Peter, Jesus and a fish sandwich

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.[a] It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus[b]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “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.

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

6 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.

7 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.  John 21 NIV

This passage reminds me of a men's houseparty years ago at Ashburnham house, when the tradition was to go down to the usually freezing lake before breakfast for a swim across the lake.

The leader had asked me to cook some little fish on a barbeque and make a fish breakfast. The smell of barbequed fish wafted across the lake as the hungry swimmers were surprised by fish in a bread roll as their breakfast treat. We sat together munching our fish as this story was read to us.

The breakfast that Jesus had prepared for Peter and the rest of the disciples must have been even more special than this breakfast which I still remember vividly.

The smell of the cooking fish and the charcoal fire and a smiling risen Lord Jesus offering them breakfast must have been etched on their minds, as was the amazing catch of fish. Many years later, when he was writing his gospel, John remembers that there were 153 of them. He was an eye witness who had personally counted them out.

This event must have been very significant in many ways for the first disciples. They must have recalled their first encounter with Jesus by the lake, where he again ordered them to cast their nets into what had been waters empty of fish, to catch another amazing hoard. This had been their first commissioning, Jesus had invited them to leave their nets, there and then, and become,"fishers of men".  They had seen Him heal people, preach the good news, and even cast out demons, then He sent them out two by two, and they were amazed that even The spirits obeyed them. Then it all started to unravel, Jesus started to draw vast crowds and He came up against the jealous religious authorities. When He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, drawing the crowds like a glorious messiah, they gradually realised how it was all going to end. They had promised to stick by Him. Peter had vowed to die rather than betray Him, and yet when the soldiers came in the dead of night, they just scattered, like so many frightened dogs, and Peter had even disowned Him just as Jesus had predicted before the cock had crowed three times. Perhaps the smell of the charcoal fire had provoked guilty thoughts in Peter of that night when he had huddled around that charcoal fire in the courtyard of the high priest and, just as the cock crowed, he saw Jesus being led across the other side of the courtyard and exchange that look, not of anger or disgust, but of compassion and love for His friend, despite his betrayal.
Then after the meal came the walk along the beach, and the three fold question: "Do you love me?"
"Of course I love you," was Peter's threefold response.
Each reply negating his threefold denial.
After the question, the commission: "Feed my sheep." Peter, the one who had denied His Lord, had been forgiven and promoted to be the leader of the newly formed worldwide body of Christ, left on earth after Jesus ascended into heaven, empowered and  motivated by the Holy Spirit of God, which was poured out on them at Pentecost. So, just like Peter, each one of us has had their sins forgiven, if we declare our love and commitment to the risen Lord Jesus, to live a life empowered by His indwelling Holy Spirit, and to bring His Kingdom down to our needy world.