Devotion:
Read John 21:1-3.
In Matthew and Mark, Jesus had told the disciples to go to Galilee as he would go ahead and meet them there. Yet it is only in John’s gospel that we learn of this encounter in Galilee. The apostles had indeed gone to Galilee, but they had not yet seen the risen Christ there. What prompted them to go fishing? Perhaps Simon Peter was just bored and decided to go fishing to pass the time. But it is more likely that he was attempting to return to something familiar. This may have been much more than simply a way to pass the night. Peter and a number of the apostles had left commercial fishing as their livelihood in order to follow Jesus. Was this their acknowledgement that it was over, that their “fishing for people” was a failed venture, and now it was time to return to life as they had known it? Peter’s leadership is evident in the group’s getting into the boat and going along, but they caught nothing.
There is a wise expression that “you cannot go home again.” Home changes, life changes, and we change. The apostles were not meant to go back home to that kind of fishing. Jesus changes us, and once we know him, we can never go back to the old life. The apostles would soon learn that their ministry in Christ was just beginning!
Personal Worship Option:
After major change, we often long to “go home” and return to life as we knew it before the change, but that is not always possible or even good. Pray today for insight into what life after your current changes may be like. Ask God to lead you to new and better things instead of simply placing you back where you were.
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