Eastertide

May 4, 2019

Scripture Reading: John 21:1-19

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. –John 21:4-8

I am left handed and have had to adapt since birth to a right handed world. I am glad my parents chose to let me be the way God created me unlike many of their peers and ancestors who were required to make their right hand their dominant hand. One of my older aunts told me that two of my great aunts were born left handed and when that was discovered their mother tied the toddlers’ arms to their side until they made the transition to being right handed. The connotation of the word “right” is “better” not just more common.

The reason Jesus told them to throw the net on the right side of the boat may well have been an instruction to work within their strengths because 90% of them were most likely right handed and he knew that there were a lot of fish to haul in. In our creation God gifted all God’s children differently for the purposes of building a strong society ruled by love. Apparently, God did not need as many left handed people but apparently God needed some. Science now tells us that we humans are a whole lot more alike than different. Our cultures, past and present, have seen a need to differentiate humans by skin color, gender, etc. to serve sometimes self-serving ends like slavery and right to land and decision making. Most of those ends relate to greed and lust for power, the idols of our world today, not the rule of love in God’s vision for our future.

Prayer: Lord, help us discover our strengths and work within them to your glory. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.