[AI translation] This lakeside scene, which is recorded in the passage read, sheds light on the very issues that most concern the modern believer, the modern man, about the person of the risen Christ. We read that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples. And the apostle John emphasizes this twice, obviously to say that Jesus himself is demonstrating to men the living reality of his resurrected self. The glory of his resurrection does not shine in such a way that its light can be seen everywhere and by everyone equally, whether they like it or not! Moreover, even His most immediate relatives do not immediately recognize that it is He. For example, He was standing right in front of Mary Magdalene in the garden, and she did not recognize Him at first. For two hours he walked along the road with the disciples from Emmaus, and they talked to him as if he were a stranger. Here again He appears on the shore of the lake, and the disciples do not recognize Him as being there. So, for the glory and joy of Easter to shine in the lives of his followers, it takes what the apostle John describes as, "Jesus has made himself known." - How does this happen? Well, that is precisely what the passage we read reveals. Let us follow the story, because this is essentially how Jesus reveals himself to his disciples today.What happens here, on the shore of the lake? Jesus told them to go on ahead to Galilee, where they would see Him. And they went to the place they were told - but Jesus did not follow. Day after day goes by and Jesus is still nowhere to be found! They just wait and wait, more and more despondent, with anxious hearts, until at last they are tired. Maybe he won't come anymore! And this hopeless waiting saddens Peter. "I'm going fishing!" - he tells the others, as if to say I'm disappointed, I'm not waiting any longer, I'm going back to my old life. Behold, it was Easter, our Lord had risen - and yet nothing had happened. Everything remains the same, Jesus is out of sight, let us settle down with Him for the rest of our lives. I'm going fishing! - The others go with him in discouragement, as if nothing mattered, forgotten by the Lord! But the fishing doesn't work either. They didn't catch anything all night. And someone else calls out to them from the shore and asks if they have anything to eat. No, they don't! They have nothing in the world, no Master, no vocation, no hope - only sorrow and disappointment. They have none! - they shout back over the morning lake, and in that short, unfriendly cry there is a sense of abandonment and helplessness. Their apostleship has come to nothing, their old craft is failing them - and Jesus cares nothing for them!
Yet Jesus is standing on the shore, a stone's throw away, the distance between them is pierced by sound, - only they do not recognize their Lord in the dawn, through the mist of despondency and despair that hangs over them. You know what's sad about this scene? It is precisely that it was Easter - and nothing happened in the disciples' souls; even after the happy miracle of the Easter event, they remained as doubting, doubting, discouraged and hopeless as before. They know that their Master has risen from the dead, that he has the keys of hell and death, that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him - and they remain weak, timid, vacillating, unchurched disciples. What a painful contrast: the Christ triumphant over sin-poclone-death - and the wavering disciples who, even after the happy day of Easter, are so soon discouraged if Jesus waits a little!
A sad picture indeed. But it's really sad because it reflects the very image of Christianity today. Ours! Oh, how quickly our faith can crumble as soon as we try to lean on him a little more! And yet it is precisely when Jesus is waiting for us that we need it most: when he is standing on the shore without us recognizing his living reality. When one struggles against the sin that overwhelms one's body and soul, and one's prayer is not answered, it is all in vain, the shackles are not loosened! Or when a man wakes up at night with a troubled heart, and the morning brings him no relief. Or when the waves of the stormy sea of life crash high around one, without God calming the storm. When the troubled soul casts out the net of prayer for peace, comfort, strength - and again and again it is only drawn back empty: There is nothing in it! When fear grips one's heart and one feels that there is no comforting nearness of God anywhere... Where is Jesus, who once calmed the sea, healed the sick, whose single word created life in death - who himself rose from the dead? Has all power in heaven and earth been given to him? Where is His reconciling, comforting power, His grace?! And then bitter disappointment comes over the soul like a cold mist over a winter landscape. Oh, what a painful contrast: the risen Christ, who conquered death, and His disciples have empty nets, empty hearts, empty lives. Jesus, the Saviour, is alive, risen - and his disciples are despondent, hesitant, living as best they can...
But is Jesus really alive? Does he see us? Does he care for us? Well, Brothers and Sisters, with great humility, but with great joyful gratitude, let me testify that YES! Even if hidden from our natural eyes, in his living reality he is on the shore, so close to us that he reaches us with his word. The only certain reality we can count on in this uncertain life on earth is precisely that Jesus is alive! His immediate being with us, His presence, His presence, is a reality even if we do not see it, do not sense it, do not believe it, because of despair, sadness, brokenness, fear. But it is not our seeing, sensing or believing that makes His presence real, true, but His resurrection. His resurrection means precisely that Jesus now belongs to the invisible world that surrounds and permeates this visible world. So Jesus is always, equally close to everyone, from a life-form of a dimension intangible to the earthly senses. Dare to believe, then, even if you cannot see it, that while you are here struggling with the boat and the net, with the bread and butter, with the temptations and your sins, someone sees everything, watches over you, cares for you, so much so that he is in control of everything: even of what worries you, discourages you, intimidates you; even of what keeps the net empty, so that he can then fill it all the more with his gifts. Dare to believe that this troubled water of earthly life is surrounded on all sides by the peaceful shore of eternity - and on the shore there stands Jesus, watching over you!
For we have a living Saviour who has conquered all the powers of death! Who triumphed over all darkness and suffering. Who has paid all our debts with his life: can he forsake even one of those whom he has bought with the precious price of his holy blood? That His living reality is a hidden, invisible reality: could it mean that He forgot His own for even a moment, withdrew His love and grace from those for whom He descended into hell? No!! Well, then, let the believer dare to say: even if I do not see, feel or experience it, and even if I see, feel or experience the opposite, I know that my Megalovers are alive, that from the shores of that invisible world they see my life, control my destiny, love me!
But how can one be convinced of the certainty of this sublime fact of faith? Is the reassuring light of His living reality never more penetrating from that invisible world into this visible one? But yes! And now as then, there on the shore of the lake. There, then, Jesus cried out to the disciples from the shore: "Cast your net to the right side of the boat and you will find it!" And the weary, discouraged men in the boat there did not reason, did not argue, did not argue with him, but simply obeyed the command. And suddenly they experienced that the promise of the One on the shore was not an empty word - He was indeed the One to whom all power in heaven and earth had been given. Behold, the net was so full that they could not even pull it out because of the multitude of fish. What happened here? Ordinary, tired, bankrupt people obeyed the word of Jesus and the light of the glory of the risen Christ shone on them. They were doing the same thing now that they had been doing all night in vain - but this time at the command of Jesus, and in the fact of their obedience Jesus almost comes out of hiding, so that they whisper, say, shout to each other the happy recognition.
In the same way, Jesus reveals his living reality today: that is, in concrete obedience to him. In that He intervenes, through His written or proclaimed Word, in what you do, and if you dare to do it, if you dare to do as He says: you will see His glory in Him. Do you know how to be sure of the risen, living reality, presence and power of Jesus? Not in quiet contemplation, far from the world, not in the eccentric rapture of mystics, nor in searching for a rational explanation of incomprehensible mysteries. Modern man has long ceased to be a rationalist, and has gone beyond accepting as reality only what his intellect can understand. He has realised that the world of realities is much larger than his mind can cope with. Today's man is interested in practical reality, and so his faith in Jesus is not influenced by whether he can explain to himself Jesus' birth, resurrection, miracles - but only by whether he can be contacted? The modern believer does not want to understand Jesus, he wants to meet him; he wants to be convinced that he is who the church or the Bible says he is. Can we live with him, from him, through him?
Well, this story, the whole Bible, the happy experience of many, many believers, all proclaim that it is possible! Try it! You will see how it will enrich your life. You don't have to understand the mystery of Christ's resurrection, because you can't - you have to live it, because you can! To live it in such a way that we dare to obey Him, dare to do at His word what seems hopeless, unreasonable: For example, to begin to love those who see you as an enemy, to forgive those who have hurt you; to bring comfort where there is sorrow, to bear witness where you think there will be the least repercussion; to look with clear eyes into unclean surroundings, to stop worrying in the daily worries, to speak the truth in every situation, to face tomorrow with serene confidence! And as you do so: in obedience to Him, something of His risen, living reality shines through, and you are assured with amazed adoration that the Lord is there! The living Saviour, who leads, who gives strength to triumph, who fills the nets with His rich blessings, His joy, His peace, His love - who lives and lives!
Thus Jesus reveals himself to his disciples! But the manifestation of his full heavenly glory is yet to come. It is hidden from us today by the tapestry of the heavenly sanctuary. But one day we will see Him as He is in heaven! For on the shore of eternity, where the sea of transience, of temporality, breaks, there stands the glorified Christ, waiting for His own for the great bridal feast. There we shall behold His glory from face to face. Then, when the dark shadow of death is cast over our lives, so that we see nothing else, then the soul will truly rejoice: behold, the Lord is indeed there, waiting on the other side!
Amen.
Date: 21 April 1957 Easter