14th June 2011

John 21:1-14 – Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish.

• “Backsliding”
• Why are the men fishing?
• Peter encourages them to do so.
• No wonder tomorrows passage is full of Jesus’ question; “Do you really love me”.
• Peter and the disciples had either not understood or given up on the calling Jesus had given them. They had returned to something they should not have.
• He had commissioned them both before His death and after His resurrection.
• Suddenly He appears to them.
• They are not doing what He has asked and they are catching no fish.
• They had gone backwards. They know Jesus is resurrected but it has made no difference.
• Which poses the question; is backsliding really just about losing your belief?
• You can believe but go backwards just as yesterday we realize that you can doubt but move forwards.
• I have done the same.
• I ‘backslid’ for three years – I still believed but my disobedience was an act of the will. I wanted to do stuff that God did want me to do.
• For most of us, the reality is that we move away from God in our hearts not because of a crisis of belief but as an act of will.
• Things have not panned out the way we had hoped.
• Maybe we did not get out of the experience what we had expected we would when we entered it.
• This is why it is so important that we do our best to make sure people enter the Kingdom of God for the right reasons.
• And that we do as well.
• Maybe there is someone you know who is no longer serving God. Can I suggest that it’s not really a crisis of faith as they might say; it’s a crisis of expectations.
• Knowing that may help you help them deal with the real issue.
• After seeing and hearing Jesus, one of the disciples recognizes who He is and Peter grabs his outer cloak and jumps in the water.
• At first, adding an extra jacket for a swim seems odd but it was inappropriate to have a formal meeting with a rabbi without being fully clothed.
• Peter’s saving grace is his immediate desire to reconnect with Jesus, which of course, changes everything.
• He still acknowledges Jesus as His master but as we will see tomorrow, reconnecting is just part of it. Jesus now needs to get at the very heart of why Peter wants to follow Him.
• Maybe that is why things sometimes don’t pan out the way we had expected them to. Maybe it’s an opportunity for the Spirit of Jesus to have a heart to heart conversation with me about my motives?
• Praying through my motives again today.