Growing up, I always looked forward to church socials where everyone brought food and there was a big spread. Lots of desserts and plenty of banana pudding were as close to heaven as I could imagine as a young boy. But I didn’t associate the "feasts" with real church. Real church was about long-winded preachers, slow music, and teachings about being nice and getting better. Oh how I had wished church was more like the parties! I even wondered if God was "kinda" mad at us for all the fun we had while enjoying the food and fellowship. Little did I know that one of God’s favorite ways of depicting the nature of His kingdom was through abundant banquets.

Remember Eden? All the trees were filled with food to eat and enjoy. Even after the invasion of sin God instructed Israel to have regular feasts to celebrate Him and His kingdom. In fact, when we read the Old Testament Scriptures it is easy to wonder when they had time to work, with all the Sabbaths and feasts to celebrate. It is not hard to conclude that God’s order includes a party emphasis. Of course, when we come to the New Testament we find Jesus continuing the theme of banquets and meals. In fact, the Gospel of John begins and ends with themes around meals. The first miracle (sign) that John records in Jesus’ ministry is a wedding feast. Jesus turns 30 gallons of water into wine after the guests have consumed what was allotted to them. (That’s around 12 cases of wine today.) This was a big party. Later Jesus feeds the multitudes with abundance as a sign that the kingdom is here, and it still has plenty of nourishment and joy. He eats with sinners showing that the kingdom includes the outcasts. He uses the Passover meal as the occasion to reveal His new covenant feast, and uses it as the continuing statement of His coming to earth to restore all that has fallen in sin. Living with God is living at His table with all the needed and desired food available. Everything needed for redemption and destiny has been provided by the sacrifice of the Son.

It’s the meal (breakfast) with Peter and the other fishermen that I want to focus on. John tells us that the incident is a way of Jesus revealing Himself.

GOD SETS THE STAGE FOR MEALS THAT REVEAL HIM

Here is the setting: Peter and the other disciples were disappointed. Their hopes had been dashed by the crucifixion. Even though Jesus had told them He would be rejected and killed, they had missed it. Peter especially was depressed because he had denied the Lord in the hour of trial. Now he was going back to a way of life he could handle. He was a fisherman before Jesus called him. He could surely fish even if he could do nothing else. But these skilled and experienced fishermen spent the whole night in futility. They caught nothing! Early in the morning Jesus prepared a breakfast for them. As the dawn broke, they could barely see someone on the shore with an aromatic breakfast begging to be eaten. He asked, "Do you have any fish?" That is a tough question for fishermen to answer honestly. "A little slow tonight..." would have been an expected answer. "Not many…" would be another truthful but face-saving answer. To answer, "no" was big. But it is the right answer when you have no fish.

When all the efforts at self-salvation have proven fruitless and Jesus asks for the assessment, it is best to tell the truth. When life’s bumps and bruises cause us to fall back on what we know we can do even if God doesn’t help, we will find the fish don’t bite. God loves us too much to let the fish bite if that would give some solace in our own efforts. He is in charge of all the fish of every sea. I can only imagine the confusion among the fish that night. Normally they would have been swimming in the waters fished by the experienced disciples, but strangely tonight they were not permitted by the hand of God. If He controls the fish, He controls the circumstances of our lives and will arrange them in a fashion that opens our eyes to the feast He has prepared. He makes us hungry before He shows us the grill. All the formulas we have for success as people, as well as spiritual people, will not work when God wants you to see Him the way He really is. What I mean is that even Bible study, spiritual disciplines, church activity etc. will not suffice when God has His mind set on showing us the nature of His kingdom. He will control the circumstances to set the stage for the encounter.

THE SAME GOD WHO CREATES THE HUNGER PREPARES THE MEAL

It was the miraculous catch and the abundant breakfast already prepared that gave John a clue that this was no ordinary man on the sea shore. It seems breaking bread and revelation have a connection. Remember the two disciples on the Emmaus road? They had the privilege of Jesus walking along with them explaining the Scriptures, but they did not truly recognize Him until at the destination when He broke bread with them. Jesus reveals Himself in connection with a prepared table.

I wonder if some of us modern disciples had been in the boat and Jesus had asked us about our success during the night. What might have been the response? Would we have realized our miserable failure and quickly returned to fishing harder? After all, we would not want Jesus to be disappointed with us. Our problem must surely be our lack of diligence or commitment. Would we have downplayed our plight and pretended that we weren’t hungry after all? Would we have ignored the prepared breakfast and trusted in our ability to finally get the job done? Or might we have just quit? We gave it our best shot. We tell ourselves that we actually can’t do it in this life. We’ll have to wait until heaven to really catch fish.

THE INVITATION INCLUDES PARTICIPATING IN THE BANQUET

I’m quite sure there were enough fish on the grill to satisfy all those present, but Jesus invited these men to join the party not only by eating but by providing some of the food. He wanted them to put their fish on the grill too. Now that phrase, "fish that you have caught" needs careful attention. Yeah, they caught it but…did they really? Jesus is the one who told them when and where to throw the nets. Their fish were a result of grace. They only had to offer what He had given them.

We don’t need to miss this part of the kingdom party. We get to join Jesus in providing the kingdom meal. We can put our fish on the grill and enjoy the dignity of hosting as well as the privilege of being fed. But the only fish that will do on His grill are the fish we have as a result of grace. He doesn’t want any un-crucified flesh served. The talents, gifts, money, and good deeds done without His grace are not fit for the grill. But we all have had occasions when in our desperate need, He provided what we could not earn and did not earn. It is what we have as a result of our weakness and His strength that will fit on His grill.

What a party! We are guests who have been invited to sit at His table, which has been prepared by Him. But we are co-hosts too. We are given the enjoyment of helping put on the party. Using the leverage of His wealth we can really put on a "feed" that is impressive.

From the idea that Jesus was a good but probably misguided messiah to the realization that He is Lord of creation and the provider of heaven’s table was quite a change in the disciple’s minds. He is still revealing Himself to us today. Do you see Him as the One who could easily rebuke us for our failures, but chooses to fix breakfast for us even letting us put some of our fish on the grill?

Open our eyes, Lord, to see You as You really are. Thank You for disappointing us when our view of You is too small. Thank you for serving us and giving us the opportunity to serve with You.