Hello my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are receiving TOO much of a good thing? Come with me and let’s rejoin 7 of the disciples of Jesus, in a boat, in the early dawn light on the Sea of Galilee. Simon Peter had decided to go fishing yesterday, and as he was gathering his nets, Thomas, Nathaniel, the brothers James and John, and two other disciples, who I presume to be Andrew and Philip, invited themselves to go along with Peter!
They loved night fishing on Lake Galilee…as long as the fish cooperated! Last night was not one of those nights. Last night, the nets came up empty every time, and by morning these friends were beyond tired, hungry and probably a little bit irritable.
And then, out of nowhere a voice, from a lone figure standing on the shoreline in the predawn early light. “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” (John 21:5) ‘No!’ ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ I’m so glad we don’t know what was said at that point in that boat, but finally someone must have said ‘what have we got to lose, grab the nets, let’s try the right side once more.’ I’m sure they expected nothing.
Normally when you expect nothing you get nothing, but not this time. John simply gives us one powerful statement: “When they did, they were unable to haul in the net because of the large number of fish.’ (John 21:6)
There’s a phrase for moments like this…’All hands on deck’! Everyone is needed with full engagement, for a prize catch like this would require all of them working together even though exhausted. Do you feel the boat listing over to one side as the net is strained by the huge catch, pulling the right side of the boat down very close to the water line? Listen to the yelling and screaming, FISH… lots of FISH, big fish, flapping fish. These veteran fishermen had never seen such a catch after a long night of empty net fishing!
But wait a minute, there are 7 men in the boat, but there’s only six men pulling on the nets, what is John doing? Why is he straining to look over the other side of the boat, at that lone figure on the shoreline? Listen, John is shouting… “Peter, it’s the Lord!” What?
John is pointing now and with a big smile on his face, shouting… ‘It’s Jesus, It’s our Rabbi!” Wait a minute, now there are only five guys pulling hard on the net for Peter has grabbed his outer garment and is wrapping it around him. What’s he doing? Wait, Peter, wait… splash! Too late, Peter just jumped overboard and is swimming toward shore.
John watches, five guys keep pulling on the net drawing it to a close, it’s way too heavy of a catch to try and dump it all in the boat, let’s just drag it to shore! John describes it like this, as Peter swam ashore: “The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish…When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals with some fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught. So, Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘come have breakfast.’ (John 21:8-12)
How do you describe the scene you are seeing my friends? A fresh bread, fresh fish breakfast, cooked by the resurrected Jesus, on the beach, at sunrise! Oh my, and after a long, long night of empty net fishing!
John doesn’t tell us much about the conversation around that fire. What do you think? Did the disciples sit quietly eating or did they flood Jesus with questions? And what about this question… why do you think it was John, only John, who recognized the figure standing on the shoreline in the early morning dim light? In fact, in this story John refers to himself again as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. (John 21:7)
Have you noticed John does that in the upper room (John 13:23) and at the cross (John 19:26) and when Mary awakened he and Peter on resurrection morning (John 20:2) and finally at the end of this story in John 21:20, why? As we read through John’s Gospel account of Jesus, clearly Jesus and John had a very special relationship.
I just have to ask: If you or I had been in the boat, would we have recognized Jesus on the shoreline? In the noise and busyness of 2023, how easily do you hear God, do you recognize the miraculous evidence of God at work?
As breakfast was winding down, John tells us Jesus initiated one question, phrased three different ways for Peter… “Do you love Me more than these?” What was Jesus asking Peter to compare their relationship with? Other disciples? One of the largest catches of fish he’d ever seen. The lake region that he loved so much.
Is that a question Jesus asks you and me today, my friends? To everything and everyone else in your life which you prioritize and deeply love, how do you compare your relationship with God? Or more specifically with the resurrected Jesus Christ?
Jesus asked the question again, this time like this: “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” No comparison this time, just simply a straightforward question but asked in a way that reminded Peter that Jesus knew everything about him, even his family tree.
Jesus used the deepest word for love “agape”, which is the type of love Jesus was referring to when in the upper room Jesus had told His disciples “Love one another as I have loved you… there is no greater love than a man lay down his life for his friend.” (John 13:34; 15:13) So once again Peter had to do some soul searching. And let’s do the same… what words do you use to describe the depth, the reliability, the genuineness, the self-sacrifice of the love you have for God, for the resurrected Jesus, God the Son?
Finally, Jesus asked Peter a third time, and this time Jesus simply asked, “Peter, do you love Me?” The word Jesus used was the word “phileo” which means simply a ‘brotherly love’, a friendship. Peter had been careful to not overstate the truth of his heart. While he was determined to never again find himself in that shameful place of denying Jesus, he had learned a hard lesson, boasting can lead to shame in the face of failure!
In response to Peter’s answers to these questions, Jesus had first invited Peter to “Feed My lambs”, then “Take care of My sheep”, and now “Feed My sheep”. Jesus was re-engaging Peter in His mission of loving, teaching, caring for those people who would trust Jesus as they would hear about His life and message. And then came the words Jesus had used once before when inviting Peter to join Him…“Follow Me.” (John 21:19)
Here, on the beach around a campfire, Peter was experiencing something with Jesus he’d never forget. Peter was experiencing forgiveness and a reconciling of their relationship which Peter had broken the last time he sat around a fire when he denied Jesus. Peter was experiencing an invitation to re-engagement for a meaningful life purpose of helping other people know God.
Let’s pause here, around the fire, with resurrected Jesus and seven of His friends. What a morning! A shocking, unforgettable fishing experience; a great breakfast cooked by Jesus Himself; Peter’s conversation with Jesus which everyone had witnessed… let’s just sit and watch this remarkable scene, and I wonder how much of this you’ve experienced with God?
When’s the last time you sensed God reached into your life with something special? What did you and God talk about the last time you had a really important conversation with God? When’s the last time you felt forgiven by God and restored into relationship with Jesus and re-engaged in some meaningful life purpose? If you’ve never had any of those experiences, that’s what “Walking with Jesus” is all about… I’m trying to lead you there, and if I can specifically help you, write to me! And here’s a song to help us consider this and we’ll come back right back here to this beach tomorrow to finish breakfast with Jesus!
Today’s Scripture is John 21:7-19.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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