“But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.” John 21:4
It is hard to imagine the atmosphere that surrounded the disciples of Christ three days after the crucifixion of Christ. Harder still is to grasp something of the news that Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to certain women who had come to Christ’s tomb the third day. On the one hand we see these women disciples of Christ who braved the peril of resentment, and rejection, perhaps even incarceration by the hands of the Roman authorities, and yet they came out of love for Christ, when no one else did. Then we see them return with the news that they had seen Jesus alive. The other disciples were shut behind closed doors for fear of the Jews, with little or no hope of seeing Jesus, certainly not at that time when uncertainty filled their thinking. It was in this moment of questioning, and potential persecution, having little concept of what God the Father, by the Spirit had just done in raising Christ from the dead, that Jesus begins to show, or reveal Himself to them. Why is His appearing to them at this time so very important? Secondly, how did He “appear,” and what did He say?
To the disciples who were gathered behind closed doors, fearful of what the Jews might now do, Jesus appears very quietly. The first thing He says is: “Peace be unto you.” (Jn. 20:19) Why is this the first thing that He says? It is because it reveals the greatest need of the disciple’s hearts. If there is to be the full effect of His revealed presence felt in the hearts of the disciples, there must be peace, His peace and calm. Jesus reveals Himself to be, as it was the day on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of the storm, above it, sovereign in power. He now stands before the disciples after the ordeal of the cross, revealing Himself to them as the One who is still sovereign in a physical storm, but more so now sovereign over death. The first thing He communicates to them is His peace, so that in that blessed calm, the effect of the revelation of His person, will go deep into their hearts. It is also at this time that He immediately brings the disciple’s focus upon their mission, which was His mission, to bring the message of eternal life to the world. He tells them: “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” (v.21) With that commission declared anew, He affirms and reveals again the essential element, or provision, so that it can and will be accomplished. He then breathed upon them and said: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” By the power of the Spirit, and the authority of Christ, all will become possible in and through His disciples to accomplish His work.
The second “appearance” of Christ to the disciples occurred eight days later, to a great extent because of Thomas who was not there the first time that He came. Again, the Lord greets them in the same way: “Peace be unto you.” Then He turns to Thomas specifically to change his doubts to faith, by saying, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless but believing.” (20:27) The summation of Jesus’ dealings with Thomas to bring him to faith is in His words: “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
The third appearance was on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias. There Jesus would address Peter specifically, seeking to draw him out and beyond the terrible failures of his past, to bring him to see his personal calling and mission, that of feeding the Lord’s lambs and sheep. So poignant and specific is this message to Peter, that the Lord makes it abundantly clear that, for its realization, every disciple must singularly follow Him.
Dear Father, Refresh our individual calling. In Jesus’ name, Amen.