Disobedience
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2022 · 15 May 2022
The conclusion in John 21 shows who Christ is after His redemptive work is done and as He prepares to return to the Father. There is here clear testimony that Jesus is alive. At the end of the first section, verse 14, it says this is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. The focus of this chapter make it crystal clear that it is Jesus.
This is the final proof that John gives that Jesus came back to life after His death. If John’s gospel ended in chapter 20 we would have some important unanswered questions. The first question would be what the relationship of the Lord Jesus to the disciples was after His resurrection? And what did they learn about it? That’s answered in the opening 14 verses this evening.
There’s a second question that is importantly: What happens to Peter who denied and fled and then wondered about the resurrection? And then there is the question: What should the disciples expect in the future? What should they be anticipating? And then there was a question that John would never die, but he would live until Jesus returned. That question is answered in verses 20 to 23.
So John is answering some questions to complete the story and explaining a few things, and at the same time, he is showing us the risen Christ in some wonderful positions and relations to His disciples. Now we’re going to look just at verses 1 to 14. Prior to the resurrection, He provided all that they needed on every level. In the upper room He had promised that He would continue to do that.
He had promised them that whatever they asked He would provide, that all of heaven’s resources would be made available to them. They were insecure about the relationship they would have with Him in the future. Well the answer to that question comes in these 14 verses. Even after His resurrection, even after He is glorified, He still takes a very personal practical interest in meeting their needs.
This gives us the illustration post-resurrection that we need for the promises that also extend through them to us. But behind the scenes, there’s an inescapable spiritual lesson going on. You don’t have to dig deeply to see the difference between what happens when you disobey the Lord and what happens when you obey Him. We have in the opening five verses of disobedience.
We have from verses 6 to 14, obedience. Disobedience results in failure. And that results in loss of fellowship. And then in the closing verses we have obedience, which results in success, which results in intimate fellowship with the Lord. These are inescapable realities that are right there for us to see in this wonderful account. So let’s be looking at that as we listen to the story itself.
Verse 1, “After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He manifested Himself.” “After these things” indicates that this is in fact the epilogue. But exactly when, we don’t know. Sometime between the eighth day when Jesus appeared to the apostles, and the fortieth day when He ascended into heaven, this third appearance occurred.
Acts 1:3 says that He was with them for forty days. It doesn’t mean that He was with them all forty of those days, because there are only three times that He appeared to them in Galilee. They had to go from Judea to Galilee, which takes some time. They’ve been waiting awhile for Him; finally He makes an appearance. Now understand that this is a supernatural, sudden, appearance of Christ.
In the same way, He appeared to those on the road to Emmaus, in the same way He appeared to Mary Magdalene and the others, in the same way He appeared to the apostles in the upper room, coming into the room and appearing instantaneously with the door locked. He is now in His glorified resurrection form. Even though He could be seen alive physically, He was not known, because His body was different.
Mary Magdalene thought He was the gardener. The disciples on the road to Emmaus had no idea who He was, and not a glimpse, but rather a long drawn out conversation with Him in the daylight, and then in the house and around the table, and they still didn’t know who He was. And again, He appears, and they don’t know who He is, because He was in the glorified form, which is different.
He has to therefore to identify Himself, and He does that on this occasion. His body is a body for heaven, not a body for earth. So this time He manifests Himself in Galilee by the Sea of Tiberias, which is also called the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had told the disciples to go to Galilee in Matthew 28:10 after He had appeared to them from His resurrection. He said, “Go to Galilee and there you will see Me.”
So they were told to go to Galilee to a mountain which Jesus designated. But the problem is they aren’t at the mountain, they’re at the lake. Verse 2 introduces us to the disciples who are there: Simon Peter; Thomas called the Twin; Nathanael; the sons of Zebedee, James and John; and then the two others, most likely Philip and Andrew. So seven of them were there without the other four.
This is the group that Jesus first called as His disciples in John 1. They’re mentioned as an illustration of grace: Simon Peter the denier and Thomas the doubter. They were up in the mountain for a while, when in verse 3, “Simon Peter said to them, ‘I’m going fishing.’ They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.”
Peter is a man of action, but he was full of self-doubt because of his failures. It was to him that Jesus said, “Get behind Me, Satan.” He was the apostle who was quick to say something from his heart that was wrong. In John 20:21, “The Lord said to the disciples, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Sending you to be preachers, to be fishers of men.’”
But Peter has self-doubt. He doesn’t know what the future will bring. None of them have received the Holy Spirit to give them power. They’re not sure what’s going to happen. Peter proposes to go back to his career when he says, “I’m going fishing,” he means, “I’m going back to what I used to do.” So he disobeys, and he is the leader; so they all follow him, “We will also come with you.”
They were to stop fishing for fish and start fishing for men. Luke 5 says, “Crowds were pressing Jesus, He’s on the edge of the lake. He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake. So He got into one of the boats which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land.” So when he had finished speaking He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’
Luke 5:5-8, “But Simon answered Him and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” He knew he was dealing with God.
Verse 10, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching men.” If you step away from the calling that was placed on your life and go in the opposite direction, if you go the path of self-will and self-effort, you may think you can accomplish a lot, but you will end up a failure. When God gifts you and prepares you and places you into ministry in His kingdom, and you walk away, you will fail.
So verse 4 - 5, “But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” They have been trying to prove that they could catch fish all night; until Jesus stood on the shore,” appearing out of nowhere “yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.”
So what has happened here is their disobedience has led to failure, and it has affected the relationship. Our Lord said twice in John 14:21, 23, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Verse 23: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.”
So when Jesus says to them, ‘Guys, do you have any fish?’” This is an irritating comment after they have tried all night. It’s good that the Lord provides graciously, that we are made conscious of our failure and articulate it and confess it. Jesus wants to hear them say, “No, we have failed. This is where our impatience, our self-doubt, and our disobedience has led us.”
They don’t know who He is, and He talks to them as if they were just another group of guys fishing. So the disciples of Jesus even today, even in this congregation, you have been gifted, you have been called, you’ve been given spiritual opportunity; but instead of doing it, instead of following obediently what the Lord has laid before you to do, you turn away from it, you go back to other things.
As you step into the work of the kingdom and the things that He puts before you to do, whatever service that might be, as you do that, you find that He empowers and provides for your success, and you enjoy the sweet intimacy of fellowship. You might be wasting all of your energies on things that are earthly, that have no eternal use at all. It’s time for you to get involved in fishing for men.
Maybe you found yourself too busy to teach a Sunday school class, too busy to be a part of Sunday nights at the church, too busy to pray, too busy to share in other people’s lives, too busy to use your spiritual gifts. You’re going to find yourself going down a path of failure and losing the joy of your intimacy with the Lord. So let us turn to the second part of this story then to learn more.
We go from self-effort to divine provision. Verse 6, “And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” Now their first reaction could be, “That is a ridiculous command. Does he think the fish know the difference?” But the command was as compelling to them as it was to the fish. “So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.”
So here, against what seemed rational to them, they are compelled to obey the Lord and there’s immediate success. This is just a simple illustration of the fact that when you obey the Lord, the Lord empowers the success. The Lord blesses, supplies and enriches. God does His work by His power but through His people. God always chooses the means, but He does it through our faithful work.
There were so many fish that they knew who He was immediately. This is the same Christ, risen from the dead, performing a miracle much like at the beginning of His relationship with them. Verse 7, “Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved” – which is John– “said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.” Jesus is the one who commands the fish, and through the supernatural body of Christ, He can do anything.
Verse 7 continued, “Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.” Peter is just such an interesting personality. He just says whatever comes to his mind, and he just does whatever impulse drives him to do. He leaves the other guys there with all this fish to figure out what to do.
Verse 8, “But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish.” Peter couldn’t care less about anything but being with the Lord and being restored, and convincing the Lord that he loved Him. Verse 9, “Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.”
Jesus had made breakfast. He’s going to be there to provide. He’s going to be there to meet their needs. Even the simplest needs of their hunger, He’s going to care for them; that’s not going to change. Even though it’s after the resurrection, even though He’s in a glorified form, He will have the same compassion and care, and make the same provisions for them that they’re used to.
He’s made an incredibly breakfast for them, creating it out of nothing, as He appeared out of nowhere. Verse 10, “Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” There are things that He does, and there are things that we have to do. Philippians 2:12-13 says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is the Lord who works within you to will and to do of His own good pleasure.”
Verse 11, “Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.” This is something Scripture does very frequently to let you know the reality of it. This is actually 153 fish, in wet nets. Peter gets here the name “big fisherman,” because he pulls it ashore by himself.
And the net was not torn, which is another miracle. Verse 12, “Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” He’s going to be there to meet our needs. “Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord.” Verse 13, “Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.” They’re sitting down eating and Jesus is waiting on them.
Verse 14 wraps it up by saying, “This is the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.” And what did they learn this time? Obey, God provides, and you have intimate fellowship with Him. That’s the model here. Our Lord will meet all your needs if you’re faithful to obey His Word, and you’ll enjoy the fellowship with Him, Amen? Let us pray.