What About This Man?

John 21:1-3  “After this…” After all that had gone before in Jesus’ incarnation and His interaction with these men….After fulfilling the Father’s plan by His death on the cross and His physical resurrection ….After appearing to different groups of them at different times in His resurrected human body, complete with scars of crucifixion….Jesus now appeared a third time to seven of the apostles as they were fishing on the Sea of Tiberias/Sea of Galilee. It is the same fresh-water lake, referred to by different names in the Gospels.

The men were trying to get back into a normal routine, after the recent traumatic events they had experienced. Having opted not to wait around to see what the Lord would have them to do, Peter just declared “I’m going fishing.” Ah, familiarity. Something he knew about. A trade in which he was an expert. He could do this, without anyone’s permission. Some of the others followed Peter’s lead, which was apparently normal procedure for these men. Self-will plus human leadership brought disappointment in verse 3: They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on 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 of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. John 21:4-8

The test: “do you have any fish?” (How’s it working for you?) (It is not.)

When they cast their net where the Lord told them to, the net was too full to bring into the boat. Divine leadership brought results, verse 6.

Well, this had to be someone other than a beachcomber. John caught on first, and told Peter. Who else but the Lord could have done this? The nearly naked fisherman threw on his tunic and jumped in the water, swimming to shore to meet Jesus. Obviously, Peter wasn’t hiding from Jesus, in spite of his humiliating failure on the night of the trials. He had confidence in Jesus’ forgiveness. The other disciples got in the small boat and dragged the full net in to the shore. We can sense their excitement about the huge catch and about seeing the Lord, there waiting for them. It brought on a surge of activity among the group.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out 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, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them,“Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. John 21:9-14

The Lord prepared and served their breakfast! With fish He provided on shore and fish He’d provided in their net. They didn’t question Him, for they had no doubt Who He was, especially this third time.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him,“Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus was asking Peter (please notice: three times) if he loved Him in a Godly way, unconditionally (agapao). Peter kept answering that he loved Jesus in a brotherly, familial way (phileo). Well, if you do, Peter, you will tend My lambs (baby believers). If you do, Peter, you will shepherd My (hard-headed, rebellious, adolescent) sheep. If you love me, Peter, you will tend My (mature) sheep. Pastor them, feed them, teach them.

J. C. Metcalfe faithfully writes: "It is more than comforting to realize that it is those who have plumbed the depths of failure to whom God invariably gives the call to shepherd others. This is not a call given to the gifted, the highly trained, or the polished as such.  

"Without a bitter experience of their own inadequacy and poverty they are quite unfitted to bear the burden of spiritual ministry. It takes a man who has discovered something of the measures of his own weakness to be patient with the foibles of others. Such a man also has a first-hand knowledge of the loving care of the Chief Shepherd, and His ability to heal one who has come humbly to trust in Him and Him alone. Therefore he does not easily despair of others, but looks beyond sinfulness, willfulness, and stupidity, to the might of unchanging love. The Lord Jesus does not give the charge, 'Be a shepherd to My lambs ... to My sheep,' on hearing Peter's self-confident affirmation of undying loyalty, but He gives it after he has utterly failed to keep his vows and has wept bitterly in the streets of Jerusalem. 

-from The Complete Green Letters by Miles J. Stanford

The life of Christ’s apostles would not be easy. For these first ones, as well as for others throughout the Church Age, their faithful service would end in martyrdom. We really are not the masters of our own destiny. If we belong to Jesus, He is. Some of us have been or will be carried where we would not go. Our Lord doesn’t sugar-coat this truth.

Yes, Lord, but what about John?

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but,“If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” John 21:20-23

Never mind how other believers are serving, or not serving! That is not our business. Each of us has his own life to live before the Lord, his own personal ministry, and his own volitional expressions of faith. What John does, or when or how he does it is entirely between him and Christ. When a human receives the atonement provided by Jesus Christ, he becomes a new spiritual creature. He does not shed the Old Sin Nature, however. We see evidence of the OSN every day in ourselves and in fellow Christians, by our displays of pettiness. That’s what Peter was displaying here. The Lord took care of this bit of childishness with a succinct admonition. Jesus had given Peter his orders, and we know from Peter’s own epistles that he got the message. “This man” to whom Peter referred, was John himself, who wrote this gospel.

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. John 21:24

Verse 25 - Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

John already told us in chapter 20 verses 30-31 why he wrote this gospel and why he included in his gospel account the particular things about Jesus he wanted us to know. It is a select list of narratives, discourses, parables and miracles, chosen to show those willing to read and understand exactly Who Jesus is, and why faith in Him is the only way to eternal life.

There isn’t enough space in the earth to accommodate books about everything Jesus did.