Wednesday, May
3, 2017
Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and
headed to shore. The others stayed with
the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a
hundred yards from shore. When they
got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal
fire, and some bread. John 21:7-9(NLT)
Peter has
always struck me as impulsively brash, always charging ahead without thinking; especially
never thinking about the wake he leaves behind his actions. This is the wake others must navigate (and
clean up) when Peter goes all reactionary!
In this post-resurrection
appearance of Jesus to the disciples by the seashore, we read that it was Peter’s
idea to go fishing in the first place.
But, like a puppy catching sight of something new, when Jesus is
sighted, the big fisherman makes a beeline for the shore, leaving the others to
lug the boat back with 153 large fish. I
can just imagine the look on Thomas and Nathanael’s faces – …there he goes again; first one at the
breakfast line; he never hangs around to finish the job! Why do WE always get to clean up HIS mess?
Of course
this was not the first time Peter’s actions created a mess for someone else (or
for the grumbling disciples to complain about maybe wanting a different
leader). Jesus wanted to know what the
crowds were saying about him. Then, after
they talked about what the crowds were saying, Jesus wanted to know what his
followers were thinking:
Then he asked
them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:15-16(NLT)
That unguarded
wild statement of Peter’s probably caused the wondering disciples, particularly
Judas, no end of worry. If Peter couldn’t
keep his mouth shut, all the plans they had for Jesus were going to be hung on
Roman swords or (shudder) crosses!
It was that
way with Peter; you never knew what was coming next.
Frankly,
though, it’s that way with Jesus, isn’t it?
Every time you think you’ve got a handle on things, God puts some wild
idea in the way to mess it all up…
Ø
Like
putting your reputation on the line to feed a crowd of 10,000 with just a few
sardines and Kaiser rolls…
Ø
Like
cutting open a fish to find your tax payment…
Ø
Like
rolling the stone away from a tomb because he wants to speak to the corpse
Ø
Like
bailing out that irresponsible nephew for the fifth time
Ø
Like
forgiving that kid who ran through the sanctuary and disturbed your quiet meditation…again!
Like Peter,
Jesus is hard to figure out, and, if you’re the responsible type, there’s
always lots of bumpy wake
to navigate while you’re cleaning-up someone else’s messy details.
But I guess
that’s what you get when you hang-out with God, or people like Peter, who love
God so much they forget the details. It’s
hard being the responsible one who always does the real work, like Martha in
the kitchen, or Judas figuring out how to pay all those bills, and Thomas,
trying to make sense of it all.
It seems
following Jesus just isn’t all that easy after-all, is it? Especially if you have your eyes on Peter or
James, or John, or any of the other disciples in your path that make it more
confusing with the mess they leave for you to clean up.
For You Today
Problems,
mess, and details; sometimes you just want to forget it all and go fishing. But, then you remember about those messy
details of YOUR life HE took
to the cross.
NOTES
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