Worship

The Encounters with Christ – Part 4

The Lakeside Encounter

John 21

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I give thanks to our gracious God for putting you all in our lives. Your faithfulness and your enthusiasm fill my heart with joy and helps complete my hope in Christ. Every day I look forward to serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alongside each of you and growing in our discipleship journey together.

We continue to celebrate the Resurrected Christ as we journey through the Easter Season. As I have been reading about the many encounters the Risen Christ had with His followers, I have decided to share with you some of those encounters. We began a couple of weeks ago with the first encounter Jesus had with Mary and the Disciples. Two weeks ago, we looked at the two Disciples on the Road to Emmaus. Last week we looked at the second upper room encounter Jesus had with His disciples. This week we look at what I call the Lakeside Encounter.

The disciples have journeyed out of the Upper Room, after two encounters with Christ and a reminder of the Holy Spirit. The problem was they weren’t active in ministry. Instead, they reverted to what they knew prior to Christ. They were in a boat, on the water, with nets down deep. However, their luck at catching fish was not good. It wasn’t until they encountered Christ on the shoreline and did what he told them to do, that they reaped the benefits.

We need to be aware of the truth. They weren’t real excited about casting their nets again because of a wasted day. Additionally, they didn’t realize it was Jesus. After some discussion they did what they were instructed to do and behold, they not only caught fish, but they finally recognized Christ. John and Peter were the first to recognize Him, and Peter at once jumped into the water and went to Jesus.

The was the first miracle of the encounter, the second happened when Jesus and Peter had a heart to heart. We call it Peter’s Reinstatement. Peter had denied Christ three times, and Christ asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” If you read the Scripture passage, you know the encounter. Peter affirmed his love for Christ and was given marching order to Feed Christ’s Sheep. Which implicitly meant, quit fishing on the water, and start fishing on the land. Peter’s encounter with Christ also laid out some plans, including his death.

As we read and reflect upon this encounter there is some hard truths to learn. Christ had a purpose and fulfilled that purpose on the Cross and in the Tomb. The disciples had a purpose, to continue the ministry of Christ but because of fear, grief and loss of direction, chose to do what they had always done. This was not acceptable to the Risen Christ. His death and resurrection did not happen so folks could revert to the “old ways.”

Christ has made something new! We must embrace the new and not revert to what we have always done. We have a mission to go forth, make disciples, and build the Kingdom of God. We cannot do that sitting in a boat, floating on the lake, looking to catch fish. We must get out of the boat.

Another truth is that Christ offers us continued forgiveness and reconciliation, but we must not take advantage of this grace and mercy. We will not always get it right. We will at times fall short, miss the mark and climb back into the boat. But Christ, with his pierced hands, scarred forehead, will stretch out his arms and receive us once again. So we can be reminded of what we exist: “Do you love me more than anything else? Feed my sheep!”

I pray you have a transformational encounter with Christ this week! He is there where you are! He is risen!

Have a blessed Easter Season,

Pastor Frank