A recent study reported in the Harvard Business Review (Sept 2011) has sparked an idea that could improve the customer experience for many restaurants. The study indicated that 66% of students observed in lecture halls over a six week period chose the same seat, or an adjacent one, every time. The study entitled “Territorial Behavior in Public Settings” suggests that restaurants could boost satisfaction by giving repeat customers the same table on each visit. You can read more about this study here.The truth of the matter is we all like the routine. It is why it is so hard to change our habits especially the bad ones. It is our need for routine or “the usual” that brings us to today. It also brings the disciples to this day. We can identify with the disciples on that Easter morning… the joy and the excitement of the experience. But Easter was not the glorious event for them that it was for us. Their whole community did not get together and dress up and host family gatherings. Easter lilies did not fill their homes with sweet aromas. They didn’t hunt eggs or get a visit from the Easter bunny.
Here we are, a week after Easter. The excitement has subsided. Easter Sunday is a distant memory. And for most of us this past week has tempted us to go back to where you were. It has tempted us to go back to who you were. It has tempted us to go back to what you were doing. And all of that was also true for the disciples.
Imagine if you would what it must have been like that for the disciples after that first Easter Sunday. None of them had actually seen the resurrection. They had heard the reports about the empty tomb; a couple of them had seen a mysterious stranger on the road to Emmaus, who appeared to be Jesus. Peter and the others had seen Him but for a brief time. Things were now quickly returning to normal – the usual.
For them Easter began with the emotion of fear. It began with the cry of defeat and mourning. We have developed a day of sweet celebration, all the while forgetting that Easter began basically with frightening events, an earthquake, a stone rolled away, a bright unknown messenger, and the fear that the body of Jesus had been stolen.
For the disciples the week after Easter strangely looked pretty much the same as it had looked before they had gone through the ordeal of the arrest, trial, crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus. Things looked like everything went back to the way it was before they had met Christ.
Think about it for a moment. Before Easter, more concerned with their own status, they argued over who was the greatest. They were bad students as they rarely understood what Jesus was saying. His parables confused them. When he walked on the water, they didn’t recognize Him. They never really seemed to understand what was happening.
On Friday, Jesus died. The disciples scattered. They were told that this was going to happen, but they did not understand. Then, Jesus appears, alive! They are apprehensively joyful. They are hesitantly hopeful. Now, HE is gone… and they are wandering by the Sea of Galilee. There are no more appearances. Jesus is gone. And so they the disciples are tempted to go back to where they were. They are tempted to go back to who they were. They are tempted to go back to what they were. They were tempted to let things get back to normal. They were seeking “the usual.”
“Simon Peter told them, "I’m going fishing" (John 21:3a).
Peter was ready to quit and just go back to what he had done before - fishing. The other disciples were as dismayed as he and said, “Hey, we will go with you” (John 21:3b).
When Peter said “I am going fishing” what he was really saying was “It’s over. It was a great run, but it is over. There is nothing left but to go back home, back to the old life, back to the way life was before. It’s back to the usual.”
What he did not express out loud was “Fishing will never be like being with Jesus. Nothing can ever be like that again. I will be sick, remembering how things were. Life will be empty and meaningless. Fishing - just catching dumb fish. What kind of life is that? I would have been better off if Jesus had never come. At least back then, before He came life was good. But now, after being with Him, everything else seems pointless.”
There they are Peter and the other disciples fishing - back to the usual. For years they had fished, making their living, providing for their families. Now they were doing what they were good at. They fished for the whole night. They caught nothing, not one little fish. Did you notice that their return to the routine didn’t improve their situation?
Can you imagine the scene on that boat? Look at Peter. Look at his face. What do you see? Do you think he is happy? Does the smell of the sea and salt and fish invigorate him? Is he laughing? Does it feel like homecoming? What about John? James? The others? Absolutely Not! These are defeated men in the boat. But things are about to change, early in the morning, through the morning mist, a man calls out from the shore, "Do you have any fish?"
Now there is more to this question than it appears. Jesus knew his disciples better than they knew themselves. He might as well have asked, "Are you happy? Is your work giving you joy? Do you really want to go back… back to how things were?”
Jesus might even ask you today, "Friends, do you have any fish? Are you happy? Is your work giving you joy? Is there joy in your home… work… family?”
"No" was the disciple’s answer and for many of us here, “No” would be our answer too. And sadly for most Christians that is right where we are stuck. After Easter we are back to where we were - living for ourselves with no sense of God’s presence. It seems like Jesus is at best far away or worse He is just gone. Life is hard, temptations abound, doing spiritual things seems tedious and they bring no joy, you are left feeling powerless to do the things you know you should. Life is just empty and hopeless.
The problem is this: after you have experienced new life with Christ, you cannot go back to where you were. You cannot go back to who you were. You cannot go back to what you were.
For too many of us, Easter was a day of great fun, but now I’ll go back to “my usual.” That is where the disciples were - back on the boat – back to the usual - hopeless and joyless - living life as if Jesus was still in the grave.
For many of you this past week after Easter was probably like it was for the disciples. The events of each day were ordinary – they were life as usual. This wasn’t the first time the disciples had gone fishing. Unfortunately it wasn’t even the first time they hadn’t caught anything. It was for them a usual day. The kind of day they had had many times before. But in the midst of the usual, this day became something more. Why?
Because Jesus broke into the routine and made it better!
That is what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.
Every day we need to be with Jesus. Every day!
It is not just a Sunday thing. It is not just an Easter thing.
Every day is to be a day with Jesus.
That is why Jesus came to them… That is why Jesus called out to them.
Jesus invited them once more to the table to dine with Him.
Breakfast was made.
It was time to be together.
It was time to sit down and talk.
It was time to enjoy some more of “the usual”.
This is why we are never without hope.
No matter how difficult our circumstances...
No matter what the crisis...
No matter how bad we have screwed it up...
No matter how mundane or routine the moment is...
Jesus still wants to be right there with us.
Every ordinary day… can be made extraordinary by simply taking time to spend some of it with Jesus.
That way, we can say in the darkness of any day, “It is the Lord!”
In the moments of our daily failures, we can say “It is the Lord!”
On the days when the nets are full and life is good we can say, “It is the Lord!”
In all the days of our life, in all the times we can say, “It is the Lord!”
It can be so easy to make Easter a moment in time and not a moment that changes time. Our experience with Christ should change our lives. After an encounter with Christ, you can’t just go back to your old way of life. Things should never be the same again. We shouldn’t be able to experience the resurrection and then just go back to the day to day lives we lead. Life should be different because of our encounter with Christ.
Did Easter change you, or are you back to the daily grind?
Jesus wants more from us than to just experience the joy of Easter morning.
He wants us to live changed lives!
He wants us to live the gift and grace of Easter morning every day.
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