“Resurrection Sightings - Peter and the Fishermen”

Scripture: John 21:4-19

Today, we consider the third in our study of the recorded “Resurrection Sightings” of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, we read that there were over 500 disciples who saw the living Christ in the days following his resurrection. And admittedly, to only look at 3 of those appearances may seem grossly inadequate, but the truth is that most, if not all of them, have at least two similar characteristics – mainly, that at first, no one recognized him as being the Savior, and second, that the Lord, in every case, offered proof of his identity, which opened the people’s eyes to the truth of his Life.

Jesus was never one to leave faith to chance. Faith is a gift from God – it never comes from us, and never can. It only comes to us. Faith is a blessing – it renews us, it changes us, it opens our lives to the truth of Jesus Christ. Faith initiates, and then continues to strengthen our relationship with the Lord – it empowers us and calls us to be all that we can be in and through the working of the Holy Spirit. Every time Jesus revealed himself to one of his followers, he was proving and encouraging and sustaining their faith. And in our text today, we learn that whenever we meet Jesus in a new way, we discover that he will also be challenging us to be more in faith.

Today, we see the effect of his revealing to 7 of his disciples who had decided to go fishing.

Read John 21:4-6

Even after all the times that these men had seen the Risen Christ, they still couldn’t recognize him. In Luke 11:34-35, Jesus teaches that we are to “See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.” The point of this is that if we are filled with the true light of Christ, we will have the vision and heart to know his will and way. But if our “light” is dimmed for some reason, the darkness will prevail, and our “sight”, our understanding, our commitment will only be half-hearted, and giving “half” to Jesus is never enough.

In John’s gospel (John 8:12) Jesus assures us that he is ”… the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” His light will always make us complete. And the light of Christ, the power of the Spirit, had yet to fill these early followers, and while their vision was getting better, it wasn’t quite there yet.

And Jesus asks about food again (Luke 24:40-42), but this time, he shows the fishermen where to do the fishing. It didn’t seem to make much sense, though – after all, why would there be fish on one side of the boat, and not on the other? But they do as they are told just the same, and the catch exceeds all expectations. Maybe there was a glimmer of light in their spirits after all, for they were listening, and when they did, Jesus’ miracle for them was realized.

Remember “Follow me… and I will make you fishers of men.”? (Matthew 4:18-22) I’m sure that the fishermen wondered what Jesus was talking about that day, but this should have helped to reassure them that just as Jesus had made the results of this fishing unbelievable, that their fishing for lost souls would be even more abundant. Whenever Jesus spoke, there were two levels of truth – that which was immediately evident – a surface truth - and that which stretched you to the full depth of God’s truth. This day, they were about to understand that depth.

Read John 21:7-9

“It is the Lord!” Even though Jesus’ physical appearance was unfamiliar to them, there was no question as to who this man really was. I think the lesson here can be expressed in the question “How do we see our Living Lord”? Do we always recognize the opportunities that he brings to our lives? Do we realize that it is our Lord who is calling us into his service?

Maybe it all comes down to the fact of how much does it take for us to see Jesus in our lives! We have already seen Jesus at work in the lives of his followers, and we know that he will go to any extent to work in and through each of us. The point, though, is that as our faith increases in depth, we will hear the Lord’s call quicker, and see his presence in that call clearer, and will trust that it isn’t some fluke that he wants us for a particular task.

John recognized Jesus and announced it to the others; Peter heard and responded in his normal, impulsive way; and the others never hesitated in bringing the harvest of fish into shore and to the Lord’s presence. Which leads us to the next question – do we, as the Church, work together, unselfishly, to accomplish all that the Lord has in store for us?

Read John 21:10-14

This passage, for generations, has been a topic of discussion that scholars have poured over – and the issue for them is in the number 153. Augustine discovered that the number is actually the summation of all integers from 1 to 17, and he felt that it represents the “completeness” that comes from following Jesus’ call. Others believe that the number represents the totality of the Church – its completeness, if you will. And others believe is that 153 represents the Trinity, although I never quite understood that one.

But I’m not sure that the mystery of this passage lies specifically in the number – that it is more correctly in the translation of the Greek word for “drag” as in “dragged the net to shore”. This is the same word that is translated “draw” in John 12:32 – “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will DRAW all men to myself.” Perhaps this large catch of fish does represent the Church Universal after all – the many who are and will be drawn to the Lord, and who will never be lost (“… the net was not torn!”).

And as we read further in this section, we discover that while the disciples still don’t recognize Jesus by his physical appearance, there is no doubt that this man is their Lord and Savior. And he not only welcomes them to the beach for fellowship and assurance, but he feeds them as well. And that is his offer to the Church – fellowship with him and with each other, and in that, the gift of nourishment and strength for our service in his name.

And that is his call on each one of us individually.

Read John 21:15-19

The meal is over, the group fellowship has turned into a one-on-one, and Jesus begins to challenge Peter. The disciple’s life had gone through a tremendous change during the previous 3 years. From a fisherman, to a follower of Jesus, to a student of God’s truth, to one who proclaimed the truth of Christ, to denying that same truth, and now, to be the one who is on the verge of following his Lord in a new way – as an evangelist.

But Jesus had one more task to care for with Peter – to prepare him for what was coming. And as the Lord asks the disciple about the depth of his love, we read two words in the Greek, both of which are translated as love. There is no way that we know if Jesus’ intent was that there should be two aspects of love implied in his conversation as he would have spoken Aramaic and not Greek, but they are here nonetheless. And the two words – “agapa” and “philei” offer two different aspects and understandings to the love that Peter must accept and give.
The first – agapa – implies sacrificial love. This is the love that took Jesus to the cross, and is the love that is implied in Ephesians 5:25, where husbands are called to “love” their wives as Christ loved the church.
The second – philei – is the fellowship that comes from a life in Christ. Jesus is telling us that we need this love in order to “love our neighbor as ourself”. (Matthew 22:34-40) We are to never become selective in who we offer the love of Christ to – everyone is deserving of Christ’s grace, and of our fellowship.

And Peter was a little upset when he was asked about his love, not once, but three times! But then it had only been a few weeks since he had denied even knowing Jesus, not once, but three times! And Peter was about to understand where ministry in the name of his Lord was about to take him.

He would discover that it wasn’t only Israel who needed to hear the message of Jesus, but that the people of other nations needed to hear it, too. And he would discover that while some would accept the offer to know and follow the Lord Jesus, others would not, and his ministry and the persecution that it brought would come hand in hand.

“Follow me, Peter, and I will go with you. Follow me, people of my church, and we will love and serve the people together.”

Can Peter’s call be any different than ours is? Never. We are to go, celebrate, accept, and love, and when we do, the harvest will exceed every expectation that any of us can ever dream of.