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| Konrad Witz Petri fiskafänge |
Modern scholarship has taught us to look for different types of literature, from narrative, to poetry, to parables, to myth. It is unlikely that any scripture was written as history in the sense that we understand history and study it academically.
Medieval scholars looked for layers of meaning and spoke of the four senses of scripture: the literal, the symbolic, the moral, and the mystical. Of the four, the literal was considered the shallowest reading. Each sense of scripture took the reader deeper. This is more a subtle and nuanced way of using the scriptures. It does not lock us into the often silly debates between fundamentalists and skeptics—both groups often stuck in a post-Enlightenment literalism.
In the New Testament there are two passages that tell of Jesus helping his followers to catch fish. The first is in Luke 5, which ends with Jesus telling Peter that he will "fish for people." The second is in John 21, which ends with Jesus telling Peter that he will "feed my sheep." The first is pre-Easter, the second post-Easter. It's likely that the two accounts refer to the same story with the same commissioning of Peter—a story told in gatherings of early Christians as they remembered Jesus. When the gospels were written, Luke and the Johannine community both include the story. But they place it in different parts of their narrative. Did it literally happen as told? If so were there two episodes? If only one, was it before or after Easter? Interesting questions, and I'm glad that the scholars spend much time trying to work it out! Even if it could be decided for sure (and I doubt it ever could be) it does not help us decided what it means. How do we respond to the story? What sense does it have for us?
As I read the story in John—a post-Easter story as Jesus is revealed to the disciples—I was struck by the telling that the disciples did not know it was Jesus. This "not-knowing" occurs in a number of post-Easter stories: Mary in the garden, the two on the road to Emmaus, the disciples out fishing. Jesus is seen, Jesus speaks, Jesus is close by, but Jesus is not recognized. At least not recognized at first. Jesus is a stranger.
As I pondered I thought again of our community prayer: that I may as Christ to those I meet, that I might find Christ within them. That I might find Christ in the stranger.
The stranger on the shore who advises on fishing. The stranger who has made a charcoal fire and is cooking breakfast. The stranger who shows kindness to sad and weary fishermen. In this stranger the disciples find the Christ.
I am going to keep my eyes open! Of course, more than my physical eyes—my spiritual eyes. In which stranger will I encounter the Christ this week?
+Ab. Andy