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This past Sunday, we celebrated the greatest moment in history – the day Jesus defeated sin, death and Satan by rising from the dead. The day eclipses all others. Even the advent of Jesus as the baby in the manger takes a subordinate place in history. If His resurrection had not occurred, His birth would have only been on par with that of other great men and women who have lived and died.
The four Gospel writers recorded their accounts of the events surrounding Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection from different vantage points. Matthew witnessed much of what he wrote, but his narrative includes many details that he heard from others, including those of Jesus’ birth, childhood and more. Mark and Luke both wrote their accounts exclusively using details provided by others, since neither one of them were eyewitnesses.
But John was an eyewitness to most every detail included in his record beginning with John 1:15. From that point forward, nothing is second hand. The first fourteen verses of the Gospel of John are his introduction, comprising his summary of the most important truth that he wants his readers to glean from his account – that being that Jesus Christ is the Son of God – a conclusion that he personally did not fully come to until he stepped into the empty tomb.(1) He states it right up front in his narrative because he wants his readers to hear every detail in the light of that truth.
John concludes chapter 20 by writing:
“The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His name.”(2)
That could have been a powerful closing statement to the Gospel according to John. It would have ended on the same note as the other three. But he didn’t stop there … he added an epilogue. The Cambridge Dictionary defines an epilogue as “a speech or piece of text that is added to the end of a play or book, often giving a short statement about what happens to the characters after the play or book finishes.”
We would do well to ask why an epilogue was included in John’s account.(3)
During the forty days between His resurrection and His ascension, Jesus appeared and disappeared at will. The account recorded in John’s epilogue is the third time – at least as far as we are told -- that He appeared to His disciples. Though Jesus had a physical body, it was a resurrected body. He was able to come and go as He pleased – at one moment He was there with His disciples, at another He was with His Father in heaven. Jesus was preparing His disciples for the time He would no longer be with them continually in bodily form. He was preparing them for the coming of the Spirit and their future ministry assignments. The disciples never knew when He would appear, so they had to remain alert. (Incidentally, we would do well to heed that lesson ourselves!)
After His resurrection, Jesus instructed the disciples to meet Him in Galilee. Matthew and Mark also record that fact, though neither of them tells us what took place.(4) John tells us they had apparently been waiting for a while. Peter, not being one to sit around and wait, decided he wasn’t going to miss a good opportunity to go fishing. He enlisted the other fishermen in the group to join him – Thomas, Nathanael, the brothers James and John, and two others (probably Andrew and Philip). These were the seven who had been fishermen when Jesus first called them to follow Him – and it was “still in their blood”.
Apparently, Matthew, Simon the Zealot, James the Less and Thaddeus were the landlubbers who were off doing something else that night – perhaps sleeping, given the fact it was still in the very early morning hours. Hopefully, they woke up in time to show up on the shore for the very special breakfast Jesus was preparing! (One side road: please take note that Thomas was in the boat with the other fishermen. i am convinced he had determined to never again be the one absent from the group when Jesus showed up!)
The events that transpired on the boat that night should sound very familiar. Over two years earlier, Peter, Andrew, James and John had been fishing all night and they hadn’t caught anything.(5) Jesus had instructed them to go out where it was deeper and cast their nets one more time. You will recall that their nets were so full they began to tear. It was then that Jesus had told them to follow Him. They had followed, and not looked back. And oh, what a two-plus-years’ journey it had been!
Well, on this morning, they also had been fishing all night without success. It was now dawn and they were probably getting ready to return to shore. Jesus was standing on the shore. The sun was just coming up, and they were a distance out in the sea, so they couldn’t see that it was Him. He told them to throw out their net on the right-hand side and they would “get plenty of fish.”(6) Remember, they didn’t know it was Jesus – but something told them they needed to cast the net one more time. And just like the time two-plus years earlier, there were so many fish they couldn’t haul in the net. As a matter of fact, John includes the detail that they caught 153 large fish. And this time, the net hadn’t torn. That familiar memory is all it took to prompt John to say, “It’s the Lord!”(7) He knew His Lord’s ways – and though he couldn’t recognize His form and He hadn’t recognized His voice, he knew it was Him! This time, Jesus didn’t need to tell Peter to come – hearing from John that it was their Lord, he jumped in the water and headed for Jesus.
This was the last miracle that Jesus performed as a part of His earthly ministry before He ascended to the Father – nets full of fish. It’s reminiscent of His first miracle over three years earlier in Cana – water pots full of wine. Jesus never did anything halfway. He still doesn’t! When Jesus shows up there is abundance – perhaps not always in fish or wine – but abundant life, abundant joy and abundant mercy.
Jesus was preparing to send out His disciples as His ambassadors to be about His mission in the spreading of His gospel and the making of His disciples who would in turn make other disciples. Two-plus years ago, He had called them to follow Him bodily, now He was preparing to tell them to continue to follow Him – though not bodily, but by His Spirit.
Jesus’ call to us has not been to follow Him bodily; but His call to us has been the same as that morning beside the sea – to follow Him by His Spirit. And one day, when He returns, we’ll follow Him in His resurrected body with our resurrected bodies. And oh, by the way – i don’t want to miss that “breakfast” – and neither do you!
One other note, along those lines – notice that Jesus already had breakfast prepared, but it wasn’t complete until they added some of their catch. There was fruit of their labor by faith that had yet to be added before breakfast was ready. There is fruit of the labor that He has called us to – which by faith – has yet to be added to the “pot” before He returns and calls us to sit down with Him for the marriage supper of the Lamb.(8) He’s already preparing it, but He is at work in and through our lives to produce fruit that is yet to be added.
You see – the story didn’t end with Jesus’ resurrection. Events continued in the lives of His disciples … those who walked with Him then … and those of us who walk with Him now. We’re part of the epilogue … until the day He returns! Let’s be faithful to cast the net on the right hand side. There are still fish to be drawn in! There are still many yet to hear!
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Portions of this post have been taken from my book Taking Up The Cross, chapter 59.
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(1) John 20:8
(2) John 20:30-31 (NLT)
(3) John 21:1-14 (NLT)
Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. Several of the disciples were there — Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said. So, they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who He was. He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” “No,” they replied. Then He said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So, they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread. “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. So, Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn. “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask Him, “Who are You?” They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to His disciples since He had been raised from the dead.
(4) Matthew 28:7 and Mark 16:7
(5) Luke 5:1-11
(6) John 21:6 (NLT)
(7) John 21:7 (NLT)
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