Restoration by the Sea of Tiberias
John 21:1-22
It was at the Sea of Tiberias where Peter found the love and forgiveness of his Lord, after such utter failure. It was amazing to me to discover from the reading of John 21:1-22 that Jesus' third appearance after His resurrection was prompted by His desire to restore Peter to fellowship and service.
As I read this passage, I kept my eyes on Jesus and His focus during this visitation. It was also interesting to note that Peter was still among the disciples even after he denied the Lord three times. Unlike Peter, when we fail, we leave the church in shame and guilt. But, we see Peter remaining among the brethren. If we had the luxury of remaining among the brethren, even after failure, we too could find restoration in the arms of Jesus. This passage taught me that Jesus expects us to remain in place, continue in the faith, and remain steadfast and unmovable in the work and service of the Lord, even after failure. He will come to restore us. If only our churches were full of people as understanding and accepting as these disciples. But even so, regardless of others, we can count on the grace of our Lord to help us in our time of need. There are times when He is the only One in whom we can depend. I am well acquainted with these moments. I thank God for His Son who will never leave nor forsake us, even in our worst of moments.
Let me encourage you to join Peter. When he saw Jesus, the Scripture tells us he "plunged into the sea" toward Jesus. Oh, if we could learn from this. During times of complete failure and dissapointment, if we could run toward Jesus and not away from Him.
Once Peter was face to face with Jesus, He not only gave Peter opportunity to acknowledge his love for Him, but He instructed him to continue in service and to devote himself to feeding His lambs, remaining faithful to follow Him always. This gives us great insight into what to do when we meet with failure. We can take opportunity to meet with Jesus face-to-face in prayer, expressing our love and commitment to follow Him rather than run away from Him. This is important because Jesus Himself declares,
"remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.....apart from me, you can do nothing."Jesus knew without Him, Peter would never have delivered that great sermon at Pentecost that caused of 3,000 souls to enter the Kingdom of God. The best is always yet to come, even after failure.
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