5.3.25 ~ 40 days after His resurrection (Pt. 9)
Good morning!
Shabbat shalom and happy 21st day, the 3rd week and 7th day of counting the omer (Lev. 23:15,16).
Last night's zoom call: Spiritual leprosy (Lev. 13, 14): Is it possible for my isolating sin to be restored and elevated? Yes!
For 40 days Yeshua sought His own who were hiding, fearful, guilty of denial, ashamed, and lost in their own minds of disparity and hopelessness.
I'm certain we all know these feelings of bewilderment. And I'm certain we understand the feelings of boldly desiring to go where all else will fail, only to fail ourselves.
"Peter answered and said unto Him, 'Though all men shall be offended because of you, yet will I never be offended." (Matt. 26:33)
But, for Peter, when the pressure came, he folded three times. There around a fire, outside the praetorium, in the dark, just yards from where his Savior suffered, he had sworn loyalty with his lips (Matt. 26:33). So what does the risen Yeshua do with the individual who failed Him the most? He makes breakfast. Huh?
John chapter 21 opens with a familiar scene: Peter, restless and uncertain, says I’m going fishing (Jn. 21:3). And with him the other boys follow (Jn. 21:3). This fishing trip is not out of leisure but likely out of confusion! It’s what he and the boys knew. It was their default setting. It's what they could control...or so they thought. Ironically, it’s what he went back to before Yeshua ever called him in the first place (Matt. 4:19).
Isn’t that just like Us? When we’re unsure of our place in God‘s plan we go back to what feels familiar, but grace doesn’t let us go back as quietly as the sun rises on the sea of Galilee. Yeshua stands on the shore. At first, the disciples don’t recognize Him. It’s like the Emmaus Road all over again, but he calls out to them, friends (Jn. 15:14). Have you caught any fish? They answer no. Then comes a command. They’ve heard it before. Throw your net on the right side of the boat suddenly the net is bursting (Jn. 21:6). And in that moment, John whispers what every soul belongs to hear, "It is the Lord" (Jn. 21:7).
Peter doesn’t wait. He wraps his garment around him and dives into water; no hesitation and no shame strong enough to hold him back. Just a broken man swimming towards grace!! When he reaches the shore. Yeshua has already prepared a fire, which undoubtedly reminds Peter of the last time their eyes met on that fateful evening when he denied his Savior. Now Yeshua invites him to another fire, this time not for denial, but for restoration. He doesn’t condemn him. He doesn’t lecture him. He feeds him with the inviting words to come and have breakfast (Jn. 21:12)
This is the Savior Who restores. Not with loud sermons or public shame, but with a quiet meal and a question that cuts deeper than any sword. "Simon son of Jonah, do you love me more than these" (Jn. 21:15)? Three times Yeshua asks. Three times Peter answers. And three times Yeshua commissions him to feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep. Each repetition undoes a previous denial. Each answer rewrote the past with mercy. However, this wasn’t just about forgiveness, it was about leadership, about calling. Yeshua wasn’t just restoring Peter’s heart. He was recommissioning his hands. This is the same Peter, who would preach at Pentecost, 29 days away (Acts 2,3). It's the same Peter, who would write a couple epistles. It's the same Peter who would eventually die for the name he wanted to deny (Jn. 21:18,19). But none of it happens if Yeshua doesn’t meet him in his shame. Ouch!
Maybe you need to hear that today. Maybe you feel like you've disqualified yourself from God‘s purpose, because of what you did. Maybe you think your betrayal, your relapse, your failure was too loud for grace to silence. But Yeshua doesn’t uncall the called, He recommissions them. He doesn’t toss you back into the sea, like a fish to small to treat as a trophy catch. He makes breakfast. He prepares a place for you to bring your regrets and receive restoration.
This moment on the shore is one of the most personal, pastoral and powerful scenes in all of the gospels. It tells us that The risen Yeshua doesn’t just want to prove He’s alive. He wants to prove to each of us that we still belong; He doesn’t avoid our failure. He redeemed it. He doesn’t sideline the broken. He trusts them with his sheep. But maybe, on this beautiful Sabbath morning, during the counting of the omer, you, like Peter, need to hear those words again, not as condemnation, but as a commission: Follow me (Jn. 21:19). That's how Yeshua ends the conversation. No dramatic speech. No mention of Peter‘s past. Just the same words he spoke the very first time He called him away from the boat, follow me (Matt. 4:19).
Do you need to read this again and conform your lives to this unwavering truth?
Shabbat shalom!
Alan
Would you like to catch up on past teachings (audio, video, written studies)? Click here to catch up!
Last night's zoom call: Spiritual leprosy (Lev. 13, 14): Is it possible for my isolating sin to be restored and elevated? Yes!
For 40 days Yeshua sought His own who were hiding, fearful, guilty of denial, ashamed, and lost in their own minds of disparity and hopelessness.
I'm certain we all know these feelings of bewilderment. And I'm certain we understand the feelings of boldly desiring to go where all else will fail, only to fail ourselves.
"Peter answered and said unto Him, 'Though all men shall be offended because of you, yet will I never be offended." (Matt. 26:33)
But, for Peter, when the pressure came, he folded three times. There around a fire, outside the praetorium, in the dark, just yards from where his Savior suffered, he had sworn loyalty with his lips (Matt. 26:33). So what does the risen Yeshua do with the individual who failed Him the most? He makes breakfast. Huh?
John chapter 21 opens with a familiar scene: Peter, restless and uncertain, says I’m going fishing (Jn. 21:3). And with him the other boys follow (Jn. 21:3). This fishing trip is not out of leisure but likely out of confusion! It’s what he and the boys knew. It was their default setting. It's what they could control...or so they thought. Ironically, it’s what he went back to before Yeshua ever called him in the first place (Matt. 4:19).
Isn’t that just like Us? When we’re unsure of our place in God‘s plan we go back to what feels familiar, but grace doesn’t let us go back as quietly as the sun rises on the sea of Galilee. Yeshua stands on the shore. At first, the disciples don’t recognize Him. It’s like the Emmaus Road all over again, but he calls out to them, friends (Jn. 15:14). Have you caught any fish? They answer no. Then comes a command. They’ve heard it before. Throw your net on the right side of the boat suddenly the net is bursting (Jn. 21:6). And in that moment, John whispers what every soul belongs to hear, "It is the Lord" (Jn. 21:7).
Peter doesn’t wait. He wraps his garment around him and dives into water; no hesitation and no shame strong enough to hold him back. Just a broken man swimming towards grace!! When he reaches the shore. Yeshua has already prepared a fire, which undoubtedly reminds Peter of the last time their eyes met on that fateful evening when he denied his Savior. Now Yeshua invites him to another fire, this time not for denial, but for restoration. He doesn’t condemn him. He doesn’t lecture him. He feeds him with the inviting words to come and have breakfast (Jn. 21:12)
This is the Savior Who restores. Not with loud sermons or public shame, but with a quiet meal and a question that cuts deeper than any sword. "Simon son of Jonah, do you love me more than these" (Jn. 21:15)? Three times Yeshua asks. Three times Peter answers. And three times Yeshua commissions him to feed my lambs, take care of my sheep, feed my sheep. Each repetition undoes a previous denial. Each answer rewrote the past with mercy. However, this wasn’t just about forgiveness, it was about leadership, about calling. Yeshua wasn’t just restoring Peter’s heart. He was recommissioning his hands. This is the same Peter, who would preach at Pentecost, 29 days away (Acts 2,3). It's the same Peter, who would write a couple epistles. It's the same Peter who would eventually die for the name he wanted to deny (Jn. 21:18,19). But none of it happens if Yeshua doesn’t meet him in his shame. Ouch!
Maybe you need to hear that today. Maybe you feel like you've disqualified yourself from God‘s purpose, because of what you did. Maybe you think your betrayal, your relapse, your failure was too loud for grace to silence. But Yeshua doesn’t uncall the called, He recommissions them. He doesn’t toss you back into the sea, like a fish to small to treat as a trophy catch. He makes breakfast. He prepares a place for you to bring your regrets and receive restoration.
This moment on the shore is one of the most personal, pastoral and powerful scenes in all of the gospels. It tells us that The risen Yeshua doesn’t just want to prove He’s alive. He wants to prove to each of us that we still belong; He doesn’t avoid our failure. He redeemed it. He doesn’t sideline the broken. He trusts them with his sheep. But maybe, on this beautiful Sabbath morning, during the counting of the omer, you, like Peter, need to hear those words again, not as condemnation, but as a commission: Follow me (Jn. 21:19). That's how Yeshua ends the conversation. No dramatic speech. No mention of Peter‘s past. Just the same words he spoke the very first time He called him away from the boat, follow me (Matt. 4:19).
Do you need to read this again and conform your lives to this unwavering truth?
Shabbat shalom!
Alan
Would you like to catch up on past teachings (audio, video, written studies)? Click here to catch up!
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