Sketched IX Day 5 Almost, But Not Yet: Digging Deeper

1) Why does this passage begin with, “Jesus revealed Himself again…”? (verse 1)
At the scene of this particular encounter between Jesus and His disciples, Christ had already been crucified on the cross, died, was buried for three days, and then rose again. He had appeared to the disciples in their secret upper room where they had been hiding out while Jesus was in the grave. (John 20:19-23) A week after that appearance, Jesus appeared again to Thomas who had been absent the first time Jesus came to the upper room. This time, John writes that Jesus came in and was present with them even though the doors were locked. (John 20:24-29) This scene on the beach of Galilee was the third time Jesus appeared specifically to the disciples in His new, resurrected body. (John 21:14) During His post-resurrection period before He ascended into the clouds to return to Heaven, He engaged with over 500 people. (1 Corinthians 15:3-6) The Greek word for both “revealed” in verse 1 and “appeared” in verse 14 is actually the same word, “φανερόω”. Its definition, while carrying both ideas of “reveal” and “appear”, means something deeper. φανερόω means the unveiling of something that was, at one time, mysterious and unseen. While the disciples had often seen Jesus in physical form before He was crucified as they had followed Him for three years, this physical manifestation, φανερόω, of Jesus was absolutely different. His resurrected body allowed people to see and understand what was previously unknown and completely hidden because of the grave and death. While Jesus had previous raised some people from the dead, their bodies were not Heavenly resurrected bodies. As Jesus spoke with His disciples in His new body, he was doing more than simply making an appearance, He was making more of God known through His body and interaction. 

2) What would the disciples have been reminded of during the fishing scene? (verses 7-11)
When Peter told six disciples (verse 2) he had decided to go fishing (verse 3), he likely wasn’t just trying to pass the time on a lazy afternoon. Peter had been a fisherman by trade before he decided to follow Jesus three years prior. Though Jesus had risen from the grave, everything was different. He wasn’t teaching to the crowds anymore, and He wasn’t regularly engaging the disciples by daily teaching them and living alongside them. That time was over, and Jesus was preparing to return to Heaven. Peter simply didn’t know what else to do, and, being a man of action, he declared, “I’m going fishing.” (verse 3) His friends followed suit, but after a night of catching absolutely nothing, you can imagine Peter’s growing frustration. He couldn’t follow Jesus anymore, and clearly, he couldn’t fish either. Purposelessness is a hard place for anyone. Just as dawn was breaking over the lake, the exhausted and discouraged fishermen heard a voice, “Friends! You don’t have any fish, do you?” (verse 5) Because everything about Jesus was increasingly new in His resurrected body, even His voice didn’t strike them as familiar. Again, the man on the shore called aloud with a strange instruction, “Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you’ll find some.” (verse 6) Still, the disciples hadn’t caught on that the mystery man was Jesus, but they followed His directive and were rewarded by a catch so large they couldn’t haul it in. (verse 6) Suddenly, everything clicked for John as the familiarity of the all-nighter and the call of a stranger on the shore, followed by an enormous load of fish caught up to him. This had been almost the exact scene three years prior when Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Go read about it in Luke 5:1-11! “Peter! It’s the Lord!”, cried John. So, off went Peter jumping overboard swimming and sloshing through the sea to reach Jesus. (verse 7) There in the common, again, Jesus had met them.

3) What was significant for the disciples in the breakfast scene? (verses 12-14)
Over the course of their 3-year journey together, the disciples had eaten countless meals with Jesus. They had seen Him break bread and give thanks over and over and over. Fish and bread were a very common meal for the time, so they had likely shared this exact meal hundreds of times together. There is something special about familiarity, isn’t there? It sets the stage for surprisingly deep conversations and exploring new truths. Amidst all the images of sharing fish and bread together, two incredibly powerful instances likely rose to the top for the disciples that morning. Jesus had broken bread with them at their last shared Passover in the upper room before He was brutally killed by crucifixion. The shared meal was the last they had with Jesus as Master and intimate Friend before He sacrificed Himself, taking the rightly deserved punishment for them (and you and me) upon Himself. The second scene that surely ran through their minds was the most recent one with Jesus where He suddenly appeared in the same upper room with doors locked. It was just the believers gathered together, and then, there was Jesus asking for something to eat and they gave him fish. As Jesus ate it, He proved He was real flesh and blood, alive from the dead by His own power and authority. Astonishing! This breaking bread and eating of fish, though sweetly familiar, was packed with purpose for the disciples, and none of it was lost on them.