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...
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?"
"Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you..." John21:7-15
This is not the first time Peter has seen the Resurrected Christ, in fact, this is probably the fourth: Jesus appeared to Peter alone (Luke 24:34), then He appeared to the disciples in the upper room and then again a week later when Thomas was with them.
So why is Peter jumping into the water?? After a long night of fishing, I don't think he was hot! I think it is more likely that he was tired and cold.
But John recognises Jesus and Peter jumps into the water - he just _has_ to be with Jesus.
But there is a surprise at the shore. Jesus has a fire burning and there are already some fish on it. The Greek word for the coal fire is an unusual word, so unusual that it only appears in one other place in the whole NT: To describe the fire in the courtyard of the High Priest where Peter denied Jesus three times.
What follows is the walk where Jesus asks Peter three times "Do you love me?" and Peter is able to respond - basically undoing his three denials with three affirmations of love.
It seems to me that Peter was still asleep.
He'd seen the resurrected Jesus, but he hadn't yet allowed himself to love Jesus again - the resurrection was a fact, but not a relational reality to Peter. But now, here at Galilee where it all started, Jesus wakes Peter up. As Peter recognises Jesus on the shore it _dawns_ on him that he longs for Jesus more than anything.
With a splash Peter begins to wake up!
His guilt is forgiven and he can affirm his love for Jesus.
Are you awake???
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Footnote: Jesus uses the word "agape" for love - it implies Godlike unlimited love - Peter isn't ready for that yet, he uses "fileo" which is brotherly love, but Jesus knew that Peter's love would grow to the point that he would die a martyr's death. And Peter was ultimately crucified upside-down at his own request because he felt unworthy of dying like His Lord. His love had grown...
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
