Peter

Gone Fishing

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Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. John 21:3 NKJV

Thirty years ago, when we lived in a small farming village, I was often astonished at the hours, the handful businesses kept. Our tiny bank was only open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The post office closed for lunch, and one general store was sometimes unexpectedly closed, leaving a sign in the door, “Gone fishing!” Today’s verse comes about one week after the miracles, the drama, the tears and the joys of Holy week. Just like us, the disciples wondered what to do with what came next. Maybe some of the other people who played a part in the Easter story also asked the same question. Have you ever wondered what the soldiers, who guarded his tomb, said to their wives when they went home? Did Joseph of Arimathea open his shop again on Monday morning? Did Nicodemus return to teaching in the synagogue? You might think that when the disciples of Jesus woke up, they would have talked about the earthquake and darkness after Jesus died, or the reports of the guards falling like dead men when the angel rolled back the stone. We can’t be sure of all their conversations, but John tells us that one evening Peter, much our like neighbors, said: “Let’s go fishing!” It is easy to laugh or criticize Peter, but Peter couldn’t read ahead in the Bible, he didn’t know what to do, so he went back to the ordinary things he understood. After a night our fishing, Jesus showed up on the shore, He didn’t scold the disciples for fishing. In fact, Jesus had been fishing that night too! The only difference was that Jesus actually caught fish and they didn’t! No, instead of lecturing, Jesus came to meet them for breakfast, and Jesus wants to meet with us in the same way today. Even when we aren’t involved in a religious activity, Jesus shows up. He wants to talk to us while we are mowing our lawn. doing the dishes or sitting in the break room at work. Jesus knows where we are, even when we are out fishing and He loves to come to us in the simplest activities of our day and listen to our conversations. After the Cross, the grave and the resurrection, Jesus came to them even when they went fishing, and He is sending us to others, not just when they come to the prayer meeting, or some other church activity. Instead, He asks us to carry His message to the grocery store, the gas station, and our neighborhoods, to all kinds of people, even when they have gone fishing!

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When God Interrupts

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While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:18-19 ESV

Over the last five days, because of sickness our agenda has been unceremoniously trashed, and we had to cancel most of our plans. Finally on Sunday afternoon, my wife and I went to a walk-in clinic, hoping to find some help. Though we came away with a diagnosis of nothing more serious than Bronchitis, it was frustrating to realize just how little control we had over our plans. Of course, not all agenda changing in our lives occurs due to negative circumstances. In today’s verse, we find Peter and Andrew finishing up their shift at work, after a long night of fishing. Then, while they were washing their nets before heading home for breakfast Jesus interrupted their plans, with a plan of His own. Though we have the advantage of knowing that Peter and Andrew went on to become Apostles, they were probably thinking about what their wives were cooking for breakfast! Imagine how the pages of the Bible would be different if they just told Jesus that they would go home and pray about it (after a nap!) There would have been, no story of Andrew, bringing a boy with five loaves of bread for Jesus to multiply and no Peter, walking on water to go to Jesus. Though they didn’t know it at the time, the history of nations lay in the balance that day, because God has chosen them to do something different than they had planned.

Has God has disrupted your schedule recently? If you are like me, you may have been irritated, frustrated or even just plain mad about having to cancel your carefully crafted plans. But as Christians, we need to remind ourselves, that God knows what is best, and He wants us to trust our schedule into His hands. We never know if instead of fishing at the lake, Jesus just might want us to go with Him and start fishing for men!

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Facing Failure

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But Peter boasted. “No way Lord! Even if everyone fails, You can count on me!” 
Luke 22:33 MNVIT (My not very inspired translation) 

The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. 
Luke 22:61-62 NIV

When in the middle of the temptations and stresses of daily life, it feels impossible to have the kind of faith that I read about with Daniel spending the night with lions, David facing Goliath and Moses the Red Sea. But when I come to the story of a disciple named Peter, I have hope. Now Peter certainly had his days of great faith, such as when he walked on water and or when he boldly confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Yet when we come to the night of Jesus’ arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, something unexpected happened. At first, Peter seemed brave as he pulled out a sword and hacked off the ear of one of the guys coming for Jesus.  But when Jesus put a stop to his tactics, Peter ran away. Then from a safe distance he sneaked into the courtyard where Jesus was being held. We can’t be sure what Peter had in mind, but maybe he was hoping to find any way to free Jesus. But instead of helping Jesus to escape, Peter ended up denying Him three times.

Sadly, just like Peter, there are times when, despite our good intentions, we utterly fail. Circumstances that we hoped to change, spin completely out of our control and we are left as helpless observers. The things we thought we would never say, we blurt out and the things we never promised not to do; we do. After all our boasting about our faith, we end up falling flat on our faces. But at that moment, while we weep bitterly about our failure, remember what Peter did. He remembered what Jesus said. When three days later, Jesus rose from the dead and showed Himself to the disciples He came for Peter also. But this was a Peter who was a changed person. He had discovered that the strength of His faith did not lie in his determination, strength or ability, but on the love, power and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He found, just as we can, that our faith does not grow from our successes, but from remembering God’s word in our failures.

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