Submitted by Pastor David Wynn, Christian Church, Tarkio

Scripture from the Gospel Account of John, Chapter 21, Verses 1-17: Afterward

Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

The little boy went to his first day of school. He got some crayons and started to draw. He put colors all over the paper for colors was what he saw. And the teacher said, “What are you doing young man?” “I’m painting flowers,” he said. She said, “It’s not the time for art young man, and anyway flowers are green and red. There’s a time for everything young man, and a way it should be done. You’ve got to show concern for everyone else, for you’re not the only one. Flowers are red, young man. Green leaves are green. There’s no need to see flowers any other way than they way they always have been seen.” But the little boy said, “There are so many colors in the rainbow, so many colors in the morning sun, so many colors in the flower and I see every one!”

The teacher said, “You’re sassy! There’s ways that things should be, and you’ll paint flowers the way they are so repeat after me.” And she said, “Flowers are red young man. Green leaves are green. There’s no need to see flowers any other way, than they way they always have been seen.”

But the little boy said, “There are so many colors in the rainbow, so many colors in the morning sun, so many colors in the flower and I see every one!” The teacher put him in a corner. She said, “It’s for your own good. And you won’t come out ’til you get it right, and are responding like you should. Well finally he got lonely, and frightened thoughts filled his head. And he went up to the teacher, and this is what he said, “Flowers are red, green leaves are green. There’s no need to see flowers any other way, than the way they always have been seen.”

Well, time went by like it always does, and they moved to another town. The little boy went to another school. The teacher there was smiling, and she said, “Painting should be fun! And there are so many colors in a flower, so let’s use every one!”

But that little boy painted flowers in neat rows of green and red. And when the teacher asked him why, he said, “Flowers are red, green leaves are green, there’s no need to see flowers any other way than the way they always have been seen.”

At an early age that boy had been introduced to the awesome power of FUD.

You may not be familiar with the expression, but I suspect nearly everyone has had the experience. FUD is the term for tearing down someone by introducing the awesome power of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. For instance, 24 hour TV news is little more than a bountiful application of fear, uncertainty, and doubt to current events. The success of negative political advertisement is largely due to the power of FUD. There are work places where spreading FUD has been raised to an art form. Some marriages seem committed to destroying one’s significant other by the liberal application of FUD. Some parents never miss an opportunity to undermine the self-confidence of their children by finding ways to make them doubt their possibilities. When important people in our lives die, fear and uncertainty about the future are commonly experienced. There is nothing rare about the experience of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. These destroyers of confident living linger at the edge of life, waiting for an opportunity to rush in and take charge.

As Christians, I think, we are constantly challenged to find a way to live confidently and victoriously in a world where the awesome power of FUD is an ever-present possibility. Look at our Apostles in today’s setting from John: The world awaited the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they were charged with spreading the word. They had been called to change the world. One would have thought that they would be excited to get started on this new ministry. They were not, however, “chomping at the bit” to get going. Simon Peter said, “I am going fishing” and six other apostles joined him. Why did they do that? There must be some fear, uncertainty, and doubt at work.

“How can we continue without Jesus? He was our leader. We are just common hill folk from Galilee. Nobody is going to listen to us. How can we preach to the world? We have trouble putting a sentence together.”

Simon Peter looked at the other Apostles, and said, “Come on, fellas. I am going fishing. At least we know how to do that. Any of you want to go with me?” And so, about sundown, seven apostles got into a boat, pushed off from shore, spent the entire night fishing, and did not catch a single fish. I am sure that failure only deepened their spiritual crisis.

“We are failures at fishing for fish, how can we succeed at fishing for the children of God?” Just as dawn was breaking, a stranger called to them from the shore. “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” As a group of professional fishermen, it must have seemed a silly suggestion to try the other side of their narrow boat, but they did it anyway. As they struggled with the weight of a net of fish, one of the apostles recognized that the stranger was really Jesus. That apostle told Peter and Peter swam to shore. The remaining fishermen struggled to beach the overweight boat. When they arrived, they found Jesus cooking breakfast.

The opening of the story portrayed symptoms of FUD. Their little group was so distressed by the events of the past several weeks that they went back to being fishermen, only to discover that they could not even do that very well. Then Jesus appeared to them and provided guidance for getting  through times of FUD.

So what do we learn from today’s account? When zapped by the power of FUD, refuse to slide into the despair of “oh woe is me – nobody knows the misery I know.” Accept that getting through FUD requires trusting God and stepping out in faith. There is much about our faith that just doesn’t seem fair! Things like love your enemies; instead of revenge, do good to those who hate you; understand that the last shall be first; if offended, turn the other cheek. These things do not seem reasonable, but like putting the net on the other side of the boat, they work. Trust God.

Trust the teachings of the faith. Step out in faith and keep on keeping on. Remember that tomorrow is coming. The apostles fished all night and didn’t catch a thing. Then came the dawn and everything changed. What a wonderful reminder that life comes to us in daily segments. Today may be the absolute worst day of your life, but tomorrow is coming. Tomorrow is always coming, and with it will come new possibilities. Hang on to that great truth.

I wish I could tell you that the awesome power of FUD can be avoided or at least easily defeated. That is not true. We live as imperfect people in an imperfect world. Therefore, the promise of our faith is not to avoid fear, uncertainty, and doubt. The promise of our faith is that we can live confidently and victoriously when the possibility of FUD lingers at the edge of life.

Because he lives, we can face tomorrow and be unafraid. Our fears can be conquered. Our uncertainties and self-doubt can be handled.  That is the great promise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Thanks Be to God for that. Amen and Amen.