Resurrection Meal

John 21:1–14 ESV

1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. 8 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. 9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Introduction

When I think of significant episodes of TV shows there are three things that come to mind. The first is the Cliffhanger, where the show ends with some major questions about the characters in a situation whose outcome is not what is expected. Where you need to tune in at the same time and channel next week to see the outcome. The old 1960s (I think it was in the 60s Batman would do that, What happens to Boy Wonder, will Batman be able to save from the Penguin’s dastardly schemes, tune in next week at the same bat time to the same bat channel to see what happens.

I also think of the Season Finale, where there is closure for situations and/or events that have had a thread throughout the season and the situation/event has settled, while there may seem to be something brewing leading you into next season, but overall there is a nice bow on the season.

Lastly I think of the Series Finale. This is the hard one, because you want to leave nothing to look forward to, because the people will not be back, but you can’t ignore that if you think of the characters as real then their lives go on. You think of series finales like Black’ish or M.A.S.H or A Different World. They had some good things, but they always leave you wanting, should they have ended earlier, should they have ended later, should a different tact have been taken.

I think that is how some scholars look at the Book and Chapter that we are in today. Some think that the Gospel of John really ended at John 20:30-31. That would seem to be a good place to end and that is purpose statement for John’s Gospel. I do not think we get full closure if we get there. Much like a series finale we cannot close everything concerning the Gospel of John, not all of it comes to a nice bow in this book. Things like what is the giving of the Holy spirit by Jesus when He breathes on the Apostles, how does that work itself out, what happens with the Samaritan woman at the well, How are Martha, Mary and Lazarus’ lives after Jesus brought Lazarus back after being dead for four days.

We do not get all of those answers, but there are some things that are brought to closure in this chapter, so I think it is only right to treat John 21, not as an ‘Oh by the way chapter, but to see what closure to the overall Gospel as presented by John brings.

The Setting for the Appearance

John 21:1–2 ESV

1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

This has occured after the other events in John’s Gospel and in the Synoptic Gospels.

Jesus Appearance to Mary

Jesus Appearance to the men on the Road to Emmaus

Jesus Appearance to the disciples minus Thomas

Jesus Appearance to the disciples with Thomas

We get here of the revealing of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels.

Couple of things to note:

Notice the word ‘revealed’ and who that word is against, it is against Jesus - Jesus is the one responsible to the revealing (pulling back the cloth) and the purpose behind the revealing, these are opportunities that exist because Jesus does it, not because the disciples, the men on the road to Emmaus or Mary did anything to make it happen, or that they wished it to happen. This is Jesus’ doing, for his reason, which we have seen throughout this series, to instruct, to encourage, to correct, to remind.

Notice also who is in attendance here.

We have a group of disciples who have made a number of missteps, not trying to say that they were mistakes per se’, although if you did say that I would not give you too much pushback.

Think of Peter who would just say things right.

Let’s make three tents, which prompts God the Father to speak about His Son (Matthew 17:1-11)

You can’t die Lord, to which Jesus responds, Get behind me satan (Matthew 16:21-23)

I will go wherever you go and die with you only to deny Jesus three times (Luke 22:54-62, Matthew 26:69-75).

Think of Thomas, whose episode we just saw, I will not believe unless I see the nail prints and his hands and place my hands there (John 20:24-29)

Think of Nathaneal, who questioned Philip about the Messiah and where He came from, Nazareth (Can anything good come from Nazareth) (John 1:43-51)

The Sons of Zebedee who outright asked for position and brought their mother into the argument. (Matthew 20:20-28)

Then there are two other disciples names who are not mentioned.

For us (disciples today), we should remember that (1) we are not perfect and (2) we do not need to be perfect. What we should value as disciples is the ‘want to follow’ , the ‘want’ of being discipled, the ‘want’ of knowing and being obedient to Jesus.

We will fall, we will toil, we will waste time, we will act out, we will ask for some things that wont make sense, but Jesus is still the same Jesus. Jesus is still willing to make Himself known to those who want to know Him. Jesus is still revealing Himself, through His Word, to all who would believe.

So don’t think that perfection makes a disciples, actually when you think of a disciple as being a learner then there is no way for a disciple to not know it all.

John goes on to tell us the circumstances around the revealing of Jesus this time.

John 21:3 ESV

3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Peter makes the declaration that he is going fishing and everyone else says they will go also. This is not anything outrageous, this is what they knew, one of the first things we know about these men (Peter, James and John) was they were fishermen (Matthew 4:18-22). This was probably by trade, so them getting back to some sense of normalcy after the difficult week is natural. This may be an instance of them going back to their old life or it may not be an instance of that, John does not tell us why or the ultimate purpose, but he does tell us that they went fishing and they caught nothing.

The Appearance

John 21:4–6 ESV

4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

After being out there all night doing the work of casting the net over and over again with no results, you may be able to sense the frustration.

On the shore some stood, again as if coming out of nowhere and no-one on the boat knew who the person was, very similar to Jesus as he stood among the disciples on two other occasions (John 20:19,26).

Then Jesus speaks to them and I like how the CSB puts it

John 21:5 CSB

5 “Friends,” Jesus called to them, “you don’t have any fish, do you?” “No,” they answered.

It is almost like that person that comes up to you after you have failed at something and gives you that saying like ‘This doesn’t seem to be working, huh?’ or ‘You’re still at it, are you?’. It is like they have some knowledge that you don’t and they could give it to you but they think you will learn more if you make a debacle of it yourselves.

Of course their answer if no, but this is where they start to connect the dots.

The person who is standing on the shore that we know as Jesus, but the disciples in the boat do not know offers them some advice, actually it is a command, to cast their net on the right side of the boat.

They listen to this ‘stranger’ and cast the net on the right side of the boat, and I like how the Scripture puts it, like immediately, now, like fish are jumping into the net to the point where they cannot haul it it in. We John’s audience get to see what is happening here. We get to see Jesus doing Jesus things.

You see that Jesus is still Jesus, Jesus has blessed them with great catches in the past and in that same way He is blessing them now. Look, when Jesus was raised nothing changed, He is still God, He is still man, He can still bless, He can still deliver, He can still heal, He still knows what you are going through. This is the same Jesus, with a resurrected body.

That Compassion that He had, He still has.

The Love that He had, He still has.

The Omniscient that He had, He still has.

The Providence that He had, He still has.

The Provision that He Provided, He still Provides.

Remember he is Lord of All. Master of all. He got up with All Power, All Authority. We can count on Jesus.

It is almost like Jesus is saying this is the time that I can show the disciples that ‘Ain’t nothing changed.’ That same Jesus you walked with for three and half years is still the same Jesus that you have encountered after the resurrection and the Jesus that you will need to continue to rely upon.

The same goes for us, That Jesus that saved us, does not change on us over time, He is still the same Jesus, with the same love, care and providence that He had when we first met. He also has the same expectations, of fruitfulness and obedience. Jesus has not and will not change.

The Realization

John 21:7–8 ESV

7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. 8 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

I like how D.A. Carson put the actions of John and Peter in his commentary ‘The Gospel According to John’. He noted that John was the insightful one, meaning that he would put the pieces together and thus John, the Disciple Jesus Loved, would speak to Peter as the net was filling up, like ‘Hey, that is the Lord!’ Mr. Carson said of Peter that he is the one of Action, so before the haul was brought in, before anyone else could say anything, he clothed himself and threw himself in the sea to get to Jesus.

This left the other disciples to bring the boat and the fish ashore, without him.

The Breakfast

John 21:9–11 ESV

9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.

There was a sight once the others got to shore. There was already a fire, with fish and bread. So Jesus had already had this prepared. There is a charcoal fire with fish on the charcoal fire and some bread ready.

I am like OK, Lord, You already got this going, You got breakfast already, I know what you can do with fish and bread. It is almost like being told you need to bring the hamburgers and buns to the cookout then you get there and there are already hamburgers on the grill being cooked, and you look like what did I bring these for.

This makes me think of my first missions trip to the Dominican Republic, the same place that Norma and Billy are heading and they will be on mission with some of the same people when I was there. That has to be almost 10 years ago now.

I remember getting ready to go on the trip, and praying that I would make all this impact, thinking that I was going to make this huge change, thinking that the people in the DR had not seen anything or anyone like me before, I was young at heart, had a heart for people, could relate to them differently as a Hip Hop head. I was going to turn the DR on its head.

Then I go there, and all the stuff that I thought that I would bring to the table was already going on. People being loved, people being related to, people looking for different ways to meet needs and reach people and I was like Lord, wait a minute. Why am I here? What am I bringing?

We think sometimes that we can bring something to the Lord, like He does not have everything He needs anyway. We think that we have something that the Lord in His work may be lacking. The Lord has what He needs to get His plan accomplished. It is not that Lord needs us, it is that the Lord wants us. He wants us to bring what we have to the table to be used, He wants us to be fruitful and marry it up with all the other fruitful disciples.

You see the Lord started the meal, but he said to the disciples, bring the fish that you caught and add it to what I have already started. I want to you to be a part of this meal, intimately, I want you to bear fruit, I want you to live for Me, I want you to live through Me. I do not need you to, but I want you to. Bring some of that fish that you caught add it to what I have in place.

By the way, the catch was provided by the Lord anyway. There is not catch without the Lord’s provision. There is nothing to bring to the table without the Lord blessing you, giving you talents and interests. So bring back to the Lord what He has provided in His Providence, In His Sovereignty. It all belongs to Him anyway.

So Peter goes and gets the fish and they are large and there are 153 or them in total.

John 21:12–14 ESV

12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus invites them to join him for breakfast. He has prepared a meal with them and with what they had to bring to the table. We expect this hospitality from Jesus, this is not surprising.

I like how John notes that none of them dared to ask Jesus ‘Who are you?’. The word dared makes it seem like there are some consequences that may arise from asking that question. But John also notes the reason why they did not need to ask. Somehow, someway they knew it was the Lord. Between them seeing this man on the shore who they did not recognize as Jesus to the breakfast that has been prepared, they realized that this was the Lord. May not have been through seeing Him, but something let them know who they were dealing with.

Conclusion

Take heart in what the Lord reveals to you. Ensure what you think the Lord revealed to you lines up with His Word, and understand that this is on His terms and for His purpose. Be ready to ask what is the purpose? and Be Obedient to what has been revealed.

Remember the fact that the Lord can and does deal with people who are not perfect, the Apostles weren’t perfect, even after being filled with the Holy Spirit (Peter and Paul), we are not perfect. Jesus still rocks with us. He still sees us and wants bring us to Himself.

The Lord does not change.

Be ready to bring what you have to the table, not puffed up, thinking you are needed, but knowing that you are wanted and all that you has been provided by the Lord anyway.

Be ready to yield fruit. What Jesus started, the Apostles have carried forward to the Church Fathers to us. The command has not changed, which is to make disciples. Which means that we need to be ready and willing to share the Gospel and then be ready and willing to walk with someone as they grow in Christ.