This week I want to explore the account of Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish as described by John in chapter 21.

I wonder whether those seven in the boat looked at each other and reflected on their past.

It was a strange collection when you think about it. Thomas the doubter; Nathanael the one-time cynic ('Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?'); the two sons of Zebedee - well, they had their moments when they were certainly not at their best: the ambitious men who wanted special thrones in the eternal glory.

And two other anonymous disciples (verse 2). Then Simon Peter says: 'I'm going fishing'. The others replied: "We'll go with you."

Here they were. They weren't a team, they weren't anything like they could or should have been; they'd all failed in the past and made ghastly mistakes.

But Jesus was going to appear to them. He was going to make himself known to people who were coping with disappointment.

They couldn't even do the one thing that some of them thought they could do best - fishing.

Half of them were experienced fishermen, and they had hauled in nets scores of times on that lake too.

They knew the best places to catch fish and sell it. But even the thing that they thought they could do well they couldn't do at all.

Was it so that Jesus could impress them through their failure, and remind them of his words - 'Without me, you can do nothing'.

What did the disciples learn about the Lord?

I think the key to the chapter is in verse 7, in the words of the disciple whom Jesus loved: 'It is the Lord'.

After the fishing expedition the disciples arrived back on shore and there was their breakfast.

The Lord already had a meal partly prepared for them - the fire, the bread and the fish. He'd gone ahead of them.

Jesus is always ahead of us, however tough and difficult it is. And there always will be the generous provision we need.

To close. 'It is the Lord'. He is present always, sometimes when we least expect it. He must have been on the shore long before they saw him. We must never forget it.

This week's thought: Swallow your pride occasionally - it is non-fattening!