Scripture Isaiah 6:8
POP UP Verse: Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the
Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will
go for us?" And I said,
"Here am I. Send me!"
What does the Shaka sign mean?
If you visit Hawaii, you're likely
to see it a lot. The gesture, called The Shaka Sign, can be interpreted as
"Hello," "Goodbye," "Have a nice day," "Take
it easy," "Good luck," or, the most popular definition,
"Hang loose."
When Jesus began his earthly
ministry, the disciples seemed to just enjoy being with Jesus. As time went on
things began to get a little tense – they never seemed to get Jesus and his
miracles - like shocked when he wanted to feed 5000 people with only a boy’s
lunch, like when James and John wanted preferred seating in heaven, like when
Judas left supper to go betray Jesus.
It seemed that after Jesus death and
resurrection, he wanted the disciples to get back to that kind of relationship.
A shaka relationship. HE just wanted to “hang Loose with his friends – his
disciples – so instead of calling a board meeting, he started a cooking fire…on
a beach to have breakfast with them. He decided to remind them that he has the
ability to provide all their needs – when there were no fish in the net he
blessed them with a catch of 153 – a great catch by any fisherman’s standards. Then he decided to focus specifically on the
central fisherman-Peter; and remind him that their relationship was of far
greater importance than his poor choices in a bad situation.
Jesus often showed us that our
relationship with him is the most important thing. Consider the time parents
were bringing their children to ‘shaka’ with Jesus. Or how about the time that
Martha wanted to show Jesus she could make it onto Iron-Chef all while sister
Mary was just spending some good shaka time with Jesus – which he said he
preferred.
Pastors’ have
a standing joke – “If it weren’t for people, the church would be a great place
to work” – This tongue in cheek saying simply means – I’d be ok if it were just
me and Jesus having some shaka time together.
There is a book called “People love Jesus, not the church” On the one
hand that is a sad commentary on the church, but look for the positive – people
DO want to spend time with Jesus. One of the greatest things to come out of the
late 60’s and early 70’s in the US was a spiritual awakening…Do you know what
it was called? “THE JESUS MOVEMENT” The entire movement was about people having
a shaka relationship with Jesus.
Yes, there is
much more to living our faith than just hanging loose with our savior; we also
serve him as Lord. Think about a marriage where all you do is work, pay bills
and go to work some more…that you never hang loose with your spouse or
children? How aweful that would be – so
it is in our relationship with Jesus. There needs to be more than accomplishing
things for Christ…there has to be just being in a hang loose shaka relationship
with Jesus – that is how most of us came to know him at first but has become
easy to go from a relationship to a religious experience.
Maybe it is
time to remind ourselves to shaka with Jesus – once we do that…it makes much
more since to do what comes next – to encourage others to come to faith in him.
John 21:1-18
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea
of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called
Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other
disciples were together. 3 "I'm going out to fish,"
Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll
go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that
night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood
on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5 He called
out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered. 6 He said,
"Throw your net on the right side of the boat and
you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the
net in because of the large number of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved
said to Peter, "It is the Lord!"
As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is
the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had
taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the
boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a
hundred yards. 9 When they
landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." 11 Simon Peter
climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but
even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples
dared ask him, "Who are you?" They
knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the
same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples
after he was raised from the dead.
15 When they had finished eating,
Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do
you truly love me more than these?" "Yes,
Lord," he said, "you know that I
love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
16 Again Jesus
said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love
you." Jesus said, "Take care of my
sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was
hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do
you love me?" He said, "Lord, you
know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."
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