PETER'S GREAT TEST
Jesus Teaches for Forty Days
Jesus has been crucified, yet he lives on! He appears to some of his disciples, such as two men on the road to Emmaus, and ten of his apostles gathered in a secret room in Jerusalem. A week later, he appears to them again, this time including "doubting" Thomas, who falls down at his feet saying, "My Lord and my God!"
At Jesus' direction (Mark 14:28), the apostles go north to Galilee and wait for him there. Simon Peter and six more apostles were together one evening at the side of the Sea of Galilee where Peter and Andrew's well-worn fishing boat was dragged up on the shore and unused.
Then Peter said, "I'm going fishing."
The other apostles said, "We're going with you."
They fished all night, but like many another night caught nothing in their nets. The sun was coming up, so it was time to give up and pull the boat back up out of the water. When they were still a hundred yards from shore, there was a man standing there who called out, "Children, you don't have any fish, do you?"
"No," they answered.
The man said, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find some."
Doubtfully, they did so, and they caught more fish than the net could safely hold. By this time they were suspicious, but it was John son of Zebedee who said to Peter, "It's the Lord!"
Peter immediately threw himself into the water to get to Jesus, But the rest of the apostles used the small shore-boat to tow the net full of fish into shore. There Jesus had built a cooking fire and said, "Bring some of the fish you've caught. Come and have breakfast."
Simon son of John
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?"
Simon son of John? What happened to the new name Jesus had given him, "Peter." Why is Jesus addressing him by his patronym, the name of his father? It has been three years since Jesus took his walk down that beach , and called out to the four fishermen, "Follow Me!"
Jesus had made it very clear that their old lives of hauling in fish were over, and they were to lead new lives as "fishers of men." Was Simon Peter thinking of returning to his old life? His father John had helped establish a prosperous wholesale fishing cooperative that fed his family well. When his father no longer fished, Simon took over his father's share in the co-op, partnering with old hand Zebedee and his two sons. Before Jesus came along, that was their destiny, to continue their families' traditions on the Sea of Galilee.
Just to make it sink in, Jesus repeated his question twice more, and emphasizing Simon Peter's new career: "Tend my lambs. Shepherd my sheep. Tend my sheep."
When Simon Peter said, "You know that I love you," he knew that he was re-affirming the commandment of Jesus: "If you love me, keep my commandments."
Me, Myself, and I
Do you and I do the same thing? Does it sometimes seem easier to go back to our usual ways instead of serving Jesus? I know I have done it. But Jesus is always there, saying, "My child, do you love me?"
