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.
• Verse 1 gives a sort us the introduction that 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 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. The risen Christ is still present with the disciples. Christ is present and will continue to be with his disciples for all time.

• 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.