Every once in a while, as you are driving, you pull up to a stop light, and notice that the car in front of you has a bumper sticker which has a fish symbol. It’s a way of letting you know that this person is a Christian.
I’ve always felt that this is a bold move on the part of the driver, because what happens if you are pulled over for speeding or running a red light? That would not be a very good witness.
And the worst thing would be if the driver of that car would offer some sort of negative hand gesture if somebody would cut him or her off. What kind of witness would that be?
But nevertheless, this fish symbol has been quite common among Christian motorists for some time now.
Unfortunately, this phenomenon has led to a fish symbol war pitting Darwinist minded atheists against Bible believing Christians. Never mind that Darwinism and Christianity are not mutually exclusive, but these fish wars make for some very entertaining comic relief on our highways and byways.
Once the fish symbol began to be placed on bumper stickers, it wasn’t too long before we started to see the word “Darwin” in the middle of the fish symbol. These religious bumper sticker debates can be so much fun!
But recently, I saw a bumper sticker which seems to be indicating that a truce is about to be made between this false dichotomy pitting the Christian community with evolutionist thinkers.
This new bumper sticker, at least new to me, has these two opposing fish symbols next to each other, apparently kissing one another as if to say, “Enough’s enough.” Or maybe, I’m reading way too much into this new peace-loving bumper sticker, and all it is, is another marketing scam.
This morning, I would like us to think about the role that fish play in the Bible. Have you ever thought about just how many fish references there are in the Bible?
I find it very interesting that our Gospel reading this morning contains one of these important fish references. We find the disciples on the first Easter evening huddled together, scared, worried, and uncertain about what had happened to Jesus when they heard that the tomb was empty. They are a fearful bunch.
In this midst of this doubt and uncertainty, Jesus appears among them. And Luke is careful to tell us that they thought he was a ghost. And so, Jesus proceeds to invite the disciples to actually touch him and he shows them his hands and his feet which still contain the marks of the nails from Good Friday when he died on the cross.
But these attempts prove futile, because the disciples are still confused. Maybe they are thinking that he was still a ghost. And that’s when Jesus does something that finally helps the disciples to move from disbelief to a resurrection faith. He eats a piece of broiled fish in their presence.
What better way of dispelling the whole ghost thing. This little fish-eating exercise was all that these disciples needed to recall those special moments with Jesus.
I wonder if Peter’s mind flashed back to the time when Jesus got into his boat and told him, “Take this boat away from the shore and let down your nets so you can catch some fish.”
What a strange request, especially since Peter and the others had been fishing all night long without catching anything. What do you mean, “Let down your nets? This is the way fishing works Jesus. Sometimes you just don’t catch anything and some days you do. This is a ‘don’t catch fish’ kind of day.” So, Peter humors Jesus by taking the boat out to deeper waters to let down the net, probably looking forward to showing Jesus that he knows more about fishing than he does.
This is probably the only time a fisherman has ever hoped to not catch a single fish, just to prove a point to Jesus. “Jesus. Leave the fishing business to us. It’s pointless to let our nets down one more time.”
The funny thing about this story is that Peter didn’t just end up catching three to five fish. That alone would have proven Jesus’ point. Picture in your minds these two large nets filled from top to bottom with fish. And now picture these two nets being pulled into the boat and tearing from the huge weight of the catch.
Game, set and match. Jesus wins. I think Jesus knows something about fishing, don’t you?
And the story ends with Peter, this tough and proud fisherman falling to his knees, swallowing his pride, and acknowledging that Jesus is someone very special.
But Jesus doesn’t leave Peter on his knees along the shore. He tells him, “You hang around with me. And you’ll learn how to become fishers of men.” It was that fish story that led Peter, James and John, to leave everything and follow Jesus. How’s that for a fish story?
And as Jesus was eating that piece of broiled fish in our Gospel reading for today, I’m sure all of the disciples thought of the fish stories of all fish stories.
You remember. Jesus had been teaching and healing people one day and it was getting late in the afternoon when the twelve disciples came to Jesus with a solution for a problem.
Now, on one hand, don’t you just love it when people don’t just tell you about a problem, but when they also give you a possible solution for that problem? When people just give you a problem without a solution, it kind of leaves you flat-footed.
So, hand it to the disciples. They come to Jesus not just with a problem, but with a possible solution.
“Jesus, this whole day has been great. People can’t get enough of your teachings. They are responding to your message about the in-breaking of God’s kingdom and how God loves them, and cares about them. You have brought healing to the blind, the infirmed, and the diseased. But Jesus. You need to give the benediction and get these folks home. They’re getting hungry.”
Well, hand it to the disciples. They brought a solution. Just send them home. But Jesus doesn’t accept the solution. Instead, he gives them a challenge. He says, “Uh. No. You give them something to eat, right here.”
And the disciples, like good Methodists, do what comes naturally. They ask for the treasurer’s report and sure enough, there isn’t enough in the budget to feed 5,000 people.
But half-jokingly, and maybe to call Jesus’ bluff, they tell Jesus what seems like an absurd and meaningless statement. “Actually, we do have five loaves and two fish leftover from yesterday.” Can you hear the nervous laughter of the disciples after they say this? “C’mon Jesus. Enough’s enough. Let’s get practical and get these people home.”
“No. I want you to have them sit down in groups of fifty and I’ll take it from there.”
And from there, Jesus offers a prayer of thanksgiving to God and Luke tells us that they all ate and were satisfied.
The exclamation point in that story is that, not only were 5,000 people fed with five loaves and two fish, but the disciples ended up collecting twelve baskets full of leftovers.
“Jesus – you proved yourself again. We really didn’t think you could pull it off. You really are someone special, aren’t you?”
We know that sometime around the middle of the 2nd century, a little over a hundred years after the time of Christ, the early church began using the symbol of the fish to express their belief in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, hence the fish bumper stickers that we see on the back of cars.
The early Christians realized that not only are there several fish stories in the Gospel accounts, but the word, “fish” actually makes a very nice acrostic in summarizing the Christian faith.
The Greek word for fish is “Ichthys” and those Greek letters also served as an acrostic which provided those early Christians with a reminder of the the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Those letters spell out the words, “Jesus Christ, God, Son, Savior.” “Jesus Christ, God, Son, Savior.” Say that with me. “Jesus Christ, God, Son, Savior.”
So, whenever the Christians of the early church used that fish symbol, they were in effect saying, “We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.”
When people become followers of Jesus, this is the basic statement of faith they are making. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.
Back to our Gospel reading. After Jesus eats that piece of broiled fish, which no doubt reminded those disciples of the many fish stories they had shared together, he then gives the disciples a new name. He calls them witnesses. “You are witnesses of these things,”Jesus tells them.
We’re not just church members. We are primarily known as witnesses. Witnesses that Jesus has been raised from the dead and is alive today.
Some will find this hard to believe and they will say… “This all sounds a little “fishy.”
But this fish story is actually true. “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.”
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