John 21:1-19

 

¹ After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. ² Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. ⁴ Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. ⁷ That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. ⁸ The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.⁹ When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. ¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁰ Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” ²² Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” ²³ So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” ²⁴ This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. ²⁵ Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

 

Everybody has had to eat crow before.  Do you know what I mean?  “Eating crow” as an idiom that refers to that awkward and painful moment when you have to admit you were wrong, when you have to own up to the fact that not only are you wrong but you are wrong after swearing that you were right!

Wikipedia says that the phrase “eating crow” likely comes from a story from the mid-nineteenth century about a New York farmer who answers his boarders’ complaints about the edibility of the food they are being served with the statement, “I kin eat anything!”  So the boarders take a crow, stuff it with Scotch snuff, and give it to the farmer.  He eats it!  The story ends with the farmer saying, “I kin eat a crow, but I be darned if I hanker after it!”

A post on Phrases.org quotes an 1888 Atlanta Constitution article claiming that, in the War of 1812, during an armistice, a New Englander crossed the Niagra River to hunt and ended up shooting a crow.  A British soldier heard the shot, found the soldier and wanted to humiliate him for crossing the river.  The British soldier was unarmed, so he tricked the New Englander by complimenting his fine shot and his fine gun.  He asked if he could hold the gun.  The New Englander agreed and handed it over.  Immediately the British soldier turned the man’s gun back on him, reprimanded him for crossing the river into their territory, and demanded that he take a bite out of the crow!  The New Englander did so.  The British soldier gave him his gun back and told him to go back to his side of the river.  Immediately, however, the New Englander turned the gun on the British soldier and demanded that he eat the whole crow raw!  At gunpoint, he forced him to do just that.

Whatever its origins, eating crow is not pleasant.  It is especially unpleasant when it follows a bold proclamation or assertion that turns out to be wrong.

Maybe the greatest example of eating crow in all the world is Peter having to face Jesus after denying Him three times.  Peter had to eat crow.  After all, as Matthew 26 tells us, Peter had earlier twice proclaimed that he would never deny or abandon the Lord:

³⁰ And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. ³¹ Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ³² But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” ³³ Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” ³⁴ Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” ³⁵ Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.

Of course, we know what became of Peter’s great boast.  Not only did he deny Jesus, he did so three times!

Yes, Peter had to eat crow.  But, more than that, Peter needed to be restored.  He needed somehow to start putting the pieces of his life back together again.  He needed a new start.  He needed forgiveness. He needed a way, not to forget his tragic error, but to see it, understand it, be forgiven of it and move forward from it.

How about you?  How about you?  Do you need to start over again?  Is there something you need to own, look at, be forgiven of then let go?  Are there any crows you need to eat, any humble pies on which you need to dine?

Forgiveness.  Restoration.  Putting the pieces back together again.

How do we do this?  How do we begin?  How do you start over when you have really, really messed up?

John 20 is very helpful here, for John 20 shows us how Jesus restored Peter after Peter’s infamous fall. As such, John 20 also shows us how to be restored, how to live again, how to get back to living after we have dropped the ball.

Let us consider this amazing text!

I. To Be Restored, Peter Needed to Return to the Scene of His Sin and Deal With It. (v.1-14)

The first step to restoration is looking your sin square in the face and owning it for the crime that it is. We simply must not avoid the ugly implications of what we have done in our sins against God.  In order to do this, we must let the Holy Spirit bring us face to face with what we have done.  We must let Him take us back to the scene of the crime if we are ever to be free of the crime we have committed.  This happens with Peter in an interesting and subtle way.

Peter has denied Jesus.  Christ was crucified.  Christ was buried.  But then Peter stood at the empty tomb and saw that Christ had risen.  Christ had also already appeared to all of the disciples.

So Peter knew that Christ was risen, but there is evidence even still that Peter did not fully understand all that this meant and all that this would mean for him and for his future.  And who can blame him?  It was a stunning and incomprehensible turn of events.  He no doubt rejoiced that Christ had come, but it yet remained for his own personal encounter with Christ, his own restoration to Christ, to take place in a meaningful way.  The denials, in Peter’s mind, likely hung like an awkward elephant in the room, an issue he knew probably needed to be addressed but an issue he likely dreaded addressing.  Even so, it was crucial for Peter to address what he had done, not so that Jesus could heap shame upon him, but so that Jesus could restore him, heal him and call him to further and greater ministry.

When we find Peter in chapter 20, he and the others have returned to their former life.  They have taken up their nets again.  This does not mean they have abandoned Jesus yet again.  It simply means that they have defaulted to what they knew best in the midst of their uncertainty about the future course of their lives.  They went back to fishing.  While fishing, however, the Lord Jesus comes, and He comes to restore Peter.

¹ After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. ² Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. ⁴ Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.^7a That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

It is an amazing scene.  Jesus comes to the fishing disciples and reveals Himself to them yet again, this time through a miraculous catch of fish.  They have been laboring in vain.  Jesus, unrecognized, calls to them from the shore to throw the nets on the other side.  When they do, they pull in an amazing catch. Humorously, it is once again John who must assist Peter in recognizing the Lord.  (I wait with baited breath to ask John and Peter in glory if they, in fact, really cared for one another at this time!  Ha!)

^7b When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. ⁸ The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. ⁹ When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Wow!  Peter’s heart jumps!  It is the Lord!  He has seen Him twice already, but those seemed to have been fairly limited, momentary meetings.  Anyway, it is not like it gets old seeing your recently dead friend yet again!

Peter hurls himself into the sea and swims to shore.  There he finds Jesus, on the shore, before a charcoal fire, inviting them to bring fish for a meal.  He invites them to come to the fire.

“Come and have breakfast!”

Come and dine.

Come to the fire.

Come, Peter, and stand around the charcoal fire.

A charcoal fire.

A charcoal fire.

An interesting detail:  charcoal.  Jesus prepared a charcoal fire.

The word “charcoal” is used only twice in the entire New Testament.  Only twice.

The second time is here, in verse 9:  “They saw a charcoal fire in place.”

And the first time charcoal is mentioned?  It is close by, just two chapters prior.  We find it in John 18. Do you remember?

¹⁸ Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

Do you remember John 18?  It was set in the courtyard of the high priest, at the dwelling of (apparently) Annas and Caiaphas.  It is where Jesus was taken after Judas betrayed Him in Gethsemane.  It is where Jesus was questioned by Annas and struck in the face by Annas’ servant.

It is where the people had made a charcoal fire to fight back the cold.

It is where Peter stood warming himself during Jesus’ interrogation.

It is…where Peter denied Jesus.

In chapter 18, Peter denies Jesus at a charcoal fire.

In chapter 20, Jesus invites Peter…to a charcoal fire.

Have you ever been out somewhere and something triggers your senses and carries you back to a moment in your life?  Maybe it is a song.  That happens to me sometimes.  I can hear a song and suddenly I am back in high school or college or maybe I am a little boy again.  The sound triggers something:  a member, a recollection, a thought you once had, a feeling.

Smells can do that too.  Have you ever smelled something and you are immediately carried back in time to a place, a situation or a circumstance that was buried in your memory?  Maybe you smell a smell and instantly, in your mind, it is Christmas at your grandparents.  The food is spread out before you.  People are laughing and talking.  Kids are running around.  You smile as you remember.  The smell helped you remember.

Sometimes this can be painful.  A sound, a sight, a smell can take you back to some places you do not want to go:  an awkward moment, a painful moment, an embarrassing situation, a moment you regret.

The last time Peter smelled charcoal he was denying the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus here invites him right back to the smell of his shame.  No doubt when the scent hit his nostrils Peter paused.  No doubt he was carried back to a moment he desperately wanted to forget.

Did their eyes meet over the fire?  It had happened before, remember?  Their eyes met over that last fire, right on the heels of the third denial and the cock crowing Peter’s shame.

Did Peter stutter when he smelled this fire?  Did he pause?

What is Jesus doing here?  I believe He is taking Peter back to the scene of his sin so that Peter can finally be rid of his shame.  I think Jesus has to wound Peter with memory before Peter is really ready to move past His sin.  After all, Jesus paid the price for those denials on the cross.  It has been paid for, but now it needs to be abandoned.

Peter needs to let go.  Peter needs to be restored.  Jesus takes Peter back to the fire of his denials and transforms it into a fire of restoration and forgiveness.  In doing so, Jesus rescues Peter from his shame and turns a terrible memory into a present and future occasion for joy.  In other words, after this moment, the smell of charcoal will not shame Peter, it will cause him to rejoice.  From this point onward, the smell will not make him think of his own shame but rather of Christ’s own grace.  But Peter has to take this awkward, painful journey of recognition and pain and acknowledgment to get there.

A question:  have you accepted the Lord’s invitation to come to Him so that He can free you from your sin?  Have you come to the fire of remembrance so that He can forgive you and set you free?

How many Christians are miserable because they refuse to see their sin for what it is?  How many Christians want sweet fellowship with Jesus without having to deal with what they have done?  How many Christians refuse to come back to the fire with Jesus so that he can set them free?

Unbeliever, how about you?  How many unbelievers avoid Jesus resolutely because they know what they will have to remember if they come to Him?

Friends, the Lord does not intend for you to live in guilt and shame and fear.  When He forgives, He casts your sins far from you.  The painful remembrances of past sins can indeed be transformed into beautiful reminders of God’s grace, but only if you will let Jesus deal with you where you are and set you free.

Oh, do not avoid the awkward encounter that reminds you of what you have done.  It is only in facing the truth about our sins that we can ever be free from our sins.  This is precisely why Jesus came:  to set you free.

II. To Be Restored, Peter Needed to Reaffirm His Love for Christ. (v.15-19)

Peter must face his sin, but Jesus is not conducting an experiment in cruelty here.  He is not rubbing Peter’s face in his sins.  He does not do that.  No, we must face them so that we can repent of them so that we can be free of them.  We must be honest with ourselves.  But Jesus brings restoration on the heels of this recognition.  He builds us once we have been broken under the weight of our sin.  Behold the grace of God:

¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus does two things here:  He calls Peter to confess his love for Jesus then He essentially reinstates Him to mission and ministry by prophesying that Peter will, in fact, follow Jesus to the point of suffering for Him.

In calling Peter to confess his devotion to Christ, Jesus asks him three questions, each asking if Peter loves Jesus.  Some have pointed out that in the first two questions Jesus uses the word “agape” for love whereas Peter answers with the word “phileo.”  “Peter, do you agape me?”  “Yes, Lord, I phileo you.” The difference between “agape” and “phileo” is, generally, that “agape” refers to perfect, pure love, the love of God, and “phileo” refers to something like “friendship” or the love between friends.  In His third question, however, Jesus uses Peter’s word, “phileo,” instead of “agape.”

Many see this as Jesus meeting Peter where he is.  Peter is hesitant to proclaim that he has “agape” because he knows his failures and weaknesses now all too well.  And, the thought is, that Jesus finally accepts what Peter can give, “phileo” love.  In this way, Jesus is accepting the love that Peter is able to give, the love of a mustard seed as it were.

Others suggest that parsing these two words for love in such a way as to find the previously mentioned relational dynamic between Jesus and Peter is forced and is reading too much into this, and perhaps they are right.  Even so, it is an interesting observation to make and one that can encourage us.  No doubt Peter did struggle to answer Jesus’ questions.  In light of his denials, he surely struggled with how to respond to Jesus.  But the key is that Jesus gave Him the opportunity to proclaim his love and devotion and did not cast him out.

Furthermore, there is no denying that Jesus asks Peter about his love three times.  In light of Peter’s three denials, these three opportunities to profess his faith and love cannot be seen as accidental or irrelevant.

Peter denies Jesus three times.

Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him three times.

It is an awesome thing to behold!  Jesus once again is taking Peter back to the scene of the crime, to the memory of his three denials, but He does so to restore, not to condemn.  He gives Peter the opportunity to profess his love three times just as Peter had denied his love three times.

It is an amazing thing how God can build devotion on the ruins of our denials, how God can lead us to love in the very pangs of our previous betrayals.  You do not love best by denying your denials.  You love best by acknowledging that sometimes we have not loved at all.

Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to reaffirm his love.  He gives us the very same.

III. To Be Restored, Peter Needed to Stop Worrying About Others and Focus on His Own Walk With Jesus. (v.20-25)

There was one final step that Peter needed to take, and he revealed his need to take it in a question he asked Jesus about John.

²⁰ Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 

Is it not amazing how quickly we can turn our attention to others when God is trying to work on us?  Of course, Peter is not suggesting that John is in sin.  Rather, he is inquiring about John’s ultimate earthly fate since Jesus had just intimated to Peter that he, Peter, would undergo persecution.  Even so, is it not pitiful and typical how Peter, only just restored from one of the most infamous sins in world history, and only just made the recipient of shocking, unexpected and unmerited grace, immediately begins to wonder about somebody else, in this case, John?

How quickly our just-forgiven eyes turn to others!  Jesus’ response is candid and should never be forgotten.

²² Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” ²³ So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” ²⁴ This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. ²⁵ Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

 
“What is that to you?”

When God is working on us, why do we so quickly think about others?  “What about her,” we ask, “What about him?”

I suspect we do this because once we have convinced ourselves of forgiveness, we want to move on, assert spiritual authority over others and try to forget the awkward fact that we are still in need of God’s help, we are still in need of God’s correction, we are still in need of the shaping hand of God.

More times than not, we try to turn the focus on others in an effort to cut short a process of correction that has yet to reach its completion.  We want God’s work with us to be quick, simple and painless.  If we can turn the spotlight on others, we can turn it off of ourselves.

Perhaps Peter’s issue had less to do with genuine concern for or even curiosity about John than it did with concern over Peter no longer being the issue!

Brothers and sisters in Christ:  for you, you are the first issue as far as obedience is concerned.  Do not try to change the subject when God is trying to work on you.  Do not try to bring others into the issue when, at the root of it all, you are your own issue.

There are Christians who never become what they could be in Christ because they are too busy with the business of others.  There are Christians whose houses never seem to be in order because they are always meddling in other people’s houses.  Peter wanted to talk about John, but Jesus was not through talking about Peter.

Do you see the loving, graceful, chastening, shaping, correcting, healing hand of our Savior?  Look at the Savior who restores us.  Look at the Savior who forgives us.  Look at the Savior who turns deniers into champions and sinners into saints.

Look at your sin honestly…then look at the Savior who died to forgive you of your sins.

Look at your crimes without flinching…then look at His cross without doubting.

Jesus, the God who restores, the God who makes all things new.