After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and 1immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. (NKJV)
Sometimes after the greatest things that God does in our lives, we return to the familiar mundaneness.
Now I have nothing against the mundane. I think that some of the greatest acts of God have been done by people we would consider mundane. But we also need to guard against returning to that which is familiar so that we don’t miss that which is miraculous.
After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room.
John 20:19-20: "Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." (NKVJ).
Just imagine! This great miracle! The Lord Jesus back from the dead. Now, Jesus had raised several from the dead during His ministry, but here, the Lord Himself raised from the dead. And He appeared to His disciples not only this time but again, eight days later (v. 28). He, who had been crucified, was alive, was appearing to people!
So what did the disciples decide to do? Did they go out and tell everyone the great news? After all, there were many who loved the Lord and would rejoice at His resurrection. No. They left Jerusalem and went to the Sea of Tiberius to fish. They returned to those activities that were familiar, even mundane, in their lives. Great emotional trauma had occurred in the past two weeks and, for stability I believe, they looked to return to that which they knew, to that which they could depend not to change. They returned to fishing.
I can’t begin to tell you what I would have done in their place. I know that in times of great emotional upheaval, I have longed to find some centering activity that would simply allow me to breath, to put one foot in front of another. But as I look back, I have to wonder if I might have missed something great that God wanted to do in my life. Certainly the Lord wanted to do something great in the lives of the apostles. He searched them out, even to the Sea of Tiberius, to make sure that they didn’t remain with the mundane, but instead searched out the miraculous that God wanted to do in them. They left Jerusalem, the place where the Church would be born on Pentecost, to go back to what they knew, to what was familiar. The Lord had other plans. He went to Tiberius and said to Simon Peter, "Follow Me," (21:19).
Now Simon had been following Jesus for three years, so there was obviously some kind of emotional break that had occurred. Simon must have believed that his tutelage as a disciple was at an end. But the Lord wasn’t finished. "Simon, follow Me." And in following, the disciples returned to Jerusalem to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Has something happened in your life? In mine? Have we retreated to that which is familiar because the emotional pain is so much to bear? And yet, the Lord Jesus is pursuing us, calling after us, "Follow Me." His path may take us right back to the place of our pain, but now for a different reason. This may be the start of a miracle that we could never begin to imagine. Any time that the Lord says, "Follow Me," His purposes are beyond the scope of what this world can offer. And He often births those miracles out of great loss and great distress. Today, if we are facing the darkness, we need to trust that He is standing on the other side, holding out His hand, saying, "Daughter. Son. Follow Me." Do we trust Him enough to follow?
© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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