A Breakfast to Remember

Introduction: Why does Jesus make such efforts to show Himself to the disciples before His ascension to the Father? In the conclusion to this section John points out that this is the third time that Jesus has revealed Himself to the disciples, not counting His appearance to Mary Madeline.

Even the way John records these events places an emphasis on how these individuals literally “saw” Jesus. This seems to at least somewhat contradict what Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.” It was important for those disciples to literally see Jesus because it was their testimony and witness that formed the foundation of our belief. It is their testimonies and witness recorded in Scripture that tell us of Jesus, His life, His death and His resurrection.

Decision

“Lets go fishing” - 7 Disciples

The Reason

Jesus told them to meet Him in Galilee, but He didn’t say when.

Some Bible interpreters call out the disciples as giving up or forsaking Christ by going back to their previous life or occupation.

Isn’t possible that they just needed to eat? - they had already seen the risen Christ.

The Result

They caught nothing. I’ve been there.

They were professional fishermen and they caught nothing.

This had to be both frustrating and embarrassing.

What they didn’t know was that it was divinely orchestrated that they would catch nothing. - We have all had times in our lives when we feel like we are just beating our head against a wall. Times when there is significant effort but little result. We fish all night but catch nothing. We have to consistently remind ourselves that perhaps our failure is a part of God’s plan and He is trying to teach us something or provide an opportunity.

Cast

The Question: “Did you catch anything.”

John’s narration in verse 4 tells us that they didn’t know it was Jesus on the shore.

Perhaps it was too dark to tell. This doesn’t explain why they didn’t recognize His voice.

Perhaps like other times they were divinely prohibited from recognizing Jesus immediately.

“Children” is not an insulting address, but similar to saying “Hey guys!”

Probably not the question the disciples wanted to be asked.

The Miracle

How many professional fishermen enjoy being told how to do their job by some guy standing on the shore?

Why did they listen?

Nothing else had worked

To prove this guy on the shore wrong

I believe they listened because they were suspicious. Over three years ago someone else had told them where to cast their nets and it turned out to be the biggest catch of their lives and the person turned out to be Jesus.

Luke 5:1-13 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

I think their willingness to cast on the other side of the boat reveals some faith that they still had.

They caught so many fish that they could not draw the net up into the boat.

Discovery

John being thoughtful

John was the only disciple to follow Jesus to the cross

John was the first person to believe in the resurrection without having seen Jesus physically.

John here is the first person to figure out who they were talking to.

“It is the Lord.”

Peter being bold

It was Peter who left the boat to walk on the water

It was Peter to tried to rebuke Jesus for speaking of His death

It was Peter lopped off the ear of temple guard.

Peter here is the only one to jump out of the boat to be with Jesus. He had to swim about a hundred yards.

Application

The church needs men and women who are like John, and the church needs men and women who are like Peter.

If we had only the personalities of John we would be great thinkers but nothing would ever get done.

If we had only the personalities of Peter lots would get done but it wouldn’t be done right.

Sometimes these types of personalities find themselves in conflict. I implore you to remember that we need both.

Meal

The Provision

Jesus had already made the fire and had started cooking.

The God of the universe was cooking them breakfast.

Apparently they needed more fish because Jesus tells them to bring some of their catch, which Peter is eager to do.

Unlike last time their nets didn’t break.

Why does John record that there were 153 fish? - Because that’s how many there were.

The Reason

Jesus reminds them that He will provide for their needs.

Without Him they can do nothing

Maybe He just wanted to have a nice quite breakfast with His friends. - Relational