Two weeks ago we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus.  We talked about how He appeared to His disciples and proved to them that He was alive.  For some forty days Jesus would appear to them.  But it was different; He was not staying with them.  At one point, Peter decided to go fishing.  Not “go fishing” like we go fishing, he didn’t grab a pole and some bait and head off to the nearest lake, well okay, he did head off to the nearest lake.

He went fishing as if it were his job.  He had a boat and net, and some of the other disciples (maybe James and John?) went with him.  They were out all night and caught – nothing.  For some of us even the worst day fishing is better than the best day working – but not for these guys.  Fishing WAS work and it used to be their livelihood.  That is until Jesus got a hold of them.

When He first met them, Jesus said, “Come with me and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19).  They left their nets and for about three years (or so) followed Jesus.  Now He is different.  He probably was talking about returning to the Father and making sure they knew He would not be around much longer.  He is not always around and I imagine their revenue stream had somewhat dried up.  They went back to what they used to do.

The problem is that they caught nothing.  To make things worse, there was “this guy” on the beach having a fish fry and asking them, “You didn’t catch anything – did you?”  I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand it when someone asks me a question assuming I was unsuccessful – especially when they are right (Bev).  Of course He was right, this was Jesus asking, and personally I believe He caused them to get skunked.  He wanted to show them that they are not the same people who He met those years ago.  More than that, He wanted them to know that going back to fishing was exactly that; going back.  They were not supposed to do that; they needed to be going forward. 

Things were different and were going to be different from now on, but they needed to stay on course, all this was done for a reason and it was all going according to plan.  Jesus told them when He did leave to stay in Jerusalem until they received power from above.  They did and from that time on Christians have been turning the world right side up.