Nielsen’s Nook

In John 21:1-14 there are three symbols that stand out to me: fish, water and fire. These each have to do with Peter personally. He is a fisherman, who is learning that he is utterly dependent upon God in his vocation, even and perhaps especially in the most mundane aspects of that vocation. It is in the midst of Peter’s vocation that Jesus’ had first called him. He had gotten into Simon Peter’s boat to address the crowds and then told him, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:3-4) Simon had responded after receiving the catch, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)

Jesus had come to them in the fourth watch of the night (Matt 14:25), having walked on water for three or four miles (John 6:19). They did not recognize him this time either, being terrified and thinking he was a ghost (Matt 14:26); however, Jesus calmed them saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” (Matt 14:27) Peter responds in faith and uncertainty to Jesus’ identity, “If it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” (Matt 14:28) However, when Peter turned his attention from Christ who called him to the wet wind howling about him, his faith faltered. He sank down into the depths of the sea. Yet even in faltering faith, he cried out, “Lord, save me.” (Matt 14:30). The one, who made the wind, lifted Peter out of the water, delivering him safely to the boat and the wind stopped.

“Lord, where are you going?” Peter once asked. (John 13:36) Essentially Peter responded to Jesus’ answer in John 13:36 saying he would even lay down his life for Jesus. “Would you?” Jesus responds. And we know that as Jesus predicted so it came to pass. Peter denied the Lord three times that very night. He did not deny Jesus before legions of soldiers or great giants of might. No Peter, the Great Rock, denied Jesus Christ before servants and slave girls around a charcoal fire (John 18:17-18).

Here in John 21:1-14 we find the Apostle John returning to these three symbols of Peter’s life: fish, water and fire. Jesus comes back to these moments of Peter’s life in a very different way. These are all places which mark out for us the death in Peter. They chart for us the destination of judgment that Peter has apart from Christ. Peter acknowledges this when he says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8) But Jesus did not depart. He invaded Peter’s boat, vocation and life - not for the sake of merely invading - but to change him forever. Do you feel the edge of the Surgeon’s scalpel in the words Jesus casts upon the early morning waters of the Sea of Galilee? “Children, do you have any fish?” (John 21:5) “Do we have any fish!?” we can imagine they mimicked under their breath. Their fog horn like reply bemoaned back to the shore, “No.”

“Cast your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some,” the voice echoed back from the shore.

“Oh we’ve heard that before,” Peter may have thought in a cynical moment. John’s heart shot right through any cynicism. “It’s the Lord!” This time, the catch would be counted. This time the fish were all large - 153 of them. This time the nets would not break. This time. But what was different.

Something clicked for Peter, still carrying the complex of burdens in the shadow of the Cross. He was not waiting for anything. He bolted for Jesus. If his burdens should drown him, surely Jesus could save him.

This time Peter did not start off walking on the water. This time he threw himself in it, and traversed about a 100 yards. When he arrived on the beach, Jesus was waiting for him and the rest of the disciples who were coming in the boat. Jesus had made a charcoal fire. Where Peter had denied Jesus around a charcoal fire, Jesus comes to reveal his resurrection glory to Peter around a charcoal fire. The word for charcoal fire is used only in John and only when Peter denies Christ and here when Jesus has built the same kind of fire to nourish and restore Peter.

Jesus is Lord over all. He demonstrated his rule over Peter’s vocation and called Peter to Himself though the most mundane - Peter just doing what he as a fisherman would do. The Lord manifests his kingship over our barriers and fears. This time Peter was not afraid of the water or the wind. He did not walk on the water, but that did not matter because whether or not he walked on the water or swam through it, he had Jesus as his singular focus. This man, Jesus, had not only treaded across the water to meet Peter, he had now trampled down death by his death.

Christ our God has most certainly proven his Lordship over the fire, charcoal and otherwise. The symbol of Peter’s denial was now reclaimed as that of acceptance, redemption and restoration. In the Old and New Testaments the Holiness of God was described to us as a consuming fire.

“For the Lord your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:24)

“Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God.” (Deuteronomy 9:3)

“The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?” (Isaiah 33:14)

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

Jesus would charge the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for Him to send his Holy Spirit upon them in power. We find that when the Spirit of Holiness does come upon Peter and the disciples in Jerusalem, he manifests himself as “tongues of fire”. This most personal manifestation of God’s holiness does not consume these disciples but empowers them.

Jesus is raised from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He will judge the quick and the dead. Those who have died to themselves, who have flung themselves to the waters that they might have of Christ even a glimpse more closely, these will be raised to life just as Jesus himself was. His death upon the Cross for our sins was vindicated. His being raised shows us who are His that our sins, our charcoal fires, have been remade and redeemed. The Father has forgiven us in the Son and now empowers us with the Spirit of Holiness. God, once our enemy, has now become our friend and the bodily historical resurrection is the billboard of all time that God will stop at nothing to glorify himself in loving a people for himself.