As I was finishing up my Easter readings yesterday, I came again to the final chapter of the book of John. As I came to this chapter, and though I had read it many times before, I experienced something new. I felt I was on the edge of my seat and as I saw things that I had missed before, I thrilled at the beauty and poetry of this chapter. Let me try to explain. This chapter comes after the...okay, I can't find the right adjective...the amazing, spectacular, life-transforming events of the the atonement in Gethsemane, the crucifixion on the cross at Calvary, and the resurrection of the Savior and events following it. These events are cental to our existence here on earth. Indeed, we are nearly breathless as we come to the end of these chapters...and then we come to this quiet little chapter with which John ends his account of the Savior's life.
At the beginning of the chapter, Peter says, "I go a fishing." To some of us, that may seem a bit odd. After all that's just happened, Peter is going...fishing? Perhaps only a fisherman can understand this behavior. And we may not understand this at all until we look within ourselves. What is it that most people do when they need to process some great event that has happened in their lives? For some of us, we spend time alone playing an instrument, or perhaps for the artist, it is drawing...or perhaps some other creative endeavor. Some of us must go hiking, or just sit in nature...at the beach perhaps. And some of us...go fishing. I think that nature and creative endeavors are among the primary ways that most of us process the great events and things in life. Such times give us a moment to get quiet, to reflect, to think. I think that this is what Peter was doing and why he suddenly needed to "go a fishing".
I love Peter. To many, he is known as impetuous Peter, and I guess the label fits somewhat. He does at least appear to act without thinking. But I would choose a different label for Peter. I would call him passionate. And I think that the Lord loves passionate people. Just think of his declaration in Revelations 3:15-16. The Lord rebukes those who are neither hot nor cold and rejects the lukewarm. Peter is definitely either hot or cold... and he is never lukewarm. I love that about Peter. Peter is alive with passion! It is Peter who walks on water. Only a Peter could do this. The rest of us would probably take time to think about it and caution would prevail over passion...and perhaps over faith.
I can almost hear the passion in Peter's voice when in answer to the Savior's question, "But whom say ye that I am.", he declares "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And I feel the same innocent passion when he answers the Savior's question, "Will ye also go away", with his simple response "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."
I smile...and perhaps giggle a bit...at the scene in the upper room when the Savior washes the feet of his disciples and Peter says, "Lord, dost thou wash my feet?...Thou shalt never wash my feet." And then upon the Savior's answer that, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me", I love...and giggle at...his passionate reply, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." I want to feel and have such passion toward my Savior as Peter has!
How difficult it must have been for Peter to look helplessly on during the Savior's last hours. He had earlier actually rebuked the Savior at the intimation that the Savior must be killed...and was soundly rebuked in return. No, Peter could not protect the Savior from that which He was called to do without completely frustrating the Father's plan.
It was Peter who outside the Garden at Gethsemane...impetuously, yes...and passionately tried to defend the Savior with the sword against the band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees who came at night to arrest the Savior. No, Peter couldn't protect the Savior from drinking of the bitter cup. How hard that must have been for him.
How hard it must have been for a man of such passion as Peter to follow helplessly...and from afar, having just been told that he could not follow the Savior this time?
And how heartbreaking after his...no not impetuous, but passionate...declaration that "Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended." and again after being told that he would deny the Savior not once, but three times before the crow of the cock, his passionate declaration "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." ...how heartbreaking for him to then find himself indeed denying the Savior, whom he obviously and passionately loves, not once only but three times. My heart weeps with him then.
I see him running to the sepulchre after Mary's urgent pronouncement on that glorious...now Easter...morning. I can only imagine his emotions and his thoughts as he runs...how far?...to the sepulchre and finds it empty. How much did he understand at that point? What were his thoughts and emotions?
The book of Luke records that the Savior appeared to Peter before His appearance to the disciples. I can only imagine all of the emotion and wonder that Peter would experience at that time and again afterward when the Savior appeared to the rest of the disciples. Knowing that this was the beginning of a momentous new call for Peter, what were his thoughts and feelings? Did he receive this call when the Savior visited with him then...or afterward?
To go back to how I began, is it any wonder that Peter needed to "go a fishing" after that? And then comes the poetry of this chapter that I wanted to share. As he and the others are fishing...indeed, have fished through the night...in the morning the Savior appears and asks if they've caught any fish. The men do not yet recognize the Savior and they answer "no", at which the Savior tells them to "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find." They do so and catch a multitude of fishes...at which John and Peter both realize that it is the Savior. Peter's response to this news is not surprising to us. We've been with Peter through much by this point in the gospel accounts and are not in the least surprised when he throws on his fisher's coat and casts himself into the sea, not waiting for the boat to pull up the net and get to land.
And now we come to what I love and find poetic about this account. Remember the beginning of the story? Remember in Matthew 4 how Peter is called by the Lord from his fishing boat with the words, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Remember the account in Luke 5 in which the Savior directs them to "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." With great faith, Peter and the disciples follow Jesus's instructions and come up with more fish than the net can bear...a beautiful metaphor for what follows...the Savior's instruction that "from henceforth thou shalt catch men." These events at both ends of the Savior's ministry seem like book-ends to Peter's call and ministry...but to Peter, both events are beginnings. How the second experience must have reminded him of the first and of his original call to become a "fisher of men". I would think that anytime Peter went "a fishing" after that, he would be reminded in a beautiful way of his call.
The story continues and as they get to shore, Jesus is there all prepared to feed them...another beautiful metaphor. And after they are fed, he teaches them again with a metaphor and implores them to "feed his lambs and sheep".
And one final thing that I love about this chapter. We remember how Peter had wept bitterly after denying the Savior three times...and here Peter gets the opportunity to affirm his love and devotion to the Savior not once, but...three...times. And the Savior teaches our beloved, passionate Peter...and us as well...how we can show our love to Him. No, not with the sword, but by feeding his lambs and his sheep.
I know that the Savior loves us each one. He does indeed bring us full circle if we will just trust in Him and follow Him. And may we all do so with the same passion as did Peter!
RC
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