March/April 2003
Breakfast at the Beach
by Greg Albrecht
| Every year he directs our focus to the cross and the empty tomb as the cornerstone of our faith. Every year he reminds us to move forward in him. He is risen. He is risen indeed! |
Everything in the life of Jesus pointed to one place and brief moment in time that would change everything once and for all. The Gospels continually tell us that even though Jesus told his disciples that his death, burial and resurrection was the sign that he was who he said he was, they could not bring themselves to believe. They consistently denied the possibility that Christ would be crucified.
Because the disciples denied that Jesus would be crucified, they certainly did not believe that he would be resurrected. Even after they saw that the tomb was empty, they concluded that someone must have taken his body. The fact that Someone resurrected him and glorified his body did not immediately occur to them.
The disciples were demoralized, disillusioned and defeated. They did what we all do when we have a setback. We go back to the past -- doing what we were doing before, retreating to our comfort zone. Before Jesus called the disciples to follow him they were fishermen. So after their world crumbled, Peter announced, "I'm going out to fish" (John 21:3).
Peter and his friends returned to Galilee. Still in a state of denial they ran, trying to reclaim, restore and rescue their past.
In those days much of the fishing on the Sea of Galilee was at night. The disciples, in spite of being professional fishermen, worked all night and caught nothing. Failure and frustration continued. Not only had they devoted three years of their lives to Jesus only to see the tragedy in Jerusalem shatter their hopes and dreams, but now they couldn't even do what they used to do well.
Jesus appears. He tells them where to catch fish. They catch so many that they are unable to haul in their net. Jesus starts a charcoal fire and prepares breakfast for his runaway disciples. Once again Jesus is with them, serving them, talking with them and sharing a meal with them. Everything was back to normal. It might have seemed to them that they would be able to go back to the way things were.
No. They couldn't go home again. Everything was new. The cross and the empty tomb had changed everything.
Jesus was putting the exclamation point on the significance of his resurrection as he cooked for and ate with his disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus told his disciples that he wanted them to feed his sheep -- he did not want them to return to fishing. His disciples had been practicing Jews who lived under the old covenant. Jesus did not want them to go back. He did not want them to put new wine into old wineskins.
Jesus wanted his disciples to serve as the foundation of his resurrected body -- the church. The disciples would be transformed into apostles -- Christians who lived under the new covenant. It was a fresh start. A new world was beginning.
Jesus welcomes them back even though they had denied him and run away. He finds them in Galilee and brings good news. What had seemed to be an apparent disaster in Jerusalem had been turned into overwhelming victory. Life wasn't over for them, a new life was just beginning.
My wife and I have an Easter Sunday morning tradition. We attend sunrise services, then go to breakfast. The service we attend is not a black-tie affair, and because we leave our home early in the morning for services, we dress casually.
It's not a fancy meal -- some eggs and pancakes. But it is a meal that Jesus cooks for us every year. Every year he calls us to a new start, a new life, a renewal of our lives in him. Every year he directs our focus to the cross and the empty tomb as the cornerstone of our faith. Every year he reminds us to move forward in him. He is risen. He is risen indeed!
-- Greg Albrecht