9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
John 21:9–12 (ESV)
Through the Bible: Luke 24, John 20-21
When was the last time a smell sent you traveling through time?
Fresh-cut grass that takes you back to high school two-a-days.
A certain perfume that unlocks a memory you didn’t know you still carried.
A hospital hallway that reminds you of a room you prayed you’d never have to revisit.
Researchers say smell is the sense most closely tied to memory. It bypasses our rational filters and goes straight to the places where emotion and memory sit side by side.
Which makes it all the more stunning that when Peter climbs out of the boat and splashes toward the risen Christ on the shore of Galilee, the first thing he encounters is the smell of a charcoal fire.
There are only two charcoal fires mentioned in the entire New Testament. Both of them are in John’s gospel
One burned the night of Peter’s greatest failure. In the courtyard of Caiphas, warming himself at a charcoal fire, the disciple who swore loyalty to the grave only hours before now told a servant girl he didn’t know Jesus at all (see John 18:18).
(John 18:18—“I do not know the man.”)
Same smell. New story. I can imagine the smoke stinging Peter’s eyes. I can imagine he would have rather eaten the fish raw tha to ever smell a charcoal fire again.
Jesus builds this moment on purpose—not to shame Peter, but to heal him. Grace does not erase the past; grace rewrites it.
Breakfast Before Restoration
The scene begins with a miracle. From the boat, the disciples haul in a net so heavy with fish that they can barely drag it to shore.
But when Peter gets to Jesus, Jesus is already cooking fish. Jesus didn’t need what they brought to the table. He didn’t want the fish.
He wanted the fisherman.
This is the gospel logic that still turns the world upside down. The God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills does not ask us for what He lacks. He invites us because He loves us.
When Jesus says, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught,” it isn’t because His breakfast menu depended on it.
It’s because Peter needed to know he still had a place at the table.
“Simon, Son of John…”
Notice Jesus doesn’t call him Peter here. Not yet.
He goes back to the old name:
“Simon, son of John…”
This isn’t rejection. It’s reset. It’s Jesus saying, “Let’s go back to where we first began.” Every detail of this story has happened before. The disciples are back on the Sea of Galilee. They have caught nothing. Jesus gives instructions from the shore. There is a miraculous catch of fish (see Luke 5:1-11).
The Luke story is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Peter, overcome by the weight of his own sin, begs Jesus to depart from him. Jesus says, “Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.”
Now, at the end of Jesus’ ministry, once again Peter is overcome by the weight of his own sin. Perhaps that’s why he went fishing in the first place. Perhaps he decided he had failed as a disciple, so he might as well go back to what he was good at.
About that. For being a professional fisherman, Peter seems to be remarkably bad at it. Not once in the gospels does Peter catch a fish without Jesus’ help.
And Jesus asks Simon, Son of John three questions. Actually, He asks the same question three times.
- Not “Why did you fail Me?”
- Not “Will you promise never to do it again?”
- Not “Explain yourself.”
Just:
“Do you love Me?”
Jesus doesn’t demand a defense. He invites relationship.
And with each answer—however fragile, however imperfect—Jesus recommissions him:
- Feed My lambs.
- Tend My sheep.
- Feed My sheep.
Peter’s failure didn’t disqualify his calling. His shame wasn’t grounds for dismissal. In fact, it became the grounds for reinstatement.
The Gospel at the Charcoal Fire
Jesus doesn’t give Peter a pep talk. He doesn’t remind Peter of his successes in ministry. He confronts him at the place of his collapse. Because that’s where grace does its best work. On the shore of Galilee, the smell of Peter’s failure fills the air.
But so does the smell of breakfast.
The last words Jesus says to Peter echo the first words Jesus says to Peter: “Follow Me.” And maybe for the first time since that night in Caiphas’ courtyard, Peter dares to believe he can.
Jesus doesn’t need the fish. He never has.
He wants the fisherman.
He wants you, too.
Whatever you’re carrying today—regret, relapse, resolve that didn’t hold—
Jesus meets you at your charcoal fire.
Not to rub your face in the past, but to restore you to the future He always intended. Your failure, your brokenness, your awareness of your own weakness isn’t a disqualification to following Jesus. Its’ a prerequisite. His call to Peter is His call to you:
Follow Me.
Related Content for this Day
- Day 319: “They Were Kept From Recognizing Him” (Luke 24:13-16)
- Day 319: The Guest at the Head of the Table (Luke 24:30)
- Day 290: Was Peter Faithful or Faithless? (Matthew 14:21-32)
- Day 291: Peter’s Other Confession of Faith (John 6:66-70)
- Day 293: Why Does Jesus Call Peter Simon Bar-Jonah in Matthew 16?
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