MAY 5 READINGS…JOHN 21
Today we finish the Gospel of John, and the four Gospels as a whole. After Jesus’ appearance to His disciples following His Resurrection, they returned to the area of the Galilee from Jerusalem. They went out on their boat through the night, and caught nothing. In the morning they see a man on the shore, it was Jesus, but they did not recognize Him. He asked them if they had any food, they said no, and He told them to cast their nets to the other side. Their nets were so full they could not bring them in. Immediately, John recognized it was Jesus, he told Peter, and Peter jumped into the water to swim to Jesus. The others came in with their catch. Jesus had made a fire to cook the fish, and the Scripture records for us that the disciples had caught 153 fish. I have heard it said that this represented the number of nations, or ethnic groups in the world…I don’t know if that is true, but the point was made that Jesus had called them to be fishers of men. As they needed Jesus to guide them to find these fish in the sea, they would need His guidance as they went about “fishing” for the souls of mankind.
This Gospel ends with the Lord restoring Peter. Remember it was Peter who denied Jesus three times before the religious authorities the night before Jesus was crucified. It is interesting that as Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus asked Peter three times is he loved the Lord. The Lord asked, “Do you love me more than these?” Peter responds that Jesus knows that he loves Him. Jesus says, “Feed my lambs”. They are the Lord’s lambs, and Peter as an elder needed to feed them. Again, Jesus repeats the question, and Peter responds. Then Jesus says, “Tend my sheep”. They were Jesus’ sheep, and Peter as an elder was called to take care of them. Jesus asks the question for the third time about Peter’s love. Peter somewhat frustrated said, “Lord you know all things, you know I love you”. Jesus said, “Feed my sheep”. They are Jesus’ sheep, and Peter as an elder was responsible to feed them. Finally, Jesus says to Peter, “follow me”. Now Peter is fully restored, and commissioned for ministry. It is the Lord who calls, it is the Lord who cleanses and prepares, it is the Lord who leads, and it is the Lord’s work that we are called to do.
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READING…ACTS 1
Comments