John 21:1-14, Burn the Ships

Objectives

• Congregants will determine to keep their focus on Christ's mission for their life even when the dull moments come.
• Congregants will determine to trust Christ's directions for their life.
• Congregants will determine to depend on Christ for their provision.

Main Body

While there is a lot of debate on John 21 one thing is clear. John 21 presents a sort of epilogue to the book of John in which John sees to tie up several loose ends. On of these loose ends is handled in John 21:1-14. In John 20:17 Jesus had commanded Army not to cling to Him. One might ask the question, does this mean that Jesus is no longer going to provide for His own? John 21:1-14 gives a resounding answer of No!

As Christians we must demonstrate that the very same Jesus who walked the earth and provided for His disciples walks with us and gives us provisions for today.

Setting the Stage

• John has just given us a fairly strong concluding remark. He wrote so that "believing you may have life in His name." In what follows John chooses to wrap up a few items.

• In Matthew 28:7 we see that after the resurrection an angle told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary that Jesus would met with the disciples in Galilee. This brings us to John 20:1.

• Verse 1: The sea of Tiberias is another name for the sea of Galilee. The disciples had gone with Jesus to Jerusalem, experienced the most tumultuous events that any of us can possibly imagine including the Triumphal Entry, the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Betrayal of Judas, the Trial of Jesus, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection, all in the space of one week. If anyone had the right to be unsure of what the future held, the disciples had that right.

• In verse 1 we have a type of introduction to we need in order to understand what is happening. This verse serves to connect this appearance of Jesus to the other two post-resurrection appearances. John uses the phrase μετα ταυτα (after this) a phrase commonly employed in the book. John also uses the verb appeared twice in this introductory verse. This emphasizes the appearance and tells us that this is an important component in this passage. John has already worked hard to show us that Jesus was alive so we must ask why emphasize the appearance? The answer is that John is emphasizing the continuing ministry of Jesus and his presence. John wants us to know that the risen Christ is still present with the disciples and with us today. Christ is present and will continue to be with his disciples for all time. Nothing catches God by surprise and as the disciples emerged from the most trying event of their lives Christ clearly demonstrated that He would continue to minister to them.

Gone Fishing (Verses 2-3)

• Verse 2: Notice the party, we have Peter leading the group of seven individuals. Peter is the natural leader of the group but he surely felt ill-equipped. After all, he had been the one who had denied Jesus not just once, but three times. I am sure Peter doubted his role and maybe even felt like an imposter. How could he lead this group of of men when he had failed so miserably?

• Verse 3: In verse 3 we see Peter declaring his intent to go fishing. Why was Peter going fishing? Perhaps Peter needed to support his family, maybe Peter felt shame at his failure and thought God was done with him. In John 16:32 Christ had prophesied that "Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." In this passage we see the disciples scattered and probably back home. In a sense, it really doesn't matter why Peter went fishing, John chose not to comment on that. Instead, what John chooses to highlight for us is how successful Peter was on this fishing trip. The disciples caught nothing! They fished through the night (a common time to fish), but the results were beyond underwhelming.

• Imagine the frustration and questions. Three years earlier, these Galileans had left everything to follow Christ as described in Matthew 19:17 "Then Peter answered and said to Him, 'See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?'" Now, with nothing to show for the previous three years, these men return to fishing but even this is not working. I don't know about you, but I think I would find myself wondering if Christ was still going to provide for His own.

• If you, like me, have ever felt discouraged, have ever wondered if Christ is still going to provide then you are in good company.
  • David felt depressed discouragement, so deep that he wrote in Psalm 42:11 "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God." These are not the words of a man who has never felt pain, these are the words of a man who has felt depression discouragement.
  • Moses struggled regularly and even questioned why God was making him the spokesman. In Exodus 5:22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me?"
  • Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet, in Jeremiah 20:14 he proclaims "Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!"
  • After victoriously defeating the prophets of Baal Elijah entered a deep valley. Listen to Elijah in 1 Kings 19:4 "But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, 'It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!'"

As Christians, we must recognize that there will be challenges and through these challenges we must keep our focus on Christ.

Still Acting (Verses 4-8)

• Verse 4: Notice the details that are present an missing. Who - Jesus, When - Early Morning, Where - On the Shore, How - Not given. Wait did you catch that, the how is not given. We don't need to know how. No, all we need to know is that Christ was there. In life, there will be times when we don't know how but instead we must trust that Christ will be there. We should also notice the contrast between the disciples fishing at night and Christ in the morning. When we are in the darkest night, the darkest pit of despair, morning breaks with Christ. It is Christ who can bring us out of discouragement, it is Christ alone. Don't make too much out of the disciples not recognizing Christ. It may be that the disciples did not recognize Christ in the early hours of the morning, or maybe there was a supernatural component and Christ was not yet revealing Himself. The point is not why they did not recognize Christ, the point is that they did not recognize Christ. I think that too often, in the pit of discouragement we fail to recognize Christ. We fail to keep our focus on where it should be.

• Verse 5: Here we see Jesus ask a question to which he already knew the answer, "do you not have any fish we can eat?" Why is Jesus asking such a question? Jesus is making sure the disciples realize their current state. The disciples simply answer "no." Both sides of this conversation are aware of the conditions. However, notice something else about the question. How does Jesus chooses to address the disciples? Jesus addresses the disciples as children ()