There is this story in the bible, with a pretty common front-faceed message, but with an incredible back plot. I've found it pretty easy to read something and only see the surface value of it, but learning how to read between the lines is a whole other adventure.
The story I am talking about is in the end of John, after Jesus has died and resurrected: “After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 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. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.”
First glance, this is a story about a miraculous fishing trip - which is great in its own way, but something a little deeper is what stood out to me... It comes with this idea of ‘being one of the crazies’.
Here, let’s paint the picture: We’ve got the disciples fishing through the night and into the morning. They are probably tired, getting a little frustrated at the lack of fish, and on top of that, still sad over the loss of their of their teacher. So, move on to the next scene, Jesus comes and stands on the shore of where they’re fishing and casually calls out to them. He doesn’t pull some huge stunt and call out something like “It is I! Come and rejoice at my triumph over death!” That’s not who Jesus is. He is humble, and selfless, He doesn’t seek attention and fame like most people do. All Jesus calls out are some helpful tips on catching fish. So now we have the disciples, who have just gotten some friendly advice, catching a TON of fish; they are probably like “Man, that dude is awesome, he really has some skills!” That’s when one of them finally clues in that the expert fisher on shore is actually Jesus. (Now we are getting to my favorite part) Moments after they realize it is probably Jesus, Simon Peter freaks out. This is the scene I picture unfolding: Its early morning, so it’s probably still foggy, the disciples hear that Jesus is one the shore waiting. Simon Peter, who has had a super great friendship with Him (until he denied any relation to Him not once, but three times) heart probably starts racing - he’s thinking “Oh my God, it’s Jesus! I can’t believe he’s back! Oh my God, He IS God! Oh my God, I need to get to Him!” But, with the fog, he probably can’t see very clearly and is just assuming and hoping that it really is Jesus on the shore. So he does the only thing he sees as reasonable for the circumstances: He puts his robe on and jumps in the water. This is why it’s my favorite part: not only does Simon Peter respect Jesus enough to not show up to Him in his working clothes and takes the time to put his robe back on, but he is actually so overjoyed and passionate about the fact that Jesus might be on the shore that he jumps in the water and s w i m s to Him. He is going for it. Yeah sure, the boat follows right behind him carrying everyone else who didn’t feel the need to swim to Jesus, but that’s what make Simon Peter awesome. He didn’t care that they were only 100 meters from shore and that the boat was following right behind him, nor did he care that he was going to get all cold and wet, all that was guiding his decision was the deep passion for Jesus. What he did would be deemed crazy by anybody else, but that didn’t matter.
I guess this is the basics of what God has been speaking about to me lately. Amidst all of the busyness of preparing for GO Fest Sydney, general base operations, and looking at the future, I’ve been given this question: Are you willing to be one of the crazies? The first time I read through John 21 and encountered this question, I was brought nearly to tears. It brought back all of those other questions and dilemmas that came during DTS, the willingness to take risks and seeks miracles, the options to follow my passions wholeheartedly, and the necessity of letting go of control. I was in this limbo of wanting to live what I had learned in the past six months, but also wanting to advance into ‘normal life’ after DTS. What it came down to for me was this question of “Is following in the boat really enough for me?” Sure, all the disciples loved Jesus, and in the end, they all made it to shore and had breakfast with him, but was the assumed reaction of just staying in the boat and casually rowing to shore enough? This answer to this came with a decision of complete surrender. If what I do is seen by the whole world as completely insane, but is in reckless pursuit of Jesus, that’s alright by me. If I am able to give everything I have in order to bring a little piece of the Kingdom of God here, but every single person thinks what I’m doing is nuts, so be it. I think in the end, I would much rather have been a crazy person that loved Jesus more deeply than anything else, than a normal person who didn’t love that much at all.
