Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.12UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.59LIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.52LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.52LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.85LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.85LIKELY
Extraversion
0.29UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.97LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.8LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
©November 28th, 2021 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: John
Seemingly everyone knows about the Last Supper.
It was the meal Jesus shared with his disciples the night He was betrayed.
It has been immortalized in a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, and we frequently recall the events of that evening as we celebrate communion.
Today we are going to talk about a less well-known meal.
I’m calling it the Last Breakfast.
We don’t know if it was really the last time Jesus had breakfast with his disciples before leaving the earth, but it is the last time it is recorded in scripture.
Of course, the meal itself is not the most important part of this story.
There are several layers to the story we need to unpack, and we will closely examine the conversation Jesus had with the disciples sitting around a fire by the sea of Galilee, because there is much for us to learn.
Back Home
John introduces this account by telling us that Jesus appeared to the disciples near the Sea of Galilee.
Galilee was where it all started for the disciples, and where most of them made their homes.
Jesus had previously sent word to the disciples that they should return to Galilee and He would meet them there (Matthew 28:10), though he didn’t tell them when.
John tells us about this encounter.
Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee.
This is how it happened.
2 Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.
3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said.
So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.
4 At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was.
5 He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?”
“No,” they replied.
6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!”
So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.
7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore.
8 The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore.
9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.
10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said.
11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore.
There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.
12 “Now come and have some breakfast!”
Jesus said.
None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?”
They knew it was the Lord.
13 Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish.
14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.
(John 21:1-14, NLT)
We don’t know how long the disciples had been in Galilee, but apparently Peter started to get antsy.
He decided to do what he knew—he was going fishing.
The other disciples (7 in all) said they would go with him.
The guys fished all night long but didn’t catch anything.
In the morning, they started coming to shore, surely tired and a bit deflated.
On the shore, they could see someone standing there, but they couldn’t tell who it was.
He asked if they’d caught any fish, to which they replied honestly, no.
The man told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat.
The disciples did as the man said, and they ended up with nets full of fish.
Up until this point the disciples had not known it was Jesus.
They were about 100 yards away and in the morning mists it would have been hard to make out who the person on the shore was.
But when they caught the fish, they realized it was him!
The event mirrored one of their first encounters with Jesus, when Peter had been out fishing all night and had caught nothing, but then cast his nets once more at Jesus’ prompting and filled his boat.
The disciples were drawn back to that moment, and John immediately declared that it was the Lord!
Once Peter realized Jesus was on the shore, he put his clothes back on and jumped out of the boat, swimming for shore!
He was excited to see Jesus again.
Though the disciples probably didn’t realize it at this point, I think Jesus was trying to teach them an important lesson.
He was reminding them that in their own strength they were powerless, but if they relied on Him, they could do great things.
The disciples were experienced fishermen (though maybe a bit out of practice), but they didn’t succeed until they had Jesus leading and guiding them.
The same thing was going to be true as they continued the ministry Jesus had begun.
They needed to remember that no matter how confident they might feel in their own abilities, success was only going to be found by resting in the strength that God alone can provide.
It’s a lesson we should remember as we live our lives as well.
When the rest of the guys got to shore, Jesus sent Peter to help them unload, and they saw Jesus had a fire going and was cooking breakfast.
John says they didn’t dare ask who it was, because they knew it was Jesus.
Why would they have needed to ask who he was in the first place?
There are a couple possible explanations for why they might have needed to ask who he was.
First, they were still too far away.
The text doesn’t say they didn’t recognize him when they got up close.
John could have simply been saying that when they were too far away, they still didn’t bother to ask who it was, because they already knew, even if they couldn’t see him.
Second, Jesus’ body somehow looked different.
This is possible, though it would seem strange that the other times Jesus appeared to the disciples they recognized him, and he still had wounds in his hands and side at those times.
The third is that Jesus kept them from being able to recognize him.
We are told this is what happened with the disciples walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
It wasn’t until later that Jesus allowed them to recognize Him.
Something along those lines could have occurred here as well.
While it’s an interesting question, it doesn’t really matter.
John tells us they all knew it was him, and they were excited to sit down to breakfast with him around the fire.
Peter’s Restoration
As they sit around the fire, Jesus has an important conversation with Peter.
15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time.
He said, “Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.
18 “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go.
But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God.
Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.” (John 21:15-19, NLT)
Everything about this conversation is intended to take Peter back to the night Jesus was arrested.
I imagine as he stood around the fire warming himself from having jumped into the water, standing there with Jesus, he was reminded of the last time he was warming himself around a fire; when he denied Jesus.
I suspect Peter’s feelings of failure weighed heavily on his mind as he stood before Jesus.
And Jesus’ questions surely hit Peter like a ton of bricks.
Jesus speaks to Peter and asks, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Notice how Jesus addresses Peter; He refers to him as Simon son of John.
Early in Jesus’ ministry, He had told Simon that his name would now be Peter, which meant rock.
He had praised Peter for his declaration that Jesus was the Christ.
Now, Jesus doesn’t refer to Simon as the rock, but by his given name.
I’m sure Jesus’ choice of names wasn’t lost on Peter as he heard the Lord’s words.
The question Jesus asked was pointed as well, “Do you love me more than these?”
There is debate on what Jesus meant by “these”, but most scholars think Jesus was asking if Peter loved him more than the other disciples did.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9