After Jesus’ death and resurrection, and prior to His ascending to His Father, He spent time visiting people on earth. Not only did He provide proof of His bodily resurrection through these visits, but He also spent time preparing His followers, His disciples, for the next step in their lives – life without Him in bodily form.
Jesus would provide His Holy Spirit, and promised that His followers would be equipped by His Spirit to do many works for His kingdom. John 14:12: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
The following section from John’s Gospel retells the events of one of Jesus’ meetings with His disciples:
John 21: 1-14: “After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” 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. 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.”
According to this passage, seven of Jesus’ apostles were together, waiting for His arrival, according to His instructions in Matthew 28:7: “Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
To occupy themselves, they chose to go fishing, something familiar to them. As the events are retold in John 21, after a night of fishing, their net was empty. But God had a plan for this that would drive home lessons they could rely upon for their future work for Him.
As Jesus began his interaction with the fishing apostles, He began with a question – His general practice with people.
He asked if they had any fish, and their answer was no. Jesus provided one instruction, and the men listened and obeyed. This interchange was sufficient for John to recognize Jesus!
Earlier, in John 10:4, and John 10:14, Jesus provided confidence that they would know Him: “…his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” And “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” We see from John 21, that was true.
Once the apostles cast the net according to Jesus’ instructions, their net was filled with a large catch, 153 fish. That in itself was amazing! But God saw to it that their net did not even tear.
There are a lot of theories on the number 153, but that is not my focus. I want us to remember the actions of Jesus on behalf of His followers.
Jesus met them, exactly as He said He would.
Jesus showed them how to be successful in what they were doing.
Jesus provided such a large catch of fish, that they would have been in awe of Him.
Jesus was prepared to feed and nourish them.
In all of this, we see that Jesus cherishes His own, and provides for the needs of those who love and follow Him.
Jesus was showing them that He would be the One providing all they needed once He was gone.
Jesus was showing them that He was the One who would direct their work for success, they simply had to follow His instructions through His Holy Spirit.
Jesus was showing them He is all knowing, as He knew where the fish were that could be caught.
Jesus will do all of this, and more, for those of us who love and follow Him. He wants us to rely upon Him for all aspects of our lives and work for His kingdom. That work takes place in our homes, neighborhoods, families, extended families, medical visits, shopping, workplaces, schools, etc.
153 fish were enough to blow the minds of His apostles! Similarly, Jesus wants to do the extraordinary in our ordinary lives, also.
Will you allow Him to guide and direct your life so that you experience His extraordinary ways in your everyday life?
It starts when you confess your need for Jesus as Lord and Savior, willingly submitting your life to Him, and follow in obedience. If you do not have a personal love relationship with Jesus, I would like to talk with you.
Please contact me at: ButGodCares@gmail.com if you want to share how Jesus has worked in an extraordinary way in your life, or if you want to talk about a love relationship with Jesus.
Living for Jesus, Donna
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Copyright 2024 Donna Shappy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other – without the prior permission of the author.