DID YOU KNOW PETER QUIT - part 1

John 21 is the story of Peter being brought back into ministry. When you think about it, this is an amazing fact. Really, you could say that humanly speaking the furtherance of Christianity had been placed into Peter's hand. But now he has abandoned the call. 

Peter was unquestionably the leader of the disciples. Every time the disciples are mentioned in the Bible he is always mentioned first. He is the outspoken one. he is the one who answers question when no one has asked any. He dives in when the water is shallow. And he makes promises that he doesn't keep.

This is why he is fishing for fish and not men in John 21. He has quit. The reason seems obvious - he promised Jesus he would go all the way, even death, and soon after denied that he even knew Jesus. He gave up. He quit and returned to fishing.

Peter makes the announcement in verse 3 when he simply says he is going fishing. Here is the part we miss with the english translation - Peter spoke in the aorist tense meaning this was a continual habitual action. He wasn't saying he was going fishing for a while, but that he was returning back to fishing on an ongoing basis. Peter was quitting his calling as a disciple. 

That's the first tragedy. The second tragedy follows in verse 3 when six other disciples said they were going with him. That's usually how it happens when someone falls and goes astray - others fall too. We now have 7 disciples who have left their calling as disciples and Peter was leader of the pack.