Hurrying from the tomb, “trembling and bewildered,”[2] they ran to tell the disciples what they had seen and heard, “but,” as Luke[3] the competent physician and reliable historian tells us, “the story sounded like nonsense so they didn’t believe it.” Peter and John however, went quickly to the tomb to find out for themselves. Somewhat mystified after seeing the linen body wrappings lying there in the shape of a body but lying there without one, Peter “went home again wondering what had happened.”[4] Even when Jesus appeared on another occasion to him and other disciples in person, “Still they stood there doubting, filled with joy and wonder.”[5]

And so we meet Peter on that night before, confused and doubting still. Deeply discouraged, and wondering what relevance the reports of Jesus’ resurrection could possibly hold for him, this is a low point in his Christian experience. In his despondency he says to the disciples who were with him back in Galilee, “I’m going fishing.” The other disciples join Peter in his dejection. John, who was there that night, takes up the story, “ ‘We’ll come too,’ they all said. So they went out in the boat, but, they caught nothing all night.”[6]

A new day is dawning. Peter looks toward the shore. Someone is standing there on the beach, waiting to catch their attention. “Who could this be, out here so early in the morning,” he may have asked himself, “he’s obviously not here to fish, he has no boat, no nets, no helpers. Who is this man?” Just then the man calls out to them, “Friends, have you caught any fish?”[7] The rhetorical nature of the question means that they heard it as, “You haven’t caught any fish have you!”

“No,” they replied, only to hear him offer this advice, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get plenty of fish!”[8] That voice. “Where have we heard it before?” they may have been wondering. So authoritative, so calm, so clear, so penetrating, so gentle and understanding. Doing as he said, their net is soon filled with fish, so many that it was impossible to draw it up into the boat. As they are  pulling the loaded net behind them towards the shore about 90 meters away, John at last gets it—that person on the beach, it must be him. Leaning over towards Peter he whispers, “Peter, it’s the Lord.”[9] In his excitement, Peter dives overboard and swims ahead of the boat to the shore. When the others catch up they are amazed to see fish cooking over a charcoal fire. They are invited to add some of their fish to the ones already cooking. There is bread there also. When all is ready, Jesus invites them to share the food with him. John continues his account, “And no one dared ask him if he really was the Lord because they were sure of it. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.”[10]

For Peter, the doubts and confusion of the night before have now been replaced by the assurances of the morning after—the certainty of Jesus’ resurrection and the reality of his former promise, “And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”[11]

Several lessons are packaged for us today in this concise record of the disciples’ meeting with their risen Lord. One that I’ve only recently noticed comes wrapped in Jesus’ rhetorical question, “You haven’t caught any fish have you?” The word translated here as ‘fish’, is not one of the words used of fish later in the story. Dr Leon Morris,[12] formerly Bush Church Aid missioner in Ceduna and later principal of Ridley college in Melbourne, tells us that προσφαγιον (prosphagion) refers not just to fish but to a savory delicacy, prepared especially from cooked fish spread over pieces of bread. As is often the case with Jesus’ teaching, there is an unspoken question hidden away in the spoken question. Is this what Jesus was really asking his disciples then and is asking of his people still? “You haven’t been reading the Scriptures much lately have you. You have been working so hard and for such long hours that there has been no time left to spend with me. Result, you haven’t found any of the tasty savories awaiting you at the table of the Lord have you?”[13]

The invitation to share with him at that table is wrapped up in the invitation Jesus gave then to his disciples and extends now to us. “… come, and have some breakfast.”[14] The savories are there for us to take and eat. Where did they come from? Remember that the fish was already cooking over the coals before the disciples got to the beach with their miraculous catch. Where did that fish and the bread come from? The delicacies that Jesus served to the disciples early that morning came miraculously from his nail pierced hands. And so it is with the spiritual food, the savories, the delicacies, the insights, the relevance of the Scriptures for us now.

Let’s be sure to take time out each day to be with the Lord in his word and, like David of old, be saying to him, ‘Your decrees are my treasure, they are truly my heart’s delight.’[15]