The Gospel of John is the fourth gospel in the New Testament giving an account of the life of Jesus.
John’s writings are very contrasting to the previous three books of the four Gospels, in that most of his writings reflect an entirely different aspect and the character of Jesus’ life, up to when Jesus was miraculously taken back into Heaven.
Matthew in his gospel portrays something of His Jewish lineage, whereas Mark shows servitude of Jesus, with Luke highlighting the needs of people from a human perspective. But John’s takes Jesus to the ultimate level of being very God. John quickly discerned and wholeheartedly believed that Jesus was the Son of God. In the opening verses of John 1: he writes - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it. John also says in John 1: 14 - 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John intently and wholeheartedly listened to what Jesus had told the whole of the twelve disciples, that he was the Son of God, and because of His great love for mankind, was willing to die to overcome death that all who would believe in Him and follow Him would receive eternal life. It was not just for the nation of Israel, but for the whole world, as recorded in John 3:16 - 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Most interesting is how John records the lineage Jesus. He did not start with Abraham at the concept of the Jewish nation, not even with Adam at the beginning of creation, but he takes us back to before time, Jesus was the Son of God, He was from eternity. John in his writings did not just emphasise Jesus as a human being, but primarily as a man with a supernatural nature, He was and is God.
John does not mention his name anywhere in the book, but on four occasions refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John was the disciple closest to Jesus; he shared his deepest thoughts with Jesus and allowed Jesus to get close to his heart. When Jesus at the last Supper told the disciples that someone was going to betray him, Peter knowing how close John was to Jesus said in John 13:22 - 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved , was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
John wrote three more Epistles in the New Testament (1 John. 2 John, 3 John), which richly bare testimony to Jesus’s love for all mankind, and showed how precious Jesus was to him.
John continues to testify who Jesus was by declaring what John the Baptist said in John 1:32 - 32 Then John (john the Baptist) gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
Later in the chapter when Jesus called his first disciples they declared that Jesus was the Messiah, we read in John 1: 43 - 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
What Jesus said to the disciples are the words Jesus is still saying to mankind today follow me. As we witness the good things that Jesus is doing in our lives and in the lives of all followers of Jesus, we can say as Nathaniel witnessed “come and see”. But in order to be a true follower of Jesus we have to do as Jesus’s mother said when the wine ran out at a wedding in Canaan of Galilee, we read in John 2:5 -5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” We have to learn to trust and obey Him, to do whatever He tells us to do.
John also highlighted that we as poor lost sinners and need a change from inside if we are going to become Gods children, and live for eternity, we read in John 3:3 - 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”. John continues to tell of one Pharisee a member of the Jewish ruling council, who came to Jesus and asked Him how he could become part of the Kingdom of God. Jesus was the final solution for sin, no longer under the Jewish law would man have to sacrifice an animal as a sacrifice for sin, Jesus was going to die, we read in Hebrews 10: 11 -11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. Let us remind ourselves again what Jesus said in John 3:16 -16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Just as each one of us need food to nourish our human bodies we also need spiritual food to feed our spiritual bodies. We read in John 6:35 - 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. By reading Gods word the bible, Jesus will nourishes and feed us, He will also quench our spiritual thirst. When Jesus met a woman drawing water from a well He said in John 4: 13 - 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
We need to know that He is living in our hearts, but we need to know where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do in our lives. We read in John 8:12 - 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”. Jesus will lead us as we read the bible and understand His righteous ways, in Psalm 119: 105 we read -Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
There were many shepherds in Israel during Jesus’s time. He used the shepherd in parables to illustrate how He as the Good Shepherd in looking after His people, like a shepherd looks after his sheep in Psalm 100:3 we read – Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Jesus said in John 10:11 - 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Here He is telling us that He will soon be laying down His life by dying on a cross to win us back to Him. He also went on to say in John 10: 14 - 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— Once we become one of His flock, we will recognise His voice, and respond to His leading and guidance, through the Holy Spirit living in us.
Lazareth the brother of Mary and Marta were close friends of Jesus, He often visited them. Lazareth was taken ill so Marta sent for Jesus. Jesus delayed in coming because He wanted to show His power over death. When Marta heard Jesus coming, she went to meet Jesus and said to Him in - John 11:21 - 21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” 28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
At the time when Jesus raised Lazareth back to life, was very close to when Jesus would be crucified so Jesus chose to stay away from Jerusalem for a while, until the time of the Passover was due, He knew that was when His time had come. We read in John 11:45 – Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”
49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation,52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” 57 But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
As the time of the Passover was approaching, Jesus again visited Lazareth and His sisters, in John 12: we read - 1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.3 Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Here Martha anoints Jesus’s feet, it was like a worship offering thanking Him for raising her brother back to life, but also was symbolic as we continue to read John 12:4 - 4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.[b]” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you,[c] but you will not always have me.”
9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.
John then goes on to record Jesus’s triumphant ride into Jerusalem (John 12:12) as recorded in the other three Gospels. In John 13 Jesus gathers the disciples to an upper room to institute the Passover often referred to as the Last Supper, beginning with washing the disciple’s feet. He then tells them someone is going to betray Him and then foretells Peter’s denial of Him - John 13 reads - It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
When Jesus told the disciples someone in the room was going to betray Him they were confused, so Jesus said in John 13:18 - 18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfil this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
John 13:22 - 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved , was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
Having prepared Peter, telling him he would deny Jesus during His trial, Jesus seeks to bring reassurance to the disciples. Jesus prepares the disciple for when He leaves them, telling them He will be preparing a place in Heaven for them and would be sending the Holy Spirit the guide and comforter, we read in John 14:1 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus also reassures them he will not leave them as orphans, but He will return. Jesus will live in them, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will bring them needed assurance and guidance. Jesus also reminds them to keep His commands, Jesus says in John 14: 15 - 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
Jesus knows it is now time to leave the Upper Room and makes His way to the Mount of Olives where He will be captured and put on trial. But before they leave the Upper Room, Jesus gives one final word of reassurance - John 14:25 - 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
In John 15 Jesus tells the disciples that when He returns to Heaven, the disciples will still have a responsibility to live out a God given life, by the power of the Holy Spirit, they need to keep close to Him. Jesus encourages the disciples to be grafted into Him as the true vine. We read in John 15:5 - 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
Jesus then warns them they will be persecuted for Him, (John 15:18 to 25) but once again reminds them, the Holy Spirit will be with them to reassure, protect and guide. John 15:26 says - 26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
In John 16: The disciples begin to understand Jesus will be leaving them for a little while, but in their grief they will turn to Joy. He again warns them they will be persecuted for His sake, as they seek to share His good news of Salvation and those who follow him will live for eternity with him in Heaven. We read in - John 16:1 - “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away.2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me.
Jesus would be so aware of how much had happened and the amount of news they had received, a mixture of sadness and yet Jesus seeks to reassure them, the Holy Spirit will be with them to give them much needed support. We read in John 16:12 - 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16: 22 - 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. John 16:33 - 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus now sets the example to hand everything to His Heavenly Father, who will fulfil all the desires of Jesus to lead guide and protect the disciples as they will soon find themselves venturing out to spear head the church. Jesus prays for His disciples before He is arrested, so He prays in John 17: - After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Jesus knowing that what was about to begin with the explosion of Christianity and the building of th e church, all future believers would need Gods help and guidance, He Prays for All Believers – John 17: 20 continues - 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
In John 18: Jesus with His disciple’s crosses over the brook Kidron to the Mount of Olives where He is arrested. When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and He and His disciples went into it. John 18:1 reads - When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”
5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.
“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
7 Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.
8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” 9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me. “
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
11 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.
John continues in John 18:15 to tell of Jesus being questioned by the High Priest and Pilate and how Peter denies His Lord three times during the trial.
In John 19: Jesus receives His final sentence without Pilot making a judgement. He escapes his responsibility, by handing Jesus over to the people to be crucified (John 19:16). In mockery Pilot had a sign put over His head on the cross, which was truth in John 19:19 we read - 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
Jesus while on the cross handed His mother over to John to take care of her - John 19:26 - When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. They then buried Jesus’s body in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb.
In John 20: Early on the third day, the day after the Sabbath Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb, she is the first to meet the risen Jesus. Jesus then appears to the disciples in the upper room, and again at a later date when Thomas is with them to have all his doubts quashed.
John was very selective in what he wrote, he wanted everyone to know that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, and for us to Know Him and the way of salvation, he wrote in John 20:30 - 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
In John 21: Peter was disillusioned without his Lord, and seems to think that they had no real future, John together with his brother James as well as Peter and his brother Andrew had been fisherman, before becoming disciples and followers of Jesus. They now felt the only way forwards in their lives was to return to the original profession of fishing. But while they were out fishing we read in - John 21:1 - Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas(also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish? ”No,” they answered.6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Jesus then having prepared a meal took the opportunity to remind Peter s to what his true calling was in his life. Jesus asked Peter where his priorities lay, and gently reminded him in Matthew 16:18 he whose name means “ rock” was the one who would be the forerunner in commencing the church of God. Jesus then asked Peter in John 21:15 - 15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these? ”Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you. “Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me? “He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. “Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me? “Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
The Acts of the Apostles follows the Gospel of John. In Acts 2 we read how the disciples would receive power when they receive the Holy Spirit, giving them power and authority to go into all the world and make disciples. (Matthew 28:16 to 20) Jesus now prepares Peter for what would lie ahead, for at the end of his life he would suffer a martyr’s death. Jesus tells us in John 32:18 - 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
Here Jesus reminds every follower of His that it is to love Him that welds us together with him. He also reminds Peter and those listening that the one important thing to do is to continue to follow Him.
Peter then has to be reminded that whatever other fellow Christians around are seeking to do for Jesus, we need to keep on following Him. The closing verses of Johns Gospel 21:20 read - 20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” 22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumour spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
If you were asked the same question Jesus asked Peter in Matthew 16:15 - 15 “But what about you,” He asked; “Who do you say I am?” Could you say with Peter - 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Further writing will be given to the book at a later date.
