Who Is This Jesus?
20. He Reinstates the Repentant
John 21
Don Jaques
April 2/3, 2005
MAIN IDEA: Jesus reinstates and recommissions those who have fallen and repented of their sin. If we have failed him we can be sure we will receive the same treatment. We need to be sure and offer others the same grace our Lord offers them.
OBJECTIVES: Those who have failed will be encouraged to move ahead and start serving the Lord again.
Those who have had others fail them will be encouraged to accept their apologies and move ahead in their relationships.
INTRO:
I want to do a real quick survey. If you have ever had someone disappoint you in some way that hurt you, would you raise your hand?
Now – if YOU have ever failed someone else, would you be brave enough to raise your hand?
What a bunch of failures we are! Who among us hasn’t known the sting of feeling that we failed to live up to a commitment we had made, or a promise we made to someone close to us.
Sometimes the pain comes from knowing we hurt someone else, even unintentionally.
Whatever the source, one thing is certain – we’re going to have to learn how to deal with failures in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We can’t escape it!
As we come to the end of the Gospel of John, this series called “Who is This Jesus?”, we are going to see how Jesus responded to one of his closest friends who failed him, and how this friend responded to his own failure. As we read this final chapter of John, we’ll discover that Jesus is the one who REINSTATES THE REPENTANT.
Let’s read…
Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”
11Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Jesus Reinstates Peter
15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
18Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." 19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
The title of the passage in the NIV is “Jesus reinstates Peter”.
Why is he “reinstating” him? Because of what happened on the night Jesus was betrayed, a couple of weeks earlier.
In John 13 we read that Peter boasted to the Lord that he would follow him anywhere – even to the point of laying down his life for Jesus. But Jesus replied
38Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
Then, just as Jesus foretold, we read in John 18 about how 3 terrible times Peter was given the chance to state his devotion to Jesus, and 3 terrible times he denied even knowing Jesus. The last time, Luke tells us, Jesus looked right at Peter after he denied him, and immediately the cock crowed. Then follows one of the saddest verses I’ve ever found in the Bible. “And he went outside and wept bitterly.” (Luke 22:62)
So here Peter finds himself, about 10 days later. He has seen the risen Lord for two short interludes over the course of a week, but it appears that Jesus didn’t really address Peter and their relationship.
He knows Jesus is alive again. What he doesn’t know is if his relationship with him can ever be the same again.
And so Jesus arranges a scene that mimics one of Peter’s first encounters with him, as we find it in Luke 5. Peter is fishing all night, but hasn’t caught anything. Jesus tells him to cast his nets on the other side of the boat – Peter obeys, and enjoys a bountiful catch. And when he realizes it is Jesus he puts on his cloak and jumps in the water – just to be with Jesus again. He can’t wait!
This is important – because it shows us Peter’s heart. When he failed Jesus on that terrible night, he immediately repented – he knew he’s done wrong as evidenced by his weeping. And he still loved Jesus and wanted to be around him.
Now when Jesus addresses Peter, there are all sorts of things that Jesus could have asked him at this breakfast next to the Sea of Galilee.
Why did you do it? Can I trust you not to do that again?
Are you really sorry?
He doesn’t ask any of these. The only question he asked was “Do you love me?”
His past was not the issue. Jesus had moved on. It was forgiven. It was forgotten. The issue for Jesus was whether Peter was going to let the failures in his past affect his present and his future.
Peter had left everything to follow Jesus. He was a “former fisherman” who had once again become a fisherman. Jesus was concerned that he not be satisfied with living as a fisherman for the rest of his life. He had much bigger plans for Peter. Jesus knew that Peter had important work ahead of him as an Apostle, a preacher, a leader in the early church, but if he fell back into what came naturally, what came easily (being a fisherman) he would miss out.
And so he asks him, “Do you love me?”
This is what matters to him most. Let’s put the past behind us, Peter. Do you love me?
And then he repeats the question once for every time Peter had denied his love a week and a half earlier. He allows Peter the chance to put the memories of that night to rest. And he gives him a calling to fulfill for the rest of his days. Take care of Jesus’ followers. Feed them spiritual knowledge and insight. Take care of their spiritual needs. Make sure they know Jesus cares for their needs.
There is nothing wrong with being a fisherman – unless that’s not what God has planned for you. Unless that is an escape from becoming the person God needs you to be for the sake of his kingdom.
The lessons we learn from this passage of scripture are so life changing – and so awe inspiring!
• It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. You can repent of your sin and be commissioned by Jesus Christ to serve him in great ways.
o There is no time to waste feeling like God will not accept you or that he is holding your past against you. Life is too precious. Repent of your sins, pick yourself up and move ahead!
ILLUS:
One of the greatest tragedies for people would be to live in darkness when they could live in the light…
Rose Crawford had been blind for 50 years. Then she had an operation in an Ontario hospital. She said, “I just can’t believe it,” as the doctor lifted the bandages from her eyes. She wept - when for the 1st time in her life she saw a dazzling and beautiful world of form and color greeted her eyes and she could now see.
The amazing thing about her story, however, was that 20 years of her blindness was unnecessary. She didn’t know that surgical techniques had been developed, and that an operation could have restored her vision at the age of 30.
The Dr. said, “She just figured there was nothing that could be done for her condition. Much of her life could have been different.”
Are you convinced that God is through with you? Are you convinced that after what you’ve done, and the promises you’ve broken, that God couldn’t ever use you?
If so – just remember how he treated Peter. He heard his cries of repentance, he heard his declarations of love for him, and he commissioned him to move into a great future of living – and ultimately dying – in Jesus’ service.
If you’ve failed God – know that there are only two types of sin. Unrepented and Repented of. If you repent of your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us or our sin and to purify us from all unrighteousness.
You can experience that from God today. But we can go even further. You can experience that from God’s people today. That’s what this church is all about. We’re here to help people experience the love, acceptance, and forgiveness that God offers each one of us when we repent of our sinful, selfish ways in which we’ve failed God or other people.
In this and so many other passages, we learn this about God’s nature:
• God’s nature is to err on the side of grace. We would do well to follow. This takes supernatural power. We more naturally remember people’s failures and hold their past against them. God separates our sin from us as far as the east is from the west. He drops our sin into the sea of forgetfulness.
APP: Do you need to release someone into God’s hands of grace? Do you need to ask God to take away your tendency to hold people’s failings against them?
IN CLOSING…
1. May you receive the love, acceptance, and forgiveness the Lord offered Peter.
2. May you extend the love, acceptance, and forgiveness the Lord extended toward Peter to those in your life who have failed.
May this truly be an authentic Christian community – where love, acceptance, and forgiveness is offered to people as generously as our Lord extends it to those who repent of their failures.
