A Breakfast like no Other!
Meditation for the week of June 16, 2013
John 21:12-13 Jesus said to them, "Come and eat breakfast." Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?"–knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.
Simon Peter and some of the other disciples including John went fishing. They had already seen the resurrected Lord but they were waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit before they were to begin their witnessing about the living resurrected Lord. After his ascension, it is quite clear that they were to remain in Jerusalem waiting for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but the Lord had shown Himself to the disciples after His resurrection in Galilee. He had wanted to meet them there. Since the ascension was forty days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3) and the baptism of the Holy Spirit was fifty days after the resurrection, they should not have been fishing in the Sea of Tiberius or Galilee for the ten days after the ascension. However, what were they to do during the first forty days after the resurrection? Peter led the other disciples back to doing what they knew how to do. Of course, they could have watched TV or gone to a ball game, or maybe they could have gone to a coffee shop and read a book, but they did what should have been a profitable use of their time while they were waiting. They went fishing. This is what they knew how to do and I personally think it only made sense that they would go fishing since they had been fishermen before they were called to follow the Lord.
They toiled all night and caught nothing. However, in the morning, the Lord appeared and gave them instructions as to where to fish. These instructions made no sense to them but they did what the Lord told them to do. And they caught fish. Following the instructions always works. Then the Lord invited them to eat breakfast with Him.
I want to take a few liberties with this passage. I have wondered if this event gives us a little picture of what happens from the time of the ascension of the Lord until He comes again for the church. Since the Lord is now gone, the light of day is gone. That means that just as the disciples were fishing during the night so are we fishing in a spiritual way during the night season. In the morning when the Lord appears, He wants to eat breakfast with His disciples and He wants them to bring the fish that they have caught at his direction. Hopefully, that is what He will want to do with us when we meet Him in the morning after a long dark frustrating night.
Yes we are working at night but morning is coming. The Psalmist says that weeping endures for the night but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5). What will it be like to sit down in that place that has been prepared for us in the Father’s house and eat breakfast with the Lord? What will it be like to bring with us the believers that we have been involved in seeing reached with the Gospel?
Sometimes we get bogged down in this life because the fish aren’t biting, the night is dark and it seems like the night is going to last forever. But if we continue in well doing, the Lord says we will reap (Galatians 6:9). Night is going to give way to morning, it always does. And the Lord will be waiting for us when the morning comes. He has promised that in John 14. I would like to believe that He will want to eat breakfast with us. I have never been much of a fish eater, however, the company will be more important than the diet. But if he should choose to prepare steak and eggs with some hash browns and a nice cup of fresh robust coffee, that would be really appealing to me.
Sometimes it is nice to just speculate a little about what it will be like to meet the Lord after we have finished our work here on earth. If we who are saved are toiling in the night season and if the Lord comes to meet us in the early part of the morning just as the sun begins to rise, eating breakfast with Him would be the best breakfast ever.
Bruce Collins