After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. (John 21:1-14, NRSV)
Why had the disciples gone back to fishing?
Or interestingly it seems all of them went to fishing… Only 4 of the 12 were fishermen, but it seems from this passage that the 7 of the 11 are together…
But Peter goes fishing and seems to fall back on what they had known before Jesus. Now yes Jesus had died, but in the gospel of John they had witnessed the risen Jesus twice by this point. So why are they not out telling everyone about Him?
What keeps you from shouting His praises from the top of your lungs every where you go?
You see, they followed what they knew, and that is what we do. It is easy for us to do what we have always done. We don’t want to see Jesus in the new things or the different places, because that means we will have to do things differently, and differently is not easy. It is unsafe. We are not in control and have to rely on someone else.
But that someone else in this instance is Jesus! Who better can we trust…
So when you see Jesus calling you to go and do something different, don’t worry that you won’t be in control, because Jesus will be and that is all the assurance we should need!
aSacredRebel 