Day 23: Still Fishing

4th Monday in Lent

Scripture: John 21:1-3

^{NRS 1} After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. ² Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. ³ Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Devotional: John chapter twenty draws to a close with the resurrected Jesus appearing to Mary in the garden and the disciples behind closed doors where He breathed on them to receive the Holy Spirit. It concludes with a final statement about Jesus’ many signs and the purpose for the writing of his Gospel. John wrote so his readers might come to believe. In all of that Peter is never mentioned by name. The last place we read the name of Simon Peter was at the empty tomb where we were told that he “returned home.” The Sea of Tiberias is where chapter twenty-one begins. We also know it as the Sea of Galilee, whose coastal town of Capernaum was Peter’s hometown. Simon Peter has been joined by six other disciples in Galilee. Peter decided to go fishing and they decided to accompany him. Now this didn’t mean that he grabbed the tackle box and the Zebco. He was not embarking on some leisure recreation to comfort him in his grief. He was headed back to the boat from which Jesus had called him to fish for people. Peter was returning to his former life, commercial fishing. Three years of following Jesus has done nothing for his skill at fishing. After a long night, they caught absolutely nothing! He took a crew with him big enough to handle the type of catch he last made. The group even included his former fishing partners the Sons of Zebedee, but they still caught nothing. Peter was a failure at fishing. He chose to follow Christ and failed him in the courtyard of the high priest. He returned to his life of fishing and failed once again. Can we imagine how Peter must have been feeling? All of the fear, uncertainty, confusion and frustration must have been overwhelming. Do we have the same experience at times? When we encounter situations in our Christian life that completely take the wind out of our sails, instead of focusing on Christ, do we focus on our worldly life? Do we let fear, uncertainty and frustration overwhelm us to the point of blinding us to Christ? If that is us, we are in the company of a rock. Peter was the rock before he went fishing and he was still the rock, he just didn’t know it yet. Jesus was going to shine through to Peter on the beach and He will shine through to us. Fear and failure is never the end when we are in Christ Jesus.

Prayer: Lord reaffirm for us today that our lives are rightly lived in You. Remind us that we don’t need to find our purpose or comfort in our worldly lives. You are our comfort, our purpose and our joy. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Song of praise:            Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech

                                               

Spiritual discipline challenge: Today our challenge is simplicity. Sometimes it is the trappings of our worldly lives that lead us to fear and frustration. Today we get rid of something in our lives that takes our focus away from Christ.