The sign of the fish

 

A Sermon preached on Easter III, April 18, 2021 at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden and St. Christoph, Mainz

Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48

This is the last time we encounter Jesus with his disciples in Luke’s Gospel. This is the last time Jesus will share his peace with them in person and the last time they will share a meal.  After this, Jesus will lead the disciples out to Bethany, where he will bless them before being carried up into heaven.

I don’t think it is entirely a coincidence that at this last meal Jesus eats a piece of broiled or baked fish to prove to the disciples that it is really him, and that he is not a ghost. On the one hand we can expect fish to be on the table when the disciples are eating. It seems to have been a common part of meals in Jesus’ day. In the feeding of the 5,000 the boy had bread and fish with him. In the final encounter with Jesus in John’s Gospel, a charcoal fire with fish on it, and bread, make up the breakfast meal. And of course, a number of the disciples were originally fishermen and so it would have been part of their diet. So yes, he gets offered what was on the table.

But there is more to it. Whenever fish appear in the New Testament, they tend to be associated with plenty or abundance, with generosity and with mission. We have the miraculous catching of fish when the disciples are first called: “For (Simon Peter) and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’” (Luke 5:9-10) At this final meal, Jesus renews that call, sending them out to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all nations.

We have an equally miraculous catch at the end of John’s Gospel, in the episode I mentioned above, when “they cast (their net), and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish,” 153 of them as it turns out. (John 21:6) At the end of that episode, in what is also an act of forgiveness for Peter’s betrayal, Jesus renews Peter’s personal mission to “feed his sheep” and to follow him.

The feeding of the 5,000 begins with an act or generosity, when the boy hands over his loaves and fishes to be shared and ends with a symbol of abundance: “And taking the five loaves and the two fish, Jesus looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.” (Luke 9:16-17) No one is left unfed, no one goes hungry and there is even plenty left to feed and nourish those who were not in that place when Jesus taught them.

We experience similar generosity and abundance in the disciples’ final encounter with Jesus, when he makes clear that repentance and forgiveness of sins are not restricted to Israel, but are available for the whole world, that they are limitless. In showing himself to the disciples, in bringing them peace, that is wholeness and fullness of life, and in opening their minds to understand the scriptures, Jesus renews and extends their mission to bring the whole world into the embrace of God’s saving and healing love. In the Acts reading we heard first, we see Peter beginning to live out this renewed call, when after reminding his listeners of their guilt, “you rejected the Holy and Righteous One …. and you killed the Author of life,” (Acts 3:14-15) Peter calls them “to repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” (3:19) Nothing is beyond redemption.

You may have noticed that we omit the Confession during the Easter season. This is not to shorten the service but is a tradition of the ancient church. It does not mean that Christians miraculously become perfect people during the seven weeks of Easter and therefore have no need of repentance and forgiveness, not even you! But during this time, Jesus’ sacrifice once for all, for the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of relationships is still very fresh, it is at the top of our minds, as is the promise of new and everlasting life in him.

During Easter, we are in the midst of celebrating the fullness of God’s kingdom, the state of being that John looks forward to in his letter when “we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3) In the fullness of God’s Kingdom, we will be free from the past brokenness and pain of our lives and our relationships are whole and life-giving. In the fullness of God’s Kingdom, talk of sin and forgiveness will no longer have a place, because we will be healed. Despite what John says, we are not there yet. Even those who abide in Jesus will sin, but still we look forward to the time when the promises of new life and healing offered on that first Easter morning will be fully realized.

Even when Easter is over, and our confession returns, we remember Easter each and every Sunday. In our corporate worship we encounter the risen Jesus over and over again. We receive and share his peace, we are shown his body, and we pray that our minds will be opened to understand the scriptures. Every week we share a meal with him through which we are reconciled with God and one another. Each week we renew our call to bring the whole world into the embrace of God’s saving and healing love and are sent into the world, in Christ’s name. In doing so, we carry on “Christ's work of reconciliation in the world” that according to our catechism is the ministry of all God’s people.

Coming back to my fish theme. The early Christians used a fish as a secret symbol for Christ. Recalling Jesus’ words about the sign of Jonah, “just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth,” (Matthew 12:40) it was seen as a symbol of Jesus’ resurrection. And it was also a declaration of their faith in “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour,” which is what the letters of the Greek word for fish, Ichthus, stood for. Let us go into the world proclaiming the peace of God and repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name, in the sign of the fish.

Amen.