John 21:1-25
Well, after today we will have made it through our gleanings in the Gospels. I hope that those of you who have been following every day have been half as enriched and challenged through this process as I have. This final chapter seems to center to a great extent upon Peter and his relationship with Christ.
A RETURN TO THE PAST: Peter and the other disciples know that Christ has risen but He is no longer with them and instructed them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. I assume that these men were not very good at just waiting around and not really knowing what to do. I know that I have a hard time with that. They decide to go back to fishing. I am not sure how significant this is. There is really know way to know if they were simply going out to "blow off some steam" or if they in reality simply decided to go back to what they know before Christ came into their lives since He was no longer going to be available to follow. At any rate, they go back to fish and apparently had gotten a little rusty over the last several years since they didn't catch anything. On their way back to shore Jesus is waiting on the back and tells them to try one more attempt with their net and they catch 153 large fish without the net breaking and when they come on shore Jesus has already made breakfast for them. What a gracious reminder for Jesus to reaffirm His control over the elements and His provision for their lives. There may be times when we feel like just giving up and going back to how things used to be whatever that might mean. It is important to look to Jesus during these moments. He knows about what we face, He cares and is able to provide whatever we need.
A RESTORATION IN THE PRESENT: Jesus and Peter have some business that needs to be taken care of. Until now they have not had time alone to talk about Peter's denial and move forward. We don't know what all was said in this conversation. I suspect there was more to it than was recorded for us here. I do think that it is significant that just as Peter denied Christ three times, Christ asks Peter to affirm his love three times and after each affirmation Jesus commands Peter to take care of the flock of God. It must have been a comfort for Peter to know that Christ still had a plan for his life. I would imagine that Peter felt as if he was useless in the work of the kingdom having denied Christ. God teaches Peter and us an important lesson about God's amazing grace. God is in the business of forgiving sin and transforming lives. We can all take comfort in that truth. No matter what we have done, God can forgive us, restore us, and use us to minister in the lives of other people.
A REVELATION ABOUT THE FUTURE: Jesus goes on the let Peter know that his death will not be of natural causes but that he will die in his service for Christ. We must not view this as being some sort of punishment for what Peter had done in the past. Rather I think that it was Christ letting Peter know that despite his past failures he could be assured of the fact that in the future he would be faithful and that he would indeed, as he has promised before, have the courage to suffer and die for the cause of Christ. Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified but at the time of his death considered himself to be unworthy of dieing in the same manner as Jesus so he asked to be crucified upside down. We do not know this from Scripture so it may not be true, but we do know that Peter was an extremely faithful and productive disciple of Christ and we have all been impacted by His ministry. Jesus knew all about Peter's amazing potential from the very beginning and prepared him in an amazing way. Christ also knows all about us; our failures, weaknesses as well as our strengths and potential areas where we can bring honor to His name. God, in His grace, has revealed must to us about the future He has planned for us and He expects us to, like Peter, begin living in light of that glorious future right now. May God give each of us the grace to avoid returning to the past, seek restoration from anything that might stand between us and the Lord and then live in light of the amazing promises God has revealed to us in His Word.
A RETURN TO THE PAST: Peter and the other disciples know that Christ has risen but He is no longer with them and instructed them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. I assume that these men were not very good at just waiting around and not really knowing what to do. I know that I have a hard time with that. They decide to go back to fishing. I am not sure how significant this is. There is really know way to know if they were simply going out to "blow off some steam" or if they in reality simply decided to go back to what they know before Christ came into their lives since He was no longer going to be available to follow. At any rate, they go back to fish and apparently had gotten a little rusty over the last several years since they didn't catch anything. On their way back to shore Jesus is waiting on the back and tells them to try one more attempt with their net and they catch 153 large fish without the net breaking and when they come on shore Jesus has already made breakfast for them. What a gracious reminder for Jesus to reaffirm His control over the elements and His provision for their lives. There may be times when we feel like just giving up and going back to how things used to be whatever that might mean. It is important to look to Jesus during these moments. He knows about what we face, He cares and is able to provide whatever we need.
A RESTORATION IN THE PRESENT: Jesus and Peter have some business that needs to be taken care of. Until now they have not had time alone to talk about Peter's denial and move forward. We don't know what all was said in this conversation. I suspect there was more to it than was recorded for us here. I do think that it is significant that just as Peter denied Christ three times, Christ asks Peter to affirm his love three times and after each affirmation Jesus commands Peter to take care of the flock of God. It must have been a comfort for Peter to know that Christ still had a plan for his life. I would imagine that Peter felt as if he was useless in the work of the kingdom having denied Christ. God teaches Peter and us an important lesson about God's amazing grace. God is in the business of forgiving sin and transforming lives. We can all take comfort in that truth. No matter what we have done, God can forgive us, restore us, and use us to minister in the lives of other people.
A REVELATION ABOUT THE FUTURE: Jesus goes on the let Peter know that his death will not be of natural causes but that he will die in his service for Christ. We must not view this as being some sort of punishment for what Peter had done in the past. Rather I think that it was Christ letting Peter know that despite his past failures he could be assured of the fact that in the future he would be faithful and that he would indeed, as he has promised before, have the courage to suffer and die for the cause of Christ. Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified but at the time of his death considered himself to be unworthy of dieing in the same manner as Jesus so he asked to be crucified upside down. We do not know this from Scripture so it may not be true, but we do know that Peter was an extremely faithful and productive disciple of Christ and we have all been impacted by His ministry. Jesus knew all about Peter's amazing potential from the very beginning and prepared him in an amazing way. Christ also knows all about us; our failures, weaknesses as well as our strengths and potential areas where we can bring honor to His name. God, in His grace, has revealed must to us about the future He has planned for us and He expects us to, like Peter, begin living in light of that glorious future right now. May God give each of us the grace to avoid returning to the past, seek restoration from anything that might stand between us and the Lord and then live in light of the amazing promises God has revealed to us in His Word.
maybe it's just me but all your latest posts have come across so vivid to me - almost tangible...it's super encouraging to be able to picture the life of Christ in that way =)
ReplyDelete- just so you know... I definitely have been enriched and encouraged =) thanks for being faithful =)