Let's start today by rereading our passage from two weeks ago, John 20:19-23:
(19) Then, when it was evening on that day-- the first day of the week, and the doors having been shut where the disciples were because of fear of the Judeans-- Jesus came,
and he stood in their midst,
and he says to them,
"Peace to you,"
(20) and this saying, he showed his hands
and his side to them.
Then, the disciples rejoiced,
seeing the Lord.
(21) Then, Jesus said to them again,
"Peace to you.
Just as the Father sent me, also I send you,"
(22) and this saying, he breathed on them,
and he says to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
(23) If the sins of any, you forgive, they are forgiven them.
If [the sins] of any, you hold/retain, they have been held/retained.
What we see in these verses, is the Great Commission. Jesus gives the disciples his peace. He sends them out into the world, as extension of his own ministry. He gives them the Holy Spirit, to enable them to do this. And he gives them authority to forgive sins.
So at this point in the book, what do we expect the disciples to do? To go, right? We expect them to leave their locked room, and be brave, and tell the world about Jesus. When Jesus tells you to do something, you do it.
What we read, instead, is the story about "Doubting Thomas." Let's continue, and read John 20:24-31:
(24) Now, Thomas-- one of the twelve, the one being called "Twin"-- wasn't with them when Jesus came.
(25) Then, the other disciples were saying to him,
"We have seen the Lord."
Now, he said to them,
"Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails,
and I put my finger in the mark of the nails, I will absolutely never believe,"
(26) and after eight days, again his disciples were inside-- and Thomas [was] with them.
Jesus comes,
while the doors having been locked/barred,
and he stood in their midst,
and he said,
"Peace to you."
(27) Next, he says to Thomas,
"Bring your finger here,
and see my hands,
and bring your hand,
and put it into my side,
and don't become unbelieving/unfaithful but believing/faithful."
(28) Thomas answered,
and he said to him,
"My Lord, and my God."
(29) Jesus says to him,
"Because you have seen me you have 'believed.'
Blessed [are] the ones not seeing and 'believing.'
(30) And so then, on the one hand, also many other signs Jesus did in the presence of his disciples, which aren't written in this book.
(31)On the other hand, these are written,
in order that you would continue believing that Jesus is the Christ/Messiah/King, the Son of God,
and in order that, believing, life you would have in his name.
So at this point in the gospel, where do the disciples stand? All of the disciples have received Jesus' peace. All of them have been commissioned. And all of them, at this point, are in this locked room.
With this, we come to today's passage, John 21:1-3 (working from "de" to "de"):
(1) After these things, Jesus again revealed himself to the/his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.
Now, he revealed himself in this way: they were together-- Simon Peter, and Thomas-- the one being called "Twin"-- and Nathaniel-- the one from Cana of Galilee-- and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.
(3) Simon Peter says to them,
"I am going to fish."
They say to him,
"We are coming-- also us-- with you."
They went out,
and they got into the boat,
and on that night they caught nothing.
Let's pause here. When we first look at these verses, we see two main things. First, we see the unity of the disciples. Jesus had prayed for his disciples, that they would be one, as he and the Father are one (John 17:21). And what we see here is that they stick together, and work together. Peter says he's going fishing, and the others join him.
The second thing we see, is that they work together unsuccessfully. They get in the boat, and they caught nothing.
Now, scholars reading this have spilled a lot of ink talking about something else in these verses. I think the majority position is probably right, but I could be wrong.
What they talk about, a lot, is Simon Peter's words. He says, "I am going to fish."
The verb Peter uses here, "to fish," is a present tense verb. Present tense verbs are open-ended, imperfective.
And what this means, possibly, is that Peter is here telling the other disciples that he is going back to his old way of life. Now that Jesus is gone, he will become a fisherman again. What Peter then does, as leader of the post-resurrection church, is pull the other disciples into becoming fishermen.
Jesus has just commissioned them, and sent them out to leave their locked room, and go tell the world about Jesus. To do the greater works (John 14:12), as they are empowered by the Spirit.
Peter then decides, apparently after Jesus leaves, that he is going to go out, to be a fisherman.
Now, in a vacuum, being a fisherman is a perfectly acceptable career choice. Fishing is one small part of what it means to have dominion over the world. When you fish, you are doing what God made you to do. You can fish, and obey God. You can fish, and tell the world about Jesus.
But for Peter, becoming a fisherman is the wrong choice. Peter is supposed to be the Rock on which the church is built (John 1:42). Jesus is calling him to full-time ministry. And even if Peter was supposed to be bi-vocational, probably this is not the time or place for the fishing part of it. Jesus has just risen from the dead. He has just commissioned to you to go into the world. If there was ever a time to live off your savings, or the offerings of other disciples, and testify to Jesus, that time is now.
So when we read about Peter going out to be a fisherman, we ask ourselves, "Why?"
Why would Peter decide to become a fisherman after Jesus gave him the Great Commission? Why isn't he doing what Jesus wants?
Peter, like the other disciples, has seen Jesus. He has been filled with joy. He has received Jesus' peace. He's no longer the question mark.
But Peter denied Jesus three times. Three times, someone asked if he was Jesus' disciple, and three times, he said "no." And when you fail Jesus, hard, you maybe find yourself thinking, "Will Jesus forgive me? Will Jesus still use me?" You failed Jesus, so you're a shameful failure. And you think to yourself, "Jesus will have to find someone else to do his work."
And if you've failed Jesus badly at some point, this should resonate with you. Maybe you had a serious moral failure, either before, or after, you became Jesus' disciple. Maybe you thought you'd be willing to sacrifice everything for Jesus, including your life (John 13:37), but when push came to shove, you gave in to fear and selfishness. Maybe you had a thriving ministry at one point, and it blew up spectacularly, hurting lots of people in the process.
Each of us can find lots of ways to mess up serving Jesus. If you're like me, many of you have said and done things in ministry that you regret. And what really bothers you, isn't so much what people say about you behind your back, or the way they talk about your failures. What bothers you, is that you failed Jesus. And you carry the same of failing him with you everywhere. So what do you do?
You tell yourself, "I'm not getting back in that saddle. Never again. Jesus will find someone better."
So maybe you're like Peter. You go to work, do your job, and come home. You go into the world for a paycheck, and not to tell people about Jesus. But the reason for this is because you're ashamed. Not because you're lazy, or because your priorities are messed up. You're ashamed. And you're pretty sure Jesus is ashamed of you as well. You may be one of Jesus' sheep, but you're the black sheep in his flock.
That's what I think is going on with Peter. And, unfortunately, all the other disciples have joined him. The fields are white for the harvest. But everyone's fishing. No one's farming.
Verse 4-12:
(4) Now, while it was early morning, Jesus stood on the shore.
However, the disciples didn't know that Jesus, it is.
(5) Then, Jesus says to them,
"Children, you don't have any fish, right?
They answered him,
"No."
(6) Now, he said to them,
"Throw to the right side of the boat the net,
and you will find."
Then, they threw,
and they were no longer able to draw it in from the multitude of fish.
(7) Then, that disciple whom Jesus loved, said to Peter,
"The Lord, it is." [The beloved disciple has the discernment; H/T Charles Talbert].
Then, Simon Peter, hearing that the Lord it is, the outer garment he tucked in.
For he was naked,
and he threw himself into the sea. [Peter has the devotion; H/T Talbert.]
(8) Now, the other disciples in the boat came.
For, they weren't far from the land,
but about two hundred cubits,
dragging the net of fish. [The others have the duty; H/T Talbert].
(9) Then, when they disembarked to the land, they see a charcoal fire being placed [there], and a fish lying on it and bread.
(10) Jesus says to them,
"Carry from the fish that you caught [just] now.
(11) Then, Simon Peter went up,
and he drew the net to the land, full of large fish, 153,
and [despite] so many being, the net wasn't torn.
(12) Jesus says to them,
"Come! Eat breakfast!"
Let's pause here. You can read these verses at a surface level, and they make sense. But my guess is that you read this, and it feels like there is something more going on here. There is a higher level of truth in play. Why does AJ tell us that there were 153 large fish? Why is it important that the net wasn't torn? There are details in the story that feel unnecessary. And that makes us think, maybe, that we are missing something.
Let's start with the number of fish. Pretty much everyone agrees that the number 153 is in some way symbolic, to represent the entire world. No one is quite sure why this is true-- there are at least a couple explanations. But 153 represents the world.
We also know, from other gospels (and we are possibly expected to have this in the back of our mind), that one of the ways of thinking about evangelism, is fishing for people (Luke 5).
So when we see this huge, successful catch, we are getting a picture of what Jesus wants from us-- his church. When we fish for people, we fish for all people. Rich and poor. Black and white. Western and Eastern. Men and women. Young and old. The sober and the drunk. The drug-addicted, and the clean. People from every tribe, and people, and nation. All the ways we divide up the world, fit comfortably inside the net.
A second thing we are probably supposed to read into here is the strong net.
One of the worries people have, in evangelizing, is that the wrong person will enter the church. Maybe you want people whose lives are put together. People who grew up in the church, and fell away, but are still basically good people, with a good moral base. You want people who have the same color skin. Who speak English as a first language, and preferably don't know a second.
Evangelism can be a messy thing. But the best thrown nets, tend to be thrown toward people who are broken, and poor, and desperate. People who want the abundant life that Jesus offers. And if we throw our nets close to the boat out of fear, we aren't going to catch very much. And we aren't doing what Jesus wants.
So, maybe, you worry that adding the wrong type of fish, will tear the church in half. Or maybe you worry about the church getting too big. These fears are something we need to set aside. We fish for all people. We rejoice, for every new believer, or new seeker, who comes toward Jesus. And we have confidence that the net will hold.
The one last thing I want to say about these verses, is that I think Jesus is encouraging us that when we fish for people, we are supposed to be incredibly fruitful. When we obey Jesus, and witness to Jesus, lots and lots of fish will be caught. You will look at what we brought to Jesus, and marvel at the size of the harvest. Fishing for people won't be a waste of your time.
May this be true.
Picking up again, still verse 12:
Now, none of the disciples dared to ask him,
"You, Who are you?,"
knowing that the Lord, he is.
(13) Jesus comes,
and he takes the bread,
and he gives [it] to them,
and the fish likewise.
(14) This [was] now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples,
[after] being raised from the dead.
I want to pass over these verses, and push on ahead.
(15) Then, when they ate breakfast, Jesus says to Simon Peter,
"Simon of John, do you love me more than these?"
More than what? In Greek, it's a little ambiguous. When you picture this scene, what do you see? I see Peter sitting in front of a campfire, full from a good breakfast, having the satisfaction of a productive, successful day at work. And I see him surrounded by his very best friends.
For most of us North Dakotans, this picture is about as good as life gets. In the OT, the ideal picture for an Israelite is something like, "Every man under his own fig tree, living in peace." Like the retired guys I see hanging out in their open garages all summer, sheltered from the heat, surrounded by man stuff. But for most of us, the ideal looks a lot like John 21.
And Jesus says to Peter, "Do you love me more than these things?"
This brings us to one of the most well-known conversations in the NT. I'm just going to read through it, all at once, and then we'll talk about it:
He says,
"Yes Lord. You know that I love you."
He says to him,
"Feed my lambs."
(16) He says to him again a second time,
"Simon of John, do you love me?"
He says to him,
"Yes, Lord. You know that I love you."
He says to him,
"Tend my sheep."
(17) He says to him a third time,
"Simon of John, do you love me?"
Peter was grieved
because he said to him a third time, 'Do you love me?',
and he said to him,
"Lord, all things you know. You know that I love you."
Jesus says to him,
"Feed my sheep."
Let's pause here. Many of you know that there are two different Greek words used here for love. And you've been told, your entire life, that the secret to understanding this passage is to focus on those words. You're told that one of those words is a deeper, more profound type of love than the other. And you're told that Peter is trying to weasel out of it, and trying to love Jesus just with a brotherly love. And Peter hopes that Jesus won't notice, or realize what he's doing.
But what does Peter know? Four times (!), Peter says that he knows, that Jesus knows everything. There's no sense trying to hide from Jesus. And Peter has no reason to hide from Jesus, on this point. Peter loves Jesus. And Jesus, who knows everything, knows this. There's no deceit, or dishonesty, here.
So why does Jesus ask Peter three times if Peter loves him?
Let's go back up to verse 15.
(15) Then, when they ate breakfast, Jesus says to Simon Peter,
"Simon of John, do you love me more than these?"
Why is Peter fishing, when he should be farming? What Jesus is asking him, is a question of priorities. Do you love Jesus more than the campfire, and the fishing? If you do, then why aren't you obeying the Great Commission? Why are you fishing?
And Jesus frames his question, by making it an issue of love. If you love Jesus, you'll obey his commands. If you love Jesus, you'll go out into the world. So does Peter not love Jesus? Are his priorities wrong?
I don't think that's Peter's problem. And Peter sharply denies that this is the problem. Peter's problem, is the shame he carries with him because he failed Jesus. And why is Peter grieved? He's not grieved because Jesus sees through his clever use of Greek words for love. He's grieved, verse 17, because Jesus asks him three times.
Jesus, very gently, reminds Peter of his failure. And Jesus reminds Peter, that he knows about that failure.
Jesus knows every time you've ever failed him. He sees right through you. He knows about your moral failures. He knows about your failure in ministry. He knows about the hurt and guilt and shame you walk around in. He knows about the shameful things in life you've hidden from everyone else, as best you can.
Jesus knows all of this, and what does he do with this knowledge?
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He doesn't rebuke Peter. He's not harsh with him. What Jesus does, first of all, is remind Peter that he knows everything. There's no secrets with Jesus. And that's a good thing. We don't have to worry about what will happen when Jesus finds out what we did. We don't have to live in fear. Jesus already knows.
And what else does Jesus do?
The second thing Jesus does here, is commission Peter. Jesus uses two different words for sheep here. He calls them "lambs" and "sheep." And he uses two different verbs for how he is supposed to care for them. Peter needs to "feed" them and "tend" them. But I think these words, are just slightly different ways of saying the same thing (just like "love"). If Peter loves Jesus, he needs to care for Jesus' flock. He needs to be a shepherd to them. We would say, he needs to be a pastor.
I know several people who used to be pastors, and now they aren't. Some of them had moral failures, and left their ministry in shame. Some of them had a harsh, difficult flock, and they got chewed up and spit out. Some of them were really badly hurt by people they trusted, who turned on them in the end. A few, maybe, are like Peter. They know they failed Jesus really hard. They know they are weak, and vulnerable, on their own. And they think Jesus is better off finding someone else.
What many of these ex-pastors have in common, is that they are done being pastors. They will find a different way to make a living.
Now, maybe this is what Jesus wants from them. But maybe, some of these people aren't doing what Jesus wants, because of the shame, or guilt, or pain.
And maybe, what's true for my ex-pastor friends, is true for some of you. At some point in the past, either before you became Jesus' disciple, or after, you fell hard. And even though you know, in your head, that Jesus forgave you, you carry this shame around. You love Jesus. You are grateful for your salvation. You see the need in the world, and in the church. But you think someone else will have to do it. Jesus won't use you. You blew it, you failed Jesus, and Jesus has moved on.
What we see in this passage, is an echo of the story with Thomas. Jesus is the kind of Savior, the kind of Shepherd, who leaves no sheep behind. Jesus knows what you've done. And he not only forgives you, but he restores you. And he wants to use you. For some of you, Jesus wants to use you more out in the world, as fishermen, to bring people to Jesus. For others, Jesus wants to use you more as a shepherd, like Peter, to build up his church.
But either way, I want you to understand something this morning. Jesus knows the worst things you ever did. The things no one else knows about you. The things you've carefully hidden from everyone.
If you have fallen, or failed, Jesus will forgive you. He will cleanse you. He will restore you. And he still wants you to serve him.
Translation:
(1) After these things, Jesus again revealed himself to the/his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.
Now, he revealed himself in this way: they were together-- Simon Peter, and Thomas-- the one being called "Twin"-- and Nathaniel-- the one from Cana of Galilee-- and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.
(3) Simon Peter says to them,
"I am going to fish."
They say to him,
"We are coming-- also us-- with you."
They went out,
and they got into the boat,
and on that night they caught nothing.
(4) Now, while it was early morning, Jesus stood on the shore.
However, the disciples didn't know that Jesus, it is.
(5) Then, Jesus says to them,
"Children, you don't have any fish, right?
They answered him,
"No."
(6) Now, he said to them,
"Throw to the right side of the boat the net,
and you will find."
Then, they threw,
and they were no longer able to draw it in from the multitude of fish.
(7) Then, that disciple whom Jesus loved, said to Peter,
"The Lord, it is."
Then, Simon Peter, hearing that the Lord it is, the outer garment he tucked in.
For he was naked,
and he threw himself into the sea.
(8) Now, the other disciples in the boat came.
For, they weren't far from the land,
but about two hundred cubits,
dragging the net of fish.
(9) Then, when they disembarked to the land, they see a charcoal fire being placed [there], and a fish lying on it and bread.
(10) Jesus says to them,
"Carry from the fish that you caught [just] now.
(11) Then, Simon Peter went up,
and he drew the net to the land, full of large fish, 153,
and [despite] so many being, the net wasn't torn.
(12) Jesus says to them,
"Come! Eat breakfast!"
Now, none of the disciples dared to ask him,
"You, Who are you?,"
knowing that the Lord, he is.
(13) Jesus comes,
and he takes the bread,
and he gives [it] to them,
and the fish likewise.
(14) This [was] now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples,
[after] being raised from the dead.
(15) Then, when they ate breakfast, Jesus says to Simon Peter,
"Simon of John, do you love me more than these?"
He says,
"Yes Lord. You know that I love you."
He says to him,
"Feed my lambs."
(16) He says to him again a second time,
"Simon of John, do you love me?"
He says to him,
"Yes, Lord. You know that I love you."
He says to him,
"Tend my sheep."
(17) He says to him a third time,
"Simon of John, do you love me?"
Peter was grieved
because he said to him a third time, 'Do you love me?',
and he said to him,
"Lord, all things you know. You know that I love you."
Jesus says to him,
"Feed my sheep."
(18) Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself, and you walked where you wanted.
Now, when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and another will gird you,
and he will carry you where you don't want [to go].
(19) Now, this he said,
signaling by which type of death he would glory God,
and this saying, he says to him,
"Follow me."
(20) Peter, turning, sees the disciple whom Jesus loved following,
who also leaned at the supper upon his chest,
and he said,
"Lord, who is the one handing over/betraying you?"
(21) then, this one, Peter seeing, says to Jesus,
"Lord, Now, what about this one?"
(22) Jesus says to him,
"If him, I wish to abide until I come, what is it to you?
You, follow me."
(23) Then, this word/rumor went out to the brothers
that that disciple wouldn't die.
Now, Jesus didn't say to him
that he wouldn't die,
but [that] if him, I wish to abide until I come, what is that to you?"
(24) This is the disciple-- the one testifying about these things, and the one writing these things--
and we know
that true, his testimony is.
(25) Now, there are also many other things that Jesus did,
which if they were written one after another, I don't think the world itself could hold the books being written.
The end.
