Coal Fire Fellowship

When they came to shore and got out of the boat, they saw a coal fire there with fish on it, and some bread. ~ The apostle John (John 21:9)

CORE (The heart of the message):

A coal fire here symbolizes a place of pure grace as well as reunion, reconciliation, restoration, and revelation. The Church needs more coal fire fellowship.

CONTEXT (What’s going on before and after this passage):

We sometimes become like embers away from the fire, cooling slowly for lack of togetherness. You may feel like this now, or at least know someone who does.

Embers away from the fire – that describes the emotional space of many of Jesus’ first disciples before he found them and after they ran away during his arrest, stayed at a distance during his trial, avoided his crucifixion, and stayed in hiding after his death. But the risen Jesus brought them all together again for ministry by commissioning them to a fresh vision and a meaningful mission. And one time this happened around a coal fire.

The risen Jesus is appearing to his disciples for the third time, now on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus performs a miracle, making fish multiply in their nets, which is how Peter first came to believe in Jesus (Luke 5:1-11). So now Jesus is signaling to Peter and the others that they are, in one sense, invited afresh to follow Jesus. Even after seeing Jesus on the shore, hearing his voice, and witnessing yet another miracle catch of fish, Peter seems to be in some sort of shame-induced disconnected state, since he doesn’t respond to Jesus’ presence at all, even after the miracle, until John says to him, “It is the Lord!”. Only then does Peter appear to snap out of it and immediately hurries to get to Jesus.

Note how different this reaction is to the first time Peter was confronted with Jesus’ power and authority through a miracle catch of fish. The first time Peter’s response was shame, saying “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This time, with John’s help, Peter’s response is to run toward Jesus. Jesus then invites all the disciples to combine the miracle fish they have just caught with the fish and bread he has already prepared, and he serves them a fish-n-bread breakfast. After eating, Jesus re-commissions Peter for ministry three times over, undoing the disgrace of his three-times-over denial.

CONSIDER (Observations about the passage):

The author of John’s Gospel specifically mentions that the fire Jesus makes is a coal fire. The Greek word (anthrakia) refers to a specific kind of fire made with coals (or charcoal) which lasts longer and burns hotter than a wood fire alone. This Greek word for a coal/charcoal fire is only used one other place in the entire Bible, and that is also in John’s Gospel. John includes the detail that it is while standing around a coal fire (anthrakia) in the courtyard of the high priest that Peter denies knowing Jesus three times (John 18:18).

It is no accident that Jesus specifically prepares a coal fire to serve his disciples and recommission Peter, and no accident that John highlights this for us. Jesus seems to be intentionally setting the stage for a potent déjà vu moment and the author of John’s gospel is drawing our attention to it.

Jesus is helping Peter revisit and review his painful memories and then remove and replace them with a fresh memory of grace, acceptance, and restoration.

COMMENTARY (Thoughts about meaning and application):

The author of John’s Gospel is drawing our attention to a life-giving theological principle. Jesus knows us at our worst and he still loves us, forgives us, and plans a meaningful future for us.

Earlier, Jesus had given Peter the nickname “son of Jonah” (Matthew 16:17), the prophet who ran away from his calling but was later restored. A coal fire is the place where we remember our weakness, but also remember that God’s love is greater and that his infinite agape defines our identity more than any failure of our past. A coal fire is the place of reunion, reconciliation, restoration, and revelation.

Ponder this: Why didn’t Peter kill himself? That seems like a harsh question, except Judas killed himself after betraying Jesus, so why didn’t Peter give up on life after publicly denying Jesus? After all, Peter had heard Jesus say these apparently hard, harsh, and heavy words: “Whoever denies me before people I will deny before my Father in Heaven” (Matthew 10:33; Luke 12:9). That seems definitive. After Peter denied Jesus around a coal fire while Jesus was on trial, he had every reason to remember these words and give up all hope.

Apparently, Peter remembered some other words from Jesus: “I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). “When you have turned back…” means Jesus must have known Peter would first turn away, and Jesus still had a plan for Peter’s future ministry. “Strengthen your brothers” says Jesus. Jesus gives Peter a mission. When our lives fall down all around us we desperately need to know that God can channel our pain toward purpose. We need more than just knowing there is grace, mercy, and love on the other side of our failure. The human soul is meant for more than receiving love. That’s a good start. Babies thrive by being loved in practical and caring ways. But if we want to mature, we need to have opportunities to go beyond getting love to giving love. Jesus not only gives grace to Peter, he gives Peter purpose.

Now Peter had a choice between which message of Jesus he would allow to become authoritative in his heart. Would Jesus reject Peter or restore Peter? Thankfully, Peter seems to have chosen to hear Jesus’ harsh words through the filter of Jesus’ hopeful words.

How did Peter know? How did Peter discern which message from Jesus to make absolute – his harsh words or his hopeful words? For instance, when Peter first heard from the women disciples that Jesus has risen, why did he run toward and not away from the tomb? We can only guess at an answer, but we can say with confidence that Peter had years of experience with Jesus, observing him, learning from him, and getting to know his heart. Peter saw how Jesus fulfilled the words of Isaiah’s prophecy: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through victory” (Isaiah 42:1-4; Matthew 12:20). Apparently, the victorious justice of Jesus is gentle.

So, when Jesus and Peter looked at each other at the very moment of Peter’s greatest sin (Luke 22:61), Peter must have seen something in Jesus’ face that communicated hope along with disappointment, compassion as well as conviction. It was the look of love. Like Peter, I want to approach the teaching of Jesus with a hermeneutic of coal fire faith, life-saving hope, and unconditional love.

The Bible itself tells us that the goal of all Bible teaching is love (1 Timothy 1:5); the only thing that counts is faith expressed through love (Galatians 5:6); loving others is how we love God (Matthew 18:5; 1 John 4), and what remains most important is always faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13; Colossians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8). Whenever there is the possibility of interpreting a Scripture passage either harshly or tenderly, to produce uncertain fear or confident faith, disheartening shame or uplifting hope, pious judgementalism or humble service, I hereby declare my bias: I will always choose the life-giving interpretation that inspires faith, hope, and love.

If our study of Scripture isn’t making us more aligned with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the look of love (1 Corinthians 13:1-7), we are doing it wrong. May our Scripture study and spiritual conversations always lead to life, freedom, and the beauty of coal fire fellowship.

“Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought.” ~ Saint Augustine (On Christian Doctrine)

Coal fire fellowship is courageously honest while being deeply humble (Matthew 7:1-5). Coal fire fellowship makes room for the transparent confession of sin where the only response is prayer not punishment (James 5:16). Coal fire fellowship happens when we all show up to be stewards of God’s grace to one another (1 Peter 4:10). Coal fire fellowship is where we hear one another say, “It is the Lord!” and we awaken to the presence of Jesus.

CONTEMPLATE (Scripture passages that relate to and deepen our understanding of this topic):

John 13:34-35; 17:20-23; Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 13; Hebrews 10:25; James 5:16; 1 Peter 4:8-10; 1 John 3:14-16; 4:1-21

CONVERSATION (Talk together, learn together, grow together):

1. What is God revealing to you about himself through this passage?

2. What is God showing you about yourself through this passage?

3. How have you experienced real coal fire fellowship, totally honest and accepting friendship, in your life? Talk about its impact.

4. What is one thing you can think, believe, or do differently in light of what you are learning?

5. What questions are you still processing about this topic?

Thanks for reading and commenting.