Serving After the Resurrection

I just finished reading through the Gospel of John and I couldn't help but be intrigued by Chapter 21. It recounts the last appearance Jesus makes to his disciples in that gospel. Seven of them have gone out fishing. They're out all night and have no luck. At dawn Jesus is standing on the shore and tells them to cast their nets on the other side and they don't only bring in the BIG ONE, they had so many they couldn't even haul the net in.

Now, there's a couple interesting things to note. When Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, they didn't recognize him, but they later always knew it was him without having to ask. Also, when Peter saw that it was Jesus, he put on his outer garment since he was naked and jumped into the water. Why he jumped in, I'm not sure, but he definitely wasn't going to have Jesus see him in his work clothes, or lack thereof. To me I think I see his sudden modesty as a sign of respect. Although the disciples brought in such a large quantity of fish the net was not torn and they took special note to count and record the number: 153 large fish.

Anyhow, the disciples come to shore to discover that Christ has made a coal fire and prepared fish and bread. While the men were out all night fishing and not catching anything, Jesus was making breakfast for them, although I think I would consider it more like supper. By what we read in the gospels, Jesus liked fish and bread and it seems like it was a staple in the diet of these people.

The fish and bread here isn't really the important thing. What I see as significant is that Jesus didn't just appear to them to see how they were still coming along. He came to them serving. He knew they had been out all night and hadn't caught any fish, so He told them how to get some. They also must have been hungry, so he prepared food for them. Jesus spent all his time in ministry serving other people, but it didn't stop after the resurrection. He was still meeting the needs of the people he loved.

I also believe Jesus didn't stop serving when He ascended. We know that He's sitting at the right hand of the Father and he lives to make intercession for us. He still continues to serve us. We pray; He answers. He still meets our needs. He's never stopped serving us. Isn't that amazing?

We often speak about serving the Lord and that's still true. But I think He still continues to serve us a lot more.