Acts 16:16-34
Ps. 97
Rev.22:12-14, 16-17,2 0
John 17:20-26

7 Easter C
10 HE 2A

A FISH AND THE ASCENSION

Chelsea 80,92; Grace, Newton 98; Grace, Norwood 01; Chastin 04; Danvers 07.

Source: Pulpit Monthly 5/80, 14-15

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This is a parable about a fish. This fish was swimming just below the surface of the water, when a little fly came down within an inch or so of the water. The fish saw the fly, and he made a leap to get the fly, such a leap that he came right up into the air. Of course he fell right back into the water, and the water was his natural element. The air was a strange world to him - a world above his world of water, a world from which he was glad to escape, back into his natural habitat.

And as he swam about once more, he said to himself, "What a relief it is to get back to the liquid realities of this world!" But the truth he did not dream of, is that he would not be living at all except that there was air dissolved in the water. As he swam along, water kept passing through his gills, and he did not know that this was how he absorbed the life-giving oxygen. He did not know that if the water did not have air dissolved in it, the water would soon be the death of him.

In other words, our fish had still to learn that the strange world above him is secretly mingled in his own familiar world, - and only by living on that air from which he fell back, will he last until the fisherman's net takes him for keeps into that other world.

By now I imagine that the interpretation of the parable is pretty clear. You and I are like that fish. The water corresponds to our everyday world. The air is that world of mystery into which Jesus was taken up, after He shared humbly in the normal things of our daily life, and in death, followed by the Resurrection. As we think frankly and devoutly about the Ascension of our Lord, we have made what amounts to a leap into that other world. We naturally fall back again into our normal element. But I hope that when we fall back into our natural normal mode of life, we fall back like a fish that has caught the fly he was leaping for. In other worlds, I hope that we shall have learned that through our thinking minds, like the fish through its gills, we must go on taking in the breath of heaven in the ways possible to us in this life - in ways in which the breath of heaven is mixed in with this life chiefly through prayer and the sacraments, and through self-sacrificing love like that of Jesus, wherever that is found in life.

Now let us take another step as we interpret this parable. Let us link it up with our Lord's own parable recorded in Matthew's Gospel (13:47). These are His words: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a fish net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind of fish; and when it was full, they drew it to shore and sat down and gathered the fish into vessels. The Kingdom of Heaven is where our Saviour has gone on before us. For us to follow Him involves a change of element for us, as when a fish moves from water to air. Right here, of course, is where the parable begins to break down - for when a fish moves from water to air, the fish dies. But our Lord promises that the fish will be gathered into vessels; and I am sure that we can take that as our Lord's promise that His faithful disciples will be kept in life when that great adventure comes, when we change our element from earth to heaven.

If this is how we can think of the Ascension, about the cloud of mystery that for the present receives our Lord out of our sight, we shall not be troubled, or sorrowful, or fearful. On the contrary, we shall do what the disciples did after they witnessed the Ascension. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the Temple, praising and blessing God. In terms of our parable, we shall be like the fish who caught the fly, but even more than that, we shall be like a fish who has seen and understood that the world above his world is mixed in with his natural world as the air is mixed in with the water. In other words, we shall begin to understand that this world in which we live now is God's world, that, so to speak, God is mixed in with this life here and now, so that we can learn of His love and experience His love here and now, through people and events, in and outside of the Church. That is to say, we shall begin to feel less imprisoned in our world, for we shall begin to see it as part of something much bigger and more wonderful. And we shall look forward to entering into that larger world and larger life, even though we know little of what it is like, nor do we know when the moment of change will come, any more than the fish knows when the fisherman's net will take him. Yet even while we live in this world, in our natural home, we shall be learning of the other world, through seeing how God is at work in this world in so many ways. In the words of the Ascension collect, we shall "in heart and mind thither ascend, and with our Lord continually dwell." And when the moment of change comes, it will not be quite such a wrench, and it will not seem unnatural - in fact, some people have gone so far along the road that they approach the moment of change with relief, moving on to that next world with relief, rather than sinking back into this natural world with relief, like the fish, and like most of us.

But there is still a further point to be gained from this parable. All through our thinking so far, you and I have been the fish in the story, and God or the risen Christ have been the fishermen. And certainly a good part of Biblical teaching is in terms of sheep and shepherd, or fish and fishermen - that is, we are the followers where God is the Leader, in control and doing as He will. But an equally strong element of Biblical teaching is that God calls us to be shepherds, or fishermen, in terms of leading others to Christ, or catching them for Christ. That always involves a new power within us. And that brings us to the Feast of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit - another subject and another sermon. [We shall follow that out next week, in terms of another fish story to set us thinking.]

In the meantime, think about that fish in today's story, as he leaps to catch the fly. He has a lot to learn.

We already know that God is at work in this world, for our Lord showed it by living a human life among us. Therefore this world is very good, and as we see this, we shall see more and more that in all things God is at work for good to those who love God.

We are way ahead of the fish!