I wanted to start off by sharing this beautiful devotional from Max Lucado, who has a way of making you feel like you are right there with Peter and Jesus.
He had turned his back on the sea to follow the Messiah. He had left the boats thinking he'd never return. But now he's back. Full circle. Same sea. Same boat. Maybe even the same spot.
But this isn't the same Peter. Three years of living with the Messiah have changed him. He's seen too much. Too many walking crippled, vacated graves, too many hours hearing his words. He's not the same Peter. It's the same Galilee, but a different fisherman.
Why did he return? What brought him back to Galilee after the crucifixion? Despair? Some think so—I don't. Hope dies hard for a man who has known Jesus. I think that's what Peter has. That's what brought him back. Hope. A bizarre hope that on the sea where he knew him first, he would know him again.
So Peter is in the boat, on the lake. Once again he's fished all night. Once again the sea has surrendered nothing.
His thoughts are interrupted by a shout from the shore. "Catch any fish?" Peter and John look up. Probably a villager. "No!" they yell. "Try the other side!" the voice yells back. John looks at Peter. What harm? So out sails the net. Peter wraps the rope around his wrist to wait.
But there is no wait. The rope pulls taut and the net catches. Peter sets his weight against the side of the boat and begins to bring in the net; reaching down, pulling up, reaching down, pulling up. He's so intense with the task, he misses the message.
John doesn't. The moment is déjà vu. This has happened before. The long night. The empty net. The call to cast again. Fish flapping on the floor of the boat.
Wait a minute. He lifts his eyes to the man on the shore. "It's him," he whispers.
Then louder, "It's Jesus."
Then shouting, "It's the Lord, Peter. It's the Lord!"
Peter turns and looks. Jesus has come. Not just Jesus the teacher, but Jesus the death-defeater, Jesus the king ... Jesus the victor over darkness. Jesus the God of heaven and earth is on the shore ... and he's building a fire.
Peter plunges into the water, swims to the shore, and stumbles out wet and shivering and stands in front of the friend he betrayed. Jesus has prepared a bed of coals. Both are aware of the last time Peter had stood near a fire. Peter had failed God, but God had come to him.
For one of the few times in his life, Peter is silent. What words would suffice? The moment is too holy for words. God is offering breakfast to the friend who betrayed him. And Peter is once again finding grace at Galilee.
What do you say at a moment like this?
What do you say at a moment such as this?
It's just you and God. You and God both know what you did. And neither one of you is proud of it. What do you do?
You might consider doing what Peter did. Stand in God's presence. Stand in his sight. Stand still and wait. Sometimes that's all a soul can do. Too repentant to speak, but too hopeful to leave—we just stand.
Stand amazed.
He has come back.
He invites you to try again. This time, with him.
Isn't this beautiful? Max Lucado rules. God is awesome!!!
And I just adore Peter. He just seems so human, doesn't he?
Maybe you have stumbled. Walked away from God. Denied Him, even.
Read that last sentence of Max Lucado's again, and let it really sink in.
He invites you to try again. This time, with him.
My heart soars when I read that.
I wish I knew more about the disciples, and I'm excited to really dig in as I start reading through the Bible tomorrow (join me--we are starting with Genesis 1 on July 1).
I know enough, though, that during times when I have wavered in my faith, their faith has convinced me that Jesus is who He says He is.
People will die for something that is true.
People will die for something that they believe is true, not knowing that it is a lie.
But how many people will die for something that they know is a lie? The disciples went from being a group of men that ran away in fear and denied Jesus, to men that boldly proclaimed the Gospel, and many of them died in horrific ways for this.
I won't go into great detail here, but who would allow themselves to be crucified upside down if they knew that what they were dying for was a lie? Wouldn't you deny everything at that point and beg for your life?
Unless you knew for sure with every fiber of your being that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
I would love to hear about how Jesus has reached out to you, with love and mercy, and invited you to try again...this time, with Him.
