The Friends of God

"Come and have breakfast." —Jesus 

(John 21:12)

Peter and some of his friends had been out fishing all night and had caught nothing.

Imagine the scene. 

Jesus had earlier been crucified, and resurrected—soon to ascend up into the clouds, back to Heaven from where He had come. 

After the emotion of the crucifixion had died down, people had to get on with life.Things were slowly getting back to normal, as much as they could anyway. Many people were disappointed, disillusioned. Jesus didn't 'do' what they had expected the Messiah to do for them.

Nonetheless, the resurrected Jesus did many signs in the presence of His disciples that they would believe that He is the Christ—the Son of God. 

After these things Peter said, "I am going fishing." Some of his friends went with him. And yet, an entire night yielded nothing. What went wrong? These guys were pros. Before they became disciples of Jesus, they were fishermen. But they had left their nets and boats to follow Jesus.

Let's pick up in the story after their night of fishing.

"But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, 

“Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

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. 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. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 

When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three, but even with so many the net was not torn. 

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” (John 21:4-12)

This story warms my heart. 

Years ago, I used to over-spiritualize and allegorize every detail in this account, even down to what I thought Peter's "outer garment" symbolized, along with the fact that the net was not torn, etc. 

But what I missed was Jesus' deep love and care for His friends, demonstrated in such a simple and practical way. 

First, He made a fire. He would have had to go and gather firewood. Light the fire. And then allow it to burn down to coals suitable for broiling fish. He would also had to have first caught the fish. And He prepared and then served them warm, fresh-baked bread.

Yes, I know. This is the resurrected Lord we're talking about here. He could have simply spoken: "Fire, fish, and bread; appear!" He could have spoken their breakfast into existence just as He spoke the entire creation into existence.

But the point of this part of the story, is these dear friends of His had been out all night, laboring to catch some fish and they caught nothing. They were, no doubt, tired and cold from being out on the lake all night. They also, being professional fishermen, probably felt pretty dejected after catching no fish. (I know I would have felt dejected)

Peter, the man who had earlier rejected Jesus three times, had jumped into the cold water and swam to shore when he saw that the man on the shore was Jesus. He couldn't wait to see his dear friend and Lord again.

And Jesus had a fire already made to warm His friends, and broiled fish and warm, tasty bread prepared for them to eat.

Sure, there is great meaning in God's promise to provide for His people. And yes, Jesus' command to cast their nets on the "right side" of the boat is very symbolic. 

But I believe the real point of this beautiful story is to illustrate Jesus' love and care for His friends.

"Come and have breakfast."

Jesus gave His disciples the command in John 13:34 to, "Love one another as I have loved you."

It's so simple.

It's not 'churchy' at all. 

Sacrificially give of yourself to love and serve other people, with the same kind of sacrificial love that Jesus loved people with.

Think of camping out with some of your closest friends. You have to choose to get up at first light in the cold, damp morning, get the campfire started, and start preparing the food to have a nice breakfast ready for them to eat. When it's ready, you call them; "Come and have breakfast."

That takes some effort, some self-sacrifice.

It takes love.

It's easy to stay in your warm sleeping bag, knowing that someone else will eventually get up and make the fire and have some hot coffee ready.

But Jesus was up before first light. He already had a nice hot fire made, and a tasty breakfast prepared of broiled fish and fresh, hot bread. 

And then He invited His dear friends; 

"Come and have breakfast."

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.