John 21:1-14 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed he himself.… I. THE SELF-MANIFESTATION OF JESUS AFTER HIS RESURRECTION. We now come to a new term in the narrative: "He showed Himself," or "He manifested Himself," or "He was manifested to His disciples." This shows that He was not seen except by an act of His own will, overcoming His natural invisibility. He can only manifest Himself to our hearts when we are ready for Him, and just so He could only appear to those who were ready for the sight. We must always remember that there were moral reasons for the manifestation of Jesus after His resurrection beyond the necessity of proving the fact of His victory over death. He rescued the apostles from despair and unbelief and recalled them to their tasks and to a holier intimacy with Him than was possible before He was crucified. II. THE DISCOVERY OF JESUS BY HIS DISCIPLES. There are disciples in all ages of the Church who see the presence of Jesus by the intuition of love. And such was John. He saw without beholding. He knew, not so much by faith, as by the love that believeth all things and never faileth. And yet this John was not of a sluggish, indolent nature. We have known souls who were,, the first to detect, the presence of Jesus in the Church and to say "It is the Lord!" They feel, while others are asking for evidence. There are others, like Peter, marked by their obedience to faith. John said: "It is the Lord!" When Peter heard that it was the Lord, he hastened to find Him. It does not appear that Peter saw Him any more than John did. He believed the word of John, and moved forward at once to verify it. John could wait; not so Peter. No doubt it will be found that both these temperaments are essential to the progress of the kingdom of heaven and to the bringing of the people of God to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, who united perfectly the active and the contemplative elements of character. (Edward N. Packard.) Parallel Verses KJV: After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself. |
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