[Sermon] Pulled from the Deep

Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo + May 4, 2025

Third Sunday of Easter

When fear, loss, or uncertainty overwhelms us, we often retreat to the familiar—to places, routines, or identities that feel safe. But in John 21, Jesus meets the disciples not to let them stay in retreat, but to call them forward. Pastor Hector explores how the risen Christ pulls us out of the sea—not just literally, but spiritually—from despair into purpose. The sea, once a symbol of chaos, becomes the place of encounter, provision, and calling. Resurrection isn’t just about hope for the future—it’s the power that transforms us now. Jesus says, “Follow me”—and calls us to lives of courage, generosity, and renewal.

Sermon Transcript

From YouTube's automatically generated captions, lightly edited by AI for readability.

Grace to you and peace from Abba, Father, Mother, Creator, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, our Lord, and our cook. And we said, Amen.

It's, uh—the passages that we read today have material for a three-week-long sermon, probably because there is so much there that we could be talking and reflecting about today and the rest of the week. So I invite you just to spend a few minutes with me this morning, trying to see at least the most important aspects of these two passages that we read in the book of Revelation and in the Gospel according to John—to John—which I find, which I really find, that they are really, really connected.

We have done it, and we have experienced it. We look for familiarity to cope with challenges, with change, and with uncertainty. Would you agree with me?

Many years ago, when I started my ministry—and it's a longer story, but I will try to point out just something that really speaks to me in reference to today’s Gospel—is when I started my ministry as a church planter, basically in Mexico. Things didn't go well for many reasons: context, organization, the background of the Lutheran church body that I belonged to at that time. To the point that, um, there was a situation where I found myself in a very desperate situation, because I was a new father, a new pastor, and a new husband, in a country where neither my wife nor my daughter were familiar with—in a context, in a culture, in an environment that was totally new. And they didn't have the opportunity to grow and to become, because, uh, they were not citizens in Mexico—and Mexico doesn't have diplomatic relationships with Taiwan.

Anyway, things went so bad that I got to the point that I had to decide between serving the call that I felt to grow a church, and, at the same time, the call that I had as a father and husband. When things went that bad, I had to look for familiarity.

I remember that the company where I used to work—where I was enjoying being a chemical engineer before—was the place to go back. And I called back the company and I said, "You know what? Things are not going well for me. Would you take me back?" And they said, "No." And then later they said, "Okay."

So I interviewed, and I went, and I did all the process, and, um, I came back home.

At the same time, there were some friends in Texas—professors, and the seminary, and others—who knew about my situation. Well, the company where I used to work eventually came back to me. And it was on a morning, a weekday, like 9:00—9:00 in the morning—when the company said:

"Hector, you know what? We don't normally take people who leave the company, but we see that you have brought something. And now you have a different language, you have experience in another—in another country. I think—we think—that we can go back, we can come back. The only thing is that we're not going to give you the position that you left. You need to start from the bottom, and then you go from there. But we will take you."

And I said, "Okay, that's great." And then, um, I said, "Well, I will be talking with my wife and I will get back to you." Just regular process of hiring, right?

And then, three hours later, there’s another phone call. And this time, it's from the ELCA. And they say:

"Hector, we heard that you are looking for a call, and we know that we need people like you—you know, people who are bilingual, people who are serving the Latino community. And we would be happy to have you and to serve with us in the ELCA."

Hey—I had to say—I had to call back the company and say, "I think I have another place to go."

The conversation ended up there.

We run to places where we feel familiar, safe. Our call as disciples of the Lord Jesus sometimes takes us to places—as we read in the Gospel—"Follow me." And Jesus was telling—Jesus, the, uh—Peter, that he is going to go to places that we don't want to go.

We often retreat to familiar environments, routines, or relationships due to a combination of psychological, neurological, or sociological factors, because familiarity provides for us a sense of safety, reduces the stress and the anxiety in our lives. And our brain itself works in ways that associate the known environments or routines with predictability.

When we feel that we can predict, and that we can hold to something that we know, we feel safe. But when things move—when the ground shakes, when things turn around in ways that we didn't predict—we want to go fishing. We want to go back to what we know.

Was Peter, in this case in this story, escaping or avoiding the confronting initial call that Jesus extended to him—so that he went to what was familiar for him, and predictable and comfortable?

This makes me ask questions about ourselves as individuals, but also us as congregation. Because I have heard the stories and witnessed the stories of congregations that prefer to be holding what is familiar, what they know, instead of jumping into the unpredictable call to be who God calls us to—calls us to be.

In John 21, the passage that we read—I believe that this passage in the Gospel reflects a tension and a struggle: the pull toward the familiar, which leads us to safety and gives us a sense of identity, but also the call to embrace transformation that relies on faith and the call to mission.

The images that are used in these two passages that we read this morning are important. In ancient Jewish culture, the Hebrew yam—which means the sea—was held in profound... how this term, the sea, holds a profound symbolic, theological, and practical significance. Because it encapsulates both fear and wonder. And it is a reminder of our human vulnerability, but also of the divine power that is in us, with us, and around us.

The sea's turbulence symbolized life's trial, evil, and the nation's upheaval. Just think—if this was the image of the sea, what did it—what did it mean for the disciples to go back to the sea?

They had just experienced the resurrected Lord Jesus, who appeared to them in the house—the fulfillment of the promise of what he had told them. The promise that was told to the women, to Mary Magdalene, who told them, and they ran to the tomb—and now, they go back to this place that represents life, trials, evil, and the nation's upheaval.

Sounds pretty much what I was doing at that time, when things didn't go the way that I predicted or wanted.

But the people of Israel, through the story and the witness of the Scripture, remind us that the sea actually is subordinated to Yahweh's authority. The sea was a creature—not a divinity or a deity, I'm sorry, not a god—as the Greco-Roman culture and the Canaanites believed. And we can read that in Psalm 95:5, where it says that the sea is created by God.

And in the book of Revelation, we read also that the ultimate image—the final vision of the writer of the book of Revelation—is that there was no longer any sea in heaven, in the new creation. This meant the end of all chaos and the beginning of the new order of life that God was bringing. This is the foretaste of God's vision for all creation. All creatures, heavenly and earthly, join and share a common purpose: to reflect God's new order—the order of life.

And Jesus Christ calls us out of the sea—the sea of desperation and despair, the sea of hopelessness and helplessness. We are pulled out from the sea of fear and despair, and we are pushed forward into the new call that Jesus brings for us. Jesus tells Peter, "Follow me." And this is the renewal of the disciples’ mission.

Jesus—Peter said, "I'm going fish." The translation in Greek is, "I'm going to catch fish." Well, Jesus had said, "You're not going to catch fish anymore, Peter." What are you going to catch?

But he had gone back to the familiar, to the predictable, to what helped him feel that he was in control.

The renewal of the disciples’ mission is that they are not fishers of fish, but fishers of people. And this reaffirms Jesus' authority over all creation—and the call that you and I have from the Lord Jesus. Resurrection is a creating and life-giving power that pulls us out and leads us into recognizing Jesus in the midst of our lives.

It was hard for me that day to say, "You know what? I'm not going to take the position that you're offering me." And I understand if they hung up on me—not really happy. But I think that God had a different call for me. And today, I'm sitting here with you.

Where is the sea where we have felt that we are trapped in? What is the sea—or the seas, the oceans—that sometimes we run to when we believe that there is no hope, or life, or purpose in life?

God honors our need for familiarity. Jesus shows up at the place where they are doing what they are familiar with. But Jesus invites them to go beyond that and to embrace the transformation of the resurrection. Jesus meets us in our retreats to familiarity, but gently redirects our lives toward resurrection life—a life that integrates our past and the renewed reality of the new order that God brings in Jesus.

This Gospel, my siblings in Christ, is a bridge between Jesus’ earthly ministry and the post-resurrection church. And it summarizes his teaching, his miracles, and the relational grace that God brings to us through others.

Just think of the different images of the ministry of Jesus of the three previous years in this short passage. What images do you see in this passage that are connected with the rest of the Gospels?

One is the fishing, right? When Jesus did another miracle and they caught a lot of fish. What else? Supper—the Last Supper, the meal, the 5,000 people fed, the communal... the communal meals. What else? Feed the sheep. Peter’s denial of Christ—Peter's denial of Christ. But this time, it's Peter’s restoration. And also the call to follow.

This is like a summary of the entire message that Jesus brings for us—the Good News and the new reality that we are experiencing.

When I was doing this, I said, “This is just wonderful—to hear, in one passage, the entire Gospel of Jesus coming back to us.” So of course, now I use technology. Not like— not like your technology, or Star Wars—but I use, you know, artificial intelligence now. And I fed in artificial intelligence one of the G... GPS? Or whatever that is—something like that. Everything starts with G now, anyway. So... and I fed all this information, and this is what it came up with. So let’s show just the... the slide.

As you can see, you can see the interface between the old order and the new order—and the willingness for us to be transformed, and to leave behind the seas to which we run back when we believe that there is no hope, or life, or purpose.

Jesus’ presence transforms the sea from a symbol of uncertainty to a place of provision and purpose. “Come, come and eat. The fish is ready.”

Today, we have emphasized two important sacraments in the church: the water and the thanksgiving of baptism. And in a moment, we are going to emphasize the First Communion of our young worshippers.

We will focus on these two sacraments that remind us of the assurance that you and I have—baptism, the waters of renewal, and communion, the communal, nurturing meal that sends us into the world as we follow Jesus.

These young worshippers who will be taking communion for the first time have been participating, and actually taking communion with us for several years. But through the instruction that they received last Sunday, now they have a new guidance and a reminder of the importance—that we, as congregation, need to continue to be the ones who prepare the meal for people to go, and to grow, and to become what God called them to be.

So, my siblings in Christ, the power of the resurrection is life. We are pulled out from the sea of despair and hopelessness by the risen Lord—to fully become the witness of the resurrection.

“Follow me, and I will take you to places where you can imagine—and maybe you don’t want to go—but where you will see what God can do in you and through you.”

Amen.