Abundance Is Joy
Photo by Jakub Kapusnak on Unsplash
Jesus Produces Abundance And Abundance Produces Joy
by Eric Elkin
“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Jesus. Jesus called to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.”
It is spring in Minnesota. Yet, the calendar seems to be the only evidence to support the classification. The grass is brown, and the trees are bare. Warm days appear out of nowhere but quickly disappear. In northern Minnesota, the lakes are still covered with ice. Panic has set in among anglers. Will there be open water for the fishing opener?
History and experience shape our expectations. We know a time of growth is coming, and winter will not last forever. Yet, when there is a delay in the process, it impacts our being. The vacancy of green growth and warm temperatures makes it harder for our souls to discover joy. Every snowflake in the air makes us feel like a long-distance runner who wonders whether they can finish the last mile of the race.
I am susceptible to this type of reaction. When the snow starts to melt, I want spring to begin immediately. The longer snow remains, the more life feels like working overtime in a manual labor job. After working a long shift, workers tend to only find mild comfort knowing a big payday will come. The real joy of their labor comes when the check is received.
“God has a plan for how to start anew…In those places and times of hardship, it seems appropriate to think about the newness and change and hope that comes when God takes twigs and makes cedars.”
Abundance is joy. When the days are long, warm, and sunny, few struggle to find happiness. A full plate of food makes the stomach forget any sense of hunger. A gathering of friends laughing and dining together allows us to forget loneliness. In the moment of abundance, our minds find the delight of amnesia. The joy of amnesia is forgetting our seasons of vacancy and emptiness. Those seasons we were in want of things we could not get.
In our reading today, 153 fish turn the day from sadness to joy. What an odd number. It was not a large number of fish or about 150 fish ( a round number), but 153. A group of vacant, depressed disciples returns from a fishing trip that produced no fish. On the shore, they meet Jesus, who invites them out to fish one more time. This second trip is the successful one.
The presence of Jesus is the true difference-maker. He turns the emptiness into abundance. That is the subtle meaning of the story. Some might not buy it, but I do. I’ve witnessed the sadness of death turn to joy solely on trusting in the resurrection. I have experienced compassion that turned the hardest heart soft; and grace that opened up the most closed mind. These are the presence of Christ in our lives.
When compassion, mercy, love, grace, and hope are absent from our lives, we tend to feel like we are in a constant state of winter. A heart that intentionally seeks to practice these things discovers spring. These practices also turn Jesus from a stranger standing near us to a visible presence in our lives. Then we understand how Jesus can make life feel abundant and how abundance is joy.
Click to read John 21: 1-19
Reflection Questions:
When have you felt depressed by your surroundings?
How does that environment trick you in to feeling vacant?
What does it take to see abundance in your life?
What can you be thankful for today?
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