Peter had denied knowing Jesus. He had seen Jesus since but they hadn’t talked. Still, he felt a bit disconnected, a bit like a failure, a bit like he had royally blown it. At this juncture, he had done what any good follower will do -- he had stepped back to doing something he knew HOW to do before Jesus had said, “Follow Me!” He went fishing.
Perhaps fearing for his safety and sanity, Peter’s companions on that day, said they’d go too and they expected that would be it. They’d fish. They’d perhaps catch something and then they would call it a night.
But that’s not what happened. Instead of catching anything that night, they caught nothing. And instead of that being it, something happened they had not expected. Jesus showed up in the middle of defeat, of backsliding into old stuff, of the brokenness Peter may have still felt in his relationship with Jesus, Jesus came. He not only came, but he shouted to them from the shore and called to them: “Children,” that’s right, Jesus called them children, “have you caught anything?” They hadn’t and said so. And then Jesus, whom they still were unsure it was him, said, “Throw the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”
Oftentimes, when we are not looking to encounter Jesus in the middle of our defeats and losses: Jesus shows up. He just is suddenly THERE. And oftentimes, he tells us something we would not expect and that something leads us into reconciliation and a healing we had not hoped to find.
That’s just like Jesus. Surprises are in His vocabulary.
I hope you are planning to check in on Sunday for 9 am online worship. Contact Rich Holt for your own link! Don’t miss discovering how your defeats can be used by Jesus for His surprising healings and entrances into new life.