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BREAKFAST ON THE BEACH

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BREAKFAST ON THE BEACH

“As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, ‘It is the Lord,’ he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.”  John 21:7b-8.

How predictable of Peter! He was the first to respond. Unlike Judas, who had slunk away in his remorse and committed suicide, Peter yearned for another chance. Another chance to do what? To prove to Jesus that he was no coward, after all? That he could and would make good on his promise to stick with Him through thick and thin?

But now, everything had changed. They were no longer trudging all over Israel with an itinerant rabbi. He was alive, yes, but He was different. He came and went in a flash. It was impossible to follow Him as they did before He died. The only thing Peter knew at that moment was that Jesus was on the beach and he wanted to get to Him as quickly as he could.

Why did Peter grab his cloak? The others could have given it to him when they reached the shore. To be uncovered above the ankles was regarded as nakedness. He couldn’t work with the encumbrance of his cloak so he took it off in the company of his fellow disciples, but in the presence of his Master he needed to be appropriately dressed, wet or not! 

Was this Peter’s first encounter with Jesus after His resurrection? No, it wasn’t. He had been with the other disciples in the upper room when Jesus appeared to them the first time. Why was this occasion so special? I think Jesus planned a leisurely breakfast on the beach around a fire to trigger something in Peter he would never forget.

“When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ So, Simon climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn.” John 21:9-11,

Can you picture the scene? Fish cooking slowly over a fire of hot coals. Jesus waiting for a few more fish from their catch. The other disciples sitting around the fire, warming their cold hands. Why was Jesus here?  He never did anything without a reason. Every detail of this little scene had meaning.

For Peter, everything was happening at a maddeningly slow pace. Had Jesus showed up on the beach just to have a picnic breakfast with them? Why the beach? Why bread and fish? As he stood watching the fish cooking over the fire, many thoughts flooded his mind. The beach reminded him of that first moment when he met Jesus and heard Him call his name. His life would never be the same again. Bread and fish triggered the memory of crowds of people sitting on the grass while he and the other disciples distributed pieces that miraculously multiplied in their hands. Who was this man who could do that?

He could hardly bear to look at the coals. The memory of his failure almost suffocated him. He would never forget the look in the eyes of his Master as He turned His gaze on him; not “I told you so,” or “Why did you do it?” but “Oh Peter, my heart breaks for you.” Perhaps this was the meaning of the scene he could not escape. Did the Master want him to feel the terrible pain of his denial so that he would never step across that boundary again?

I have a sense that Jesus took him back to that moment — He could not be with Peter when it happened — so that He could walk with him through it again, not to condemn but to reinterpret it with him so that Peter could feel His forgiveness and never again be overwhelmed by guilt and shame. Peter had a job to do, and there was no sense in living in the past.

From Jesus’ perspective, Peter’s past had ceased to exist, washed clean by the blood He had shed on the cross. Only the His words could erase the guilt from Peter’s soul and set him free to live for his future and not from his past. The message he was to proclaim was one he had to experience so that he could preach it with passion.

Never again would the sound of a cock crowing or the sight of a coal fire bring back the feelings of guilt and shame that had imprisoned him until that moment. Yes, Jesus had a reason for every detail of his little breakfast on the beach. He had a beloved brother who needed the reassurance that he was free from his emotional prison and recommissioned to do what he had been called to do. Peter’s failure had not disqualified him, only redefined him so that he would know himself and his Master a little better.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE PROPHET’S DESPAIR

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THE PROPHET’S DESPAIR

You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler. The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. Is he to keep on emptying his net and destroying nations without mercy? (Hab. 1: 14-17).

Habakkuk must have listened with deepening despair to God’s answer to his dilemma. Instead of giving him hope, what God had to say brought more questions. If God was responsible for the coming invasion, using a nation as wicked and cruel as the Babylonians, what hope was there for his people? Their enemy seemed invincible. They swept across the globe without stopping, overrunning one nation after the other like a fisherman catching helpless shoals of fish in his nets.

There was no nation that could stand against the might of Babylon. The very name struck terror in their hearts – and, make no mistake – they were coming because God said they were coming. He had chosen them as His instrument of discipline for His people.

What was even worse, although God hated idolatry, and for idolatry more than anything else He had a case against His people, the Babylonians worshipped the very instruments that brought them success as though it were their “nets” that had the power over the “fish”. In the end, they were idolaters of the worst kind because they worshipped themselves. After all, wasn’t it their military might and prowess that gave them the victory?

Pride was the bottom line. They were proud and confident in themselves. They didn’t need any gods and they certainly didn’t need God. Their gods were only a token of themselves. Remember Nebuchadnezzar – the greatest of the Babylonian emperors? His power and authority were absolute. What he said went. When Daniel’s three colleagues refused to bow to his image, he had them thrown into the fiery furnace. He simply eliminated everyone who failed to submit to him. He thought he had absolute power but he did not reckon on God.

Although Habakkuk could not understand God’s ways, he had to learn that even a despot like Nebuchadnezzar in the end, had to bow to God’s supreme authority. It may seem to the prophet that Babylon was unstoppable. It may seem that they were invincible, swallowing up nation after nation like fisherman catching hapless shoals of fish, worshipping their strength and skill, but God still held the whip and used it for His own ends.

When we look out at our world, we tend to see it through Habakkuk’s eyes. It seems that evil has the upper hand and that wicked people are invincible and unstoppable. Terrorism seems to rule, terrorists of the worst kind because they do it in the name of their religion.

Memories of September 11 still strike fear in the hearts of people. Who were they and where will they strike next? Even if the ringleaders have been taken out, there are always others waiting in the wings to take their places – another Osama bin Laden, a Hitler, a Stalin or a Mugabe coming up behind to crack the whip. When and where will it all end? Will there ever be peace in our world? Why does God seem so far away and so inactive in the face of human suffering? A dark, bleak picture with no light at the end of the tunnel.

How often don’t we feel like that when we are in the middle of our own crisis! Our circumstances seem to be in control and we feel like helpless pawns in the hands of the “Babylonians”. God’s so-called “answers” don’t even bring comfort and reassurance. Instead of getting us out, He tells us that He is behind it! How crazy is that? If that is so, then we can’t even go to God for help. He’s in bed with the enemy!

Every difficulty, every hardship, every crisis is a process. Habakkuk was in the middle of his but God had not finished with him yet. What kept him going? Firstly, his questions were not arrogant but honest. He did not accuse but he did express his misgivings.  Secondly, he kept reassuring himself with what he knew about God. He looked for the stepping stones which were solid under his feet as he navigated the flood. Thirdly, he waited. He didn’t walk away in a huff before God was finished with him. He knew God well enough to give Him the benefit of the doubt.

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what He will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint (Hab. 2:1).

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – SEND THEM HOME?

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SEND THEM HOME?

35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. Mark 6:35-44

How many times have we read this story and yet there is always something new to learn from it? This incident is another window into the heart of Jesus. This story illustrates Jesus’ concern for the whole person. These people were so eager to hear Him that most of them had made no provision for their physical needs that day. When they heard where He was going, they outran Him to be there when He arrived. Forgotten were the picnic baskets and the snacks for the day.

Surely the disciples had made provision for themselves but it was never enough to feed a crowd like this. Their best solution was, “Send them home.” Let someone else take care of their needs. We don’t have the resources.

Jesus thought differently. If He sent them away, He would be saying, “You will have to find another source because God isn’t big enough to supply your need this time.” To do that would be going against everything He was and everything He stood for. He and His Father were one. That meant that His Father would do what He asked because it was the Father’s desire to be God to all these people. Jesus didn’t even ask God what to do or to multiply the bread. All He did was express His confidence in His Father by saying thank you. He was so ECHAD with God that He instinctively knew that God would back up whatever He did.

Does that mean that God will bypass the normal avenues of getting food when they are available, just to do a miracle? I don’t think so. I think it means that God is so passionate about meeting His people’s needs that He will use whatever resources are available and multiply them if necessary so that He can be God to those who put their trust in Him.

Once again this is a revelation of Jesus’ compassion, His selflessness and His oneness with the Father. He came to show us the true God. He brushed aside all the petty trivia of people’s interpretations of the law to expose the heart of a merciful and loving Father.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – IT’S REALLY ME!

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IT’S REALLY ME!

“While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, ‘Peace be to you.’ They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. He continued with them, ‘Don’t be upset, and don’t let all these doubting questions take over. Look at my hands, look at my feet – It’s really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe.  A ghost doesn’t have muscle and bone like this.’ As He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. They still couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was too much. It seemed too good to be true.

“He asked, ‘Do you have any food here?’ They gave Him a piece of leftover fish they had cooked. He took it and ate it right before their eyes.” Luke 24:36-43.

The Bible doesn’t give us carefully worked-out doctrinal schemes, but a little bit of detective work can yield some valuable clues to satisfy our curiosity; about the resurrection, for example.

Jesus assured us that, if we believe in Him, even though we die, we shall live. Obviously, dying would refer to physically dying which none of us will escape except those who are alive when Jesus returns. But we know that when we die, we leave our bodies behind to return to the ground. However, without our bodies we are not completely human. We are not angels who are spirits without bodies.

Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb to decay, but when He rose from the dead, He did not rise in a newly-created body but in His renewed body, leaving behind only the empty grave clothes. He invited His disciples to check Him out. The marks of His crucifixion were still there as an eternal reminder of His sacrifice for us. He had the same physical features which they recognised as their Master.

The Apostle Paul assured us that our resurrection bodies would be like Jesus’ body, not newly created but renewed, like a plant which grows from a seed. Our bodies will be sown into the ground and raised in an indestructible body just like the body of Jesus.

Jesus’ body was touchable. He was not an apparition. He had muscle and bone; He even ate fish to show them that He was real, not a phantom or a product of their collective imagination. There is no way they all could have imagined Him at the same moment and heard Him speak the same thing to all of them.

His body, though real and material, was much more than that. He came to them through a closed door. He was there and yet everywhere at the same time. Although He was not physically present in the Upper Room to hear Thomas express his skepticism about His resurrection, He knew what Thomas had said, came to him and invited him to put his fingers in the wounds to confirm that He really was alive.

Not only will our bodies be incorruptible but also our spirits. Jesus defeated death, the end result of sin. Since we cannot die, it will be impossible for us to sin. We will be as perfect as Jesus is. We will be like Him, in perfect unity with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears we shall be like Him for we shall see him as He is.”  1 John 3:2 (NIV).

Perhaps the most awesome of all is that Jesus is our High Priest, representing us to the Father in His human body. So great is the miracle of Jesus becoming a man that He will always be a man. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5 (NIV). We will fellowship with Him in His kingdom as fully human.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – CAN WE ASK TOO MUCH?

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CAN WE ASK TOO MUCH?

“If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing – you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think that the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask Him.” Luke11:11-13.

Again Jesus uses an exaggerated contrast to teach me the scope of God’s generosity to His children. Fathers give their children the simple things they ask for because it is within the scope of what they are able to do. They are generous to their children as good fathers because they are able to meet that need, and they do it because they love their children.

But what about our heavenly Father? How does He respond to the children to whom He gave spiritual birth through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus?  According to Romans 8:32, “If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son, is there anything He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?”

In this teaching on prayer in response to the disciples’ request, Jesus pins my attention on three questions:

  1. Who and what is the focus of my prayer?
  2. What is my attitude to Him?
  3. What do I expect of Him?

If I can answer these three questions from His perspective, I have grasped the real meaning of prayer and can expect to nurture my fellowship with the Father as Jesus did.

In His model prayer, Jesus teaches me that prayer is primarily about who and what I must become aware of. Prayer is not prayer if it is all about me and my concerns. Prayer is the simple act of turning my head to face the One who can bear the burden. Why can I have confidence in Him to handle whatever my issues are? He is my Father, my life-source who is as near to me as my breath. He brought me to physical and spiritual birth and He has accepts full responsibility for me as His child.

Although He is unseen, He is real, more real than the world around me. He knows me more intimately than I know myself. I can hide nothing from Him; therefore I can best nurture my relationship with Him by being transparent and direct. As a tiny child comes to its father in dependence and trust, so I come to my Father with an open heart.

Although little children sometimes think that daddy can give them the world, they ask in innocence and ignorance, but there is nothing my Heavenly Father cannot supply according to my need. I have no need greater than the Holy Spirit and He has promised to give Him to me if I ask Him. He has already given me His Spirit and, because He leads me, I know that I am His son or daughter.

And so my understanding of prayer comes full circle back to the fundamental issue of sonship. Prayer is only prayer in the environment of God and me as Father and ‘son’. Prayer is not prayer unless it is the intimate interaction between Father and son.