Although I am not an avid fisherman, nor anything remotely close to a professional fisherman, I do like to fish. It has been several years since I have been fishing despite the fact that I have a lifetime Indiana fishing license and a brand-new open face reel that has never touched water. However, that’s my own fault. If I wanted to go, my wife wouldn’t object. In fact, she might welcome me leaving the house for a while. I want to go, but I just don’t take the time. My fault!
One of the last events John records in his Gospel takes place in the first fourteen verses of chapter 21. After Jesus had been resurrected, Peter, who was a fisherman by trade before following Jesus, decided that he was going fishing. Many have speculated that he may have been feeling guilty for his denial of Jesus. I suspect they are right. In his mind he may have felt like he was such a failure for letting Jesus down by denying any knowledge of Him, that his only recourse was to return to what he knew – fishing. Six of the other disciples were with him and thought a fishing trip was just what they needed, and so they said, ‘We’re going with you.”
Whether these men felt like it was all over, or they just needed a break from all the events that had taken place over the last few weeks, isn’t certain. I think they just needed the break. For whatever reason, they headed to the lake, climbed into a boat and spent all night casting the net in the water, then drawing it out, every time with no fish. They fished all night without catching a thing.
A very similar incident happened right before they started following Jesus fulltime. That was when they had come to shore, after an all-nighter, with no catch, and were mending their nets on the shore. Jesus came by and asked if He could borrow their boat to preach from. After His message He told them to launch out and cast their nets. Reluctantly they did. Remember, they were tired and ready for some muchneeded rest after fishing all night. They were professionals and knew what they were doing, but just to appease this guy and get Him out of their hair, they complied. They caught a great catch and nearly sank the boat getting it back in to shore. In fact, they had to have another boat come and help them.
When the figure on shore on that probably foggy morning asked if they had anything to eat, and they had replied “no,” then He told them to cast their nets on the other side, it should have sounded familiar. They followed His suggestion and the Bible records in John 21:7-8 that they caught so many fish that they could hardly get back to shore with them – 153 fish in all!
It was John who told Peter, “It is the Lord!” I think Peter knew it before John said it. He immediately dived into the water and swam to shore. The others continued in the boat, barely dragging it and their catch. Even though Jesus had told them to bring some of the fish they had just caught, when they got to shore, Jesus already some roasting on the fire (where did He get those anyway?) and told them to come and eat breakfast.
It was after this that Jesus had a discussion with Peter, letting him know that all had been forgiven and that Peter was still in our Lord’s graces. It’s a great and exciting story, at least to me. Read the last chapter of John for yourself and you will see.
The first time this happened, Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees and told Him, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). But this time, after spending three years with Jesus, He couldn’t wait for the boat to get to shore to come to Him. After breakfast, Jesus had that private talk and asked three different times if Peter loved Him. Some have reasoned that it was because Peter had denied Him three times. The Bible doesn’t say, so, even though it sounds reasonable, I’m not going to comment on that. I do know that it forever changed Peter’s life. We never read again of him denying Jesus, but he was persecuted for his faith in Christ.
Just like Peter, we all fail the Lord. Don’t tell me you don’t. We all do. I do, and just like Peter, I feel like going away, giving up and finding something familiar to take the place of my failure. I know you do too. How do I know? Because we are all human and, despite differences in interests, skills and abilities, we all have the same sinful nature lurking about, just waiting to pop out.
Yes, Jesus forgave us. Yes, Jesus gave us the free gift of salvation in His death and resurrection. Yes, our old man is replaced by the new man. But deep inside, from time to time, that old nature raises its head and says, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” Our spirits are renewed and made perfect in Christ when we come to Him. But this old flesh, this flesh that can’t stand in the presence of God, our old man, though dead, hasn’t quite stopped moving yet. Ever so often he raises up in the casket.
John, who witnessed the whole event, and told Peter, “It is the Lord,” knew this. Despite how good we want to be; regardless how hard we try, sometimes we fail. That’s why he wrote in 1 John 2:1, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” John knew. He also knew that Jesus wouldn’t leave us groping in the dark. He is our Advocate – our defense, the One Who hides our sins under His shed blood. The One who John the Baptist said would “take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
One hundred and fiftythree fish later, Peter had been forgiven and restored. The fish no longer were important in his mind. He knew what he had to do and was eager to do it. And so will we. We fail. We will fall. But when we do, we pick ourselves up from the ground, dust off the seat of our pants, and go the route Peter took – one hundred and fifty-three fish later! And when we repent, asking for forgiveness, all will be well. Just you wait and see.
— Jerry D. Ousley is the author of “Soul Challenge”, “Soul Journey”, “Ordeal”, “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional” and his first novel “The Shoe Tree.” Newer books include “Finality” and “Dividing God’s Church.” Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these.