2025-01-03
A. JESUS’ COMMANDS TO PETER (John 21:1-25).
Jesus had previously instructed his disciples to travel down to Capernaum where he would meet them. Why there, in particular, is not clear. Perhaps he wanted them away from Jerusalem so they would no longer have to hide behind closed doors to escape persecution from the Jewish leaders. There, along the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee, they would be able to relax and move about freely.
~~~~~ a. A long journey.
Depending on the route taken, it could have been between 150 and 200km to Capernaum – a long distance by foot and many days on the road. Obeying His command, they made the journey and arrived there safely.
~~~~~ b. “I’m going fishing.”
After all the stress of the past few weeks, Peter, as he looked out over the sparkling water, thought back to his carefree fishing days and felt like casting a net into the water again. Since they had nothing else to do while waiting for Jesus, he stood up, announcing, “I’m going fishing.” The other men eagerly replied, “We’ll go with you!” And off they went.
~~~~~ c. Tired men in an empty boat after a long night.
Out there on the open water, they spent all night in the boat but caught nothing. The water was dead. At dawn they were anchored some hundred meters from shore. Then they saw a man standing there. He shouted to them, enquiring if they had something to eat. “No!” they shouted back. The sound carried clear across the water in the silence of the morning. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some,” came his answer. They looked at each other, frowning. “Who was he? What was he doing there at the lake that early? Maybe he was a local and knew what he was talking about. After all, they had stopped fishing some three years ago when they began following Jesus. They shrugged their shoulders – nothing to lose. They got up, pulled in the net with long strokes, then deftly cast it over the opposite bow. The mouth of the net opened wide, then, when it hit the water, the weights pulled the rim downwards, towards the bottom.
~~~~~ d. Fish! And … Jesus in person.
Suddenly there was chaos in the boat. A super large school of fish got caught in the net and struggled to escape. John immediately realized that something supernatural had happened; just like it had on a previous occasion, long ago (Luke 5:4-11). “It is the Lord!” he excitedly shouted to Peter, who, bursting with joy, hurriedly girded his outer garment, stepped overboard and set off for shore. Later the others also got there and saw that it indeed was Jesus awaiting them.
~~~~~ e. “Breakfast” with Jesus – an early morning fish fry on the beach.
First the fish had to be brought ashore, counted and a few prepared. It seems as if Jesus hosted and fried it for them, like when we have a meat barbecue; a “bring and fry”. It is interesting that Thomas now also was there.
By this event, Jesus showed his disciples that He was always with them, even when they could not see Him, and constantly planned something good, even a surprise, for them.
~~~~~ f. “Peter, it’s your day.”
When they finished eating, Peter’s big moment arrived though he did not expect it. One can only imagine how his denial of Jesus that night of the trial in the courtyard of Caiaphas’ palace haunted him. He knew this thing wouldn’t just work itself out; it would have to be talked out somehow, but he didn’t know how to bring it about.
~~~~~ g. An identity crisis.
He must have been feeling very uncertain of himself. What was his role now? Did he still have to take the lead in the group of eleven or would Jesus appoint someone else? Perhaps he was no longer even part of Jesus’ selected apostles; perhaps Jesus had already found someone else, a man after His own heart. He might be sent home to be a fisherman again, as he had been when the Master found him there by the boats and called him. On the other hand: Jesus had appeared to him before He appeared to the other ten. The initiative to clear up this uncertainty would have to come from Jesus, and that is how it happened.
When they finished their breakfast and were all comfortably seated around the fire, a silence fell. Then Jesus turned to Peter and His voice rang out loud and clear, his tone official: “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these,” He enquired, pointing wih his finger to the other disciples. To say in front of a group of Jesus’ most faithful followers that you love Him more than they, already is a great embarrassment, but to do so while they knew, and you knew, that you had recently denied Him three times, was unbearable. “Yes, Lord, you know that I love You,” he answered timidly, then waited for Jesus’ next logical question: “Why then did you deny this when the question was put to you at my trial?” But, no, “Feed My lambs,” came the Lord’s gentle command. Peter’s head jerked up and His eyes rounded in surprise. Did this his mean that he was being given another chance? No, probably he misunderstood the Lord. He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked down at the burning coals.
Again came the same words, relentlessly; “Simon, son of Jonah, do you truly love Me?” Again he had to force the painful words over his lips: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love You,” and again Jesus answered him almost exactly as before, “Feed my sheep.” Recalling what had happened that fateful night, the words burned in his soul like coals of fire, but Jesus was not yet finished and asked him the same question for the third time, only this time He used a different word for love, implying whether he loved Him with a divine love.
The tension now became too much for Peter. Of course Jesus knew how shamefully he had denied Him, why ask him this for the third time? His eyes misted as the tears welled up within. “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you,” he muttered hoarsely while staring into the charred coals, and once again the Master gave him the same soft command: “Feed my sheep.”
~~~~~ h. His path forward.
Then the Lord prophesied of what awaited him in the distant future; that he would be given a second opportunity to prove his love for his Lord by voluntarily extending his hands to be bound, to suffer and be executed for the sake of His Name.
(Recorded history tells us how Peter later in his life, when he was condemned to death, asked to be crucified upside down because he considered himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way as was his Saviour.)
~~~~~ i. The CVs of Jesus’ shepherds.
What then are the qualifications to be a leader of Jesus’ sheep and especially to be a leader of His leaders. The answer is that you must love Him more than they do; that you must love them with a love that is not born from the heart of man, but of God. It makes one’s heart tremble because only God knows whether we will pass that test.
B. THE GREAT COMMISSION (Please read Matt 28:16-20).
The mountain where Jesus would meet with His disciples could have been the same on which He had been glorified earlier on (Mark 9:3); away from the crowds, a mountain top where there was space and where He could commune peacefully with those who belonged to Him, discussing the affairs of His Kingdom.
Although He specifically instructed the Eleven to meet with Him, many more of His followers could have flocked there to see Him; including a multitude who believed but had not yet met Him after His resurrection. (1 Cor 15:6.)
~~~~~ a. Worship.
When they saw Him, they worshipped Him. Now He was no longer simply the incarnate Son of man who walked with them daily, but the resurrected Son of God, Ruler of the universe. As He approached, those who had not yet seen Him after His resurrection, like Thomas and the others, still doubted whether it could truly be Him. Their doubt was probably swallowed up moments later by a flood of faith.
~~~~~ b. Jesus the General of His army.
What is important to note, is that there was a great difference between the purpose of His present appearance on the mountain and that of His earlier recorded appearances. Previously, He had appeared to Mary and the other women, the Emmaus couple and His disciples to minister to them personally, to build their faith in Him, to remove their pain and uncertainty. That was now largely something of the past.
This present appearance was probably shortly before His ascension. Now He appeared as an army general commanding His healthy, fit, trained troops for the great battle that was to be waged to conquer nations. Now He was no longer, as the song goes, “Little Jesus, meek and mild,” but the Rider on the white horse, with drawn flaming sword, charging through heavenly spheres, leading His army from victory to victory.
~~~~~ c. Jesus, the crowned victor over sin, death and the devil.
Now He was not glorified for a mere hour or two as on the Mount of Transfiguration, but appeared in His eternal glory. Now His voice resounded over the plains and to the ends of the furthest horizons: “All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth; …” In Paradise His enemy, the devil, had robbed Him of authority over a segment of His Kingdom when he brought His subjects to a fall by gaining their loyalty by deceit. However, in the forty-day duel in the wilderness He successfully repelled his attacks over three rounds; then, on the cross, He crushed his head, and when He rose from death and the grave, He stepped over the writhing, bruised body of the serpent.
He did however not then take the authority over this universe Himself, but His Father, the Righteous Judge, gave it to Him as a trophy because He had acquired it in a just manner. He also said to him, “ Ask of me, and I will give the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron, you will dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel .” (Ps 2:8,9).
~~~~~ d. He was now making disciples and building His kingdom.
It was this risen Lord of Hosts who inspected and sent forth His army throughout the earth to make disciples of everyone they encountered: disciples who would follow in His footsteps and carry out His commands; disciples who would not serve Him in secret, but would be baptized by Him in public, thereby declaring to the world: “I have died to this world; I now live for God!” To those who would thus become His disciples, His teaching was to be carefully conveyed.
~~~~~ e. The God clothed with all power dwells in His warriors.
And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen.
What a glorious promise. Today, a general can keep in touch with his troops from his command center by means of all sorts of smart devices, but Jesus alone can dwell right within each of His men and women to encourage, counsel, and strengthen them in their daily march toward final victory.
Hallelujah, we are on the winning side!
C. JESUS’ ASCENSION (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-14)
~~~~~ a. That in-between period.
It is important to note that approximately 39 days passed between Jesus’ first appearance to His disciples, recounted in Luke 24:36-49, and the description of His ascension recorded in verses 50-53 and in Acts 1:9-11.
During this period He appeared to His apostles and other disciples on various occasions and spoke to them about the things of His Kingdom. (See 1 Cor 15:3-8, quoted above, which mentions that on one occasion He appeared to over 500 brothers at once.)
~~~~~ b. A humble descent to a manger in a stable; a glorious ascension to the Throne in the heavens.
Now, however, His work on earth was finished, the time had come for His ascension, and He led His disciples out to the Mount of Olives, just outside of Jerusalem. Their last question to Him was whether He would restore the Kingdom of Israel during those days. To this He replied that it was not for them to know the times or seasons which the Father had fixed by His own authority, but that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses throughout the world.
Then He was taken up into heaven. He had entered the world as a servant of humanity, born in a stable, but left it in a celestial chariot, a cloud, as King of the universe.
~~~~~ c. Shiny messengers with a joyful message.
Two angels were left behind to comfort the disciples with the hopeful message that they should not gaze longingly and sorrowfully after Him, but should look in the Spirit beyond this cloud to another one, in the remote future, on which He would return to earth at the appointed time.
~~~~~ d. A wonderful promise and a tremendous command.
Meanwhile, they were not to sit idly by waiting for his return, but were to carry out His instructions. First, they were to go to Jerusalem to wait for “The Promise of the Father,” i.e. the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and then, clothed with the power of God, go forth to make disciples of all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
~~~~~ e. In anticipation.
Comforted and encouraged by these words, they returned to the upper room in Jerusalem where they persisted in prayer in one accord for the next ten days. They wated untill Jesus’ promise was fulfilled and they could enter the world in the same power and authority their Master had to carry out His commission.
~~~~~ f. First the cross, then the crown.
After Jesus had paid the full price, He received his crown. Now it is your and my turn to follow in His footsteps so that we too, in turn, may, after carrying out his will for us, receive our crowns.
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