The elephant in Jesus’ room – John 21, Part 1

You know that phrase, “the elephant in the room”?  It refers to the idea that there is something that everyone knows about, but no one is talking about it.  Imagine you’re walking through the mall, and there is a literal elephant walking down the large mall hallways. But as you’re walking what if no one in your group mentions this elephant? You’d definitely by thinking “Why is there an elephant in the room?”  You’d probably motioning to your friends, wondering what is going on, “Hey, I’m not crazy, right?  You see that elephant in the room too, don’t you?” 

The “elephant in the room” often occurs in relationships.  Something happens, but people ignore it.  It is usually an offense that one or more people commit against another person or group.  But because it is very difficult and awkward to talk about those kinds of things, people ignore them.  We don’t want to deal with it because we might be afraid of the emotions that might come out.  We don’t want to accuse people of bad behavior.  We don’t want to put people under the microscope, because they just might try to turn the tables and put us under the microscope and talk about our junk.  Or maybe they have a reputation for reacting very poorly, aggressively, or even abusively when we talk about their stuff.  So we are quiet, and we ignore the elephant in the room.

It is normal human behavior to want to ignore difficult relational situations.  In fact, there is even a biblical tension about this.  On the one hand, the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:10, that we Christians are people who speak the truth in love.  It seems Paul is saying we need to talk about the elephant in the room.  But Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:8, “love covers a multitude of sins.” Some people whip that verse out as if Peter is saying we can ignore the elephant in the room.  So what about you?  Do you talk about the elephant in the room, or do you sometimes ignore it?  What is the loving things to do? 

Clearly Paul and Peter are both right.  There are times when the most loving thing to do is wait, to not bring up the conflict, the hurt, the offense right away.  But there also comes a point when we need to talk.  Love eventually brings up the elephant in the room. 

In Jesus’ life right after his resurrection, there is a huge elephant in the room. See if you can find the elephant in John chapter 21, verses 1-3. 

“Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”

The scene has changed.  No longer are the disciples in Jerusalem in the south.  They’ve returned to their home region of Galilee in the north.  It is interesting that they go back to fishing, after Jesus has given them a new mission, which we read in chapter 20.  He sent them on a mission of forgiveness.  Why aren’t they starting that mission?  John doesn’t tell us.

But there are realities of life, such as food, clothing and a home.  It could simply be that those disciples needed to make some money to provide for themselves and their families.  They go back to fishing.  At least some of them.  It seems 7 of them are there including John the writer of the Gospel.  But the disciples have a terrible night of fishing, catching nothing.  So we haven’t seen the elephant yet, and we haven’t even seen any fish. Then a stranger shows up, and that will make all the difference. We’ll meet the stranger in the next post.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash