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Nathan Martin
The last chapter of the book of John has an interesting incident
of an “echoed” miracle. I call it an “echoed” miracle because it
reminds the reader of an earlier, similar miracle. After fishing all
night without catching anything, the disciples see Jesus on the
shore (not knowing who it is) and He tells them to put their net on
the other side of the boat. The result is a large catch of fish. The
first time this miracle occurred resulted in Jesus calling Peter to
be a fisher of men. (See
Luke 5) This echoed miracle results in Jesus restoring Peter to
ministry after Peter’s three denials of Jesus. One is an initial
calling, the other is a restorative calling.
But what’s interesting to me is that when John points out to
Peter that it’s actually Jesus on the shore, Peter puts on his outer
garment (because he had “stripped for work”) and throws himself into
the sea. Why did Peter put on his outer garment to jump into the
sea? One commentary says it may be that he was following the Jewish
custom of being fully clothed when greeting. But as I read this I
thought back to the first time someone clothed themselves to meet
God - Adam and Eve in the garden after they sinned. They clothed
themselves with fig leaves to hide their nakedness. Could it be that
Peter was covering himself up before meeting God?
Peter knew full well his own weaknesses and failures. Although he
had seen Jesus alive at least twice before this incident, he
obviously was still struggling with his own shortcomings. Jesus came
to specifically address these areas and bring healing to his life.
But like many of us, Peter initially covered himself, to protect
himself or perhaps to hide his shame. Jesus didn't let Peter remain
covered (spiritually). He addressed his thrice failure by affirming
His love and calling three times.
We can't hide ourselves from God, no matter how hard we try. We'd
be much better off baring our soul to Him from the get-go. But we
hide anyhow. We hide ourselves by staying away from His presence. We
may attend church services, but we don’t draw near to His throne. We
avoid His word and our only prayers are of the “God bless this food”
variety. We feel ashamed and unworthy so we hide ourselves.
Sometimes we even hide ourselves in busyness and much activity. We
volunteer to do something else “for God” or “for the church”. But
these activities only serve to fill our schedule so we don’t have to
be still and know He is God.
Even though God’s first question in the Bible was “Adam, where
are you?”, God knew exactly where Adam was. And He knew what was
behind the fig leaf for He had created man. Peter couldn’t cover
himself up enough to hide from Jesus. No matter how ashamed, how
guilty, how unworthy he felt, he was still loved by Jesus. He needed
to be restored.
So Jesus went to great lengths to restore Him. He performed an
“echo miracle” to remind Peter of his calling. He had fish and bread
to remind Peter of his previous participation in ministry. He even
had a charcoal fire, just like the charcoal fire Peter had warmed
himself by in the courtyard the night he denied knowing Jesus.
(Interestingly the Greek word for charcoal fire, anthrakia,
is only used these two times in the entire New Testament!
John 18:18 and
John 21:9.) Jesus isn’t going to let Peter go. He loves him too
much to let him stay covered up in his sin and failure.
Jesus loves you too much too. Our tendency when we blow it is to
run and hide. But Jesus is seeking us out. He reminds us of His love
for us. He reminds us of the things He had done in our lives.
Because He wants to bring us into His future.
When we hear the voice calling in the garden, when we see the
figure standing on the shore, calling out to us, let's not hide,
let's not cover, let's not try to camouflage our shortcoming. One of
my favorite all-time verses is
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” As we bare our heart to God, acknowledging our
failure and weakness, He will show His strength and bring true
healing. And that’s what we needed all along.
Nathan Martin is the Associate Pastor of Christian Challenge and
the director of the School for Christian Workers. He served four
years as a missionary to southern Mexico before returning to
minister with his father at CCI. He oversees the worship and
technology ministries and teaches the High School group along with
his wife Lori. They have three daughters, Joi, Faith and Hope.
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The
"Echoed" Miracle