Beyond Fishing

When Jesus rose from death in Jerusalem, he surprised his friends by meeting them in various places – on country roads, in urban gardens, closed rooms, on mountain tops - but only one of these recorded events occurred near water. You can read the story in John 21.

I suppose it was inevitable, really. Most of Jesus' disciples hailed from Galilee as did Jesus, so it was only natural that he would re-connect with them back in their familiar haunts.

The angel-in-the-tomb told the disciples Jesus would meet them in Galilee, so they left Jerusalem and went back north. One night eight of them went fishing – except that the fish didn’t cooperate. It was a fruitless outing and as dawn broke over the horizon, their nets were empty and their arms ached. No doubt they talked a lot about the recent events and the puzzling whereabouts of Jesus. Their whole sense of mission seemed as vague and futile as this fishing venture.

Storm Master

In March 1992, ten foot waves crashed into downtown Tiberius on the shore of Lake Galilee, causing significant damage.

As lakes go, Galilee isn’t very large – 13 miles long and 8 miles wide, but violent storms can erupt very quickly as cool air rushes down from the adjacent mountains – the Arbel on the west, seen in the photo here, and the Golan Heights 1200 meters above the lake on the east .

The disciples were seasoned fisherman familiar with the lake’s turbulent ways. They knew how to handle her storms. On one occasion, Jesus was asleep in the boat when the winds hit.