WITNESS – Reaching out to others
(Aim for 20 – 30 minutes)
JOHN
9
Giving Thanks to God
Take a moment to imagine the relief and the new sense of purpose Peter must have
felt after his time with Jesus on the shore. Now give thanks to God for extending to
you that same kind of forgiveness and giving you a commission to serve him as well.
Pray that you might know what it means to follow Christ wholeheartedly – even
when it leads to pain and suffering – and that your life might be a faithful living
expression of his love for all to see.
BREAKFAST BY THE SHORE
John 21
WELCOME – Breaking the ice
Praying for one another
(Aim for 10 minutes)
What is the most meaningful act of forgiveness you’ve ever been shown by a person
you’ve wronged?
Praying for our contacts – Who
WORSHIP – Meeting the Lord
(Aim for 10 – 15 minutes)
Eat, Pray, love,
Use the Lectio Divina pattern as follows, to contemplate Christ and
worship him.
Read: Read Colossians 1.15-20. read it slowly. Read it several times.
Meditate: Read it again, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring certain
words or phrases into prominence, revealing God’s word personally to
you.
Pray: Talk with God, in a conversational style, taking turns to speak
and then listen, about what you are thinking.
Contemplate: Sit quietly and let it all sink in.
You may like to conclude the worship time by explaining to each other
anything you have heard from God or how you have been challenged to
change by the words in Colossians.
WORD – Applying the truth
(Aim for 40 – 45 minutes)
He had offered to help clear up after the dinner party. Indeed he was
eager to do so. We gave him a towel and he worked away with us, wiping
pans and jugs. But he was still excited after the events of the day, and his
mind wasn’t really on the job. Once or twice we suggested he might like
to sit down, to relax. But he wanted to go on.
Then it happened. He picked up the new crystal water jug thjat we’d been
given a few weeks before. He began to wipe it, but as he did so he turned
round to say something to the others. He didn’t notice one of them
turning toward him at the same moment…until it was too late.
He was crestfallen. We were devastated but tried not to show it. He
swept up the broken glass off the floor. He promised to buy us another
jug. He left a little later in a flood of apologies.
We struggled to think through what forgiveness would mean in a case like
that. We were angry, of course, but we knew it had happened because he
was just too eager for his own good. We thought about it a lot. Then, a
couple of weeks later, we invited him to a meal again. And this time after
the meal we invited him to help us clear up. Again we gave him a towel.
He looked at us with a stare of unbelief. We smiled. He helped. It was
fine.
This scene between Jesus and Peter is one of the most spectacular
interchanges in the whole Bible, perhaps in all literature. Most
remarkable is that, by way of forgiveness, Jesus gives Peter a job to do.
1. Read John 21:1-15. What did Jesus find the disciples unsuccessfully
attempting to do on the morning described here (vv. 3-4)?
2. What point might John be making about the work we set out to do in
the world and Jesus’ involvement in that work (vv.4-6)?
In your mind’s eye stand with the disciples in the boat. What projects
have you been labouring over and getting nowhere?
4. Jesus is already cooking fish and bread on his charcoal fire (v. 9). He
doesn’t need their catch. So why does Jesus tell the disciples to bring
some of their fish over as well (v. 10)?
5. Why does Jesus ask Peter the same question three times (vv. 15-17)?
6. Jesus goes to where the pain is, as he so often does. He takes Simon
Peter away from the others. They are probably walking slowly along the
shore. And he asks the question that goes to the heart of it all. “Do you
love me?” The question is asked and answered; and even more, that
answer earns not a pat on the back, not a “There, that’s all right then,” but
a command. A fresh challenge. A new commission.
How does the new commission that Jesus gives Peter offer a concrete way
of demonstrating he’s been forgiven and express hope for him?
7. How has Jesus specifically addressed the areas of your life that have
needed forgiveness and healing?
Jesus tells Peter that he is going to have to follow him, not only in
being a shepherd to the flock, but in glorifying God through dying as a
martyr (vv. 18-19). It is the most natural thing in the world that he should
ask Jesus whether John will share in this fate too.
Why does Jesus deny Peter the information he’s looking for?
9. What misunderstanding does John seek to clear up by including this
conversation about his own fate here (v. 23)?
Once the Word has become flesh, all the books in the world can’t do
justice to it. Nothing less than flesh can now do justice to the meaning of
the Word; your flesh, my flesh. Books can reach a small way out into the
world. Our lives, in the power of the Spirit can reach a lot further.
In what ways can your life become a living expression of the love of God
for the world?