John 21:3-6 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. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”
They answered Him, “No.”
And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.”
We continue with Jesus and his fishing disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
It is part of human nature to seek the security of the familiar, yet there are times, try as we might, we fail to find a way of returning to a former state or place. Time and circumstance have changed what we long for, as the ‘normal’ seems to be an illusive phenomenon. The word normal is defined as “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern”. But what if the ‘standard’ has changed beyond recognition or dissolved completely within the emerging human condition.
The famous quote by John Newton puts this so well; “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am”
But back to our seaside scene where we hear Jesus every day call to the disciples;‘Come and have breakfast’. How simply, sensitively and normal Jesus deals with them and wants to deal with us! He knows our needs and our hunger. He knows too that we can only manage the new normal revelations of the divine in small portions. I could do well before my daily breakfast to listen to the Lord speaking my name and saying ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Imagine him serving me, if not with bread and fish, perhaps with a muffin and coffee! I begin to notice that through the day he continues to serve me what I need.
Ponder, how does Peter feel in this scene? Somewhere in the back of his mind he sensed where that catch of fish had come from. Surely now his heart breaks open in repentant love when he is treated so kindly by the person he had betrayed? Suddenly the every day familiar call has a newness and raises in us the question, “Am I open to God’s kindly care which picks me gently up when I have fallen?”
Prayer
Jesus, you meet me at the water’s edge of my ordinary life with extraordinary love and patience. You accept me lovingly, you encourage me, you invite me to abundance. Nourished by the food of your word, warmed by the fire of your unfailing love, may I in turn nourish, heal and love those I meet today. Amen
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