Fish Naked The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
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- Christianity
On Easter, as a special guest preacher, Simon Peter preached our message on the topic of Easter and his epistle, 1 Peter. He came with fishing gear to demonstrate his trade and shared with us that for him, Easter was all about fish.
"Fish is Life" had been the bumper sticker on his boat. "I saw that fish was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise," he shared. "I'd see the fish, take the fish, kill the fish, and consume the fish, and then crave more fish."
He actually caught a fish in the sanctuary, and then he caught a woman (he said that she was his wife). He reeled her in — in Greek: "helkuo." It means "to draw" as with a line or a net, and metaphorically it means "to romance." He caught a woman but shared that loving her was more of a challenge; just as he consumed the fish, he could consume his wife. He caught friends, like his fishing partner, John, but jealous of John, he couldn't know or be known by John.
"Imagine if I could catch God," he mused. "For me, Easter meant ‘Fish, friends, God, and glory,’ because that is just what I got in John 21 after Jesus rose from the dead."
He had been fishing all night and caught nothing. A man called from the beach, "Try casting the net on the right side of the boat." When he did, he caught a boatload of miracle fish. He shared that pastors often spoke of the great obedience he demonstrated in casting the net on the other side of the boat — something that, to a fisherman, would've seemed entirely absurd. Faithful obedience is righteousness, and righteousness is glorious, and Simon Peter reminded us that many considered him to be the first Pope.
"On Easter, people come to church wanting to know how to catch miracle fish, how to get this Easter thing to work for them, how to get eternal life. Well, in case you missed it," he said. "We didn't know it was Jesus on the beach, so we didn't get 'it' to work for us. And, secondly, in case you think I was being so obedient or righteous, in case you think that I was dressed like the Pope on Easter morning, you need to know that . . . I was naked."
John 21:7, John wrote, "When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes for he was naked, and jumped into the sea."
Peter then clarified some things: "1. I wasn't being sexy; it was normal to only have one set of clothes, and fishing is messy. So, we often kept our clothes in the front of the boat. 2. I didn't want to be naked. In our day, clothing meant honor, and nakedness meant humility and vulnerability. And 3. John was a poet, and he knew me. He was pointing out that I was naked like Adam was naked, like a newborn baby is naked, and a man, crucified on a tree, is naked."
"I was naked," Peter said. "But this time was not the first time I had cast my nets at the direction of Jesus and caught a boatload of miracle fish. The first time, I wasn't naked," he shared. "And the first time, I knew it was Him — actually, I was putting him to the test."
The first time (recorded in Luke 5), Peter fell at the feet of Jesus and begged Him to leave, saying, "Depart from me. I am a sinful man."
"I obeyed. I cast the net where He told me to cast it. And I received fish, friends, God, and glory. And I begged Him to leave... Why?" asked Peter. "I got everything I wanted and couldn't want anything I got, because all of it was free. And I knew it. And so, it sunk my boat and ripped a giant hole in my psyche," said Peter. "You build a self, a soul, a psyche (in Greek) by catching things in your net. I suddenly realized that I didn't make the fish swim into my net; and I couldn't pay for any that had or pay for the One that would make them do so. God was in my nets, and He was ripping them to shreds."
Jesus then said to Peter, James, and John, "Fear not, I will make you fishers of men (and women)."
"I think I heard, 'I will give you knowledge to make yourself a fisher of men,'" said Peter.
Jesus once told Peter, "You are rock (petros), a
On Easter, as a special guest preacher, Simon Peter preached our message on the topic of Easter and his epistle, 1 Peter. He came with fishing gear to demonstrate his trade and shared with us that for him, Easter was all about fish.
"Fish is Life" had been the bumper sticker on his boat. "I saw that fish was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise," he shared. "I'd see the fish, take the fish, kill the fish, and consume the fish, and then crave more fish."
He actually caught a fish in the sanctuary, and then he caught a woman (he said that she was his wife). He reeled her in — in Greek: "helkuo." It means "to draw" as with a line or a net, and metaphorically it means "to romance." He caught a woman but shared that loving her was more of a challenge; just as he consumed the fish, he could consume his wife. He caught friends, like his fishing partner, John, but jealous of John, he couldn't know or be known by John.
"Imagine if I could catch God," he mused. "For me, Easter meant ‘Fish, friends, God, and glory,’ because that is just what I got in John 21 after Jesus rose from the dead."
He had been fishing all night and caught nothing. A man called from the beach, "Try casting the net on the right side of the boat." When he did, he caught a boatload of miracle fish. He shared that pastors often spoke of the great obedience he demonstrated in casting the net on the other side of the boat — something that, to a fisherman, would've seemed entirely absurd. Faithful obedience is righteousness, and righteousness is glorious, and Simon Peter reminded us that many considered him to be the first Pope.
"On Easter, people come to church wanting to know how to catch miracle fish, how to get this Easter thing to work for them, how to get eternal life. Well, in case you missed it," he said. "We didn't know it was Jesus on the beach, so we didn't get 'it' to work for us. And, secondly, in case you think I was being so obedient or righteous, in case you think that I was dressed like the Pope on Easter morning, you need to know that . . . I was naked."
John 21:7, John wrote, "When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes for he was naked, and jumped into the sea."
Peter then clarified some things: "1. I wasn't being sexy; it was normal to only have one set of clothes, and fishing is messy. So, we often kept our clothes in the front of the boat. 2. I didn't want to be naked. In our day, clothing meant honor, and nakedness meant humility and vulnerability. And 3. John was a poet, and he knew me. He was pointing out that I was naked like Adam was naked, like a newborn baby is naked, and a man, crucified on a tree, is naked."
"I was naked," Peter said. "But this time was not the first time I had cast my nets at the direction of Jesus and caught a boatload of miracle fish. The first time, I wasn't naked," he shared. "And the first time, I knew it was Him — actually, I was putting him to the test."
The first time (recorded in Luke 5), Peter fell at the feet of Jesus and begged Him to leave, saying, "Depart from me. I am a sinful man."
"I obeyed. I cast the net where He told me to cast it. And I received fish, friends, God, and glory. And I begged Him to leave... Why?" asked Peter. "I got everything I wanted and couldn't want anything I got, because all of it was free. And I knew it. And so, it sunk my boat and ripped a giant hole in my psyche," said Peter. "You build a self, a soul, a psyche (in Greek) by catching things in your net. I suddenly realized that I didn't make the fish swim into my net; and I couldn't pay for any that had or pay for the One that would make them do so. God was in my nets, and He was ripping them to shreds."
Jesus then said to Peter, James, and John, "Fear not, I will make you fishers of men (and women)."
"I think I heard, 'I will give you knowledge to make yourself a fisher of men,'" said Peter.
Jesus once told Peter, "You are rock (petros), a