71. Unanswered Questions: One Last Helping Hand in the Gospel of John

G' day.

And welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

Dave here.

And that's it.

The end of the Gospel according to John.

He started by telling us how Jesus is God the Son, that the whole world was created through him, how everyone who believes in him can become a child of God.

He's shown us amazing things.

How Jesus healed the sick, walked on water, raised the dead.

We've heard Jesus amazing words.

How he can give people eternal life, how he gives people God, the Holy Spirit.

We saw Jesus die for our sins and then come back to life.

And then we finished with these wonderful words from John at the end of chapter 20.

Jesus did many other miracles before his followers that are not written in this book.

But these are written so that you can believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Then by believing, you can have life through his name.

The music rises, the lights go dark, and we see the big sign.

The end.

Oh, wait, there's another chapter.

Another chapter?

Why would we need another chapter?

Well, John thinks there's still some unfinished business.

Three final questions that are worth answering.

Question one is, hang on a second.

Is Jesus really alive?

Question two is, hang on a second.

Peter can't be allowed to be a really important disciple, can he?

And question three is, weirdly, hang on a second.

Did Jesus just say that John would never die?

Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

At the end of our last episode, Jesus had appeared to all his disciples.

He wasn't dead.

He was alive.

One of his disciples, Thomas, had found it really hard to believe that once he'd seen Jesus though, he.

He realised that Jesus is not just alive, he's actually God, the Son.

Now it's a little while later.

The disciples have traveled from Jerusalem back up to Galilee.

John tells us in chapter 21, verse 2, that a few of them are sitting beside the lake.

There's Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee.

The two sons of Zebedee and two other followers.

Simon Peter says, I'm going out to fish.

And the others say, hey, we'll come with you.

So out they go in their boat.

Now these guys know how to fish.

At least three of them had been professional fishermen before they started following Jesus.

It was their job.

But even though they have all the skills, all the equipment, all the knowledge, even though they fish all night long, they don't catch a single thing.

They must be so frustrated.

Early in the morning, a man appears standing on the shore.

John tells us it's Actually Jesus, but they don't recognise him.

It's still kinda dark and he's kinda far away.

He is close enough to call out to them, though.

In verse 5, he calls out friends, have you caught any fish?

Now?

I've had a few friends who are fishermen, and if they get frustrated by not catching anything, they get even more frustrated if you start talking to them about it.

The disciples don't call out a really long answer.

They just yell back, no.

This stranger on the shore calls back with some advice.

He says in verse six, throw your net into the water on the other side of the boat and you will find some.

John doesn't tell us how they feel about getting that advice, but they've tried everything else, so why not give it a go?

So they gather their net together.

They lean back and cast their net out over the water.

The weights on the edges slowly drag it down, down, down under the surface.

When they've left it to sink down far enough, one of them gives a gentle tug on the rope.

After all, it's been pretty easy to bring it in through the night.

This time, though, it barely moves.

He asks for some help and so someone else gets on the rope with him.

Then another person and another person.

Soon they're all pulling as hard as they can.

Slowly they manage to get the net up to the surface.

And what they see is astounding.

The net is full, like completely full of fish.

There are so many fish in there.

These big, strong blokes can't even pull it out of the water and into the boat.

This is amazing.

It's miraculous even.

They've fished all night and they haven't caught a thing.

Suddenly, when this stranger tells them exactly where to put the net, they get all these fish.

Something clicks inside John's brain.

Even as they're struggling with the rope, he realises who this stranger is.

There's only one person with so much power over the movement of fish.

He says to Peter.

It's the Lord.

Peter is super excited.

He can't wait to get back to shore.

He grabs his coat and he wraps it around himself.

Then he leaps into the water and he swims almost 90 metres to get to shore.

Everyone else uses the boat to get to shore, which seems like the most sensible choice because they can't get the net into the boat, they have to drag it behind them in the water.

When they get to shore, they step out of the boat and discover that Jesus has a fire going with fish cooking and bread to go with it.

He tells them to bring some of the fish that they've caught.

And Peter goes back and helps them to get the net up onto the shore.

When they count the fish, the number seems unbelievable.

They've caught 153 of them.

Even more amazingly, even though there are so many fish, the net hasn't even broken.

Remember, it's been so full they couldn't even pull it up into the boat.

They know that a miracle's happened.

They know there's only one person who can do a miracle like that.

John tells us in verse 12, none of the followers dared ask him, who are you?

They knew it was the Lord.

Jesus really is there.

He really is alive.

He really is still caring for them.

In fact, he's prepared breakfast for them.

He invites them to come and eat the juicy, fresh cooked fish and the delicious bread.

By now, they've seen Jesus three times since he came back to life.

If anyone was wondering if Jesus really is alive, the answer is definitely yes.

But there's something a bit awkward here, something a bit strange and worrying.

Here.

Jesus is with his disciples, including Peter.

But do you remember what Peter did just a couple of chapters ago?

Do you remember what he said on the night that Jesus was arrested?

Three times.

Three times he'd been asked if he knew Jesus, if he was a follower of Jesus, and three times he'd said no.

He'd said he didn't know Jesus.

He was really scared of dying for knowing Jesus, Far more scared than he was of lying.

Jesus had told the disciples that they were going to have a job to tell the whole world about him.

They're going to spread the good news of eternal life through Jesus.

But surely Peter can't be a part of that.

What if things get tough?

What if people get angry?

Will Peter get too scared to tell the truth again?

Surely Jesus doesn't want Peter to be one of his messengers, does he?

Well, after they've finished eating, Jesus turns to Simon Peter.

In verse 15, he says, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

He answered, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Jesus said, take care of my lambs.

Whoa.

What just happened there?

Does Simon Peter really love Jesus?

Not just love him, but love him more than the rest of his disciples.

He says, yes, and Jesus believes him.

Jesus knows everything, so I guess we should believe him as well.

Because Jesus believes him.

He gives him a really important job to do.

It sounds like a farming job.

Take care of my lambs.

But Jesus is actually talking about his people.

Way back in chapter 10, Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

He Means he's the good king who cares for his people.

And now as the good shepherd, he's making sure that his lambs, his people, are being cared for.

He wants Peter to teach them and look after them.

Someone might think, hang on a second.

Does Jesus really want Peter to do that?

And so, just to be really clear, Jesus says it again.

In verse 16, Jesus says, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Again, Peter answers, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

And Jesus says, take care of my sheep.

Whoa, this is so kind of Jesus.

He's forgiven Simon Peter and given him such an important job of caring for his people.

Oh, wait a minute.

I know what's going on here.

Peter said he didn't know Jesus three times, but now he's only said that he loves Jesus twice.

That's not as many times.

It must mean that Peter doesn't really love Jesus, I reckon.

What's that now?

A third time.

Where?

In the very next verse.

We'd better read it just to make sure.

Let's see now.

Verse 17.

Ah, here it is.

A third time, Jesus said, simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me?

Peter said, lord, you know everything.

You know that I love you.

He said to him, take care of my sheep.

Wow.

Jesus really has forgiven him.

Just like Peter said he didn't know Jesus three times.

Now Jesus has helped him say he loves him three times.

The old Simon Peter is gone.

This new Simon Peter, he's ready to go and tell the world about the great King Jesus.

It isn't going to be easy, though.

In fact, it's going to be very, very hard.

Before, Peter lied about knowing Jesus so he wouldn't be killed like Jesus.

Now, because he is going to tell people about Jesus, he's going to die in the same way as Jesus.

He's going to be killed on a cross at some time in the future.

In verse 18, Jesus says to him, I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you tied your own belt and went where you wanted.

But when you are old, you will put out your hands and someone else will tie them.

They will take you where you don't want to go.

Wow.

For the rest of his life, he'll know he's going to be killed for telling people about Jesus.

If he doesn't want that to happen, he just has to lie again, say he doesn't know Jesus or care about him, but Jesus has changed him.

Jesus has forgiven him and made him into a new man.

A man who is not afraid to tell the truth.

A man who trusts that even if he dies, Jesus will make him alive again.

Jesus and Peter start walking away, and John begins to follow them.

Peter looks back and he sees him, and he's obviously thinking about what he's been told.

He's wondering if the other disciples are going to be killed as well.

He says to Jesus, lord, what about him?

Talking about John and have you ever been told by a parent or a grown up that's none of your business, or you don't need to know that right now, or something like that?

That's basically what Jesus tells Peter in verse 22.

He replies, Perhaps I want him to live until I come back.

That should not be important to you.

You follow me.

And the other disciples start thinking to themselves, whoa, John's gonna live until Jesus comes back.

He's never gonna die.

This is amazing.

And more and more people start to believe that in fact, the story's so big, by the time John sits down to write his gospel right here at the end, he wants to say, hang on a second, just stop for a moment and listen carefully to what Jesus answered, actually said.

In verse 23, he tells us, so a story spread among the brothers that this follower would not die.

But Jesus did not say that he would not die.

He only said, perhaps I want him to live until I come back.

That should not be important to you.

In other words, Jesus didn't say he wouldn't die.

He's just saying it's actually not for you to know.

Peter, stop worrying about it.

In the end, John did die.

He died as an old man, but not before he'd done everything he could to let people know that Jesus is alive, that Jesus is God the Son, that if you believe in Jesus, you join God's family.

If you believe in Jesus, even if you die, he will raise you back to life and you will never die again.

The biggest way John told people about that was to write this gospel.

Has he told us everything Jesus ever did?

No, but he's told us enough.

He's told us enough to believe in Jesus as our king and saviour, but write everything down.

That'd be impossible.

There were so many wonderful things, so many amazing things Jesus saw and heard from Jesus that he decides to finish his story like this.

In verse 25, he says, There are many other things that Jesus did.

If every one of them were written down, I think the whole world would not be big enough for all, all the books that would be written.

Well, that really is the end of John's Gospel.

I hope you've enjoyed it.

I hope you've learned lots of wonderful things about King Jesus, our King and Savior.

I hope that you believe in him because he's worth it.

The next series is going to be coming up fairly soon.

I wonder if you can guess what it's going to be about.

It's going to be back in the Old Testament and I'll give you four clues that start with the letter B.

There's going to be a baby.

There's going to be battles.

There are going to be bulls.

And there's going to be a box.

A baby battles bulls and a box.

If you reckon you know what it is, then how about you let me know?

Send a messageaithfulgod.net and tell me what you think the next series is going to be about.

If you've enjoyed this series, if you've enjoyed the Gospel of John, if you've enjoyed listening to stories of a faithful God for kids, it would really help me if you became a financial supporter if I'm talking really now to the parents rather than the kids.

But if you would like me to be able to continue to make these episodes, then please get online, get on faithfulgod.net maybe a one off donation or an ongoing donation to make sure I can keep going in doing these podcasts.

Keep trusting Jesus.

Bye for now.