Even after the Apostles had their post resurrection
encounters with Jesus, on several occasions, and after they knew at this point
knew that Jesus was and is alive, that the same Jesus that they had known and
shared so much with was now without question alive, yet they still had not
fully come to understand what they were to meant to do.
Jesus had for three and- a- half years taught them
and preached to the crowds concerning the Kingdom of God and their place in that
Kingdom.
Jesus had taught many things, and some
of the truth behind these things, yet eluded their understanding. They had left all behind to follow Jesus.
They had come through this time with Jesus;
their expectations had risen to a peak. They had witnessed his power. They
embraced Him as the long awaited Messiah. They walked with Him and came to
Jerusalem, saw his glorious entrance.
They knew the prophecies; Jesus challenged
the religious establishment which culminated in the cleansing of the Temple of
God and exposed the corruption of the Religious leaders.
They saw all these things, then just
when everything seemed as if it would come to pass Jesus is arrested, crucified,
dies and is buried.
Then when all seems lost is Jesus is raised
from the dead.
Life
as Usual
Yet
even after they encounter Jesus resurrected, and they see that he lives, after
all this The Disciples still do not yet seemed to understand what they are
to do.
They do not grasp that these events call
on them to be transformed to have a new life, that things can never be the same,
Jesus has changed all things forever.
The Disciples demonstrating this lack of
understanding as to what has happened they all return to life as usual.
This is shown in Peter’s statement.
“I am going fishing” Jhn:
21:3
They have returned to life as it was, as
it had been.
Hanging on to the Old
When Peter said “I’m going
fishing” he was saying “I am who I
have always been”. Peter was not
just returning to his old profession but to his old self. Peter did not realize, even
at this point , that he and , all of us
need to see our lives in an all new way. We need to let the old go, we are a new creation in Jesus.
God calls us all to walk in this newness when we encounter the
risen Lord .
Life can never be the same.
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider
loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because
of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found
in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that
which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the
basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his
resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his
death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Phipp: 3:7-11
It Is the Lord
Jesus then appears early one morning on the beach of the Sea of Galilee
and calls the fishing Disciples to himself and begins to show them that life
can now never be the same.
“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”. (4-6)
Jesus has come to redirect them to his purpose in choosing them. Jesus did not call them to return to boat, nets and tackle as fishermen, but rather to have all new transformed lives , and to tell others about Jesus Christ.
“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.”(7-9)
This is not about
occupations they had, but Jesus chooses their familiar surroundings in
which to give them a greater clarity about this transformation, which is
bringing them, and us, into the realty of whom he is and who they and we are in him.
They know that it is their Lord whom they have met this early morning
on the shores of the sea. They eat with Jesus and know all the more that Jesus
lives and is with them.
Newness in Him
Once we encounter the resurrected Jesus, life should never be the
same, we should see are selves and all
life in a whole new way; a way in which
we are in union with him, participating with the Lord in all he is doing upon
the Earth.
There is a newness in Him, all life becomes about and for him.
Jesus is telling them and us that in him even the “mundane” is changed. All made new.
Dying and living in him, this was the message that the Apostles
and the apostolic church proclaimed, letting the world know that there is a
whole new life for them in Jesus Christ.
As we pass through this life we are passing through it with and in
him, we are in him a whole new creation. This is our new life, a resurrected life
a life that in all things points to Jesus, in every word and action.
The Apostles were called to go forth and tell all they met what God has accomplished for them through Jesus; our calling is the
same in the living of our new lives in Him, we point those around us to Jesus as
an invitation to enter into this new life and experience the risen Lord
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we
are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for
all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who
died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a
worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no
longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old
has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against
them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through
us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God.”
2Corth:5:14-21
Here & Now
Paul wrote that
Christians are Keep the resin Lord in mind at all times. That we died with and live
with Jesus here and now not just in the Eternity to come but even now.
“Remember Jesus
Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,”2Tim:2:8
That Same Jesus
who called the Apostles on that beach and shared with them that fish on that
early morning is the same Jesus who, is here today and every day to send us
forth in that New life. We need to
realize that his resurrection is our resurrection to an all new life in himself as well , one
that ensures us of eternal life with our Lord Jesus …Amen
Rev.Todd Crouch, Pastor
The
Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion
2101 Old National Pike.
2101 Old National Pike.
Washington,
Pennsylvania.
www.gcfountainoflife.org
The
Fountain of Life is heard on the RKP Radio Network 1710 and 1670 AM in
Washington and North Franklin ,and 1790 AM in the Arden Fair Grounds area
of Washington Pennsylvania, and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville and Monongahela,
Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com:
