Come and Eat

At the beginning of this chapter, Welch quotes Luke 14:12-24 to show the importance of sharing a meal together.  He tells us that to share a meal with someone brings a warmer, more familial relationship and throughout the Old and New Testament the message was and still is today: "Welcome.  We want you to feel like one of the family." (p. 198)

Welch then takes us through various examples of eating a meal with God -- Abraham had bread and wine with Melchizedek, a representative of Jesus (Gen 14:18); after golden calf problem, God invites Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders to eat and drink with Him on Mt. Sinai (Ex 24:9-11); Israelites had a table set for them every morning when they ate manna in the wilderness, yet Welch says none of them compares to a breakfast Jesus shared with a few disciples on the shore of a calm lake -- John 21.

Jesus had been raised from the dead, and now Peter and a few disciples were out fishing through the night, when Jesus makes them breakfast on the shore.  Welch explains how this story fills in gaps of past events to give them more meaning and completion.

Catching fish - Luke 5:4-11 describes an earlier fishing episode where Peter and the others were first taught to "catch men."  So now that Christ had risen why weren't Peter and the others doing that, why were they out fishing now???  The Holy Spirit had not been given yet.  But more importantly can you imagine Peter, totally ashamed of what He had done at Jesus' trial???  HE HAD DENIED JESUS THREE TIMES!!  How could Jesus ever want to love him again or ask him to be a fisher of men???  Talk about being ashamed, outcast, feeling awkward whenever the thought of meeting Jesus crossed his mind!!  But that's what happens now:  Jesus meets them after a long night of fishing with no catch, tells them to try again and their net is overloaded.  Again they and Peter are told "Catch men, not fish."  How could poor, uneducated fishermen and now a fisherman who had DENIED God, be given a commission by the King?  When we truly understand this King and His Kingdom, we should already know the answer.  This King wants weak and needy, unworthy people to be His ambassadors.  Do we get it?

Burning charcoal - when Peter denied Jesus he did it around a charcoal fire (Jn 18:18) so you can imagine that any smell of burning charcoal would probably bring back that memory pretty vividly.  Therefore in this story Welch imagines that Jesus was offering Peter a new memory for the smell of charcoal.  Are we starting to get the picture that God wants us to have new memories too? (p.201)

Eating fish - this is the third event which references the feeding of the five thousand, Welch tells us.  The message for them and for us is that like the Israelites in the desert were given bread from heaven, now we have to trust Jesus - the Bread of Life! If we want to identify with Jesus we also have to identify with Him in His death.  This is what the disciples had to learn now, to identify with Him in his humiliation AND exultation! Jesus gave this costly breakfast but the disciples had to bring NOTHING!  Welch reminds us that nothing is the same as empty, another word for shame along with all the other words: naked, unclean, outcast, unworthy.  With this breakfast the disciples were satisfied just as we who are nothing are satisfied in Jesus, the Bread of Life.

Speaking in Threes - After breakfast Jesus takes Peter aside.  Can you imagine how awkward this must have been for him?  The last time he can think about is when he denied Jesus 3 TIMES.  Would you be able to take a walk with someone you know you have hurt very badly???  But Peter can't say No, just as none of us can say No to Jesus so he goes for this walk.  Imagine his anxiety and maybe even some panic when Jesus asks, "Do you love me?"  And not just once but 3 TIMES!  And each time, after Peter's response of "Yes, you know that I love you," Jesus tells him to "feed my lambs."  Why did this rhythmic 3 TIMES have to happen?  Welch explains it as a "do-over", a way to show that Peter was truly forgiven.

When we look at this scenario we see that Jesus always loves us first, He takes the initiative for Peace, Shalom with Him, but when He asks Peter "Do you love me?"  He is also asking for a response.  He also asks us the response to this question, which can also mean "Do you believe in me?"  Welch asks us to stop here and truly think about that question, "Do you love me?" and to say your response out loud....  He equates it with a marriage ceremony where the participants have to say "I do", because after a marriage ceremony you become ONE, directly associated with the honour and holiness of Jesus!

Feeding Sheep - Up to this point Peter is just going through the motions, Welch goes on, but now he is given a purpose.  This is what the kingdom is all about: "From shame to acceptance.  From acceptance to commissioning." (p. 204)

Come and have breakfast - We are in that Scripture.  Do you feel it?  Did you share that breakfast meal with Jesus and His disciples?  Welch gives us a warning here, do we want to accept that breakfast?  Is there reluctance?  If so the problem would be that we don't like God.  And yet God invites us to have breakfast... What is your response???