RELIGION —
Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 2 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.
3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”
“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.
4 At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. 5 He called out, “Fellows,[c] have you caught any fish?”
“No,” they replied.
6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some.” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.
7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. 8 The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. 9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.
10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.
12 “Now come and have some breakfast.” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.
15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
— John 21:1-15
Jesus’ earthly ministry lasted about three years. Then he was arrested, treated like a common criminal, beaten cruelly, crucified and buried in a borrowed tomb. But that was not the end of the story. On the third day, as dawn was breaking, His Father said to one of His angels, “Roll that stone out of the way so my Son can walk out of that tomb.” And Jesus walked out. He walked out. He was alive. He walked out as the dawn was breaking. So I come today to celebrate what almighty God can do as the dawn is breaking in our lives. Let me explain why that is so important.
The word “nothing” explains it all. Nothing is what we get when we walk away from Jesus and focus entirely on the things of this world. Only days before this scene on the beach, Jesus had appeared to his disciples in the Upper Room. There, he had replaced their anxiety with His peace and said to them, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” He promised them the power of the Holy Spirit for their work.
So what do the disciples do? They go fishing. And they caught nothing. Now, dear friends, the same thing happens to us when we turn aside from his command to make disciples and focus only on potato salad, collard greens, cornbread, fried chicken and banana pudding. Hear me now: The Lord is not unhappy when we enjoy good food. He just wants us to let the good food strengthen us to serve Him by loving people into the Kingdom. But thanks be to God, our Father does not give up on us, as John reminds us with this story. He finds us. He comes to us. And when does He come? As the dawn is breaking. For He is always giving us a new day in which to serve Him.
Nothing is the reward of the night. Night and Nothing are partners. It is in the night of life that we wrestle with the devil, when our dreams become nightmares, when we yield to the powers of darkness and sin takes over, and in our captivity to sin we begin to cry for the morning light. The dawn is the first emerging light just before the sun appears. In our nights filled with nothing, we long for the light to overcome our darkness and for the Son of God to come and break the chains that have bound us in the darkness. There is a yearning in our souls to see Jesus coming to rescue us as the dawn is breaking.
When Jesus comes at dawn, he comes not with condemnation but with forgiving love. He could have stood on that shore with his hands on his hips and shouted, “You faithless disciples, how dare you give up on me and return to fishing. Shame on you.” But praise God, that is not his attitude. The breakfast he had prepared for Peter and the disciples was His way of saying, “The night of nothing is over; a new day has dawned. Your sins are forgiven, so let’s talk about the new life I want to give you.”
Two things we should note about the breakfast:
1) Jesus was not helpless. While he asked them to bring some of the fish they had caught, He had already fried fish of his own. We should remember this when we are tempted to say foolishly, “Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today.” Never, never think that our Risen Lord is helpless without our hands on the job. Witness the way He can touch our lives with His Hands and change the direction and the destiny of our lives. His mighty works of grace are constantly before us. Of course He welcomes our hands; He invites us to become partners in the work He is doing — but He is not standing before us with no hands. The early church grew because “his hand was upon them.”
2) We are not ready to serve Him until we have allowed Him to serve us. John says, Jesus served them the fish and hushpuppies. You and I are not able to serve Jesus until we have admitted we can do nothing on our own, without Him. The song by Mylon LeFevre says it well: “Without Him, how lost I would be.”. I was speaking in a retreat up at Mt. Cheaha when I heard this song for the first time. A man took the mic and explained that he had wasted his life with alcohol until he met Jesus. Jesus changed his life. He said, “Jesus took my nothing and gave me everything worth having.” As he sang that song, I realized that without Jesus, we have nothing. Let these words stir your heart as they stirred mine:
With Him, I could do nothing
Without Him, I’d surely fail
Without Him, I would be drifting
Like a ship without a sail
Without Him, I would be dying
Without Him, I’d be enslaved
Without Him, life would be worthless
But with Jesus, thank God I’m saved
Oh Jesus, Oh Jesus
Do you know Him today?
Please don’t turn Him away
Oh Jesus, my Jesus
Without Him, how lost I would be
Without Him, how lost I would be
Get this now: Until Jesus serves you, you have nothing to offer anyone. How do we allow Him to serve us? By giving Him — and His Word — our attention, so He can teach us what we need to know. Then, by giving Him our willingness to receive the power of His Spirit to become a blessing to others.
The dawn breaks. The light comes. He sets us free. We enjoy breakfast. He serves us. What then? Then comes the big question before we rush off to serve Him. He asked the question of Peter, but the other six disciples on the shore realized He was asking them the same question: “Do you love me more than these?”
And dear friends, He is asking you that same question right now: “Do you love me more than these?”
It is not clear what Jesus meant by “these.” He may have been asking Peter, “Do you love me more these other disciples love me?” Or he may have been asking Peter, “Do you love me more than you love these disciples? Or do you love me more than this food, the breakfast, the fish and bread?” Or He may have been asking, “Do you love me more than the things of this world, these earthly things?”
Whatever it was, the bottom line is clear: Jesus is forever asking you and me, “DO YOU LOVE ME MORE THAN ANY OF THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD?” And if you and I say, “Yes, Lord, we love you,” as Peter replied, Jesus has but one way of asking us to prove it: by caring for others — His sheep, His lambs.
So the two most important words you can utter to Jesus as the dawn is breaking in your life are the two words Peter said to Jesus: “YES, LORD”.
A new day has dawned. We have survived the night of nothing. We have drowned our nightmares in the sea of His forgiving love. We are alive, filled with new joy and new hope. He has exchanged our nothing with His everything. Jesus is here — on this beach with us, wherever we are, ready to serve us and send us out to care for others. Will you say, “Yes Lord.” Will you say it again, out loud? Will you shout it?
Yes Lord.
Yes Lord.
Your words are never the last words. He will always have the last word. Hear Him say it as you go — “Take care of my sheep. Take care of my sheep. Take care of my sheep.”