GOING FISHING WITH JESUS
John 21
INTRODUCTION
I think by now you know that I am not much of a fisherman.
That does not mean I dislike fishing. It only reflects the lack of opportunities I had growing up. And unfortunately, not many of those experiences were very positive.
As I thought about it, I do believe that the source of my reticence of fishing goes back to my growing up years in a Swedish household.
Every year, like clockwork on Christmas day, my father and grandfather would get up early Christmas Day morning, to attend the Swedish Lutheran Church in toronto and then come home for a ‘yummy plate of LUTEFISK.
What is LUTEFISK, you may ask? Well, let me tell you what it is.
ILLUSTRATION: Lutefisk every Christmas
It is said that about half the Swedes who immigrated to America and Canada came in order to escape the hated lutefisk, and the other half came to spread the gospel of lutefisk's wonderfulness.
Lutefisk (pronounced LEWD-uh-fisk) is dried cod that has been soaked in a lye solution for several days to rehydrate it. It is then boiled or baked and served with butter, salt, and pepper. The finished lutefisk usually is the consistency of Jello. It is also called lyefish, and in the United States and Canada, Swedish/Norwegian-Americans traditionally serve it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In many Swedish homes, lutefisk takes the place of the Christmas turkey.
Believe me, once a year was quite enough. It usually took until Easter for the smell to leave the house.
In the last chapter of John's Gospel, Simon Peter and several others of Jesus' disicples decide to go fishing. All night they fish and catch nothing. Then Jesus appears on the shore and calls out, "Throw the net out to right and you'll find something" (Jn. 21:6). They follow the instructions and immediately catch more fish than they can handle, at which point, John cries out, "It is the Lord." Then Peter jumps into the water and rushes to Jesus. When the other disciples come ashore, they see that Jesus has some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus says to them "Come and have breakfast" (Jn. 21:12).
Let’s read the story together and watch as the story unfolds
Read John 21
In our first few verses, we see it was time to…
I. GET BACK TO WORK! (1-3)
The story begins with the disciples obediently waiting for the Lord in Galilee.
Waiting and waiting and waiting—just as they were told to do.
Nothing was happening. No one seemed to know exactly how long they were supposed to wait there. Some may have begun to wonder if they had misunderstood the instructions. Surely he would have come by now. These disciples are no longer depressed and defeated as they had been right after Calvary. The tragedy of the cross had been turned to the triumph of the resurrection. They have seen the resurrected Christ. Their recent experiences with the Lord had been wonderful. But what exactly did all this mean? What were they supposed to do? I think they were very uncertain as to what they should do next.
Have you ever been in a place like that when it seemed like something needed to be done? You waited and waited for an open door but it seemed as if the Lord had forgotten about you. You have to do something, even anything.
Back in 1992 I was briefly without a job. We had completed a challenging season of ministry, and had moved in with my parents in Belleville. I had no idea what the Lord was wanting me to do, so I took the first job that came along…THE SEARS Plant.
This is the state of mind of the disciples. They really have no idea what is next, even though Jesus has already revelaed to them that He was sending them out to preach the gospel. So they do what came natural.
Peter just blurts it out, “I can’t take this sitting around any longer. Do whatever you want to do but I’m going back to work. At least something productive will be going on. I’ve got a family to feed and I’m going to feed them. So, I.m going fishing”
There were at least six others feeling the same thing so off they went.
The place they is the Sea of Galilee—13 miles long and 7 miles wide. These disciples knew this lake very well. James and John had probably grown up helping their dad fish on these waters. If they could do nothing else they could fish. And they certainly knew how to fish in these waters.
Then what you could call “a miracle in reverse happened”. To their absolute amazement they were catching nothing at all. They were fishing during the night, which was the best time to fish. They were working hard at what they had done successfully many times in the past. But nothing is working.
What I picture going on in that boat is a bit humorous. Can’t you just see these disciples about 2:00 am in the morning pulling the empty net in one more time? With a puzzled expression on his face, John looks at Peter and asks, “What in the world is going on?” They inspect the net closely to make sure the fish are not somehow slipping through an unobserved tear somewhere. They try again and still the net comes up empty. They pick up the pace and work even harder. Nothing is working. By 5:00 am they are totally frustrated and baffled. The sun is beginning to come up in the east but still they have not caught one fish.
Has anybody here ever had “a miracle in reverse”? I do not know any more frustrating feeling than to have fished all night, giving it everything you’ve got and return empty handed. But this was not to be the end of their day.
Well, the disciples were in for the…
II. MOTHER OF ALL FISHING TRIPS! (4-6)
Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize who he was.5 Jesus shouted, “Friends, have you caught anything?”“No!” they answered.6 So he told them, “Let your net down on the right side of your boat, and you will catch some fish.” They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat.
I have heard some fish stories in my life.
There was a man in a community that had the reputation for always being able to catch fish. Regardless of the time of the year it was, or whether anybody else was catching fish, this man was always managed to come back with a boat load of fish. His brother-in-law, who happened to be a Game Warden had always been amazed at the man’s success. So, one morning the man agreed to take his brother in law fishing with him. They went to a lake that was known for its poor fishing. The game warden watched his brother-in-law take the boat out to the middle of the lake and cut the motor off. The game warden was confused as he noticed that his brother-in-law didn’t worry about finding a ledge or brush-pile, or anything like that.
Then instead of getting his rod and reel out, the game warden’s brother-in-law pulled a stick of dynamite out of a sack, lit it, and threw it overboard. A few seconds later, there was a big boom, and almost immediately the surface of the lake was covered with stunned fish. The Game warden couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. He immediately began reciting the fishing laws and regulations to his brother-in-law. But this didn’t seem to bother his brother in law in the least. He simply reached into the bag for another stick of dynamite, lit it, and tossed it to the game warden and said, "You gonna talk, or you gonna fish?"
You have to admire the courage and tenacity of fishermen. Whether it is for sport or work, fishing is not for the faint of heart.
Jesus knew what He was doing when He picked out His disciples. Most of them were fishermen. And fishermen are not quitters.
They are team players. They bravely faced the elements, which at times, could be quite notorious on the Sea of Galilee.
So these men had gone out fishing at night. This would make sense, since that was the best time to do so. But it has been a frustrating adventure. They have not caught a thing. They had to be discouraged. They had to be depressed. They had to be exhausted.
For it had been a night of failure. They had not caught one “sunfish.” They had not caught a perch. They had not even caught a minnow.
So when Jesus asked how they were doing… They replied with a frustrated , NOTHING
Jesus continues to probe the disciples and then instructs them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat.
In all of my studies, do you want to know what the significance is of putting their nets on the right side? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. We do not know why Jesus gave this instruction, the point is he gave it and it was up to the disciples to follow through.
They did not argue or rationalize Jesus words, they simply did it. And as they obediently dropped their nets the benefits were immediate.
The benefit – fish!
Lots of fish!
Lots and lots of fish!
It is at this point…
III. THE DISICIPLES FINALLY GET IT! (7-8)
John leans over over and tells Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon heard that it was the Lord, he put on the clothes that he had taken off while he was working. Then he jumped into the water. 8 The boat was only about a hundred yards from shore. So the other disciples stayed in the boat and dragged in the net full of fish.
Something miraculous is happening, and John gets it. “I know why we have got so much fish, it is the Lord!”
I love Peter’s reaction to this news. You see, Peter is eager to be with Jesus once again.
I am sure Peter was excited about the fish. But he was even more excited about Jesus!
Once again, he shows his impulsiveness, but no one is going to criticize it this time.
He grabs the rest of his clothing and does a cannonball out of the boat.
He jumps ship because he wants to be the first to get to Jesus.
Now it is time …
IV. FOR BREAKFAST WITH JESUS! (9-14)
9 When the disciples got out of the boat, they saw some bread and a charcoal fire with fish on it.10 Jesus told his disciples, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” 11 Simon Peter got back into the boat and dragged the net to shore. In it were one hundred fifty-three large fish, but still the net did not rip.12 Jesus said, “Come and eat!” But none of the disciples dared ask who he was. They knew he was the Lord. 13 Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave some of it to his disciples. He did the same with the fish. 14 This was the third time that Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from death.
There is Jesus with a warm fire and breakfast cooking. Have you ever awakened on a cool fall morning to the smell of bacon and eggs being cooked? It gets real close to heaven. These guys are tired and hungry. They are cold and wet. Just imagine Peter walking up on that shore with water dripping off him looking at that warm fire--smelling the Jewish version of bacon and eggs. It’s a warm invitation to companionship with Jesus.
Twice in verse one of our text John uses the word that means to make manifest or visible. It’s not just that he appeared—it’s not just that he showed up—but this story is about Jesus revealing himself.
What do we see about Jesus in this text? We see the same care for his followers that he had before his death and resurrection.
We see the Lord of glory still willing to stoop down and prepare a meal for those he loves. We see one who cares about our practical needs. The same Jesus who had washed their feet before his death now serves them breakfast. He has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We take that for granted but we have a lot of hindsight that these disciples did not have at that time.
Notice the amazing blend of natural and supernatural in this manifestation of Jesus. Jesus could have snapped his fingers and breakfast appear. But we see him cooking it on a fire. Jesus could have supernaturally moved the net of fish ashore. But instead he told the disciples to do it. This is very instructive as to the way God works. Jesus doesn’t do magic shows. He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities and miraculously meets the needs. But there is humility in the way he does that and it is usually not very showy. As people born from above and filled with the mighty Holy Spirit we are to operate in a blend of the supernatural and the natural. In fact, the supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit should be such an ongoing part of our daily lives that we naturally function supernaturally.
In the later part of this chapter, we will see how all of this leads into full restoration of Peter into his calling. But even here Jesus has orchestrated events to teach them some very important principles for the future.
The first is this: “Listen to Jesus, and do what he says.” Good advice. But it must have been difficult for fishermen to listen to the suggestions of a carpenter. After all, this was their profession, not his. They knew about fishing, and were perhaps some of the best fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. Besides, what Jesus was suggesting did not make any sense. What possible difference could it make to put the net on the other side of the boat?
Sometimes God puts us in situations where it seems like there is no answer. We have tried everything. We thought we knew what needed to be done. It worked before, so we think we already know how to do it, and now someone telling us a simplistic answer that drives us up the wall.
Perhaps God is asking us to do something beyond what is simplistic, it may even seem like something foolish. It is counterintuitive. We’ve been fishing on the left side and now you think fishing on the right side of the boat will make a difference! We have been working all night and you think one more cast is going to change anything?
In your relationship with God, success follows obedience, even when what he is asking you to do seems ridiculous to you. You are not smarter than God. You can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. You can’t rebel against God, go against what he is telling you, and expect success. You can’t do all the wrong things and expect good things to happen. It doesn’t happen that way. Success comes as you are willing to listen to Jesus and do what he says.
You will remember when God had commanded King Saul to wipe out the Amalikites. Nothing was to be left. Cattle, sheep, men, women, children, the king were to be all destroyed. It was all to be devoted to the Lord.
However, Saul was impetuous, proud and impatient. The Bible says, that Saul did everything the Lord said, except he kept the best of the sheep, cattle, horses and even allowed the Amalakite King and his family to live. The Bible says that God was grieved that he had made Saul King.
God sent the prophet Samuel to confront Saul. When Saul tried to boast about his feigned obedience and success, Samuel is not impressed.
why,” Samuel asked, “do I hear sheep and cattle?”
Saul relied by blaming his troops. 15 “The army took them from the Amalekites,” Saul explained. “They kept the best sheep and cattle, so they could sacrifice them to the LORD your God. But we destroyed everything else.”
16 “Stop!” Samuel said. “Let me tell you what the LORD told me last night.” “All right,” Saul answered.
17 Samuel continued, “You may not think you’re very important, but the LORD chose you to be king, and you are in charge of the tribes of Israel. 18 When the LORD sent you on this mission, he told you to wipe out those worthless Amalekites. 19 Why didn’t you listen to the LORD? Why did you keep the animals and make him angry?”
20 “But I did listen to the LORD!” Saul answered. “He sent me on a mission, and I went. I captured King Agag and destroyed his nation. 21 All the animals were going to be destroyed[e] anyway. That’s why the army brought the best sheep and cattle to Gilgal as sacrifices to the LORD your God.”
22 “Tell me,” Samuel said. “Does the LORD really want sacrifices and offerings? No! He doesn’t want your sacrifices. He wants you to obey him.
Saul lost the kingdom because of his pride which led to disobedience.
In order to walk In obedience it will take HUMILITY. The disciples were professional fishermen. They knew all about fishing, so they had to be humble enough to do what Jesus said rather than trusting what they had personally learned about fishing
What he was asking them to do did not seem that different from what they had been doing all night. It was not so much something different as more of the same. But when it comes to following God, you can’t give up. And you can’t always rely on your knowledge and training. Jesus wants us to have a teachable spirit.
You have to be willing to listen to Jesus and do what he says.
The second lesson in this story is: We meet God when we come to the end of our resources. The disciples had been fishing all night. They had done all they could do. They knew the best fishing holes. They knew how to use their tackle. They were experts at their trade, but they still had no fish. They were at the end of what they could do. Their resources were spent. That’s when God shows up. At the point where we give up is often when God shows up.
Simon Peter was certainly at the end of his resources. He had boasted that if everyone else left Jesus, he would still be faithful, but he wasn’t. He had failed. He played the coward.
He fell when he boasted he would stand. He failed Jesus.
It is good to come to the end of our resources and realize our weakness, so that we give in to God. We just turn the control completely over to him, and forget about personal success. We realize we can’t do anything on our own anyway, so we ask him to completely take over, and determine that we will do whatever it is he wants us to do. We stop trying to make things happen and let him have his way. And, amazingly, that is when things begin to happen. When we come to the end of us, we come to the beginning of God. When we come to the end of what we can do, that is when we are ready to see what God can do.
When the disciples came to the end of their resources, that is when they had a miraculous catch — 153 to be exact, and all large fish. The catch was so large that they could hardly get the net to shore. But in spite of the pressure on the net, it did not break or tear. And when they arrived on shore, Jesus already had breakfast for them. You have to wonder where Jesus got the fish.
They were already on the fire before the disciples came to shore. And there was bread as well. Did Jesus go to the market, or did he miraculously create the bread and fish as he did when he fed the multitudes?
Jesus was always making something out of nothing, and he has not changed. He is still the same today. When everything you have tried in life turns out to be nothing, he can make something out of it. He creates fish and bread and wine. He gives health where there was only sickness. He gives strength when there was only weakness. He gives life where there was only death. He gives hope where there was only despair. He gives forgiveness where there was only shame. He is the God of new beginnings. When we reach the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of him.
The third lesson we learn from this story is: You have to put the net in where the fish are. The point is that the answer is often closer than you think. The fish were not on the other side of the lake, they were just on the other side of the boat. The answer is often as close as your willingness to obey and do what God is asking.
There is an interesting story in the Old Testament about a Syrian General named Naaman. One day he awoke to find that leprosy was beginning to spread across his body. His slave girl, whom he had taken captive in one of his battles against Israel, said to his wife: “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3). So Naaman went to Elisha the prophet who did not even come out of his house, but had his servant go out and tell him to bathe in the Jordan river. He was to dip himself in seven times. Naaman was furious. He felt insulted that he had to bathe in a river of Israel. And, besides, he wanted something miraculous, something stupendous, to happen. He said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy” So he refused to obey and submit to what the prophet told him, and stormed off in a rage. But one of his servants tried to reason with him. He said, “If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” Then the Bible says, “So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy” (2 Kings 5:14).
The answer was closer than he realized. It was humbling, but it was the thing he needed to do. It did not make sense at the time. He thought he had better water where he lived in Syria, but the answer was closer than that. If you are going to fish, you have to put down your net where the fish are. If you are going to receive the answer God has for you, you are going to have to do what he says, when he says it and where he says to do it.
I have known many people who have prayed for an answer to their problems, but when the answer came they didn’t like it. They already had it fixed in their head how God should do it. They did not want to humble themselves and would not accept what God was asking them to do. They did not want to look foolish. They did not want to do the difficult thing God was telling them to do. They wanted God to do it all for them. They wanted him to wave his hand and make it all go away. They wanted a supernatural, exciting answer.
They would do a great thing, but not the small thing, the humble thing. But God is not asking you to do a great thing that will get lots of attention, he is only asking you to do the simple thing of obeying what he says, and do it consistently.
I want to end this message with one final fishing story.
A family was out vacationing at the lake one summer. Dad had been puttering out by the boat house. Two of his sons, 12-year old Johnny and a 3-year old Billy were down playing along the dock. Johnny was supposed to be watching his little brother Billy, but he got distracted. Little Billy, thought that it would be a good time to check out the shiny aluminum fishing boat tied up at the end of the dock. So he went to the dock and put one foot on the boat, and one foot on the dock. He lost his balance and fell into the water, which was about 5 or 6 ft deep.
The splash alerted Johnny who let out a piercing scream. Dad came running from the boat house, jumped into the water, swam down, but unable to see anything, came up for air. Sick with panic, he went right back down into this murky water, and began to feel everywhere around the bottom. He couldn’t feel anything. Finally, on his way up, he felt little Billy's arms locked in a death grip on one of the posts of the dock, about 4 ft under water. Prying the boy's fingers loose, they burst up together thru the surface to fill their lungs with life giving air.
Finally when the adrenaline had stopped surging, and nerves had calmed down a little bit, the Father asked his son billy, “What on earth were you doing down there hanging onto the post so far under the water? And little Billy’s answer was a classic, laced with the wisdom only a toddler could give. He said, "I was just waiting for you dad. Just waiting for you."
God’s got a plan for your life. He sees you waiting patiently. It may be difficult and you feel as if you are going down for the last time. But Father is coming, and he will lift you up and give you renewed purpose and life and joy. The question is will you let go of what is holding you down, and reach up to take hold of the Fathers loving strong hand?
The question before you is, Do I have that relationship with Jesus? Is my relationship with Jesus as strong and fruitful today as when I first gave my life to Him?
