Chapter 21 Verse 1

•Now this is intriguing because John doesn’t say, “Jesus came to them.” He says, “Jesus showed Himself to the disciples.” What’s significant about that is the idea there in the Greek is that Jesus was already there with them, yet unseen. The word in the Greek is phaneroo which quite literally means, “to make visible what is invisible.”

•And I dig that because just as Jesus was at all times with them yet at this moment John says He simply physically manifested, Jesus is at all times with you and I! We may not always feel that way, we may not always want it that way, but nevertheless He is always with us. What great comfort it must have been for John when this clicked…and what great comfort it is, what great strength it will bring, when it clicks with us too and we place our trust in the One who will never leave us nor forsake us.

Chapter 21 Verse 2

•Notice only seven disciples names…only seven disciples are together at this time. Where are the other 4? We’re not sure. John doesn’t say but it’s interesting that the number is 7. Possibly why John decided to close out his Gospel with this account as he thought upon this day and realized that it was seven of them which is the Biblical number of completion…and the Holy Spirit impressed upon his heart…pens down.

•And I like how John introduces the folks. Peter first, Thomas second, then Nathaniel…finally John mentions himself and his brother and two un-named disciples. There’s a lot going on here.

•First notice, and I believe this is significant, Peter, Tomas, Nathaniel all mentioned first and in that order. Who cares? So what? Well wasn’t it Peter who failed the Lord miserably…denying Him three times? Yet here he is, mentioned first. And wasn’t it Thomas who doubted the testimony of the others regarding Jesus being raised from the dead? Yet here he is, mentioned second. And wasn’t it Nathaniel who when Philip came to Him and said, “we have found the Messiah,” wasn’t it Nathaniel that didn’t believe saying, “can anything good come our of Nazareth?!” Yes!

•Yet here they are, mentioned first, second and third by John among the disciples. And I love that because the order of grace is foreign to the minds of men! God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, the weak things to put to shame the mighty…God has chosen the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are…such that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Corinthians 1) You see these are they that had been forgiven much, received much grace and therefore they loved much…and that love qualified them to lead. I love that!

•And then John here throws us a curve ball and refers to himself as the Son of Zebedee…maybe it’s because they’re about to go fishing or maybe it’s to compliment and complete his own biography in a way. Several times John has written about himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” And now, here he refers to himself as the son of Zebedee…And I like this because it’s as if he’s saying that first and foremost I identify with Jesus…and along with that, I am the son of Zebedee…a fisherman.

•You see when God calls you to Himself, He doesn’t wipe away who you are…your personality, your life, your family…No! He doesn’t remove your programming and key-in the programming of a worship robot. That’s religion. God’s not into that! The Bible says that He redeems you! Slanted towards hell, bent on sin…dark and destructive our tendencies…then when the Lord enters our hearts, our minds…our lives, the Bible says that we are renewed…we are no longer being conformed into the image of the world…the image of selfishness and greed and lust and death…but we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds as we walk out the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12)

•And so John, he is the disciple of Jesus. The one that finds it absolutely remarkable and impactful that that Jesus would love him…yet he is also Zebedee’s son and in that there is the freedom and liberty to simply know Jesus…to enjoy real relationship…not robotship!

•And then there are these two other disciples. John apparently can’t remember their names. I’m not sure I buy that. So why are they unnamed? That we may believe (Chapter 20 v31)…these two other disciples, as we look at this together…it’s us…you and me. Place yourself there with them on this beach on this day as Jesus just shows up. John says, you’re a part of this story too…John’s a pretty clever guy.

Chapter 21 Verse 3

•Notice the disciples here, they’re brand new at this walking by faith bit. For the past 3.5 year they have followed Jesus, watched Jesus, heard Jesus, chillaxed with the Lord…but now things are quite new. Now they are to walk by faith. Now they are to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit…they are to learn to trust and wait upon the Lord…

•Its just is if they are new Christians…what you and I experience today as we go from making our decisions and charting our daily course based upon what we see, what we perceive sensually with our five physical senses…we take in the information, we compute the calculations and we make our plans. We react you see to our sight…

•But as a follower of Jesus we must live by faith…faith in the Lord and His ways and His truth…and therefore all of these things we see, hear, smell, touch and taste…they are all to be filtered through the truth of God’s Word and God’s ways so that we remain upon the path that follows the Lord…because truly that is the pathway to righteousness…the course, the decision, the action that will lead to life, joy, peace, purpose, power and love…

•But this is something that requires a maturing process, this walking by faith business…its so very different than what we are used to in the flesh and many times the way you feel you should go is in direct contrast with what the Word of God would say about your specific situation and it is at that moment that you have a decision to make…walk by faith and follow what God’s word says…or walk by sight…?

•The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12, “there is a way that seems right to man but its end is the way of death.” And in our daily decisions as Christians, in our choices of how to deal with a matter or with a person or with just how you choose to spend your time…as Christians, day by day we learn this to be quite true…but it takes time…and directly proportionate with your progress in choosing the things of the Lord, taking up your own cross and denying your flesh, directly proportionate to that will be your spiritual growth and maturity…as God would say, “well done, you’re faithful to the measure of faith that I have given…I can trust you with more.” And as you follow closely after Him, press into Him, choose Him…He will choose you the Bible says and more and more and more revelation will be given…

•But just like those who are early in the faith or immature in the Spirit, frustration will set in. “Where is God? Why hasn’t He showed up yet? What am I supposed to do…just sit here and wai?” Yes Peter, that’s exactly what you are to do…wait upon the Lord…but here he grows restless and John tells us he proclaims…well I’m going fishing!

•But notice, he takes his homies with him…or better stated, they followed him. Happens to us too. We grow restless, we take matters into our own hands rather than resting and trusting in the Lord and what happens…man we carry our peoples out to sea and waste a bunch of time…we waste theirs and we waste ours…they caught nothing all night. Interesting how the restlessness comes at night and the wasted time comes within a time of darkness…

Chapter 21 Verse 4

•Now it could be that they were far enough off the shore that they simply couldn’t identify Him as Jesus, not being able to see Him well enough…plus it was daybreak and most likely not particularly bright yet…or

•It could be that there is a bit of a parallel here with the account of Mary not recognizing Him at the tomb. There certainly is a similarity in the Greek. Actually the phrase, “did not know it was Jesus,” is the same phrase we find in the earlier account, back in verse 14 of Chapter 20…

•Mary was distraught with sorrow, eyes filled, vision blocked with tears…but we talked about this, how it was backwards in a way…because she was weeping at an empty tomb that is the present cause for our rejoicing! She had lost nothing, yet was wailing as if she had, and because of her angst she totally misses that Jesus is right there with her. And remember we talked about how we ourselves weep at empty tombs in our lives…for no reason man…when we should be rejoicing!

•And here, these seven…restless…and so they go out and return to their worldly vocation…occupied with their bodily needs and therefore they weren’t even expecting Jesus…they too can’t recognize Jesus even though He’s right there with them! Surely these things are written for our learning man!

•We can become so angry for anger sake, or so bitter for bitter sake, or so self pitiful for nothing! When as an act of our own free will we can simply trust in the Lord, turn the dag-on corner and rebuild what was lost in our marriages, start a-new with that neighbor that sends his dog to our yard to leave us gifts…we can decide to love, we can wipe our eyes of our self-full tears and start to look for Jesus man…and in so doing, He’ll be found. He promised!

•We can get so immersed in making money, being somebody…moving on UUUUPPP! And we sit back and say, “well God has richly blessed!” Really? At the expense of what? Your family? At what cost? Your ministry unto God’s people? That’s God’s blessing? I’m not so sold that! How do you know that’s not a clever trick to water you down bro? What is it all going to be man when we stand in eternity and you give an account…

•You know you might ask someone what is the most important thing in their lives and they might say, “my children.” And then they accept a higher position at work which requires much more time from them and they show what really is important to them…These men are out fishing, trying to get a meal, trying to make a living…and Jesus – RIGHT THERE – yet they knew not. Tragic.

Chapter 21 Verse 5

•I love this. Here they are in their toil. Worthless man…catching nothing. Frustrated…maybe the others are muttering against Peter you know…and Jesus calls out to them! Just calls to them right where they are at. He doesn’t wait until they come back to shore…He doesn’t send a wind of delusion to drive them to their knees in submission…not His style man. He just speaks to them. I love that.

•And look what He says, “Hey sinners! Hey um, ya’ll tired of being losers? You rebels!” No. He says, “children.” In the Greek that’s pideon which literally means, “my little guys.” Man I want those eyes. I want that heart! Those are the eyes of grace…that is the heart of love and power and purpose…that even though all of these men are a complete mess, Jesus greets them with a smile and with the love of family!

•And He asks them, “Do you have any food? Have ya caught any substance?” And they answer Him, “No.” These guys are all right with me…because I must say that many who need substance and life from the Lord, which is only where it comes from…when asked how they’re doing…”ah, I’m just fine.” That attitude will leave you right where you’re at. “My little ones, do you need Me?” Is what Jesus is asking…they’re response…the right one…”yes, we have no food of our own…”

•Jesus says, “No problem, I’ll hook you up.”

Chapter 21 Verses 6 – 10

•Jesus is so cool and this is so practical…hey guys, you’ve being doing it the wrong way…in your own strength, try the right side of the boat…try doing it the right way…man just try it…and they did…and look, MUCH substance! So much that they had plenty to share, plenty to go around man!

•And immediately John perceives that it is the Lord, he’s used to the Lord doing the miraculous…and so am I, man…and then Peter tweaks! I love Peter. He just throws off his fisherman’s gear and cannon-balls! Awesome man. I dig Peter, he’s a knuckle head true and he’s far from perfect true, but man I want to be like him as I see him here…”the Lord’s over there!” SPLASH!

•And as they near the land Jesus has a fire of coals ready and He says, “bring some of the fish…I’ll meet you right here and we’ll enjoy them together!” Man this speaks to me…Jesus calls out to them, tells them…reveals to them the right way…they obey…there is much much substance, so much that many can and will and are filled…and then, we enjoy it together…that intimacy is so sweet in my life…and notice, where did it all come from? Jesus!

•Alone, I’m aimless, pointless, the ministry is unfruitful…but then God provides…everything…and all I do is walk through the open doors in obedience and He brings about a great catch…great substance…and then we sit and enjoy it together on a fire of coals that He has readied…so all sufficient you see…so cool and so intimate.

Chapter 21 Verses 11 – 14

•Mighty Peter, given great strength in the Lord’s service. 153 large fish…maybe 2 or 3 pounds each…that’s a heavy pull…but Peter is able…and John mentions that the net is not broken. And that encourages me. Because if God calls you to it, He will get you through it. He called them to obey Him and catch all those large fish…then He structures miracle after miracle around their obedience and brings them all the way to a wonderful intimate meal. He calls you to the same…