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Does Jesus Need Us to Accomplish His Work?

We come now to the end of the series of sermons from John’s gospel. Most of the time I’m eager to move on to the next series, but I’m a little reluctant this time. I discovered so many enlightening things about Jesus while working through the Gospel according to John. Back in January we began a series on the miraculous signs in John’s gospel that Jesus performed. A sign is a miracle with a deeper meaning. You could say that a sign is the combination of a miracle and a parable. The reason John records these signs for us is not to draw attention to Jesus' miraculous power. Rather, these signs serve as a signpost to point the reader in the direction of believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. There are eight such signs, seven during Jesus’ pre-resurrection ministry and one that he performed after his resurrection. I have waited until after we celebrated Jesus’ resurrection to consider this last sign.

The eighth and final miracle record in John 21:1-14 occurs after Jesus’s death and resurrection. The disciples had been fishing and had not caught a single fish, when Jesus appeared to them. At first the disciples did not recognize Him. But when He told them to cast their nets out to the right side of the boat, they did as they were told. They hauled in a miraculous catch of fish—so many they were unable to lift the net into the boat.

When the other disciples hit land, there was already a fire going with some fish on the grill, and bread too. Can we conclude that Jesus had already miraculously provided fish and bread? If so, why would Jesus tell them to bring some of the fish they caught when he already had fish and bread on the fire? There’s a message for us here. Jesus had clearly provided their fish miraculously, but they also worked for it. He enabled them to bring something to the table as well. John is showing us something significant here. Jesus does not need our work. He can do everything necessary without any help from anybody. But Jesus desires to be in partnership and fellowship with His disciples—and not just those who ate fish with Him on the lakeshore. Jesus wants to involve us in his work, too.