Jump in and Swim

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

JUMP IN AND SWIM

John 21:7-14

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.   9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. 10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."  11 Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

NIV

There has never been any reason to doubt the impetuousness of Peter. He jumps into things when others just seat and watch, like the time he cut the ear of one of the servants in the garden or when he blurred out the answer, “You are the Christ” no one else answered but Peter. So once again, he hears John exclaim it is the Lord, Peter simply jumps in the water and swims to shore, leaving the others, and all that big catch behind. Sure he most likely knew they would bring the catch into shore with the boat, but he first thought was, “it is the Lord”. That is one of the lesson we can apply to our lives. Are we jumping in the water, all out for the shore where Jesus is standing with breakfast for us? Are we too reserved to jump in and swim for shore? Why didn’t the rest of the guys jump in too? Were they hanging onto the net full of fish? Could we be hanging onto our net full of stuff, instead of jumping in and heading straight for Jesus? Maybe our net is simply filled with our own wants and desires. Maybe our net is filled with actually material things. Maybe our net is filled with our plans and ambitions. So maybe we are hanging onto our nets instead is jumping in and heading for Jesus. That could be our lesson we need to learn. Forget about the net, just jump in, and don’t bother trying to bring the net with. Another lesson we could learn is although Jesus provided them with such a large catch, when Peter arrived on the shore, he noticed Jesus already had a fire with fish cooking and some bread to have with it. Even though Jesus provides us with all we need, a net full of whatever, when we arrive on the shore, he will already have our breakfast ready. Jesus does not need our net full, although he did tell them to bring some of the fish, the story does not include him using them, but simply the net was not torn from such a large catch. What we need to see is Jesus always provides in every way, all the time. So we should not worry about our net, what is in it, how much or how little, let us simply jump in and swim for shore.