'I'm going out to fish', Simon Peter told them (John 21:9)

We don't know when this one of the post-resurrection appearances occurred. We may be fairly sure it was after the space of a week or two. All of the appearances on the first Easter Sunday occurred in Jerusalem aqpart from that one on the road to Emmaus, and that was in its close vicinity. And John tells us that a week later they were still there when Jesus appears to have expressly come to his group of disciples for the benefit of Thomas.

So, here we are, three weeks on from Easter; as possibly this incident may have been too. The disciples had moved on to Galilee. That they did so was their Lord's command; such is intimated in the resurrection account of Mark where the angel at the tomb tells them Go, tell his disciples and Peter "He is going ahead of you into Galilee"
  But beyond that what effect had the resurrection had? At first it was mind shattering! At first it provoked fear. The women fled from the tomb terrified. And also the disciples met behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. Fear abounded. When Jesus first appears to his disciples they were afraid (who wouldn't have been!); but then they were overwhelmed with joy. But again, I ask, to what effect? What was the effect of Jesus' resurrection on their lives?
  I'm going out to fish, says Simon Peter and we see gathered with him the whole group of fishermen. Were they not just returning to their old familiar ways? These dreadful, then these wonderful things happened. They had watched Jesus crucified; their dearest friend taken from them in this way. He had risen, something wonderful; really too wonderful to take in. And what effect did it have on them now? I'm going out to fish says Peter.

Each year the Easter season lays before us this fact of the resurrection of Jesus. And I would have us pose the same question to ourselves: what effect does the resurrection of Jesus have in our lives? Is the course and shape of our lives altered in any radical way? Paul tells us in that great fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians
   What I first received, I passed on to you as of the first importance, that Christ died for
    our sins, according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
    day according to the Scriptures.
then further on in the same chapter he says
    If Christ had not been raised, our preaching is in vain, as is your faith.
'Jesus and the resurrection'; that is the very basis of our faith. But isn't it in danger of producing the biggest yawn ever? What effect does it have on our lives?

I want to put before you two staggering consequences of the resurrection for us, that really will transform our lives if we but take them on board.
Firstly, to quote again from 1 Corinthians:
   Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
The resurrection of Christ is the 'first-fruits', that is the guarantee, as Paul says
    Each (will be made alive) in his own turn: Christ the first-fruits; then, when he comes,
    those who belong to him.
Christs' resurrection is the guarantee to all who belong to him. He hold son promise to those who don't. But to those who do belong; those who are chosen and called by him; to all who believe and trust in him is the glorious promise of resurrction. And it is that which gives context and substance and value to our faith.
  If  we believe in Jesus Christ risen, then we shall realise, or should realise, that this life is not the be-all and end-all. In fact our true citizenship is in heaven. We are but pilgrims in this world. We have a living King in the heavenly places and we are in this world a his ambassadors, his representatives. Should this not shake us out of the rut of the ordinary?--if we but realise that our true home is in heaven; that we live as representatives of this Jesus Christ, who has called us and chosen us; who died for our sins, who was buried, but who is alive again.
  We must surely see our life in this world in a different and new perspective. We shall surely take a different view of this world's gaudy pleasures; of its lures and temptations. This world actually becomes a richer and fuller place as we realise that we live as Christ's ambassadors. Yes, a richer and fuller place; and there's a greater value in all we encounter in our daily round, for he died for their sins too; he rose that they might live too.

But second the resurrection is something more immediate. It doesn't just give a new hope for the end of the road; nor yet just a new perspective on life and on this world in which we live. Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians:
   God made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions..(and)..
   raised us up with Christ and seated us in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
  If the experiential life and rising are for that future day when Christ comes again yet even now it is true of us who believe. The natural state of every man and woman in this world is dead in transgressions, and that is by nature how we would remain: lost, without hope. But by faith, we may receive hope. A new hope: and that hope is that even here and now we are brought out of sin's death, and even more raised up with Christ and seated...in the heavenly realm.
  My friends, do you realise this true potential? Do you know that because Christ is raised up, you are raised up with him? and seated in the heavenly realms. This isn't just a platitude or wishful thinking. It means that in Christ we have victory over all those things by which we feel defeated or threatened. Victory over sin. Victory over temptation. Victory over sickness. Yes, these things will happen to us and (sickness apart) often because of us; yet we have resurrection power over them. They have no power over us. They need not; they should not drag us down. Even when they happen, we should know that we have salvation from them. Yes, and at the end of the road victory over death. We know one partially: then, face-to-face.
  If we know these things how can life be humdrum? First, we have in Paul's great phrase to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. Then , we have to remind ourselves too, that we have access to heaven's throne room. And so, the whole of life is different. It is not an escape from life's hardship; it's a life full of joyful and joyous service of the risen Lord Jesus.
                             Above the level of the former years
                                  the mire of sin, the slough of guilty fears
                              the mist of doubt, the blight of love's decay,
                                   O Lord of life, lift all our hearts today!

Peter said I'm going out fishing; returning to his old way of life; his old habits. Yet weeks later this same Peter was to address a crowd of some thousands in Jerusalem:
    God made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.
Years later in the first of his tow epistles he was to write:
    Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given
    us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
New birth through the resurrection. For Peter the meaning and course of life had been re-shaped.
 
What of us? Is the course and shape of our lives altered in any radical way? Have we new birth through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead? Is Jesus vitally alive in our experience: do we have a living hope?