After the Resurrection
Mike Stone
John 21:1-14
The Easter outfits are put away. The toy eggs and chocolate rabbits are gone for another year. While there may still be some plastic grass from the Easter backet still in the living room carpet, the fact is, Easter has come and gone for this year.
But I fear the special music and the larger crowd on Resurrection Sunday can have the unintended consequence of creating an anti-climactic day in our Lord's House. And if you think about it, that's sort of a picture of the Christian life.
There are a few "special days." There are some high, mountaintop days. But the bells and whistles quickly give way to the mundane, habitual, and routine aspects of life.
That's sort of what we have here at the opening of John 21. It's a scene of life getting back to normal, in the worst sort of way. And it's there, after all the hubbub and fanfare that our Lord finds Simon Peter and confronts him about returning to pre-resurrection life. And in this encounter, we see some simple lessons we need to learn to make sure we live every day in light of the power of our risen Lord.
1. A merciful meeting (1-3)
This passage is called the "epilogue." It's the conclusion of the book. Some critics question whether this chapter belongs in the book at all. But I see in it a marvelous, majestic and merciful view of Jesus Christ.
At first glance it looks like the Lord is serving up breakfast. Upon further review, we see the Lord is actually serving up a double portion of mercy and grace. And in this encounter we see that the same grace that saved these men is now seeking them out again for sanctification and service.
The same Good Shepherd that walked out of the tomb is tracking them down. His nail-pierced feet are searching for them and His nail-pierced hands are reaching out to them in grace.
A. The inclination of the sheep
7 of the 11 disciples are back to fishing. 5 of them are named in one way or another and 2 are an ...
Mike Stone
John 21:1-14
The Easter outfits are put away. The toy eggs and chocolate rabbits are gone for another year. While there may still be some plastic grass from the Easter backet still in the living room carpet, the fact is, Easter has come and gone for this year.
But I fear the special music and the larger crowd on Resurrection Sunday can have the unintended consequence of creating an anti-climactic day in our Lord's House. And if you think about it, that's sort of a picture of the Christian life.
There are a few "special days." There are some high, mountaintop days. But the bells and whistles quickly give way to the mundane, habitual, and routine aspects of life.
That's sort of what we have here at the opening of John 21. It's a scene of life getting back to normal, in the worst sort of way. And it's there, after all the hubbub and fanfare that our Lord finds Simon Peter and confronts him about returning to pre-resurrection life. And in this encounter, we see some simple lessons we need to learn to make sure we live every day in light of the power of our risen Lord.
1. A merciful meeting (1-3)
This passage is called the "epilogue." It's the conclusion of the book. Some critics question whether this chapter belongs in the book at all. But I see in it a marvelous, majestic and merciful view of Jesus Christ.
At first glance it looks like the Lord is serving up breakfast. Upon further review, we see the Lord is actually serving up a double portion of mercy and grace. And in this encounter we see that the same grace that saved these men is now seeking them out again for sanctification and service.
The same Good Shepherd that walked out of the tomb is tracking them down. His nail-pierced feet are searching for them and His nail-pierced hands are reaching out to them in grace.
A. The inclination of the sheep
7 of the 11 disciples are back to fishing. 5 of them are named in one way or another and 2 are an ...
There are 13078 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
