I Go A Fishing
John 21:1-23
John 21 occurs after
the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is after Peter's denial of the Lord Jesus
in Chapter 18 where he denied that he knew the Lord Jesus three times. In Chapter 21, Peter is at the sea of
Tiberius with Thomas, Nathanael, James and John, and two other of the Lord
Jesus' disciples. Peter announces to
his friends V3 "I go a fishing" and his friends reply "We also
go with thee." But that night they
caught nothing.
How many times as
believers have we decided to do something which is not led by the Spirit? how many times has it brought consequences?
How many times have we regretted what we have done but have to live with
it? I know this has happened to me many
times. But when a believer follows the
leading of the Spirit he or she first gets a desire to do something,and this is
followed by opportunity, then he or she will have the ability to do this thing,
then they will bear good fruit, spiritually speaking.
The risen Lord Jesus
had some lessons to teach Peter that night, that he must follow the leading of
the Lord, and stop doing his own thing, as it were.
John 21:4 Morning had
come, and the risen Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples "knew not
that it was Jesus" V5 "Jesus
saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat?
They answered him, No." and they were probably downtrodden because
they had caught no fish. But then they
follow the leading of the Lord when he tells them V6 "Cast the net on the
right side of the ship, and ye shall find.
They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the
multitude of fishes." When the Lord
leads, blessing follows.
John is known as the
"disciple that Jesus loved" and it is he that recognizes the risen
Lord Jesus first. V7 "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto
Peter, It is the Lord." And then
Peter who was always one to act on impulse, "...he girt his fisher's coat
unto him...and did cast himself into the sea." V8 tells us that "they
were not far from land." Peter wanted to get to the Lord Jesus as fast as
possible. V8 "..the other disciples
came in a little ship;...dragging the net with fishes."
V9 shows the Lord
Jesus' care for his own. "as soon
as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid
thereon, and bread." Psalm 23:1
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." V11-14 Peter drew the net to land and it was
full of great fishes, not small fishes, 153.
There were so many, but the net had not broken and that is a
miracle. Jesus told them to come and
eat, and no one dared to ask him who he was, because they knew that it was the
risen Lord. Then Jesus came and took
bread and fish and gave it to them. This
had to be a happier occasion than the last feast of Passover supper when Jesus
told them that he was going to be betrayed, and instituted the remembrance
feast of bread and the fruit of the vine which believers continue to this
day. This was the third time that Jesus
had shown himself to his disciples after he was risen from the dead.
