Convincing Proof - Eating Fish

I had the opportunity and privilege of attending a Resurrection Morning Worship Service where a children’s address took the form of a video presentation. It was one of those children’s cartoon videos of the resurrection of Jesus. At the end of that very short video presentation, the person giving the address asked the children what they saw about Jesus. One little one said that Jesus talks with everyone. Another child, lifting her hands said that Jesus came up, to which the leader said, yes, Jesus rose up. Then she told the children, “Jesus rose up and He ate fish.” At that, I started to giggle inside, as it sounded so hilarious to me. It was simply how the children’s teacher phrased it that tickled me. It was as though Jesus came out of the grave and started to eat fish. Then she said, in a most casual and matter-of-fact voice. “Ghosts can’t eat fish, can they?” I was really tickled pink in that children’s address time. Little did I know that those very words would be used to challenge me to deeply Spiritual facts.

“Jesus rose up and He ate fish,” is a fact of Jesus’ Resurrection. Whether He ate it the same time, or sometime after is not the main issue. The one and only life-changing fact of belief here is that Jesus ate fish. I was taught much about this fish eating of Jesus and I share with you from my learning.

Give exhaustless praise and thanks to our Teacher, our Counselor, our Guide and our Controller. Amen!

Jesus has risen from the grave after spending three days there. His first, after resurrection mission is to His Father. This is what He tells Mary, the first person to whom He appears, after He is freed from the grave. Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. John 20: 17. It was after His Father, that He turned to do His first convincing works with His disciples. His resolute mission was that He showed Himself to His disciples with many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the Kingdom of God. Acts 1: 3b. It was on one such occasion that Jesus ate fish with His disciples. That Sunday School Teacher was correct, for Jesus did get up out of that dark grave. And yes! Jesus did eat fish with His disciples.

So what new, did our Teacher share with me that I now share with you? Let me not be so stupidly ignorant and self-conceited to think that no one else knows this. O no! For many of you, this is not at all new. However, for some like me, it is refreshingly new and motivating. I was told that the convincing proofs Jesus went about giving, were only for those who were His own. He never spent any of those forty days trying to convince the world that He was alive. Now that grabbed me, and even before any thoughts came to my mind, I was reminded that before He died, Jesus prayed for the disciples not for the world.

This leads us directly into the fact that He ate fish with the believers, His own disciples, not the world. To convince them that He was alive, Jesus did not only eat fish with them, but He prepared the fish for them to eat. Listen again to this familiar story.

John tells us that Peter wanted to go fishing, that which he had given up some few years ago, to follow Jesus. Now that Jesus was not there in the same way as before; now that they were not with Him daily, going about from place to place with Him, Peter seems to be feeling the loneliness and uselessness of his life. He decides to go back and do what he enjoyed doing before Jesus called him to leave his nets and follow Him. When Peter announced to the other disciples present, that he was going fishing, six of the other disciples said that they wanted to go with him. So they all went fishing. They had an entire night of fruitless fishing.

When morning came, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t know that it was their Master and Risen Lord. Jesus called out to them as they sailed in and asked if they had fish. When they told Him no, He told them exactly how and where they could catch fish. They did as Jesus told them and an amazing thing happened. They did not just catch fish, but they caught such a multitude that they were unable to draw the net in.

As soon as they came to land, there was a most welcome, morning sight, awaiting them. They saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish which you have just caught. John 21: 9b – 10. Simon, waited on no one; he went up and singlehanded, he dragged the net to land. We are told that although the net was extra heavy and super-laden with big fish, it did not break. Everything is now ready. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. John 21: 12.

A breakfast table of bread and fish is convincing proof that Jesus is not just alive, but that He is alive and with them in flesh form, akin to them, in that He can sit and eat fish and bread with them. Is this not a marvel and wonder, a direct result of Jesus’ Resurrection from the grave? Does this not impact our present lives in many different ways?