37-41 Two Charcoal Fires Rehab:Master Galley - Plain Truth Ministries

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to him, “We will go with you.” Theywent out and got into the boat, butthat night they caught nothing.Peter returned to his trade—fishing.He still may not have consideredhimself to be worthy ofdiscipleship. He went back to hisformer life, almost as if nothinghad happened to change his life.My heart is cheered—though Isay this with hesitation—thatPeter’s colleagues went with himon the boat. I see Peter’s friends accompanyingtheir troubled friendout of love and concern. Thomas,Nathaniel, James, John, and twoothers heard Peter say, “I’m goingfishing.” Peter did not invite themalong. He was going whether theyjoined him or not. But they didnot let Peter go alone. This to mehints at both their concern forPeter’s spiritual well-being andtheir desire to support him.Fishermen fished by night onthe Sea, and they stripped down todo it. After a full night’s work—work that I hope was therapeuticfor Peter and his friends—Johnspecifically records that theycaught nothing. This harkens backto the Lord’s original call on Peter’slife. He is not supposed to be fishingfor fish anymore, but to befishing for people.Matthew 4:18-19: As he walkedby the Sea of Galilee, he saw twobrothers, Simon, who is called Peter,and Andrew his brother, casting a netinto the sea—for they were fishermen.Modern psychoanalysisand other therapieshelp people heal frompast wounds byreturning them to thosewounds to face them;Jesus did the same forPeter by literallyreturning him to acharcoal fire.And he said to them, “Follow me, andI will make you fish for people.”That they caught no fish seems asubtle reminder that Peter’s call todiscipleship, his call to fish forpeople instead of fish, was still intact,at least from the Lord’s end.Peter may no longer have believedhimself to be a disciple, to be worthyof discipleship, but the emptynets may have been a divine message:Going back to fishing for fishis just not going to work, Peter.John’s gospel alone (chapter 21)tells this story of an additional resurrectionappearance to seven fishermenon the shore of the Sea ofGalilee. The sun rose, and the menin the boat saw “a man” on thebeach. He asked the question thatAround the first charcoal fire at Annas’ home,Peter denied Jesus three times. Around the secondcharcoal fire on the beach, Jesus asked Peter if heloved him three times, and told Peter to feed hisflock three times. Certainly the second charcoalfire was no accidenttorments all fishermen: Did youcatch anything? “No,” they said.“Put your nets out on the rightside of the boat and you will,” saidthe man.An Earlier Fishing TripJohn 21 reminds us of a previousevent recorded in Luke 5, whenJesus was finished teaching acrowd on the shore while sitting inPeter’s boat. On that occasion Jesustold Peter to launch out into deepwater and put down his nets. Itwas the middle of the day, thewrong time to fish. And deep wateris not the best place on the Sea ofGalilee for a catch. So Peter complainedabout these absurd fishinginstructions given to him, a masterfisherman, by a construction workerfrom land-locked Nazareth. ButPeter did it anyway, and theycaught so many fish that the netsbegan to break and the boat beganto sink. Peter’s response is most interesting.Luke 5:8: But when Simon Petersaw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees,saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for Iam a sinful man!”Even then, Peter saw himself asunworthy. Later on, given his threedenials, how much more unworthyPeter must have felt, regardlessof Jesus’ resurrection appearances!Back to John 21, Peter and theboys did as “the man” on thebeach instructed, and they took ina haul of 153 fish (verse 11), yetthis time the net surprisingly didnot break.Matthew 13:47: “Again, the kingdomof heaven is like a net that wasthrown into the sea and caught fish ofevery kind….”“The disciple whom Jesus loved”(John 21:7), whom we presume tobe John, had to tell Peter the obvious.“The man” on the beach wasthe risen Lord. Was Peter just dim,or does grief dull one’s perceptions?In either case, Peter couldnot wait for the boat to bring himashore. Showing that he still hadpassion for Jesus, he threw on hisclothes, dove in, and swam for it.The Second Charcoal FireWhat did Peter see as he emergedfrom the cold water? There on thebeach was Jesus and a charcoal fire.Was he yet again too dim or grief-40 THE PLAIN TRUTH
...this story is not just a story ofJesus redirecting Peter back todiscipleship and ministry. It is alsoa story of the Lord’s tenderhealing of a wounded friend.stricken to see it? Not likely, becausehe no doubt also smelled theunforgettable odor of burningcharcoal. Scents trigger memorieslike nothing else.There are only two charcoal fires(anthrakia) in the Gospel of John.Moreover, there are only two charcoalfires in the entire Bible, andPeter is at both of them.Jesus invited them all to breakfast.This common meal harkensback to “the last supper” whenJesus predicted that Peter woulddeny him three times before thecock crowed. This seems beyondcoincidence.Around the first charcoal fire atAnnas’ home, Peter denied Jesusthree times. Around the secondcharcoal fire on the beach, Jesusasked Peter if he loved him threetimes, and told Peter to feed hisflock three times. Certainly the secondcharcoal fire was no accident.And the fact that Jesus likewiseasked Peter exactly three times if heloved him, and commissioned himexactly three times to return to amissionary ministry were not accidentseither. This event has beencalled “threefold grace for a threefolddenial.”The first two times Jesus askedPeter if he loved him, the word forlove in the original Greek isagape—meaning the kind of unconditionallove with which Godloves.In Peter’s two replies to thisquestion, however, he affirmedthat he loved Jesus, but the wordfor love that Peter used in the originalGreek is phileo—meaning the...what if that is exactly what Jesus intended on thebeach by the Sea? What if he intended Peter’sreturn to a charcoal fire to heal him from hiscrippling [sorrow]?kind of loving affection one has fora friend, as in a “brotherly love,”thus the city of Philadelphiameans “city of brotherly love.” Yetwhen Jesus asked Peter the thirdtime—Do you love me?—Jesus gentlyaccommodated Peter.Instead of using the word agapethat time, Jesus changed to phileo,communicating that while hewants Peter’s agape, Peter’s phileowill do. And just as Jesus abandonedagape for phileo, note thatJesus also abandoned his fishingmetaphor for a new one—shepherding—sensingperhaps that anew image for Peter’s ministry wasneeded, one that would carry himfar beyond the Sea of Galilee.John specifically says that Peterwas grieved when Jesus asked him athird time whether he loved him(John 21:17), even though Jesus accommodatedhim by changing theword from agape to phileo. Onemight assume that Peter was grievedmerely because of the repetitionsof the question, as if Jesus didnot believe him. But I am convincedthere is oh-so-much moreto that word grieved.The Greek word for grieved islupeo. It means hurt, pained, injured,distressed, troubled in heart,sorrowful, deeply sorry, and sad. Itcan even mean “in tears.” What ifJesus’ third question connectedPeter to his third denial, to thesmell of charcoal in cold darknessof Annas’ courtyard, to the soundof a cock crowing?What if it is indeed tears of grief,the grief of a man returning to anearlier fire to re-experience the bitternessof those Jerusalem tears?And moreover, what if that is exactlywhat Jesus intended on thebeach by the Sea? What if he intendedPeter’s return to a charcoalfire to heal him from his cripplinglupeo?Jesus Christ our HealerModern psychoanalysis and othertherapies help people heal frompast wounds by returning them tothose wounds to face them; Jesusdid the same for Peter by literallyreturning him to a charcoal fire.Call it psychoanalysis or not, Jesushelped Peter to heal.This story has been called bymany “The Rehabilitation of Peter.”I like that. For this story is not justa story of Jesus redirecting Peterback to discipleship and ministry. Itis also a story of the Lord’s tenderhealing of a wounded friend. ❑All biblical quotes are from the NRSV.Bert Gary is a United Methodistminister and the author of Jesus Unplugged(2005).SPRING 2012 41

37-41 Two Charcoal Fires Rehab:Master Galley - Plain Truth Ministries

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