In Expectation

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

IN EXPECTATION

John 21:1-3

21:1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

NIV

It does seem a little odd that after having seen Jesus appear to them in the room behind a locked door in Jerusalem that Peter should decide to go fishing. They are, of course, where Jesus told Mary to tell them to go and that he would meet them there, but still to go fishing seems a little odd. Why would they not be sitting waiting for, or possibly wandering around looking for Jesus? It seems like they have a hard time waiting for Jesus. This could be just a simply solution to a financial need. We are not sure how they were supported during the years they traveled around with Jesus. Could they have been cared for by some of the wealthier followers of Christ? Peter, as well as James and John, the sons of Zebedee were fishermen, which is how they had supported their families before following Jesus. Now that Jesus was gone, it might be that the support was gone as well and being back in their home region, they needed to fish in order to be able to sell the catch in the market. But still they were not just waiting for Jesus, they had gone back to what they knew, fishing. What are we to make of this? Of course we know want happens next, Jesus being on the shore and what follows, which we will see next, but what is in this portion of the narrative for us? Certainly Jesus did not intend for them to rely on others for their support. They were not full time evangelists, or a traveling musical group, or some other ministry which needs support. They were simply followers of Christ, they were disciples, they were the chosen twelve that would change the world, they were the first of many who would be filled with the Holy Spirit and preach the Good News with such power that thousands would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but they went fishing. We all need to go fishing, to make our own way in life, not relying on others, but looking to Jesus for all we need. As we will see he will provide for them when they could not provide for themselves. Nevertheless we do need to go fishing, we need to work, we need to support our families, but at the same time we cannot see our work as our source, but we must see Jesus as our source. He leads us to where we must go fishing. He directs our paths to where he will meet us, and supply our need. We cannot grow weary of waiting, nor can we simply go about fishing on our own, looking to supply all our own needs. We should always be in expectation of the appearance of Jesus. We should live in expectation.