"Come and Have Breakfast!" A Sermon on Jesus and Everyday Life from John 21.

One day, a server at a restaurant went to one of her booths, only to find a man sitting there, dripping wet.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"Well, I'll tell you," he said. "I live a few counties over, and the town I live in is in the middle of a HUGE flood. I was in my bed this morning, and when I woke up, water was pouring into the first floor of my house. I ran upstairs, but soon the water had begun to fill that floor, too. So I climbed onto the roof, but the water kept rising!"

"Oh no!" said the server. "What did you do?"

"Well, I don't really believe in God," said the man, "but I had no other options, and the water was rising, so I started to pray. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed for God to help me!"

"And God saved you!" said the server. "After all, you're here now, safe and sound!"

"Bah!" said the man. "God didn't do anything! It was this guy in a rowboat!"

It can be easy to ask God for help in a crisis, even for someone who doesn't really believe in God. What is more difficult is to invite God into the ordinary moments of our lives. These are the moments that make up our lives--the common, everyday, normal moments. And God is waiting to meet us in those moments, too.

John 21 we read of Jesus’ disciples out fishing. They fish all morning, but catch nothing. Then they hear a voice yelling from the shore: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some fish!”

So they do. And incredibly, that is where the fish are. They catch enough to fill up their nets almost to bursting. As they realize this shocking miracle, they look toward the shore and realize who it was that  yelled this advice. It is Jesus.

John, the disciple Jesus loved, joyfully exclaims, “It is the Lord!” When Peter hears this he jumps out of the boat (Peter was always the impulsive one) and swims to shore.

There is a lot to chew on in this passage. A lot to think about. A lot that can keep us interested. But today, I want to focus primarily on only one sentence. Here it is:

“Jesus said, ‘Come and have breakfast.’” 

There are a lot of incredible sentences in Scripture, but this is one of my very favorite. It’s not earth-shattering like Thomas’s proclamation, “My Lord, and my God!” It’s not challenging, like Jesus’s call to his disciples to “Follow me.” It’s not shocking like his later statement, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” It’s simple. It’s common. And because it is so simple, it is incredible. It is miraculous.

This sentence reveals much to us about the character of God—about who God is. First, God is someone who invites us to be with him. Jesus’ first word is “Come!” God doesn’t wait for us to make up our own minds to follow him. He first calls to each of us. He reaches out to us. He is calling to you, today, saying, “Come! Come to me! Come be with me! Come sit with me! Come rest with me! Come!”

Secondly, God is someone who wants everyday fellowship with us. Jesus calls his disciples to breakfast to be with them, to spend time with them. He doesn’t say, “You eat over here, and I’ll eat over there.” Jesus just liked to be with his disciples. Even though his disciples were sometimes cranky, sometimes difficult, sometimes annoying, sometimes just plain aggravating, Jesus wanted to be with them. He loved them. He lived with them in the common moments of their lives--early mornings, meals, long walks down dusty roads. And he loves us, and meets us in our common moments.

Finally, this simple sentence, “Come and have breakfast!” teaches us that God is someone who wants to care for our basic needs. Jesus provides a meal to his disciples—something so simple and basic, but so important. Can you imagine having Jesus cook you breakfast? He was dead, and is now alive. And here he is, crouched over a fire, roasting some fish. Because do you know what? Jesus cared about their physical needs, not just their spiritual ones. They were hungry, and it was time for breakfast.

My brother-in-law Jared loves to fish. And whenever he catches something he’ll bring it back to the house, fry it up in a pan, and share it with everyone around.

“Try this!” he’ll say, full of enthusiasm. “It’s SO good! You have to have some!”

He loves to bless people with the fish he catches. And this is how I picture Jesus in this passage. He is the Lord of all, God incarnate, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about breakfast. With shining eyes he holds up what he has prepared for his dear friends. “Try this!” he says. “It’s SO good! Come and have breakfast!”

Don’t ever believe the lie that God is too big or too busy or too important to meet you in your everyday life. God cares about far more than where you’ll go when you die, or whether you're doing enough good deeds. He cares about you, and the common, regular, simple, normal moments that make up your life. He cares about your big test at school. He cares about your track meet. He cares about who you date. He cares about your aching back in the morning, or your aching feet after a long day at work.  God walks with us in the normal, common parts of life, and he wants us to bring our everyday concerns to him. 

When we pray the Lord’s prayer each Sunday, we ask God to “give us this day our daily bread.” This is the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, and it’s so simple. So common. So straightforward. Not, “give us this day a million dollars,” but “give us this day our daily bread.” It's like saying, "Please help us with the basics of life today, Lord."

This is one of the things that moms are good at, isn’t it? Moms are good at noticing everyday needs, and meeting them. 

My mom has been down to visit recently, and I'm always amazed at the small things she notices and helps with. For example, I have this bin of tupperware in one of my cabinets, and it's always a mess. I just toss in the lids and don't ever think about it. But she notices. And she'll take a few minutes and organize that tupperware. And when I reach in to find something later, and I don't have to hunt for a lid for ten minutes, I am so blessed. It's such a small thing, but it's a way she shows her love, and it never fails to make me feel loved.

Moms are good at the big things, too, of course. They gave us all life, (for starters!). But the small ways our moms--and those who have been like moms to us--bless us reflect the motherly side of God in a very powerful way. God doesn't just care about the big picture. He also meets us when we fall. When we cry. When we need to be told that we are loved and cherished. Our moms, and those who have been like moms to us, teach us about this side of God. The side that catches some fish and cooks up some breakfast because gosh, people are hungry, and someone needs to bring the food.

What is going on in your life today? Maybe it’s something major, and you’ve already been talking to God about it. It’s often easier to rely on God when we’re in crisis—when we really need him.

But maybe your life today is just normal. Nothing major. Nothing crazy. Do you know that God still wants to walk with you? That he is still there? Do you hear his call to you?

“Come. Have breakfast. Meet with me. Talk with me. Open your life to me, even in the smallest of things.”

Will you take him up on his offer?

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Amen.