denies that he knows the Lord Jesus and that he is a disciple of Christ. Listen: “It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.” It was at that fire that Peter betrayed his Lord.

Now we have another fire—on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias. This little fire, however, led Jesus to have breakfast with his disciples, and where Jesus reinstates Peter into fellowship saying “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” and where Jesus gives Peter a mandate: “Feed, take care of my sheep.” (Just read the rest of chapter 21 and you’ll notice the connection)

We also note that Jesus takes the initiative and breaks the bread and gives it to them (these are transaction that belong to Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper) and these transactions led the disciples of Emmaus to a recognition of the risen Christ. That story, too, is fresh on the minds of these disciples.

In his resurrection appearance, then, the Lord Jesus communicates his presence; he re-connects with his disciples in a different way, however. And they are awed by Jesus’ resurrection appearance and presence. In fact, whereas at the beginning of the story they did not recognize Jesus standing on the shore while they were fishing and hauling empty nets, at the end of the story the disciples put all the hints and signs and symbolisms together.

And thus we read: “They knew it was the Lord.” Clearly, Jesus prepares his disciples and us today for a different way of encountering his presence as we now await his final coming. Today we must seek Jesus’ presence through table fellowship, prayer, worship, and proclamation and teaching of God’s Word.

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Jesus is coming again. He will return as the risen, glorified Christ. We’ll see him in the flesh that is now imperishable. And we shall experience his presence in wondrous ways. For now, however, Christians must seek the ascended Lord Jesus in a different way. With the eyes of faith, and in the power of the Holy Spirit given to us at Pentecost, we encounter Jesus’ presence

(1) in the proclamation and teaching of God’s Word. The Scriptures reveal to us the Son of God who died and rose again that we may have life. We also encounter Jesus’ presence to us today

(2) in the sacraments, especially in the Lord’s Supper, in the breaking of bread. How do we know? Read chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke and note in the story of the Emmaus goers how Jesus’ teaching of the Scriptures caused the hearts of these disciples to “burn.” And note that when Jesus broke the bread they recognized him as the risen, glorified Christ. Then Jesus disappeared from their sight.

But in the meantime, the Christian church throughout the centuries has practiced the presence of Christ in the proclamation of the Word of God and in the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Every Sunday when Christians break the bread they hear these words: “Do this in remembrance of me; do this until I come again.”

We also encounter Jesus’ presence

(3) in communal acts of worship and in the practice of prayer. That’s why we read in Acts 2:42 that the early Christians “…devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Do you see now how important it is for you and me to seek and experience Jesus’ presence today in the worship practices of the church? And do you see now how critical it is for us to hear, study, proclaim and live God’s Word, so that we will not loose sight of Christ, and so that we will be ready to welcome him at this final coming?

Stay tuned and experience the presence of the risen Christ.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.