NOT FIRED BUT REFIRED

“Afterward, Jesus appeared again to His disciples by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So, they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” John 21:1-3.

Does this sound vaguely familiar? When did something like this happen before? Perhaps many times during these fishermen’s lifetime, but only recorded once before in the gospels. Jesus had been preaching on the shore of the lake. The crowd hassled Him so much that He asked permission to use Peter’s boat as a pulpit.

It was daytime, not the normal time for fishing but, when the preaching was done and the crowd dispersed, Jesus instructed Peter and Andrew, his brother, to go back into deep water after a fruitless night’s fishing and throw in their net again. Every fisherman knows that you don’t catch fish by day. In any case, the night’s fishing had yielded nothing, so what was the point of trying to catch fish by day? Peter protested but they did it anyway and landed such a huge haul that they had to call for help to pull it in.

Peter was so overwhelmed by this unusual event that he pleaded with Jesus to leave him alone. ‘Go away from me,’ he said, ‘for I am a sinful man.’ He recognised something about Jesus that was not like any other person. But not only did Jesus comfort and reassure him, He called him and his fishing companions, Andrew, James and John to follow Him. At His cal,l they left their huge catch and the equipment for their livelihood and followed Jesus.

Just over three years had gone by. So many things had happened in the interim. They had become disciples of an unusual and popular rabbi which was a lifetime calling. Then things had turned sour and their rabbi, young as He was, was executed on a Roman cross for what could only be described as a trumped-up charge. They were left stranded. What were they supposed to do?

By this time, they were quite a close-knit group and even more so since Jesus’ death. They were bonded together in their bewilderment and grief and stuck together even though some of them were not fishermen. They had gone back to Galilee, perhaps to try to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on. Peter, as always the leader, on an impulse perhaps, decided to try a spot of fishing. Surprisingly, his boat and net were still there after more than three years. The others joined him, and they set out at sundown to try their luck. It was a fruitless night.

“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered. ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.” John 21:4-6.

Exhausted, weary and disillusioned, they were pulling towards the shore when they saw something unusual. A lone figure stood on the beach over a small fire. Who would be out so early in the morning? At first. they did not recognise Him. He called out to them, ‘Guys, did you catch anything?’ and when they answered in the negative, He instructed them to throw in their nets on the right side of the boat.

Hadn’t they heard that instruction before? When they did it, they got the same result — fish galore, so many that the net was too heavy to drag to shore.

“Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!'” John 21:7a.

Of course! Who else could it be? They had seen Him in Jerusalem, but they were not expecting Him to turn up in Galilee. There was only one person who could issue a foolish instruction like that to seasoned fishermen and get the result they got. They remembered the previous occasion. It was the never-to-be-forgotten moment of their call to follow Him.

What was He saying to them? Was He setting the scene for a renewed call? Was He about to recommission them because He was alive? They had gone back to the old life because they thought their time with Him was over. But it wasn’t. What they thought was the end was only the beginning of a new chapter for them. Jesus had not fired them for their failure. They were about to be refired for a whole new life!

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.

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