In John 21:4, Jesus shows up after the disciples are out for a night of fishing, in which they haven’t caught a thing. He shows up on the bank and has some advice for them. “Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”
Interesting that they listened, since they hadn’t when this happened before. And these men were professionals; they knew what they were doing.
But all that they had done hadn’t worked. And that’s when Jesus showed up.
He showed up when he was needed, when they were ready to listen. My natural instinct is to do things my way, but it takes times like that when nothing is working for me to really be ready to listen.
I don’t have to live trying to look good and make it work, I can live in my place of weakness and be (learn to be that is) perfectly content with that reality.
And as Peter leaps out of the boat and swims toward Jesus after this bizarre record catch, when he sees his own inability to perform, so can I “leap out of the boat.” In every failure, I can move toward him, instead of running away. My relationship with Jesus is not determined by my record, but by his record.
Thanks Lisle for the sermon on John 21!
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