John 21:2-7 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, (This small gathering of disciples had seen and talked to the risen Jesus. Their world-view, their experiences, their knowledge to this point, all had been turned inside out and they knew the world was different. Salvation has that kind of affect, one where we can never be the same again. When we look to the Risen Christ as Savior, our world is forever and awesomely different. Yet, here the men have returned to their former employment, putting their hands to the work to which they had been trained. Not yet knowing what next steps might be, not yet knowing what the Lord would purpose for them, they keep doing what they know to do, what they are familiar with. When we don't know what's next, when we are unsure of what we should be engaged with next or what the next step should be, we can follow their example and simply keep doing what we have been doing until the Lord reveals the next phase and opens the next door for us.) but that night they caught nothing. (As so often seems the case, when we strike out, just as the disciples experienced as they labored through the night, trying to do the next right thing, we come up short. We come up empty-handed. Because the Lord is ever present with us even though we are unaware of Him, even though our first efforts may have little or no result, that doesn't mean we will continue to experience disappointment or lack.) Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. (Although the men in the boat had been oblivious to Jesus' presence through the long night, nevertheless, He had been with them all along, even though they had not acknowledged Him, nor were even particularly looking for Him.) He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. (Even after they had seen the Lord with their own eyes, they are still completely unaware of Who the Person is to Whom they are talking. How often do we, perhaps, keep busily focused on what is before us instead of looking to find Jesus in our circumstances.) He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" (Although each of these disciples had earlier forsaken Jesus in His time of greatest need, they had since then been lovingly confronted by Jesus, and, because of the evidence of His Risen Presence, had joyously recognized Him as Lord The Lord had graciously forgiven them for their fear, for their disloyalty, for their lack of faith, for their failure to believe Him, and now, through this new miracle of the catch of fish, He seals the destiny He had pronounced over them when He first called them to become His followers. The Lord uses this catch of fish to testify to His friends that He would bless the new work of their hands to which He had called them and reconfirm His purpose for them to become fishers of men. He is saying to us today that no matter what the night has held, no matter what little we can produce on our own, He rules our lives and brings to us the destiny and purposes He has designed for us to fulfill, and He brings about the victory and the harvest where before neither a victory nor a harvest had seemed possible.)
