Symbols are very important in our Christian lives. There are a number of Christian symbols: the cross, the A & Ù the sign of the Trinity and the fish which is purported to be the first Christian symbol. A few weeks ago I was driving down Broadway and I noticed a bumper sticker. It simply said, “Jesus Saves”. That is a statement I am sure most of us have read before on a billboard, or the internet, or even a bumper sticker. It states the fact that Jesus saves us from eternal death, and he also gives us life in this life, abundant life. But this bumper sticker took it one further. You see, behind “Jesus Saves” on the bumper sticker was a hockey player, in a goalie pads no less, and the hockey player was Jesus. A different way of communicating t h aJesus saves, a powerful symbol of the good news

In John 21:1-19 we read of the third time that Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. We read of the disciples who have returned to their nets and

are fishing. It’s like another fishing story when Jesus tells the disciples they will fish for people (Matthew 4:19) and Jesus again helps the disciples bring in a huge catch of fish. The message is that although, Jesus died and rose from the dead, his power is not diminished and he will continue to be with us and help us proclaim the good news.

The bumper sticker is a relatively new phenomenon and obviously would not have been available to Christians in the time following Jesus resurrection. So what did they do? Persecution against Christians started fairly soon after Christians started to gather together and proclaim their faith. When a Christian encountered someone on the road or in the market, they would draw a semi-circle; if the other person completed it and made it into a fish, then they knew that they were amongst friends. The Greek word for fish, Ichthus, was actually an acronym, taking the first letter of the words in Greek for, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. The world is full of people with and without faith these days as it was then. Some have thought it clever to take the fish on the bumper sticker which sometimes has the word Jesus in the centre of it and write instead the word “Darwin”, sometimes putting feet on the fish. Some Christians have responded by putting that fish on a bumper sticker with a larger fish with Jesus written on it and its jaw wide open about to eat the “Darwin” fish and so the battle continues.

The work of the sheep being fishers of people will continue. What do I mean by that? We begin as fish and end up sheep - a rather strange metaphorical change and neither animal have characteristics that are really sought after. We talk about “fishing people in” and sheep are seen as docile, not the smartest animal and will follow wherever they are led.

Concerning fish, no bait is used when using nets, there’s no choice whether to bite or not, we are all hauled in, but some do get away. And sheep, sheep stick to the herd for protection from predators. This is what makes them actually wise. They follow because they know that the shepherd will take care of them.

The shepherd keeps them safe, leads them wisely, cuts off all the heavy wool and anoints them with oil to keep bugs that cause infection and disease away. Shepherds use their staff to keep the sheep in the safe boundaries and the rod to guide them when they stray. An issue that faces the leadership in today’s church is how to divide our time between being shepherds — tending and feeding the flock, those inside the Church, and being fishers “catching the fish”, those who are outside the church. The answer, at least in today’s reading, is that we need to do both - continue to throw out the nets and also tend the sheep as Jesus asks Peter to tend and feed his sheep in John 21.

I couldn’t find any Christian bumper stickers displaying sheep as Christians. I did find some on the internet that where from the opposite end of the spectrum which declared, “Pastors should stick to herding sheep and leave us humans alone” and, “Sleep in on Sunday, there is no God”.

We have work to do. In Matthew 10:16 we hear, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. Beyond putting a bumper sticker on our car or wearing a cross, how do we, as Christians, stand out? What sets us apart as different when we look up and down the street on which we live? At one time, just about everyone we knew was a Christian. That’s not the case anymore, so how are we different?

I think that when people look at a church community, they will make a decision on what they see and hear.

And once they join, is what they initially see and hear born out in the community in which they were once fish and now are sheep. Is there love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - the gifts of the spirit? These are more than symbols, they are who we are and how we live our Christian lives. If they are found, then there is the church.