A PIVOTAL MOMENT
JOHN 21: 1-19
Prepared by Sherrie Brittig
MAY 4, 2025
Scholars suggest that this 21st chapter of John may have been added to the book at a later time than the rest was written, because the ending of chapter 20 reads like a conclusion to John’s gospel. We might ask, then, why did John or possibly his followers write this extra, later chapter? What additional insights did John want to share with other believers as The Way was growing but meeting resistance?
It does include one of the most well-known conversations between Jesus and Peter, and as I read this story, I think it allows us to more closely identify with perhaps Peter specifically but the disciples in general, as we see them at a time when they had been brought low and were vulnerable to letting go of Jesus’ teachings even though they were actually on the cusp of being extraordinarily empowered to spread those teachings far and wide. So I see some lessons and hope here for us as modern-day disciples.
We know that the rug had been pulled out from under the disciples with the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. They had felt disoriented, sad and grieving, and were even fearful, afraid that the Jewish leaders might come for them, too. They may have felt some sense of being abandoned; what they thought was the plan seemed to have fallen apart, and they weren’t sure what life was supposed to look like now and which way to turn next. Jesus had visited them in Jerusalem a couple of times after his resurrection, but that wasn’t the same as it had been before. These disciples had followed Jesus closely every day for three years; they went where he went and they did what he told them to do. Without the daily presence of Jesus to direct them, they soon returned to their homes in Galilee, still feeling rather lost.
Maybe Jesus was giving them time to reflect—on all he had taught them, all they had seen and heard, and all they had done together with Jesus. But our friend Peter, more a man of action than of contemplation, grew restless over being at loose ends, and so he reached back to a time of life that felt more familiar and comfortable to him. He announced to his friends, “I’m going fishing.” Several of them went with Peter, and, although they worked all night, they had nothing to show for it by morning. Another failed plan.
Then a figure on the shore called to them,“Have you caught no fish? Throw your net off the other side of the boat.” When they did, the net became filled with fish. If you’re thinking, “wait, this seems familiar…,” as the disciples were, no doubt, thinking, we can recall Luke chapter 5.
Luke tells us that Peter and his friends were cleaning their nets on shore after they’d spent the night fishing but had caught nothing. A young teacher was there speaking to a crowd and the people were pressing in against him. He climbed into Peter’s boat and they went out a short distance, where he continued speaking from the boat. When he was finished, he told Peter to head out to deeper water and let down his net. Peter replied, “We worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so….” Peter was likely tired and may have been thinking that a teacher couldn’t know much about the hard work of fishing, but he was still willing to do as the teacher asked. And when Peter let down the net, it became so full of fish that he had to summon James and John to come out in their boat to help haul in this massive catch. At this miracle, Peter fell on his knees and cried out, “Go away from me, for I am a sinful man!” But Jesus said to Peter,“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
So now the net is full again and John knows why; he says, “It is the Lord!” Then Peter impulsively jumps overboard, wanting to get to Jesus as quickly as possible. As Jesus stood on the shore watching this scene, I have to wonder if he might have been thinking, “Oh Peter, why did you go back to fishing for fish?”
After they had breakfast, Peter and Jesus walked and talked. Jesus asked Peter if Peter loved him. Peter said, “You know that I love you,” and Jesus instructed, “Feed my sheep.” Jesus repeats this question and the instruction twice more. The accepted interpretation of this “threepeat” is that Jesus was expunging the three denials of Jesus that Peter had made on the night of his arrest. But I think Jesus also wanted Peter to feel the weight of what he was asking and what he was directing Peter to do. This was another commissioning. Jesus first commissioned Peter three years earlier, in the same place and using the same miracle of a large catch of fish, as we see in Luke 5. This second commissioning, though, was Jesus passing the mantle to Peter.
Side note: do you know where we got that phrase “passing the mantle”? It’s from the book of 2nd Kings, chapter 2. God’s Prophet, Elijah, and his disciple Elisha are traveling to where God will take Elijah up into heaven across the Jordan River. When they come to the river, Elijah removes his mantle—his cloak—rolls it up and strikes the river. The water parts and they cross over on dry ground. Before Elijah is taken up, Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit—the Holy Spirit—to be given to him. As Elijah ascends into heaven, his mantle is left behind. Elisha takes it, strikes the Jordan which parts for him and he crosses back. A group of prophets who are waiting on that side take that as a sign that the Spirit has now come upon Elisha as God’s chosen successor to the Prophet Elijah. I invite you to note similarities.
When Jesus pressed Peter about whether he loved him those three times, it made Peter feel a little hurt. But I think repeating the instruction to feed his sheep three times caused Peter finally to understand that his calling was not to gather fish into a net to become dinner, but to gather people into a family to become Church.
We each have some kind of calling from God as the hands and feet. Sometimes it takes a while to embrace the calling. We might think, “I don’t have the skills for that,” or “I don’t have the personality for that; it’s just not me,” or we think, “I’m not ready for that”which many times is another way to express the subconscious thought,“I’m not worthy of doing that.” But if God called Peter—a brash, sometimes belligerent, often wrong-footed small-town fisherman to take over the earthly ministry of shepherding Christ’s flock, of course God can call us to something we may not think fits us and is outside of our comfort zone. The reality is that almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, has also created each one of us to be uniquely suited to the calling God gives us. Even if we fell on our knees before Jesus and cried out like Peter, “Go away from me, for I am a sinful person,” we would hear him say “Follow me, I will make you…” Fill in the blank with your calling.
Now, we know that our gift of a calling does not come with a free pass from adversity. Jesus alludes to this in telling Peter about what fate waits for him at the end of his life. And we read in today’s lesson from Acts about Saul’s malicious persecution of Jesus- followers before his conversion on the road to Damascus. Like the disciples, we will also have the rug pulled out from under us. We will feel disoriented, sad, and maybe even fearful. We may have a sense of having been abandoned after a plan seems to fall apart. We will feel lost, not knowing what life is supposed to look like now or which way to turn next.
But this story shows us that we shouldn’t let go of faith. And we don’t need to turn back to a time in life that felt more familiar and comfortable to us. What we can do is take time to reflect on all Jesus has taught us, all we’ve seen and heard, and all we’ve done together with Jesus. We can regroup with Jesus and walk and talk with him about the situation. And, if he tells us to, we can even do a 180—metaphorically throwing our net off the other side of the boat.
The plan will not have failed; we will not have been abandoned. God will still be calling us and wants us to lean in and press forward. And maybe more extraordinary empowerment will be waiting just around the corner. We’re really not all that different from these original disciples. The same strength and ability that Christ gave to them to meet and move through the challenges they encountered, Christ also gives to us, his modern-day disciples, to meet and move through the challenges we encounter.
Thanks be to God. Amen.