After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me." John 21:1-19 NRSV
Today, we kicked it into gear…. After a short jog along the coast of the Sea of Galilee, we visited 7 sites around the Sea of Galilee. First the Church of the Beatitudes, followed by the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fish, then the Church of the Primacy of Peter, then we traveled to Jesus’ home base of Capharnaum, then on to the Sea of Galilee for a short cruise, the ruins of Bet She’an and finally the Jordan River.
While this may sound like a lot of driving most of these sites are extremely close to each other on the North Side of the Sea of Galilee. It is said that Jesus did 80% of his ministry in a triangle area stretching from Migdal (home of Mary Magdalene) to the west, Korazim to the north and Beit Saida to the East. Jesus’ home in Capharnaum is located almost halfway between Migdal and Beit Saida. The approximate distance between Migdal and Beit Saida is 16 km, (I’m way too tired to do the math into miles so go for it).
Being on the Sea of Galilee, reading through the story of Peter walking on the water has been the highlight of the day. Seeing the churches we visited earlier from the boat and imagining what the disciples might have thought as we sat out on calm still waters off of the beach where Jesus was cooking fish was an experience that I will treasure for always. I find that I can be like Peter and the other disciples, I get so busy in my work, distracted in my problems, too worried about the future that I fail to see Christ right there in front of me.
0 comments:
Post a Comment