Lord, through all the generations
….you have been our home!
Before the mountains were born,
….before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
….from beginning to end, you are God. Psalm 90:1-2 NLT

John 21:1-14 (<<click here to read the passage)
For some of us, friends are a dime a dozen. We have lots of them. We are always adding more, though we might not remember all of their names. We can lose some and we don’t notice a whole lot.
But truth be told, aren’t those a bit more like glorified acquaintances? Yeah, they like us, and we like them. We may hang out. We may do some things together. But when things get bumpy, we may turn out to be fair-weather friends…not just them, but us as well.
But hopefully, we have all had the blessing of having hard-core friends. Those with whom we have shared hard parts of our lives…and they didn’t leave us out to dry but have stuck with us through thick and thin.
These kinds of friends, too, are “always” friends. Life may take us in different directions and regular communication becomes very irregular but when our paths cross once more, it is as if no time has transpired since our last interaction. We just pick up where we left off!
And some of those friends have stuck by us when we have thrown them under the bus. We said or did something out of anger or outright selfishness…but they knew us better than we knew ourselves. They loved us in spite of ourselves. Though time may have passed their friendship did not falter but patiently awaited reconciliation.
Today’s passage takes place a short time after Jesus’ resurrection. A small group of His disciples headed out to fish and after a night of fruitless labor, Jesus calls out to them, advising them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. The result was a net filled to the hilt! Though it is early morning and still hard to see well, John immediately recognizes that it is Jesus who called out to them and makes this awareness known to Peter. Peter throws on his tunic and jumps out of the boat at once, heading to shore.

When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.

“Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said.

And after doing so Jesus said, “Now come and have some breakfast!” v9,10,12 NLT
Reading through these verses I couldn’t help but think of Jesus’ interaction with them back in John 15 where He said to them,

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. vs12-15 NLT

We cannot forget, when Jesus needed them most, most of them ran. They were hurt and confused and though they had promised dedication and support, they were nowhere to be found. Peter had even flat out denied even knowing Him.
But Jesus was no fair-weather friend. He stuck with them through thick and thin. And though they were not there when He needed them, He understood them, and He loved them…enough to lay down his life for them…His friends.
Our story is not quite done but let me leave you with this, what a friend we have in Jesus. Though we have hurt Him sorely, He understands us, better than we understand ourselves, and loves us more than we could ever begin to understand. What more could we ask?

Nov 18th, 2021, Thurs, 8:26 pm