Have Some Breakfast

Scripture: John 21:7-14 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

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. (John 21:7-14 NLT)

After a very non-professional, unsuccessful night of fishing, and just at dawn, the guys in the boat saw a man standing on the beach, just 300 feet away. They weren’t able to recognize him, but he called out to them, “Friends, have you caught any fish?” When they told him they hadn’t, he said, “Throw the net on the right side of the boat and you’ll catch plenty of fish!” They did and they did! And the net was so full they couldn’t haul it in! They flashed back to another time, in what probably seemed like another lifetime, when Jesus had told them to move the boat and cast the nets again and they caught so many fish they nearly sank two boats! (Luke 5:4-7)

John recognized Jesus’ fingerprints on what had just happened and said to Peter, “It’s the Lord, it’s Jesus! I know it’s him!” Peter jumped in the water and swam to shore, leaving the others to do the hard work of bringing in the net and beaching the boat. They discovered that Jesus had a fire going and was cooking some fish, and there was bread. Jesus told them to bring more fish from their catch so they could all have breakfast together. When Jesus appeared to his followers after the resurrection, they mostly didn’t recognize him by sight. It was in his words or actions or in the scars from the cross he was recognizable.

What if it’s still that way? What if we still can’t tell who Jesus is by how he looks? Jesus has told us, “I’m the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the sick, the prisoner, the homeless, the foreigner. That’s how you can recognize me!” (Matthew 25:31-46) And then he fed them the breakfast he had prepared.

Prayer:

Father, Please help my friends and me not to miss Jesus when he shows up. Sometimes it seems the whole church is having trouble recognizing him! For Heaven’s Sake!