Embodied HopeSample

Ordinary Things

Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. (v. 13)

After fishing all night, they hadn’t caught a thing. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” someone calls out from shore. They do, and they catch too many fish to haul in. When they realize it’s Jesus, Peter dives overboard and swims wildly to shore, the other disciples paddling behind with the net full of fish in tow.

That’s when Peter sees it: a charcoal fire. Like the one on that terrible night when he denied his Lord. A fire to signify that God is a God of second chances, and a new fire was about to be ignited in their hearts. And fish sizzling over the fire. Like when Jesus multiplied the fish and loaves at the feeding of the 5,000. Now they would be commissioned to go fish for people. And finally, bread. Just like in the Last Supper, Jesus takes the bread and gives it to them, feeding them with his loving presence.

It’s such an ordinary and earthy scene, Jesus eating breakfast on the beach with his disciples. But this is what the risen Jesus does. He takes ordinary things and works in extraordinary ways. A charcoal fire. Fish. Bread. You and me. The church, his body on earth. When we are fed by his presence in the bread and cup, our hearts are set ablaze and we’re sent into our everyday, ordinary lives to be a sacrament of his love.

As you pray, ask God to use your ordinary life as a vehicle of his extraordinary purposes.