Don’t Go Back To The Routine This Easter

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘“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.’ (John 21:3)

For whatever reason, Easter (in my humble opinion) seems to be the second most-important Christian celebration in the eyes of many.  Christmas is the big holiday that gets all the attention, and the ramp up to it seems to start earlier each year, with Christmas trees and decorations hitting the stores as early as August (if not earlier).  While that is more in line with the secular aspects of the commercial Christmas, the Christian perspective of Christmas follows this with the start of the holiday season starting in the middle of November to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I am not diminishing the importance of Christmas.  Jesus had to be born, immaculately, by His human surrogate Mary, a virgin and without the involvement of carnality; His birth had to be of human nature so Jesus, ‘God Manifested’, could come and be the example of a perfect human life, providing the example of Holiness and perfect Righteousness to a fallen world.

However, I believe Easter is the more important celebration.  Jesus’ life and His ministry is the example of what we should strive for, but His death was the ultimate blood sacrifice to make that example worthwhile.  Without His death, the example is meaningless.  With His death, our sins are now covered by His blood that was shed.  His resurrection from death is more important; without the resurrection death would be the end of it all. 

His resurrection is the defeat of death; a statement that Jesus has conquered all realms and has taken His place as the Lord over all realms.  This solidifies His promise of providing His disciples, those who believe in Him as Lord and Savior and having denied their own sinful lives to proclaim His life as their own, of Eternal Life with Him for those who follow Him.  It is Easter that celebrates His Lordship over all and the promise of the Gospel message.

That said, though, the extravagant Christmas celebration that we cherish every year seems to make Easter ‘anti-climactic’.  We don’t have that ramp-up to Easter as we do with Christmas, as it seems to come up on the calendar quickly and comes and goes, before we can grasp the importance of the event we celebrate.  Some denominations do start with Ash Wednesday and carry it through with Lent, but it seems to not carry the same gusto as the prelude to Christmas (unless one considers the debauchery tied to Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, the week or so before Ash Wednesday, as ‘gusto’). 

Palm Sunday through Easter is considered the ‘Passion Week’, and many do have a sense of reverence of this week, but then there is no carryover by the Monday after Easter.  It’s back to work, back to the routine – if we ever left the routine in the first place.  We celebrate the ordinance of communion to remember Jesus in His final Earthly days, but we often take that for granted as we do other church ordinances, such as baptism and tithing.  It becomes routine as well, and we place Jesus in the ‘back of the bus’, mentally – at least until Christmas comes with its secular ties.  But after that first Easter, Jesus gives us an example not to take Him, or the importance of Easter, for granted.

A funny thing happened after that first Easter, after Jesus appeared, as recorded in John 20, to the ‘Mary’s’, His disciples and Apostles, and to Thomas.  In the beginning of John 21, we find – again, after seeing Jesus alive after the Crucifixion and His Resurrection, then temporarily departing (but not yet Ascending) – Peter leading the Apostles.  However, Peter was leading them back to what they had done prior to Jesus rounding them up to follow Him during His ministry, which to Peter that was to go fishing. 

This wasn’t just a leisurely ‘let’s catch a couple of fish for dinner’ excursion, this was going back to the commercial harvesting of fish to sell, based on having all the men on the boat casting nets to haul in a large number of fish.  As many often do on Post-Easter Monday, folks go back to what they were doing prior to the Passion Week (Palm Sunday through Easter), falling back into their routine and Jesus goes to the back of the bus. 

The actions Peter and the Apostles show that for them, this was the case.  For Peter at this time, he likely figured, ‘well, this Jesus thing – it’s a wrap!  I followed Him for 3 years; we healed people and He preached His Word.  He got crucified, came back, and now that He’s come back, He’s going to leave us once and for all.  That’s all done – so back to work!’.  The work of Jesus, he (and they) thought, ended with Jesus’ appearances in John 20. 

There was no more preaching or teaching from the Messiah, so the statement was made and it would be back to the routine – or so it seemed.  So, Peter went back to fishing; Matthew may have put his resume into H&R Block, and others likely made plans to go back into their previous occupations and callings.   If we stop at John 21:3, like many often do on Post-Easter Monday, this indeed could have been the end result – a return to what eventually will fail us, our own actions.

But, as the late Paul Harvey said daily on his radio show, ‘now for the rest of the story’.  We find in John 21:4-25 (the end of the Gospel Book of John) that Jesus was still there and wouldn’t just be going away.  Jesus calls to them, from the shore, to cast their nets on the right side of their boat, and they pull in a bunch of fish – 153 to be exact.  They come to shore, and Jesus already has fish grilling over a fire for them to eat. 

After they eat, Jesus asks Peter in John 21:15-19 three times ‘do you love Me?’ and three times tells Peter to care for His people, those who would in Faith believe in Jesus as their Lord, fellow Christians!  John 21 provides a snapshot of His discussion with Peter, but hints of likely similar discussions Jesus had one-on-one with the others, as each likely had similar but perhaps specific marching orders from Him.  (Jesus’ response to Peter’s question about what would ‘the one who Jesus loved’ be doing – ‘What does that matter to you?  That’s between Me and him’ is a good hint.) 

Jesus made sure that Peter understood that his primary job, to make disciples, was not done.  Fishing was now his secondary job.  Peter had the task to build the church up, to be the Apostle to the Jews (and the Gentiles, though Paul would be the leader of that effort), and he needed to understand that Jesus wasn’t just going to fade away but would be and always be the Living Christ to all His people, forever and ever!  Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom work of the Apostles (and for us) would not end but was just beginning, by giving them His Great Commission to go out into the secular world and make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20 and Acts 1:8).

This Post-Easter Monday, don’t just go back to ‘fishing’ or your normal routine.  Yes, report to work (if not retired) and do your secondary job and do it well.  Just don’t fall back into just that, though; remember Jesus’ sacrifice and the Great Commission He gave you and the Spiritual Gifts that came so you could act upon His command as your primary job, to share His Word.  He’s still here, so you still need to do the task, the Great Commission, that He gave all of us who profess Faith in Him.