March 10, 2003
CYBERCOLUMN:
Recognition
___By Berry D. Simpson
___"So why was Jesus so hard to recognize? These guys had lived with him for three years." We were discussing the story about the time seven of the disciples, led by Peter, went fishing all night, only to encounter Jesus at dawn (John 21).
___There were a lot of possible reasons they didn't recognize Jesus: It was still too dark. He was standing on the bank 100-yards away. They had been fishing all night and weren't at their best. They were frustrated because they caught nothing and they were in no mood to recognize anyone. Maybe the resurrected Jesus looked different than he did before.
___This wasn't the first account of Jesus going unrecognized after his resurrection. In fact, being unrecognized was the pattern. Mary didn't recognize him at the tomb until Jesus called her name. The two disciples who walked the road to Emmaus with Jesus didn't recognize him until the end of the day when he prayed over their dinner.
BERRY D. SIMPSON
___However, he had scars from the crucifixion, and he was human enough to eat meals with his friends and physical enough that they could touch him and hug him and feel his human body. Yet he could also suddenly appear in a room whenever he wanted, and he could move around at will, as if he were all spirit.
___ "So why was it hard for these guys to recognize Jesus?" As far as the fishing disciples go, they did recognize Jesus very quickly. He told them to try their nets one more time, and when the nets filled with so many fish they couldn't pull them on board, they knew it was Jesus who helped them. The text says that John knew right away, exclaiming, "It's the Lord." As soon Peter heard that, he threw on his clothes and jumped in the water and swam and splashed the 100 yards to be with Jesus. They knew who he was.
___"So why did Peter put on his clothes only to jump in the water? Isn't that the opposite of what we would do?" Well, apparently Peter had undressed to keep the fish from soiling his clothes. But when he realized the opportunity to go to Jesus, he wanted to be dressed, even if that meant his clothes would be soaking wet. I think Peter impulsively jumped into the water because he couldn't stand one more minute away from Jesus; but first, unimpulsively, he got dressed to be respectful of the man he loved.
___Jesus was waiting for the men on the bank with breakfast already prepared, and that might be the most significant part of the story. This wasn't a chance encounter. The fishing disciples didn't get lucky and stumble onto Jesus, but this was planned and arranged by Jesus from the beginning. He came to them. He entered their world on their terms on their schedule in a way that would impact their lives. It was an act of grace.
___This story about Jesus and the disciples is a reminder to me that I only know Jesus because he has chosen to reveal himself to me. I like to think I understand more about spiritual things because I read a lot of books and read my Bible and learn Bible verses and write in my journal and teach a Bible class, and all that. It's true that I learn a lot of facts because I do all those things, but it is always Jesus' choice to reveal himself. He does it as an act of grace.
___ Yet even though Jesus' revelations are on his initiative and his timing, he doesn't want us to merely wait passively for him to show up.
___The author of "Spiritual Genius" asked Tony Campolo where he got his spiritual energy and his insight into God. Campolo said, "I wake up a half hour early and without saying anything, just lie in bed and very much surrender to Jesus." He said that if you really want to pray, go into the closet—what the Celts called a thin place—a place where the wall between you and God is so transparent that the divine presence comes through and envelops and transforms you.
___Jesus wants us to actively search for him. Searching makes those encounters more frequent, or maybe it's better to say makes us more receptive and aware so that we recognize him. There are certain places and events of my life, my own thin places, when I encountered God in a close and new way, and the memory those times and places affect the way I think about God every day. I was able to recognize him, thanks to his act of grace.
___ Berry Simpson, a Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland.
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