The sun peeped through the buds on my sturdy oak trees. The birds, just waking up, chirped their cheery welcome to the dawn. It was calm and peaceful as I snuggled under my blanket in my chair, reading John 21 for our Tuesday morning Bible study. No dust crying out for attention yet. No grumbling stomachs needing to be satisfied. No parade of people marching through my kitchen. No tinkling bell alerting me that Mom needs something.

Just me and God’s Word. And the Holy Spirit. Ahhh…

I have read that portion of Scripture hundreds of times, I’m sure. It recounts the story of Jesus’ third appearance to His disciples after His Resurrection. Yet in the stillness of my heart, in the quietness of my living room, words leapt off the page and I saw things I had never seen.

Just me, God’s Word, and His Spirit.

Has that ever happened to you? A familiar passage suddenly seems brand new and full of important, personal insights just for you? It is simply precious.  

At the end of our study, Greg always closes us with something like, “Let’s take a few minutes before I pray for us and ask the Holy Spirit what He wants to impress on our hearts from these verses. How does He want us to respond?” I quickly wrote these phrases on my study sheet. Be a disciple. Be the one Jesus loves. Be the one who recognizes Jesus. Not earth-shattering stuff. But something God obviously wanted me paying attention to.

Peter looms so large in this story that I have often missed John, I’m afraid. But John had my complete attention that morning.

The disciples were gathering in Galilee, waiting further instructions from Jesus after the Resurrection. What an emotional roller coaster these men had been on! I can’t imagine how they were making sense of what had just happened in Jerusalem. What confusion, what apprehension! But here they were, His followers, in obedience to Jesus’ instruction to go to Galilee.

I know it is true of the other men there by the sea as well, but the first thing I considered was simply that John was a disciple, a learner who followed his rabbi, his teacher. In good times, in bad times. Being a disciple, according to the Bible Dictionary, implies the disciple’s acceptance in his mind and in his life of the views, teachings, and practices of his rabbi, in this case, Jesus. As a disciple, John enjoyed a close relationship with the Lord, traveling all over Israel for months. He was a member of Jesus’ inner circle. He had the opportunity to see the miracles and hear the incredible teachings in Jesus’ ministry—and some that the others did not. For example, He witnessed the raising of Jairus’s daughter, the Transfiguration, and Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane with Peter and James alone.

At the Last Supper, John reclined at the table next to Jesus and later, of all the disciples, he was the only one specifically mentioned as being present at the Crucifixion. John was also the one to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His mother. John was among the first to enter the empty tomb…and believe. What a privilege!

Yet John was just an ordinary fisherman. Imperfect. Brash. Prejudiced. Competitive. Judgmental. A Son of Thunder. Wanting to be first of all the disciples. Calling down fire on the Samaritans. Why would Jesus call him to be His disciple? Because Jesus knew John to be the kind of man that could be shaped into strength. He had the potential to be tough for the truth. He only needed to be tempered by love. And that would happen. He became known for love in his writings.  

I want to be a disciple too. I want to follow the Teacher wherever He leads me. I need to be near Him. I long to know His mind. I want to obey His voice. I want to be useful and valuable in His Kingdom.

I am ordinary and flawed but He knows me. He made me. He can temper me too.
 
The next thing I wrote down was Be the one Jesus loves. I am aware that being loved by Jesus has nothing to do with me, nothing I can do, nothing I can be. It is all about Him, how He has set His affection on me, engraved my name on the palm of His hand. How merciful He is! But are these just words to me? Lines of a song? Do I KNOW that He loves me—in the deepest part of me? Do I LIVE loved by Jesus? I think John did.

When John humbly referred to himself five times in this Gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” I think he was actually saying, “My most important identity is not my name but my being loved by Jesus the Son of God.” (John Piper). John exalted in this love. It was who he was.

I think his self-description portrayed the magnificent, overwhelming reality that he was an intimate and beloved companion of Jesus and he wanted to celebrate that, live in the beauty of that.

I want to celebrate His love for me too. It is so very humbling. I want to bask in the identity His love gives me. And I want to love others like He loves me.

The last thing I noted was Be the one who recognizes Jesus. Peter had decided to go fishing; James, John, and several others joined in. They, many of them professional fishermen, fished all night and caught nothing. As they, likely tired and discouraged, made their way back home in the early morning, a Man on shore called out to them, asking about their catch. After their negative reply, He urged them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. The result was a full net of thrashing, slippery fish. Immediately, John cried out, “It is the Lord.”  The others had missed Him.

I don’t want to be too busy, too distracted, too lazy, too anything not to see Jesus, not to recognize my Father, not to notice His hands at work in the world. And I want to be the first to see Him!

In all of creation, in the beauty surrounding us, He is seen. In the mundane moments of everyday life, joyful or painful or both, He is there. He inhabits our praises. He is near to the brokenhearted. He is seen in the faces of our loved ones and strangers. He is at work, at school, at church, at home, at the ballpark, at the beach, at the nursing home, at the hospital, at the battlefield, at the concert hall, at the courthouse, at the jail, at the palace…He is everywhere. He is active. He is moving all of history. And I want to see Him. I want to recognize His works, His words, His wisdom, His Presence.

I want to proclaim His glory. I was made for that. And so were you.

I want to be the first to recognize my King, don’t you?

So these are the three phrases my Father shared with me that early Tuesday morning so many weeks ago. I am not sure why, but I believe He wanted me to share them with you too. I hope they strike a chord in your heart like they did in mine. Thank you, John the Beloved and thank you, Jesus.

Be His disciple. Listen. Learn. Follow. Obey. Stay close. Don’t give up.

Be the one Jesus loves. Live loved. Make His love your identity. There are no cheap substitutes that will give you life.

Be the first to see Jesus. Watch Him work. Celebrate Him. Make Him known!

And you didn’t even have to be awake at 6 AM to get this message—though you ought to give it a try sometime.

We’d love to see you!