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the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment round him…and jumped into<br />
the water’ (v7). It’s worth noting that the original Greek for ‘it is the<br />
Lord’, literally means ‘the Lord is’. This has similar overtones to<br />
Thomas’ cry of ‘my Lord and my God’ (20:28), again acknowledging<br />
the divine identity of Jesus. 7 Then, notice how Peter responded<br />
immediately, not allowing the shame of his past failure to hold him<br />
back. No matter what we’ve done or not done, we too must run to<br />
Jesus rather than from him and watch what he will do!<br />
Once the disciples arrived at the shore, they discovered Jesus<br />
doing something wonderfully ordinary: cooking fish for breakfast! He<br />
asked the disciples to bring fish and then invited them to eat. This is a<br />
beautiful picture of how tender, personal and practical the risen Jesus<br />
is. Here, the one who had only recently died to pay for the sins of the<br />
world and risen in triumph over the powers of sin and death, was now<br />
focused on serving breakfast to his tired and hungry disciples! By<br />
looking after their practical needs, Jesus was also providing a safe<br />
relational space in which he could address the deeper psychological<br />
and spiritual needs of Simon Peter, which we will focus on for the rest<br />
of this chapter.<br />
PAUSE AND PONDER<br />
As you think about this wonderful breakfast <strong>by</strong> the beach,<br />
consider the fact that the risen Jesus is calling you to come<br />
and spend time with him. Let that incredible truth truly sink<br />
in.<br />
FREEDOM FROM PAST FAILURE<br />
We will all fail in life many times! While we cannot avoid failure, it’s
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