John 21:1-19
Why is it that so many of the significant experience Peter had with Jesus happened when he was in a boat? Peter caught his first glimpse of who Jesus was when he, the experienced fisherman, did what the carpenter-teacher from Nazareth told him to do. Both his boat and his partner’s boat were filled with fish and Peter saw that Jesus was more than just a teacher. Last week I talked about Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee and Peter asking if he could step out of the boat and come join him. “Truly, you are the Son of God,” was the next step in Peter’s view of Jesus.
Later, when Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was, Peter boldly proclaimed, (Matthew 16:16) “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter was doing so well. But then, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he along with the rest of the disciples, abandoned Jesus in his time of need and fled for their lives. Peter, still the boldest among them, followed Jesus, keeping in the background. But when he was identified, he denied knowing Jesus. He did this three times and this destroyed him. (Luke 22:60-62)
Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
His experience of walking on water serves as a metaphor for this bitter experience. He boldly walked on water and then began to sink. Peter made such bold declarations of who Jesus was and then he sank into denial.
How did Peter recover? That is the story for this morning. This week we are looking at the story John told of Jesus appearing to Peter and six or seven of the disciples after he resurrected from the dead.
John says this is the third appearance of Jesus after his resurrection. If this is the third appearance, what are the first two? In John’s account there is the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene in the garden, then a two-staged appearance to the disciples – the first without Thomas and the second with Thomas. Cooking breakfast for the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee is John’s third appearance story.
Throughout the gospels, Peter is a prominent figure, the leader of the disciples. Jesus had many followers, he chose 72 to be his disciples. Twelve of the 72 were his closest disciples and then three: Peter, James, and John were his inner circle. But even among these three, Peter was consistently the leader. Peter was the one who spoke for the rest of the disciples. Peter is the one who took the lead. But now, after his denial of Jesus, Peter slid into the background.
Where is Peter in the appearances of Jesus in the locked room? He is not mentioned. He was there, but he is not mentioned. Thomas is mentioned because he did not believe. But nothing is said of Peter.
After Peter denied Jesus three times and looked into the eyes of Jesus, “he went outside and wept bitterly.” Just the day before at the Passover meal he and the disciples had shared with Jesus, Peter had boldly proclaimed, (Luke 22:33)“Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
Now, especially in the honor/shame culture of Palestine, Peter was humiliated, crushed. Time after time he had led the disciples but he could no longer do that. I think it is likely Peter was harder on himself than were the other disciples, but he no longer felt he was qualified to lead. He was present with the disciples, but he was no longer the leader.
When Peter heard the report of the women that they had seen Jesus in the garden, he raced to the tomb to see for himself. He and John ran to see what the women had seen. They saw the empty tomb and the cloth that had been wrapped around the dead body of Jesus lying on the ledge, undisturbed, as if the body of Jesus had leaked out.
Peter and John returned to the meeting room to share what they had seen and then Cleopas and the other disciple came with their report. They had seen Jesus and talked with him. While the disciples were talking about this, Jesus appeared among them. His body had passed through the burial cloths and now his body passed through the walls of the room where they were meeting.
Jesus appeared, he disappeared. He walked through walls and then walked out again. The disciples never knew when he would appear and where he would appear to them. They talked about what this meant but they were still in shock. They did not know what to do, what to think. They had watched him die and now he was not dead. He was alive. What do you do when events are too powerful to process? What do you do when you don’t know what else to do? You go back to doing what you do know how to do.
Peter said, “Let’s go fishing.” and off he went with six or seven of the disciples. What about the other disciples? Perhaps one went back to his family to help with the family business. Perhaps one sat down to read through Moses and the prophets to see if he could make sense of what happened. Perhaps one began making clay pots to occupy his fingers while his mind was allowed to contemplate. Perhaps one set out to walk some of the roads he had walked with Jesus. Whatever they did, they were not all immediately together. Jesus appeared and disappeared and they had not yet pulled together. Without a leader pulling them together, they went off in different directions. They were not yet praying and waiting in the upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Fishing is best in the night, so Peter and six or seven others went out in a boat. I have fished with my father, brothers-in-law, and nephews in a boat at sea and when we fished, we did not talk a lot. There was a lot of silence. This would be especially true at night. With the nets in the water, drifting along with the wind, there was plenty of time to look at the moon, look at the stars, time to think. A new thought about what had happened would arise and they would talk about it a bit and then drift back into silence.
The time passed and they caught nothing in their nets. I don’t think they minded. Catching fish would have destroyed the mood. Finding peace and quiet was the goal, not catching fish.
Then, in the early hours of the morning, they saw someone on the shore.
He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6 He said, “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, who refers to himself in his gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” said to Peter,
“It is the Lord!” 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.
Peter had once walked on the water. Now he jumped into the water and swam to shore.
This is the first big lesson in the restoration of Peter: Despite his shame, despite his humiliation, despite how unqualified he felt, Peter did not let go of his love for Jesus. Peter raced to the tomb to see for himself what Mary Magdalene had reported. Peter jumped into the water. Peter was humiliated, but he desperately wanted to be with Jesus.
Peter denied knowing Jesus but there was another disciple who betrayed Jesus, Judas. There is a lot of speculation about why Judas did this, but the fact remains that he did. And when Judas saw the result of his betrayal, when he saw Jesus arrested, it was too much for him. John says Judas viewed what he did as sin and was seized with remorse. Judas despaired and sank into the depths. He couldn’t face the other disciples after what he had done. Judas’ shame was greater than his love for Jesus. Judas was so shamed he killed himself.
Peter received a second chance Judas did not allow himself to have. Peter faced up to what he did. Judas tried to hide from what he had done.
When we fall into temptation. When we fail, the first step in our restoration is not to give up pursuing Jesus. Peter did not wait for the boat to come to shore; Peter jumped into the water and swam to shore. The other disciples worked to pull all the fish into the boat; Peter saw nothing other than Jesus and was not going to let fish get in his way of getting to Jesus.
If we allow our shame and embarrassment, our pride, to become more important than Jesus and our service with him, we go the way of Judas. Peter is our example, our patron saint of second chances.
The second lesson in the restoration of Peter is that he confessed his sin. How do we know he confessed his sin? All four gospels record the incident. Where did they hear about it? Peter was the one who was there. Peter was the one who knew all the details of his story. The restoration of Peter to leadership in the church after having denied Jesus was part of the story that Peter told.
All the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested. All the disciples abandoned him. But Peter, as their leader, was expected to do better than he did. Leaders are always judged more harshly than others.
How public does your confession of sin need to be? It depends on how much leadership you have in the church and the seriousness of your sin. The more high profile your leadership, the more public your confession needs to be.
Sin is embarrassing. Confessing our sin costs us our pride. We have to let people see we are not as magnificent as they thought we were. But this is the process of brokenness that Jesus can use to make us stronger leaders than we were before.
We come now to having breakfast with Jesus on the shore. The disciples landed and discovered Jesus had breakfast cooking, grilled fish. One of my strongest memories of being with my father was when he went fishing with me. This is memorable, perhaps because it is the only time he went fishing with me when I was a child. We were out at the lake early in the morning and I fished with earnestness if not skill. I did not catch anything but when my fishing was over, my father had cooked a wonderful breakfast. My father was not a fisherman, but he was a great cook.
There are many times I would have liked to be with Jesus. Seeing miracles would be great. Hearing him teach would be wonderful. But the intimacy of sitting down to a breakfast he cooked might be my favorite moment.
This leads me to an observation, a digression from the theme of the restoration of Peter. When the disciples were sitting around the fire, eating their breakfast, what did they talk about? What were they thinking?
Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
Jesus is the Risen Lord. He is the eternally existing, pre-creation, God. He is not my best friend. He loves us and invites us into intimacy, but not familiarity. I can’t imagine it will ever be normal to have Jesus present in heaven. It was always be amazing and wondrous. The fact that Jesus pursues us, humbled himself for us, died for us, is patient with us, gives us second chances – that is awe inspiring and prevents us from treating him casually or taking him for granted.
If the disciples who knew him best were not able to be familiar with Jesus, who are we to be so presumptuous. These disciples at the Sea of Galilee were in awe of Jesus. Much later, when John received his vision of the Risen Jesus, he fell at his feet as though dead.
It is great to know we are loved by Jesus. It is good to be encouraged to come to him with all our concerns. But don’t reduce Jesus to less than he is. He is and always will be the Risen Lord.
Now we come to the heart of Peter’s restoration. After the meal, Jesus took Peter aside:
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”
Peter was probably the oldest of the disciples. He was the natural leader of the disciples. Over and over he was the one who spoke out and led. And now Jesus asks Peter, “do you truly love me more than these?” This was a trap. How full of himself was Peter? He was bolder than the others. He stepped out on the water when the rest of them stayed in the boat. Was he now going to proclaim that he loved Jesus more than the others?
But Peter passed this test.
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
“I love you,” not “I love you more than all the rest,” but “I love you.”
Peter has been humbled. He is not more than he is. He has only himself to offer and he knows that he is weaker than he wished. In humility he responds, “you know that I love you.”
It is this love that made him race to the tomb when he heard the report of Mary Magdalene. It is this love that made him jump from the boat and swim to shore.
And then Jesus told Peter, “Feed my lambs.”
Jesus did not ask Peter why he had denied him. Jesus did not beat on Peter. Jesus did not put Peter on probation. Peter had already suffered for his denial of Jesus. Peter’s actions demonstrated that he had repented and wanted again to work with Jesus. Jesus restored Peter to his position of leadership. “Feed my lambs.”
Jesus was not through.
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
This time Jesus did not ask Peter if he loved him more than these. He asked simply, “do you truly love me?” And Jesus once again put Peter in his position of leadership: “Take care of my sheep.”
And now, a third time. This one really hurt because of the three denials Peter made of Jesus.
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
Peter said, “Lord, you know all things;” Peter remembered looking into the eyes of Jesus after he had denied knowing him a third time. “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
And a third time, making sure Peter knew he had been restored to leadership, Jesus told him, “Feed my sheep.”
Peter had learned humility which made him a stronger leader. The brashness of Peter was gone. It was cut off when he denied Jesus and was broken. Now, a broken Peter was restored to leadership, capable of leading in a way he could not have led before.
Jesus continued to appear to his disciples, teaching them, explaining to them the kingdom of God. And when he ascended, Peter led the disciples as they waited for the promised Holy Spirit. He led them in what Peter Wagner calls the first of three Pentecosts by preaching the first sermon of the church, after which 3,000 men and women joined the community of followers of Jesus. This first Pentecost brought the gospel and the filling of the Holy Spirit to the Jews.
The second Pentecost occurred when Phillip went to Samaria and peached the good news of Jesus. Because of the enthusiastic reaction of the Samaritans to Phillip’s preaching, Peter and John came from Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit was given to these Samaritans.
And then Peter led in the third Pentecost when he went to the home of Cornelius and he and his Gentile household received the Holy Spirit. After this the baton was passed to Paul, but Peter was the first leader of the church of Jesus.
This is a long step from that moment in the courtyard when Peter looked into the eyes of Jesus after having denied him three times. From the lowest point of Peter’s life, Jesus lifted him up, blessed him, and gave him the responsibility of leading his church. Can you imagine what the story of Judas could have been if he had kept his pursuit of Jesus, not allowing his shame to end his life? There is no limit to what God can do in our lives if we pursue him, repenting when we fall, accepting the consequences of our actions, and then continue to pursue him.
We are members of the church of second chances. When we fail, and we all fail, we are given another chance to serve Jesus, to work with Jesus. And when we begin again, because of our experience, we are better leaders in the church than we were before.
I have shared three lessons about restoration in the life of Peter with a small digression about holding up Jesus in his exalted position as the Risen Lord. Let me conclude with a lesson about our work for Jesus in the world.
Notice that when Jesus talked with Peter on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he asked him first, “Do you love me,” before he appointed him, “Feed my sheep.” “Do you love me?” comes before our work for Jesus. Are you a Sunday School teacher? Jesus asks you, “Do you love me?” Are you an usher? Jesus asks you, “Do you love me?” Do you serve on the church board? Jesus asks you, “Do you love me?”
More important than sharing your faith with someone; distributing food, clothing, or gifts to the poor; leading a small group, singing in the choir, more important than anything else is the question Jesus asks you, “Do you love me?”
Paul wrote in I Corinthians 13:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
My love relationship with Jesus comes first before anything else. If I try to work for Jesus without first working to make my relationship with him more intimate and more loving, I will end up getting burned out, becoming cynical, losing my ability to work with Jesus. I will begin to work for myself, not for Jesus.
“Do you love me?” Then “Feed my sheep.”
How is your relationship with Jesus? Are you on good terms with him? Are you growing in your awareness of his love for you? Are you growing in your love for him?
If you find yourself blocked in your relationship with Jesus because of something you have done, talk to a close friend. Talk to one of the pastors or other leaders in the church. Confess your sin and continue your pursuit of Jesus. Don’t allow your sin to hold you back. Jesus knows how to take sinners and transform them into powerful leaders. Allow Jesus to bring healing and restoration in your life and then move into the future with confidence that Jesus appoints you to serve with him to build his kingdom.
