Is there even a place for me here after all I’ve done?
This question must have bitten deep into Peter.
Even after craning his neck into the empty tomb.
Even after Mary Magdalene witnessed the risen king.
Even after Jesus appeared to him and the disciples.
Even after Thomas placed his fingers in Jesus’ formerly gouged hands.
Even after Jesus showed up as the disciples from Emmaus testified about their encounter with him.
What we know as Good Friday hadn’t ended well for Peter. The night before and into the early morning, he buckled under prying questions from servants of the chief priests.
Cursing, screaming, the man who walked on water to reach Jesus severed his public ties with the condemned Messiah.
Those words of denial and image of his Savior bleeding out on a cross no doubt tormented Peter in the following days.
Is there still a place for me here even after all I’ve done?
That’s why, one day, he said to some of the other disciples, “I’m going fishing.”
He was going back to his former life, likely thinking it was over for him. He might have secretly longed to go back to the sea, the place where he met Jesus in the beginning. Maybe he secretly hoped that Jesus would appear to him so they could have a moment alone.
You know what happens next.
From the shore, Jesus calls out to Peter and some of other disciples who were with him in the boat on the Sea of Galilee.
They don’t recognize Him, and history repeats itself. Jesus tells them where to cast their nets, and they pull in an aquarium full of fish. John recognizes it’s Jesus, and Peter plunges into the sea, high-stepping his way to the Messiah he denied.
And after breakfast on the shore, Peter gets his moment with Jesus.
Three times, he affirms his love for the risen Messiah, and Jesus gives him the answer to, “Is there still a place for me here even after all I’ve done?”
“Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me’ ” (John 21:18-19, NKJV).
Follow me.
Peter lived with a sense of history after Jesus restored him, because he knew what lay ahead.
That’s all Peter needed. When the disciples spoke with new tongues during Pentecost, he’s the one who got up and mapped out the prophetic destiny of the gospel. When the chief priests demanded they stay silent, he continued speaking to what he had seen and heard.
And when the years had worn his skin and the long miles of evangelism piled up, he felt his back pressed against the splintered wood of his own cross—fulfilling his words all those years ago that he’d die for Jesus.
His story has been left for us so that we live with a sense of history. So that we know the end has been written from the beginning.
You might feel like Peter this Resurrection Sunday, a far cry from the good inside, wondering how you got here.
If that’s you, it’s time for Sunday brunch with Jesus on the shoreline.
Read Peter’s story today. See the holy trajectory of his life, how he went from wondering if he still had a place in Jesus’ circle to preaching before wall-to-wall crowds in Jerusalem.
That kind of redemption is available to you. Right now. For today. Signed and sealed.
Jesus is a master storyteller, and He hasn’t left plot holes in your life story.
The details of your life may differ from Peter—where you’ll go, what you’ll do, and who you’ll see. But like him, you can live out that holy trajectory that was written about your life before you were born.
So what will your story say come next Resurrection Sunday?
I have to leave those answers blank for now, because you’re going to fill it in with chapters and chapters of how Jesus has walked you through your story.
While I can’t tell you how your story will unfold, I can tell you where to look for a good beginning.
Sunday brunch by the shoreline with your Savior.
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Kevin Cochrane is the creator of Replenish, the site to resupply your faith with overlooked insights from Scripture-based stories. Share your thoughts by commenting below or dropping a line to kevin@replenishstories.com.
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