4-6-16 - Who Is That Guy?

We don’t always realize God’s activity in our lives until after the fact – after an accident has been avoided, “coincidental” timing confirmed, an unexpected encounter opened into new opportunities. And we rarely experience God where we expect God to be. Jesus’ disciples certainly didn’t expect him to show up on a beach by the Sea of Tiberias. So they didn’t recognize him – until they saw his handiwork, which they had witnessed (in Luke’s account) at the beginning of their story with Jesus.

So they cast the net, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

It's amusing that the naked Peter puts on clothes to jump into the water –it just wouldn’t do to greet his risen Lord and Savior in his birthday suit. And once they realize it is Jesus on the shore, all of them hurry to get there, though it must have taken a lot of muscle to pull those heavy nets. And then someone counted the fish, for John records there were 153 of them (fishermen, like baseball fanatics, do love their stats…) John also mentions that, “though there were so many, the net was not torn,” perhaps to emphasize that God’s work always makes things whole, not broken.

Because we don’t expect to see Jesus around and about in our lives, we sometimes fail to notice where he is. But we can learn to notice. Becoming attuned to where Jesus is, where the Holy Spirit is moving and shaking things up, is of first importance for those who want to be part of the Jesus movement. We are only called to join him where he is already working, or prepare the place where he wants to come next. We don’t have to do anything on our own. So we need to learn to recognize him, even before the “evidence” appears.

This is a habit of the heart we can cultivate, as we do any other important activity or attitude. After awhile, our spiritual sense becomes more acute, but at first we may have to work at it. Perhaps at the beginning of each day we might review our plans and pray about where we’d like Jesus to join us. And at the end of the day, review where we’ve been, and write down where we realize in retrospect – or noticed at the time – that he was present in some way.

How might he be present? He might have spoken through someone, or we might have found our attention drawn to something life-giving. We might have felt a peace or a holy urgency, or found ourselves compelled to draw near someone because of a gift they had or a need they manifested. Sometime we know he was there because he’s now gone, as happened to the disciples in Emmaus.

Notice. Name it. Write it down. Review it at the end of the week. In time, we will become so accustomed to Jesus being around, we won’t need miracles to get our attention.