Title: Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 25
Contents
Text: John 21:1-14, Acts 13:26-33
Title: “That Is The Lord”
The Gospel of John ends with chapter 20. However, it is very interesting that the church later added quite a few parts.
1. But they caught no fish that night! “ (John 21:3)
Six or seven disciples are at the sea of Tiberias. The motive for their being there is generally understood in two ways. One is the theory that the disciples lost their lives and returned to their old jobs. The other is the view that he came there with new hope, following the promise of the risen Lord to go first to Galilee and wait for his disciples (see Mark 16:7). According to the second interpretation, when Peter said, “I will go fishing,” “fish” symbolizes the people of the world who are the object of the mission. However, despite their motivation, there was no harvest for them. However, this failure makes the disciples who are to “do missionary work with the Lord without the Lord” make a new determination in the future.
2. But the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. (John 21:4)
Even before dawn, the disciples did not recognize the Lord, who was watching them from the seashore. Did you say 視而不見? Aren't modern people not getting the information they really need amidst the flood of information?
In reality, the disciples do not seek out the Lord, but the Lord watches over them, and the Lord sets out to find them. In the old days, when the ship that only the disciples were on was in a “panic state” in a storm, the Lord was watching them. In fact, the disciples call the Lord a ghost.
“Children, have you caught anything?” was a question that predicted the disciples' failure from the beginning. Through the failure of the disciples, it teaches us something truly precious. A truly precious truth that missions that capture people are only possible through faith in obedience to the Lord's Word, not by strategies of analyzing situations and mobilizing experiences.
It was “the disciple whom the Lord loved” who said, “That is the Lord.” Did it make up for Peter's impatience? Again, it was Peter who jumped into the sea first. And it was the rest of the disciples who came out to the shore with the net of the caught fish. Together, they caught a lot of fish and hauled it up so that the net was torn.
3. “Bring some of the fish you caught now. “ (John 21:10)
Jesus has already made a charcoal fire and has grilled fish and bread. Still, they demand “the fish you caught.” After all, isn't that what the disciples caught? It is simply the result of obeying the Word. Nevertheless, the Lord values the efforts of the disciples.
It is not clear what the 153 meats represent. However, judging from the metaphor that the net of the church that accepts them is never torn apart, it does not seem to be far from the meaning of implying the various cultures and races of the church that the church must mission. Now none of the disciples asked, “Who are you?” There are things in the world that do not need to be asked. According to the word of the Lord, when a community unites its efforts and eats and drinks together, it is a person that you automatically come to know.