Title: Jesus Restoring Peter / John 21:15-19
Contents Jesus Restoring Peter / John 21:15-19
1. Jesus prepared the table: verses 12-13
It's hard to have to do something to handle life when you don't have the strength to handle it. I really want to let go, but it's hard to have to do something to live. The disciples did. They returned to the Sea of Galilee, where they had left three years ago, and dragged their boats out to catch fish and cast their nets. But they couldn't catch any fish.
The resurrected Jesus appeared once more to those who were weary. Jesus made a charcoal fire for them and baked bread and fish over the charcoal fire. Jesus himself had prepared breakfast for Peter and his disciples. Peter and his disciples, who were exhausted, the disciples who were only in despair, and those who had lost their dreams and were exhausted, ate breakfast with Jesus that Jesus himself had prepared. It is our life to be exhausted by living in the world.
For our exhausted life, Jesus Himself prepared a meal for us. This is a table prepared by devoting your life to it. It is for those who love Jesus and those who love to sit together and take the bread of life that the Lord has prepared. That is faith. I hope that you will be supplied with the Word, the food of life that Jesus Himself prepared for us. Whenever we are exhausted, whenever we are hungry, we are a family that shares the bread of life with Jesus at the heavenly family table that Jesus prepared for us.
2. The Lord Calls Our Names:
When I was young, my parents called me “second child.” I am the second son. So, when my parents introduced me to other people, they would say, “This is my second Young Kwon.” With all my titles and titles removed, my name in front of my parents was “Second Spiritual Kwon”.
Similarly, Simon Peter's name before he was given a title in the world was "Simon son of John." Before he was given the name “Peter,” Jesus’ chief disciple, and before he was given the name “Simon the fisherman of Galilee,” the name his family and locals called to him was “Simon son of John.” When Jesus called Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John,” Simon Peter must have been moved.
It is a name that was called by the family and the people in the neighborhood at a time when he was loved unconditionally by his family no matter what mistakes he made. It's a name from my family who is loved unconditionally because I am the son of John, not because I am loved or recognized for what I have.
Jesus called Peter, “Simon, son of John.” Even though Peter denied three times in front of people, saying, “I do not know that Jesus at all,” he called him “Simon, son of John,” because he loved him unconditionally because he was in Jesus’ family. I love my family more because they are weak. Families pay more attention because they are scarce. That is the mystery of the family. Likewise, our Heavenly Father calls our family names.
3. Do you love me more than these people: verses 15-17
Three times Jesus asked Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" It is a confession of love that forgives, accepts, and loves Peter. Jesus' words when he asks, "Do you love me?" is a strong confession of his love for us, "I want your love." This confession is a confession of love for each of us.
The whispers of the Lord's love for us keep us alive. This whisper of love gives us the strength to live again. Peter also listened to the Lord's confession of love from time to time, confirmed his love, and lived a life of victory with the power of love. So, to the Lord's question, "Do you love me?", there must be a whisper of love that answers endlessly in our lives, "You know that I love You."
Dear saints, I hope that you will only hear the voice of the Lord in any circumstances and conditions. I hope you will rise again by the voice of the Lord's love. Today the Lord speaks to us. “Who are you, my love, do you love me?” Today, I pray that you will be refreshed by the Lord's powerful voice of love, and that you will rise up again by confessing, “I love the Lord.” I bless you.
application and sharing
◎ In your exhausted life, have you ever had a new strength from the word of the Lord?
◎ Let's share with each other the things that were restored by the voice of the Lord's love heard in difficult times.
◎ Let's pray together so that the confession of faith that I love the Lord overflows from our lips at the whispers of love that I love you to our house church.