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John 21:1-25: Jesus and the Black Sheep
Let's start today by rereading our passage from two weeks ago, John 20:19-23:
(19) Then, when it was evening on that day-- the first day of the week, and the doors having been shut where the disciples were because of fear of the Judeans-- Jesus came,
and he stood in their midst,
and he says to them,
"Peace to you,"
(20) and this saying, he showed his hands
and his side to them.
Then, the disciples rejoiced,
seeing the Lord.
(21) Then, Jesus said to them again,
"Peace to you.
Just as the Father sent me, also I send you,"
(22) and this saying, he breathed on them,
and he says to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
(23) If the sins of any, you forgive, they are forgiven them.
If [the sins] of any, you hold/retain, they have been held/retained.
What we see in these verses, is the Great Commission.
Jesus gives the disciples his peace.
He sends them out into the world, as extension of his own ministry.
He gives them the Holy Spirit, to enable them to do this.
And he gives them authority to forgive sins.
So at this point in the book, what do we expect the disciples to do?
To go, right?
We expect them to leave their locked room, and be brave, and tell the world about Jesus.
When Jesus tells you to do something, you do it.
What we read, instead, is the story about "Doubting Thomas."
Let's continue, and read John 20:24-31:
(24) Now, Thomas-- one of the twelve, the one being called "Twin"-- wasn't with them when Jesus came.
(25) Then, the other disciples were saying to him,
"We have seen the Lord."
Now, he said to them,
"Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails,
and I put my finger in the mark of the nails, I will absolutely never believe,"
(26) and after eight days, again his disciples were inside-- and Thomas [was] with them.
Jesus comes,
while the doors having been locked/barred,
and he stood in their midst,
and he said,
"Peace to you."
(27) Next, he says to Thomas,
"Bring your finger here,
and see my hands,
and bring your hand,
and put it into my side,
and don't become[1]unbelieving/unfaithful but believing/faithful."
(28) Thomas answered,
and he said to him,
"My Lord, and my God."
(29) Jesus says to him,
"Because you have seen me you have 'believed.'
Blessed [are] the ones not seeing and 'believing.'
(30) And so then, on the one hand, also many other signs Jesus did in the presence of his disciples, which aren't written in this book.
(31)On the other hand, these are written,
in order that you would continue[2]believing that Jesus is the Christ/Messiah/King, the Son of God,
and in order that, believing, lifeyou would have in his name.
So at this point in the gospel, where do the disciples stand?
All of the disciples have received Jesus' peace.
All of them have been commissioned.
And all of them, at this point, are in this locked room.
With this, we come to today's passage, John 21:1-3 (working from "de" to "de"):
(1) After these things, Jesus again revealed himself to the/his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.
Now, he revealed himself in this way: they were together-- Simon Peter, and Thomas-- the one being called "Twin"-- and Nathaniel-- the one from Cana of Galilee-- and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.
(3) Simon Peter says to them,
"I am going to fish."
They say to him,
"We are coming-- also us-- with you."
They went out,[3]
and they got into the boat,
and on that night they caught nothing.
Let's pause here.
When we first look at these verses, we see two main things.
First, we see the unity of the disciples.
Jesus had prayed for his disciples, that they would be one, as he and the Father are one (John 17:21).
And what we see here is that they stick together, and work together.
Peter says he's going fishing, and the others join him.
The second thing we see, is that they work together unsuccessfully.
They get in the boat, and they caught nothing.
Now, scholars reading this have spilled a lot of ink talking about something else in these verses.
I think the majority position is probably right, but I could be wrong.
What they talk about, a lot, is Simon Peter's words.
He says, "I am going to fish."
The verb Peter uses here, "to fish," is a present tense verb.
Present tense verbs are open-ended, imperfective.
And what this means, possibly, is that Peter is here telling the other disciples that he is going back to his old way of life.
Now that Jesus is gone, he will become a fisherman again.
What Peter then does, as leader of the post-resurrection church, is pull the other disciples into becoming fishermen.
Jesus has just commissioned them, and sent them out to leave their locked room, and go tell the world about Jesus.
To do the greater works (John 14:12), as they are empowered by the Spirit.
Peter then decides, apparently after Jesus leaves, that he is going to go out, to be a fisherman.
Now, in a vacuum, being a fisherman is a perfectly acceptable career choice.
Fishing is one small part of what it means to have dominion over the world.
When you fish, you are doing what God made you to do.
You can fish, and obey God.
You can fish, and tell the world about Jesus.
But for Peter, becoming a fisherman is the wrong choice.
Peter is supposed to be the Rock on which the church is built (John 1:42).
Jesus is calling him to full-time ministry.
And even if Peter was supposed to be bi-vocational, probably this is not the time or place for the fishing part of it.
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