Fishing and Breakfast

Our minister, Charlie Robinson, gave a thoughtful sermon yesterday. He does so pretty often, but I thought it would be a good idea to expound on this particular sermon today, since I've been thinking about it. He talked about John 21:1-14 (last week he had discussed verses 15-19) where Jesus, after his resurrection, calls the disciples to throw their empty nets to the other side of the boat.

The interesting thing that Charlie brought up was how ordinary this situation was. The disciples are fishing—as was their trade—and Jesus was on the shore preparing breakfast for the disciples. He calls them to a miraculous catch, and asks them to bring some of their catch for a breakfast meal. How ordinary this scene is, considering the fact that he was just raised from the dead a week or so ago. Talk about a divine encounter in the mundane activities of life!

But Charlie made a point about this that deserves consideration. Jesus, the one who rose and demonstrated that he was God in the flesh, and the Son of God, serves the disciples breakfast! He cooks for them. And as a result, he is an example for them and us for what it means to be a witness of reality (the gospel message).

If we are to learn anything from this it should be that our witness in this world is our service to others coupled with boldness and honesty. We make better witnesses of Jesus if we do as he did. Not as a superior expositor, but in the ordinary way we go about our lives as ourselves. This is not a master plan of evangelism, but rather an intentional approach to being a fisher of men.