153! Significant?

Sign above the vestry door in Penhow:
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel 

Some people really enjoy numbers, for others they can be a great barrier. This morning in our gospel reading (john 21:1-19) we have what seems a rather random number – we are told that the fishermen obeyed the instruction of Jesus to go out again, and when they did so, they caught a net full of 153 fish.

As I said, it seems a rather random number, but a number of people over the centuries have assumed that it was included for a reason - Cyril of Alexander said it was a symbolic number - 100, meaning the fullness of the Gentiles, plus 50, representing the remnant of Israel, and 3, representing the trinity. Augustine discovered 153 is the sum of 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17. Then he proposed that seventeen was a symbolic number representing the Ten Commandments and the seven gifts of the spirit.

St Jerome suggested there were 153 fish because there were 153 different kinds of fish in the Sea of Tiberius, and therefore, the catch was a symbol that the Gospel is for everybody, every kind of person in the world, and finally Tom Gillespie, a NT professor, said that, at the time the Gospel of John was written, there were believed to be 153 different ethnic groups in the world.

Perhaps some of these theories come as a result of people having a bit too much time to think but it does seem that this number may have some relevance, but the most important relevance of all is that it is an incredible number – once again Jesus has provided for his followers more abundantly than they can ever imagine possible.

And from this incredible scene of him providing a huge catch of fish, we get right back down to basics as Jesus says to his followers, ‘Come and have breakfast’ ! From the incredible and miraculous to the mundane and ordinary, Jesus was there – and Jesus is here… everywhere… And always ready to offer an invitation to spend more time with him… 

It is a discovery that Saul made as he travelled on the Damascus Road in the account we heard from the Book of Acts (9:1-6) – he was the great persecutor of Christians, fired up with a great passion to kill as many of them as he could find – but meeting Jesus that day his life was transformed forever.

Michelangelo said that the beautiful sculptures he created were already there, inside the stones. He simply removed the excess to reveal the sculpture. I suspect that some of us may have more difficulty than others in making a sculpture out of a bit of stone, but it’s a wonderful thought to remember that this is what God can do for any of us and anyone….

Saul, this great persecutor, would become Paul, the great evangelist and campaigner for the Christian faith. Out of evil, God uncovered a man who would devote the rest of his life to spreading the gospel message. Within the stone that was Saul, God carved out the sculpture that was Paul.

And as we look around it’s comforting and exciting to look at a world full of possibilities, full of people waiting to be transformed as they are touched by the power of God… comforting because there is nobody who is beyond the touch of God and exciting because we are part of the plan to put God in front of people – and as we do that, we will see that he is ready to transform and ready to provide more abundantly than we, or anyone else, can ever ask or imagine.

At the moment when we watch the news we can’t avoid listening to promises – promises about our security, our potential wealth, about peace, about hopes… 

These promises may or may not be delivered – but God has delivered on his promises already – from the creation stories of the Old Testament right through to the account of Jesus rising from the dead, and appearing again to his followers, we see God crying out to the world to come closer to him…

We see God offering chance after chance to people whom he wants to be cross with, but he can’t resist trying to make it a little easier for people to get it right next time. Just like the perfect loving parent who so wants to tell his child off for failing to do something, but actually ends up lowering the bar for the child because he is so keen for the child to succeed, so God has kept lowering the bar for us…

He doesn’t call us live a perfect life, although that would be his choice, but to live a life following Jesus – a life, not of perfection, but of devotion – a life committed to the teaching and example of Jesus, however poor a job we may do of following his example at times… 

God has lowered the bar for us because he loves us so much that he is desperate to enjoy eternal fellowship with him and, as he did with Saul, he can shape and transform anyone, and he can continue to shape and transform us…

Whether the number of 153 fish is relevant or not, what is relevant is that fact that God can and does meet our needs in a way that is greater than we can ever expect, and he can provide us with a strength and a power that we wouldn’t imagine possible. 

And as we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and as we continue to celebrate an Easter faith of darkness being dramatically turned to light, good trouncing the powers of evil and hope and love finally winning over despair and hate, we are continually invited to live a risen life, a new life, full of the joys of resurrection and hope and peace and love. It’s a life that can transform us day by day, but also can transform others as we share that life with everyone we meet. 

Continuing in this Easter season to celebrate the power and the love of the risen Jesus, may we hear and accept his invitation to a closer relationship day by day; be inspired to follow him; to try to be like him and to share the hope, peace, joy, power and love of resurrection. AMEN