John 21

"But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus" (John 21:4).

It was after a night of failure for the disciples that Jesus appeared on the shore. "Disappointment and defeat may prepare us for a new manifestation of the grace and power of Jesus Christ" (Anonymous). We may weep in the night, but joy finally comes in the morning; as the sun rises, the Son rises and comes to our aid. Jesus is seasonable as well as reasonable; He comes when we are most in need. Another thought here: Christ was present through their night but only allowed Himself to be visible to His friends in the morning.

Jesus stood on the shore, loving His disciples, watching their heartbreaking failure in their ordinary duty, and knowing that He is about to help them. He is on the shore of our life, too, aware of all that is happening to us, and knowing that He is about to give us victory, only we don't see Him. Also, perhaps we need to evaluate the difference between success, which is what we want, and victory, which is what God gives us. Success is what we achieve and victory is what God achieves for us. Success can sour; victory is sweet.

Jesus stood on the shore, where we doubt His power can reach us. He stood on the quiet shore, as the disciples looked and probably thought He was an ordinary person waiting for the boat to come in. Little did they know what He was about to do for them. Jesus often is very near to us, ready at that moment to help us, and we don't realize or recognize Him.

Jesus stood on the shore of nature, where the sun was rising and the air was fresh and sensation was touched with wonder at the beauties of creation. This is where we meet our God, out where He has touched it with His brilliance.

John 21:5: "Then Jesus said to them, `Children, have you any food?' They answered Him, `No.'"

God leads us to confession. We finally must admit that we have no food of and for ourselves or others; we are all dependent on You, Lord. We are all children of God, even our pastors. Jesus asks pastors if they have any food to feed their flock who come to them when life overwhelms and starves us of confidence and joy and makes us spiritual skeletons. It is our pastor who, with prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit, leads us back to our Infrastructure, our Framework.

John 21:6: "Then Jesus said to them, `Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.'" So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish."

We may need to recast, to redirect, our lives. We may have cast our net everywhere but in the right place for a large part of our life. Then one day something happens that suddenly recasts it, redefines it, and we find ourselves finally directing our net to God's side. Then we will find the net bursting with blessings which we never thought possible. Impossible becomes Himpossible!

There is another thought about spreading the net, especially for those directly in God's work of casting the net for believers. There may be few and what we consider small fish in the net, and we may find this to be true for all of life. We see others reeling in big ones and feasting on successes. But Jesus asks us to "put out into the deep water and let [our] nets down for a catch" (Luke 5:4 NIV). Our catch is His and we aren't to worry about it.

A Source Unknown left this for us: "Keep about your work. Let your aim be as steady as a star. Let the world brawl and bubble. You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded, and rejected; you may be abused by foes, forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected of men, but see to it with steadfast determination, with unfaltering zeal, that you pursue the great purpose of your life and object of your being until at last you can say, `I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.'" Like Simon, we simply put our nets back out and let the Lord on the shore do the work!

John 21:7: "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, `It is the Lord!' Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea."

"It is the Lord!" We may have to whisper this sometime to a cherished friend who can't "see" the Lord in his or her events in life. Indeed, we may have to whisper, "It is the Lord," to our own disbelieving and grieving hearts, as well, on days when all seems hopeless.

Where Jesus isn't, there is futility and poverty of soul and often of body, as well. But when He comes -- when we invite Him in -- He brings with Him love and comfort and counsel and purpose for our life. He gathers His own together in love and satisfies our hearts with the peace that only He can give.

John recognizes the Lord; Peter goes to him. John is the perceptive, calm one; Peter is the impulsive doer. We need both. God has given us our particular DNA, Different Natures All, and with our DNA He wants us to do our part, whether it is recognizing Him or running to Him. He covers the rest, and He doesn't want us to worry about or criticize those who are different.

John said, "It is the Lord." Eli said in 1 Samuel 3:18, "It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him." This is quite a step in faith. In this statement, Eli bows to the will of God. Eli knows that God will do only what is right and just. There is another thought here: Jesus meets us where we are in life. The story is told about Michelangelo who found a piece of rough marble that had been cast aside as useless. He was told that no good thing could come from it, but Michelangelo said, "It is not useless. Send it to my studio. There is an angel imprisoned within it, and I must set it free." Jesus went about freeing angels from within seemingly useless or sinful human beings: Zacchaeus the tax collector, Mary Magdalene, Saul, the thief on the cross, the woman of Samaria -- and us. Jesus sees what we can be and He treats us accordingly. And He asks that we do the same for others: treat them as they can be, through His transforming grace. Thank You, Jesus, and help us to see others as You see them!

John 21:8,9: "But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread."

Jesus is practical. He deals with our physical needs first. He is the people's Christ, not shut up in a tabernacle where He can't touch us and we can't touch Him. Many verses in the Bible tell us of His concern about our appetite. Ecclesiastes 3:3 tells us: "Every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor -- it is the gift of God." It is a gift of God that we should enjoy His bounties!

Jesus affirmed life when He took the form of humankind; He reaffirms our dignity when He joins us in our common life. Here Jesus has already prepared a simple meal for His guests, these hard-working fishermen, His beloved friends. True life is simple, made up of simple things that refresh us. Jesus was content with the humble things of life while on earth. Simplicity is a virtue. Jesus supplies our needs, but not always our wants. "Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him" (Matthew 6:8).

There is an interesting thought about the fire of coals here. In John 18:18 we read, "Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself." Peter warmed himself by the fire in the palace court, there in the place of his temptation and downfall. Later Jesus would warm Peter's broken heart and forgive him there by the coals of fire on the shore. What a different fire of coals when Jesus lights it! Jesus restored Peter and He restores us.

John 21:10: "Jesus said to them, `Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.'"

Jesus doesn't need their fish but He asks them to add their contribution. We aren't expected to sit around waiting for the goods to fall from heaven! Jesus expects our contribution. Parents know that it is wise to allow the child to help. So God allows us to make our paltry "cofferings"--and He accepts them in the spirit in which they are offered! In Mark 14:8 (how much this verse helps when we feel we aren't doing enough!) we read, "She did what she could." This is a wonderful verse when we expect more of ourselves than God does. Ezra 2:69 tells us, "According to their ability they gave..." We give our two mites like the poor widow in Luke 21:2 and God can make it doubly mighty for us.

I love this verse in John 21 for another reason: it tells me that Jesus had breakfast ready anyway, whether His beloved disciples gave their contribution or not. It gives me hope that He has everything ready already!

John 21:11,12: "Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fiftythree; and although there were so many, the net was not broken." (Luke 5:6 NIV: "Their nets began to break.") "Jesus said to them, `Come and eat breakfast.' Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, `Who are You?' knowing that it was the Lord."

What an invitation! Come and fellowship with Me, My cherished friends! "No longer do I call you servants...but I have called you friends..." (John 15:15). Leave the rough sea for now and come sit with Me by this beautiful, tranquil shore. "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:38); "He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul" (Psalm 23:2,3.) This is what our lovely Jesus wants to do for us today! We live in a business age. Life has always been busy, but we seem to have commercialized life and made it a commodity to be sold for the highest price. We may need to stop right now and listen to this wonderful invitation to "come and eat breakfast." Just think, our blessed Lord gives us this serendipity of filling the bin of flour and the jar of oil for us (1 Kings 17:16), but we need to stop our activities long enough to enjoy His bounties. Jesus treated these ordinary men as companions. He didn't tell them to wait on Him but "Come and join Me." He wanted their ardent affection and devotion. Without that, both Jesus and they would lose.

John 21:13: Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.

Jesus is our Host. One of the most compelling invitations in all the Bible is Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." We would have to be astonishingly hard-souled and soiled to ignore His constant invitations to us to fellowship with Him. Here Jesus has done all the work for this special communion with His beloved. Would He do less for us? I don't think so. Jesus saw that these dear friends of His were still reluctant to come to Him, so He goes to them with nourishment. What an example for us who are as shy to approach Him as were these hesitant interns of His. Again, Jesus meets us on the shore of our particular experience. He brings to us all ordinary provisions, plentiful and plain, and serves us. What a remarkable passage and symbol this is!

A closing thought considers how Jesus was treated by His disciples and how He treats us. When Jesus most needed His dear friends in the Garden, they fell asleep. Then they deserted Him one by one when He was arrested, and one of His most beloved denied Him. We would have done the very same thing, had we lived then. I've often wondered if I, too, would have shouted, "Crucify Him," with the mob. We need to take heed lest we fall. But what I would like to share here is the enormously comforting thought that Jesus will never treat us as we treat Him. This passage from the extraordinary book of John proves that He will always be there for us, on the shore in our severe times, ready with His provisions of love and promises. He will come and meet us, too, at the juncture of our despair; we don't need to worry about going to Him. In the depths of anguish, this is a crucial belief.