Convincing Proofs - Provision

Linda Rock
9 hours ago
4 min read

On this final day of a week of zeroing in on some of the ways Jesus convinced His followers by showing Himself to them and proving that He was alive, we can hardly wait to receive what has been prepared for us. What we know so far is that we are standing with seven of the eleven disciples who have decided to join Peter, who has gone out fishing. However, they were unsuccessful as, after fishing all night, they have caught not one single fish It is in this setting, this atmosphere, that we see all that the Risen Lord has done for His friends. We are noting how He takes the first moves in all that He does. Jesus is prepared to do all that is needed to have these seven disciples convinced that He is living and that He is with them still. This all comes from John 21: 1 – 14. John tells us, This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. John 21: 14.

All that keeps moving before my mind’s eye, like subtitles are reeled across a page, is the fact that Jesus wants His own, His disciples, His followers, all who love and serve Him to know Him as alive and with them. Is this not so for you and for me also? To know that the heart and mind of my Lord and Master is for me, to know Him as my Resurrected Master, who is with me, generates nothing but surrender and the deepest need to love Him even more.

How is it with you? He wants the same for you also. Jesus is in no way satisfied and happy with friends and followers who are living depressed, despairing, aimless, fruitless, sad lives, because they think that He is dead to them. Our lives, as believers in the Risen Lord, must show resurrection joy, for in His Resurrection, Jesus fought and conquered all the powers of death, hell, the grave and sin.

Holy Jesus, Conquering Lord, undefeated King, I bow before You in this holy, sacred moment, acknowledging that I desperately need You, seeking mercy and help to receive and live as You feed us Your Living Word. Amen!

Having acknowledged our need for help, we return to the scene by the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus and some of His disciples are. I am led to quote the entire portion of Scripture here. May we listen, with the ears of the Spirit, that we may hear what is being spoken to us. This all comes from John 21: 1 – 14.

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. I’m going out to fish, Simon Peter told them, and they said, We’ll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, Friends, haven’t you any fish? No, they answered. He said, Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord! As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, It is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish you have just caught. So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, Come and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

What have you heard? What are you still hearing? From this there are four facts about the actions of Jesus, the moves He makes, which bring us closer and dearer to Him, as we observe His tender compassion and desire to have His friends with Him.

My dear friends in Jesus, you will agree with me that we need to take this on to the coming week and end the month of May, receiving more convincing proofs of Jesus.