Midnight, on the backside of a barrier island, in the marsh, the moon is full, the tide comes in and we cast our nets, and we bring in the shrimp, net after net full of shrimp. We feast royally in the darkness of the early morning. What a wonderful surprise. One of those things I’ll never forget.
Then there is that point every summer when there are bushels of tomatoes and zucchini from the garden, somebody please help us eat them all!
Think of all those thing in life that surprise you with their liveliness and plentitude, the never ending supply of vegetable soup and corn bread on soup day, the playground at recess, the Special Olympics where so many are brave in the attempt.
Of course there is just the opposite, throwing a party where the guests never show up, planting flowers that never bloom, fruit that never ripens, relationships that go nowhere and the proverbial fishing trip where the fish never bight.
The disciples, they lost Jesus, so they go fishing, up all night and nothing to show for it.
A stranger tells them to try again on the other side of the boat, (like that will make any difference!) and then the miraculous catch, so many fish, too many to pull into the boat.
A crazy abundance, ludicrous, just plain silly. And it’s like a light turns on, “Jesus.” The stranger is Jesus. Whenever Jesus is around the cup runs over, a silly overabundance, the math of accounting where we measure out our lives with petty teaspoons stops making sense. It must be Jesus.
The breakfast on the beach, the challenge to Peter to tend the sheep and to follow Jesus, and that is how John’s Gospel ends.
The ministry of Jesus began with the miracle of the wedding at Cana with the water turning into wine, not just some wine, not just enough wine, but hundreds and hundreds of gallons, way, way too much wine. The ministry ends with this miracle of the fish, way, way too much fish.
And in-between these two miracles, all these other stories and events of over abundance where there was only emptiness. Darkness is filled with light, blindness is filled with sight, lameness is filled with healing, hunger is filled with feasting, death is filled with life, and despair is filled with joy. Doubt is filled with belief, resentful bickering is filled with humble love and resignation is filled with surprise.
John’s Gospel could be summarized into this brief statement: Once there wasn’t enough, then Jesus appeared, now there is way too much, somebody please help us share this silly abundance. The end. The Gospel according to John.
We are those who beg that the world would come and share this silly abundance that God has poured into the world in Jesus Christ.
Please, please come help us with the way too muchness of God.
Put away the petty teaspoons that we measure our lives with, leave the books of accounting with the math that no longer works, and help us with the burden of this net with way too many fish.
It is hard to give up the old math, to stop the petty rationing and counting. We thought it was hard dealing with not enough all the time, scarcity is all consuming. But it turns out the real problem is something else altogether. What to do with the way too muchness of God?
It’s like we spent our lives tending to every drip drop of a trickling spigot, but now it’s like swimming in the ocean.
It’s time to stop measuring the ocean with those little spoons, it’s time to jump in and swim!