Each week, let’s reflect upon Sunday’s teaching through further exploration…
Plot Twist – “The Crowd”
He was dead. After years of watching him draw crowds of onlookers, hearing him teach controversial messages, and witnessing him baffle the honored and elite, he was dead.
How was this possible? Only days earlier, people were spreading their cloaks and cut branches on the road ahead of him, shouting ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ They hailed him as a king! Then they called for his crucifixion. He was arrested. He didn’t even defend himself when they struck him or when the chief priests and elders hurled accusations at him. He was led away to the cross to die the death of a criminal, full of humiliation as people gawked and heaped insults on him. How could so much change in just a few days’ time? How could we have been so wrong about him?
I wonder if these were the thoughts of the disciples as they saw Jesus hanging on the cross, as His body was taken down, and as He was laid in the tomb. How discouraged and distraught they must have been, and possibly terrified that they, too, could face a similar outcome for their association with this “King of the Jews.”
D.J. told us Sunday that plot twists are a part of every story. What do you do when a plot twist comes – when the rug is pulled out from under your feet, when everything you had hoped in and planned on is suddenly gone?
At least seven of the disciples went back to what they knew – fishing. That’s what they were doing when Jesus appeared to them for the third time after His resurrection, according to the final chapter of John’s gospel (John 21). Jonathan talked about this account several weeks ago, remember? The disciples, including Peter, had been fishing all night in the boat and had caught nothing. When someone on the shore told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat, they did so and then couldn’t haul in the net due to the large amount of fish. They then realized it was Jesus!
What I love about this account, even more than this miraculous catch of fish, is the simplicity of what happened next. Jesus had a fire burning, fish cooking, some bread, and said to them, “Come and have breakfast,” John 21:12. They shared a meal together.
The disciples had worked all night to fish and caught nothing, and then suddenly the catch was so big they couldn’t pull in the net. How hungry they must have been! And Jesus fed them. He took care of their physical need for food. Imagine the spiritual nourishment they must have received from Him as well because these disciples forged ahead in the strength of the Spirit to establish the early church.
When the blows of life come, it’s easy to get caught in the torrent of dashed expectations and plans. Our minds become a complex web of disappointments and frustrations. We might think we need a miracle to fix it, but so often it’s something much simpler that we need – to come to the resurrected Lord and receive nourishment from Him.
When was the last time you answered Jesus’s call to “Come” and sat down to the meal He’d prepared for you?
This Holy Week may you take time to sit with Jesus, to feast on His Word, and to thank Him for pouring out His blood for the forgiveness of your sins.
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. – Psalm 34:8