Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said. (John 21:1-3)Jesus had died and had come back from the dead. He had spoken to the apostles and done some other things. But the apostles were at loose ends. What do they do now? For three years or more they had walked around with Jesus and had a rather exciting time. Now they weren’t really doing anything.
Before long, the Spirit would come on them and they would understand all this stuff, but for now they just did not know what to do.
So Peter does what he knows. He goes fishing. The rest of the apostles were kind of used to hanging around together and thought, Well, we are doing anything else. So they went too.
Sometimes you do not know what to do. You are through with something really important and you are at loose ends. So you do what you are used to.
There are times when that is good. Peter probably enjoyed fishing and to the rest of the apostles, it was different and interesting. they had always done other things and fishing seemed a good way to pass time until something better came.
But there are also times when it is isn’t a good idea. People who have gotten in trouble with their friends and maybe even have gone to jail don’t need to go back and do the familiar things. They come to a point where they are bored or again, at loose ends, and they start doing some of the same things that got them into jail or trouble in the first place.
Later on in this passage, Jesus tells Peter that fishing is not what he is meant to do. He tells Peter that teaching is going to be his life. Feeding God’s sheep will be Peter’s life. Peter has moved in his life from manual labor to something greater.
Not that there is anything wrong with fishing, but Peter and the rest of the apostles are not cut for that. They are made to teach and preach and serve God in a totally different way than they did before. Others will fish. Peter will spend the rest of his life feeding the sheep of God, teaching the church about the grace and power of Jesus.
You were not made to do stuff. You were made to serve Jesus. You might serve him in the working of your occupation, but ultimately, you are a servant of God. That is what he wants you to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment
To comment, post your comment and click the anonymous button. It would be nice if you signed it so I could know who you are.
You are welcome to say anything you want as long as it is nice. If I don't like it, or it is ugly, I will take it off, place it into the garbage disposal, grind it up, and allow it to be flushed into the Gulf of Mexico where it will be eaten by a fish and then excreted where it will lie on the bottom of the ocean until it is covered up by other comments.