Sunday, April 21, 2024

John 21:1–19

Last week, we talked about John’s purpose for writing the Fourth Gospel. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples,” John wrote in 20:30–31 (ESV), “which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

In fact, in many ways John 20:30–31 would have been a good place for the Beloved Disciple to put down the pen and end the book. But at the same time, there are also some plot lines in the book that are not resolved by the end of chapter 20.

What about Peter? He denied Christ in chapter 18, what happened to him? Did he go back to his old life as a fisherman?

What about the Beloved Disciple? What did his life look like after the resurrection?

John 21 marks a change in the narrative of the book. Having wrapped up the story of Jesus’s incarnation, he begins the story of his re-incarnation through the ministry of the church. Jesus promised his disciples he would not leave them as orphans, but would send the Holy Spirit to indwell them and continue the ministry. They would do even greater works than him (John 14:12)!

The story of the church begins with the restoration of Peter. In John 18, Peter fell woefully short of his bravado. Less than 24 hours after swearing to die for Jesus, he found himself denying he ever knew the man. As tragic as this was, it wasn’t surprising to Jesus (he even predicted it). Nor was it the end of Peter’s story. Before ascending to the Father, Jesus enjoyed one more meal with Peter and reminded him that all was forgiven. Sin and death were defeated and there was work for Peter to do!

Join us this week as we see how Peter’s story resolves and find out what it means for us as we follow Jesus.

See you on Sunday!

Service times are at 9:00 & 11:00. If you can’t make it in person, you can watch live at those times.