Breakfast on the Beach

I shared this in our personal newsletters, The Northern Pearl, but i thought I would post it here too: 

I’ve really been enjoying John 20-21 to Acts 1-2 with the disciples lately. After Jesus death and resurrection, it was like a limbo time for the disciples. We know they stayed together in Jerusalem. We know they went back to fishing. Or at least made one attempt to go back because Jesus finds them in a boat, in the water, fishless. So Jesus shows up and one hundred and fifty three fish later, they are eating breakfast with Jesus on the beach who was already cooking fish and bread that seemed to have come from out of thin air. My favorite verse at the moment is verse 11 of John 21 - in verse 10 Jesus had just asked the disciples to bring over some of the fish they caught - verse 11 reads “So Simon Peter got up and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish - 153 of them….”

Y’all - Peter is hysterical- - get the whole picture here- Peter - wringing wet because he just swam about 100 yards, must have been sitting down, catching his breath. His thoughts are probably running 100 miles an hour because here is Jesus appearing for the 3rd time after the resurrection, He just gave them a huge miracle, and He’s cooking breakfast. And then Jesus asks them to bring more fish. Peter snaps in to go-mode and hauls the ENTIRE net (by himself - from the way it reads) of 153 fish up when he probably could have just brought 8 individual fish. You gotta love Peter. He never did anything without intense passion.

There is tons of richness and meaning in this chapter 21 of John, but right now, I’m just sitting in the fact that the disciples were in limbo too for awhile. It’s nice to know of other people in the same place (ok our situation is nothing like the disciples, except for they probably were trying to figure out what to do next).

While they are trying to figure out what to do next, Jesus invites them for breakfast on the beach.

Jesus was on the earth 40 days after the resurrection, so maybe they spent tons of time with Him or maybe He came and went. Who knows. He did tell them to not leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise, which came 10 days after the ascension. So more waiting. Maybe they knew it was the Holy Spirit since Jesus had already talked to them about that, maybe they really didn’t understand and had no idea. But at least they were obedient.

I really wonder what that breakfast was like.

It probably felt familiar and like “old” times, which was probably only a few weeks ago, but I bet they felt like that had lived a whole lifetime with all that had happened. Maybe they were laughing and telling stories, or maybe they were processing the events from Passover, MAYBE they were throwing fish bones at each other! (gross) But that time together must have brought joy and peace their hearts and minds. Jesus had come to find them again - on purpose, with purpose, and for purpose.

You gotta love Jesus. He doesn’t let anything slip by Him - not important conversations after breakfast, not little sparrows falling to the ground, not you, and not me. He comes to find each one of us - on purpose, with purpose, and for purpose - you just need to take time to sit and eat breakfast with Him……..

p.s. - peter also had to wait a bit for that important conversation.