Waiting

John 21:1-3 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called 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.
 
THE four gospels are unclear about the sequence of Jesus’ appearances to his disciples during the 40 days between his resurrection and ascension. But we can learn Jesus met the disciples twice in Jerusalem, taught 500 believers in Galilee (1 Corinthians 15:6), met with James, his brother (1 Corinthians 15:7) and now these seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberius (Galilee). Luke, Acts and Matthew also record the entire group of disciples plus other believers were with Jesus at his ascension.
   Why were only seven disciples in Galilee? After all, Jesus had told them to meet him there: Mark 14:28
“But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” And an angel in the empty tomb had instructed Mary and the women to “go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” After seeing Jesus in Jerusalem, wouldn’t all have been in Galilee?
   It seems doubt and confusion still controlled the disciples’ minds. The missing four disciples and these seven seem to long for the Lord’s leadership. In the waiting was uncertainty: What are we supposed to do? When will the Lord come? Will he come?  
   Then Peter, still the leader, acted. And it’s likely we would do (or we do) the same. He did what he knew to do. “I’m going out to fish.” and they joined him. Sometimes waiting on God means we keep doing what we know until he comes to lead us into our calling. For the Lord God’s own reasons, he caused the disciples to wait. He often did so in his ministry. For example, he allowed Mary and Martha to wait four days until he raised Lazarus. Jesus was always purposeful in his work to do the most good. In a sense, Jesus had sent the disciples home to Galilee and back to their roots. Perhaps the waiting gave them some time to consider the three tumultuous years they had walked with God incarnate. Maybe they became more eager to see Jesus and were more hungry to know what he would do next. And they surely learned they needed Jesus to point the way forward. In some sense, it seems we’re always waiting on God for something. And it’s good to know he will come in his time for his good purpose.
          Then there’s the question: Is he waiting on you to answer his call? Has he told you what to do? Are you ready to respond as the disciples would?