‘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’ (John 21:3 ESV).
Some time after the resurrected Jesus had appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem, Peter decided to return to Capernaum and go fishing. Six of the Twelve disciples decided to go with him. But they fished all night and “caught nothing.”
Peter had left his nets to follow Jesus three years prior. Why return to his nets now? Wasn’t it because he doubted his calling after denying Jesus three times before his crucifixion? He knew Jesus had defeated sin, death, and the grave. He’d seen the risen Lord. Yet, it seemed that he no longer felt worthy to be one of his apostles. So he decided to go back to his former life.
But Jesus appeared again to them on the beach that morning, repeating the miracle of filling Peter’s empty net with fish as he had done when he first called him (See Luke 5). Jesus invited them to join him for breakfast, where he asked Peter three times whether he loved him. In this way, restoring Peter’s calling.
Have you ever tried to return to your former way of life after deciding to follow Jesus? You decided to go fishing, but “caught nothing?” Yet Jesus pursued you, calling you back to himself?
This is the love that Jesus has for us, that even when we feel like giving up, he never gives up on us. He restores us and calls us back to love him as he first loved us.
PRAYER: Dear Father, strengthen us when we feel like giving up. For we sometimes feel unworthy and overwhelmed. Renew our strength and fill us afresh by Your Spirit that we might serve You with zeal. In Jesus’ name, amen.