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1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as 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. 4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. 6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. John 21:1-6
The scene has shifted from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee. Seven disciples are together. There's that number for fullness again. They are: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John, and two unnamed disciples. Peter announces his intention to go fishing, the others join him. They fish throughout the night, the best time for fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Although conditions seemed favorable for catching fish, they caught nothing.
All that Peter had been through over the past weeks had taken it's toll on him. He was overwhelmed. And, whenever Peter faces too much, he always does the same thing, he goes fishing. Fishing was Peter’s fall back plan. It is what he was doing before he met the Lord Jesus. And he always figured he could return to it if the Savior thing didn’t work out.
Like Peter we want to follow the Lord Jesus. But if He doesn’t fulfill our expectations, we figure we can always fall back on our plan for our lives. We know this old life pretty well and at least it is something we understand. This is the subtle message in this passage. Am I gonna be defined by Him or by me?
In this moment, the disciples were being defined by themselves. And, every time in the gospels we find the disciples fishing, they are doing so because they’re frustrated with the Lord Jesus. And, they never catch any fish.
That night of failure was not without its lessons. We can do worse than fail. We can succeed and be proud of our success. We can succeed and forget the One who gave us the success. We can succeed and be self-made men. But, the problem with self-made men is that we tend to worship our creator.
Just as day was breaking, according to v.4, the Lord Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know that it was Him. The early light of dawn made it difficult for the disciples to see Him from the waters.
As soon as the disciples threw their nets into the water, they caught so many fish they couldn’t pull up the net. That wasn’t because they had been fishing on the wrong side of the boat, it was due to the fact that they had lost contact with the Lord Jesus. But now, they could hear and obey Him.
Every time in John’s Gospel that the disciples saw Jesus perform a miracle, He was either doing something for a crowd of hungry sick people or He was commissioning them to do something for the crowd.
When this stranger bid them drop their net on the right side of the boat and it was immediately filled with fish, their minds must have leaped back to another occasion when upon His command they let down their nets and they caught so many fish the nets broke.
The main lesson in our text is obeying His commands, following His lead. We live the Christian life by walking in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit overcomes our temptations to sin by awaking our hearts to the wisdom of God. By the Spirit, we trust the promises, which when we obey, enables us to overcome the lure of the flesh. And, the more we walk in His word, the more we are able to see the stupidity of defining ourselves. This is what it means to have personal relationship with the Lord, and this is how we follow His lead.
Hebrews 4:11 urges us to be diligent to enter God's "rest" so that we don't fall into the same sort of disobedience the Israelites showed in the wilderness. This "rest" means being defined by God's word, will, and culture. When we do not believe God's definition of things, the word of God will not profit us, because it is not met with faith. The word does not profit us, because we do not believe and obey it.
This is why the writer of Hebrews urges us to "Be diligent to enter that rest." Again, His "rest" is being defined by God's word, His definition of how life should be lived. The writer of Hebrews urges us to be diligent or to be highly aware to be defined by God. This means that we must be diligent to hear His word, to believe it, to trust it, to embrace it, and allow it to define us.
In Hebrews 4:12, we read, "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." This verse reminds us of the means by which we enter into this "rest" which is the word of God.
In Psalm 119:11, we read, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." With a welcome mat before our hearts for the word of God, we must make it our top priority to allow the word of God to define us daily.
A former cannibal was reading his Bible. An anthropologist approached him and asked, "What are you doing?" The now, born again native, replied, "I'm reading my Bible." The anthropologist challenged, "Don't you know that modern, civilized man has rejected that book? It's nothing but a bunch of fables. It's a waste of time reading it." The cannibal replied, "Sir, if it weren't for this book, I'd be eating you right now."
