As we continue our series on the miracles of Jesus, Pastor Clark takes a closer look at one of the last miracles performed by Jesus – and lessons we can learn from it still today!

<p>As we continue our series on the miracles of Jesus, Pastor Clark takes a closer look at one of the last miracles performed by Jesus – and lessons we can learn from it still today!</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Going Fishing

We don't know exactly what day this was or how long it had been since the disciples had last seen Jesus, but it was evening time and Peter, for 1, was getting tired of waiting.

You see, it was back when Jesus had appeared to the women who were looking for Him in the garden tomb that He had said to them, wait in Galilee, there I will be meeting you." As the disciples gathered in Galilee, they waited.

I'm sure they must have been thinking about all the different events of the last few days or weeks, how their hopes had been high as they headed towards Jerusalem, that triumphal entry that had taken place at the gates of the city, the palm branches waving, the hosannas singing, all of the different signs that they were sure that Jesus was about to set up His kingdom and instead He had met a cruel death on Calvary's cross.

They must have been recounting how Jesus had not appeared to them first, but it appeared to Mary, there in the garden of Gethsemane, how He had sent a message to His disciples and to Peter, Peter specifically being pointed out, being specified.

The angel had told the ladies as he met them on the way, do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.

He is risen, He is not here, see the place where they laid Him, but go, tell disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee.

There you will see Him as He said to you." Mark 16, verses 6 and 7.

They must have been reflecting, not just on the risen Lord, on the promise, on the assurance of Jesus' resurrection, for indeed He had met them later that night, the first day of the week in the upper room.

They must have been reflecting on another event that had taken place right nearby in the same area, perhaps just along the shores, the same shores of the Sea of Galilee where they were now.

This was the calling that they had heard from Jesus way back in the very beginning of their sojourning with Him, 3 and a half years before.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew chapter 4, we'll read that story.

Matthew chapter 4, The Sea of Tiberias is also known as the Sea of Galilee.

Tiberias, of course, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee is another town along with Capernaum.

Capernaum was where Jesus was headquartered, much of his ministry.

We know from archaeological digs that Capernaum was an important town and it was a town where Christianity was very strong early on.

Archaeology has also taught us something about another couple of individuals there.

They're referred to as the sons of Zebedee in Matthew 4 and also in John 21.

Zebedee, the name of their father, is mentioned numerous times in the Bible.

In fact, he's spoken of as their father, as we also read about the wife of Zebedee.

It's interesting that perhaps Zebedee was a well-known and successful fisherman.

And Jesus here is going to call His sons to follow Him.

In Matthew 4, beginning in verse 18, the Bible says, Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw 2 brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

Then he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you..." What does it say?

And immediately it says, "...they left their nets and followed him." Now Jesus continues on down the shore and the Bible says, "...he saw 2 other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets.

And he called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him." In Mark's recounting of this story, it describes not only them leaving their father, but leaving their father and his hired servants.

So evidently Zebedee had quite a business.

In fact, there have even been tablets inscribed with Zebedee found along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

In the excavations of the early church in Capernaum, 1 of the sons of John, the son of Zebedee, is recorded as having donated or built a particular column.

And so Zebedee was a well-known name and it's not just found here in the gospel.

It's also found in our archaeological evidence.

The disciples were called, and they were called to become fishers of men.

During the next 3 and 1⁄2 years, Jesus demonstrated to them that he had given them a calling.

You remember that he sent them out to do the work that he had been doing.

He sent them out to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

He gave them power over demons and over disease.

He sent them out with a work to do, and along the way, even though he said he was 1 who had not a place to lay his head, even though he did not have any earthly support after he closed the doors of that carpenter's shop, Jesus demonstrated that he was able to provide for their needs, didn't he?

We can think of a number of examples where He did this.

Not only their needs, but the many other disciples that thronged after Jesus found ample evidence to believe that Jesus was able to provide for their needs.

5, 000 men, not counting women and children.

And when it was all done and all had eaten as much as they desired, there were 12 baskets left over, because Jesus never does anything halfway.

Jesus called the disciples to do a specific work.

They had been ordinary fishermen, but now they were to be fishers of men.

Now they were to tell the good news of a Savior who came to die for their sins.

Now they were to tell the story of the 3 and a half years they had spent with Jesus, wandering down dusty roads.

They were to tell of the blind who could now see, the lame who were now leaping, the dumb who were now singing.

They were called to be witnesses, to go into all the world and to preach the gospel to every nation.

But things hadn't happened the way they expected them to happen.

During those 3 and a half years, while they were working alongside Jesus, they had operated under the assumption that they would become great in this world.

They had operated under the assumption that Jesus was coming as the the King to sit on David's throne in Jerusalem, that He would be the center of the world, that Jerusalem would be raised to its new greatness instead of being relegated to a subservient nation to the Romans.

They had dreamed of being important in the new kingdom that was to be established.

And you remember, they had not only dreamed, they had argued about who was going to be the greatest in that kingdom.

It's clear that the disciples didn't understand what Jesus was really all about.

You see, Jesus hadn't come to make them great.

He hadn't come to save them from their captors, the Romans.

Jesus had come to save them from their sins.

He had come to save them from their selfishness, from that same selfishness that caused them to argue over who was going to be the greatest.

He had come not to set them onto a pedestal, but to humble their pride, that they might find in Him an example of how to live.

For he who was God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." And so Jesus, that same Jesus that led them for 3 and a half years died on that cruel cross.

They trusted the words of the women and then the disciples sought themselves.

We read the story about Thomas who said, look, even if you say that he's risen, I'm not going to believe it unless I see it for myself, unless I touch him and handle him.

And so John records that Jesus gave Thomas that precise opportunity as he met them in the upper room.

But back in John chapter 21, we find our story.

And this is another story very similar to the call by the seaside we read in Matthew chapter 4.

It's as if Jesus bookends His relationship on earth with His disciples by 2 experiences by the Sea of Galilee.

The first being called, chosen to be fishers of men.

The last, just as he is about to be departing from them, reminding them, no doubt, of the call.

The Bible says that after these things Jesus showed himself, verse 1 of chapter 21 of the Gospel according to John, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way he showed himself, and this is how the story goes.

I don't know if they were in Tiberias, which is a village just on the western shore and with a little bit of an elevation above the sea, not the gentle beaches of Capernaum, but a little bit of cliffs along that side of the Sea of Galilee.

I don't know exactly where they were, but it seems as though we get the inference from the story here that as they were waiting they got tired of waiting.

Jesus said He would see us by Galilee and yet we haven't seen Him yet.

Have you ever waited for something and it just got discouraging waiting?

It was just hard to understand why God hasn't fulfilled His promise yet.

In fact, we have enumerated who was there waiting.

Simon Peter, chapter 21, verse 2, Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, the same Thomas from chapter 20, doubting Thomas he's known as.

Nathaniel of Cana of Galilee, and also it says the sons of Zebedee.

Now it's very interesting because the author of this would be the son of Zebedee himself.

The 1 whom Jesus loved is how he often referred to himself and the third person.

And 2 others of his disciples were together.

So here we see these 7 disciples are gathered together.

They've been waiting, They've looked for Jesus.

Jesus said he would meet them in Galilee.

Now I can just imagine what's going through their minds as they waited.

What does God have for us to do now anyway?

Their entire paradigm, their entire world view has been shattered by the events of the crucifixion weekend.

Even though they know that Jesus is alive, what are they going to do now?

Jesus isn't there to say, let's go and preach the gospel.

He's not there to say, go and tell the people in this village or that village.

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Going Fishing

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