Tabgha: Breakfast With Jesus

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Where does church tradition say that Jesus called his first disciples, cooked breakfast for them after his resurrection, and is the setting for the last chapter of the

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Gospel of John? It's a place called Tabgha. The place that is today called

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Tabgha does not appear in the Bible, at least not by name, but it may be the site of a couple of very important events in the

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New Testament. According to tradition, this is the place where Jesus called Peter and Andrew to be his disciples, inviting them to become fishers of men.

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It's also said to be the place where Jesus, after his resurrection, cooked a breakfast of fish for his disciples and asked

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Peter three times if he loved him. After Dean's lesson, I'll tell you more about why this place was popular with fishermen in Jesus' day and how it came to be called by its modern name, and why, in spite of tradition, this is not the location of the feeding of the 5 ,000.

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Right next door to us, and we're not going to go see this over here because you see the same thing over here, basically, there's a church that's been built over there in honor of and memory of the feeding of the 5 ,000.

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I don't believe that this is the exact spot. Again, this is the Catholic church that built the church there to commemorate the event.

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I believe the spot was a little further up from here, but I want to talk about that for just a moment.

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If you'll look at page 25 in your notes, and I'm going to do this one very quickly and I want you to do your own

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Bible study. Look at it. How many feedings of the multitudes were there?

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There were two in Scripture. There were two, so there, that first blank, there were two feedings of the multitudes.

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Both miracle feedings proclaimed an important message. So I'm going to let you do this study on your own, but I want to just say something about it.

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The feeding of the 5 ,000, Mark chapter 6, verses 33 through 44, you can look at it.

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It took place on the Jewish side of the lake. Which side of the lake is the Jewish side?

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Western, alright? How many baskets of fragments were left over? And how many tribes are there in Israel?

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Twelve. The message was very Jewish. Jewish people attending that.

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The second feeding of the multitudes, how many people? 4 ,000.

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Where was it? On the Gentile side of the lake. How many baskets of fragments left?

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How many nations were dispelled when Joshua came into the land and overtook the

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Gentile nations, expelling them out of the land? You are so, you are, hey, it's right there.

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So, good job. Now, the explanation of all of it is found in Mark 8, 9, and 10.

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I'll let you read that on your own. Jesus said, how do you not understand this?

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The feeding of the first multitude, there were 12 baskets. The feeding of the

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Gentile multitudes, there were 7 baskets. And He said, how do you all not understand this?

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But what's the message? I am the bread of life for the entire world. To the

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Jew first, and then to the Gentile. Amen? Amen. So, I want you to study that on your own and make that a

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Bible study. But I want you to turn in your book to page 61.

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Because here we are at Tabgha, meaning Seven Springs.

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Any of you guys are maybe ladies fishermen? So, how many of you know that where the springs come in, that's a pretty good place to fish.

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Where the spring comes into the lake. Seven Springs that come into the

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Sea of Galilee right here. And so this was a big, major fishing area for the disciples.

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Now, think in your mind, this is after John 21, is where we're at.

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This is after the cross and after the resurrection. The disciples, seven of them, have decided to come back up to Galilee.

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And remember Peter says, I'm going to go fishing. Now I don't know if he,

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I've heard some pastors say that he was forsaking Jesus and going back to his old life.

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I think it may have been more of, well, we know how to make a little money.

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Let's go back up there and make a little money until we find out what he wants us to do next. And I think it may be more of that.

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I don't think that their pronouncement, we're going to go back up to the Galilee and go fishing was necessarily them forsaking the

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Lord Jesus. Nevertheless, what does John 21 tell us?

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There are five pictures in John 21 that I want you to see.

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Actually six. Six pictures in John 21 because remember this is the passage of Scripture where Peter, after denying

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Christ three times before the crucifixion, is restored by the

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Lord Jesus, okay? We're not going to read all of this, but I want you to pull out,

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I want to give you these six objects that you find in John 21 and the message that they give us.

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I want you to see this, alright? First of all, if you will look at John chapter 21 verse 3, it talks about a boat.

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Circle the boat in your Bible. The boat reminds these fishermen of their past.

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The boat reminds Peter of his past. What was his occupation? He was a fisherman.

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Then look at it. They go out fishing all night and verse 6 talks about a net.

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The net, that's number two. The net speaks of Peter's call.

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Remember the first great catch of fish that's found in Luke chapter 5 verses 1 -11?

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They tried to haul the fish in and Jesus said, If you'll follow me, you'll be what?

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Fishers of men. Jesus was saying in John 21 after his resurrection,

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I did not call you, Peter, to fish. Remember the first great catch?

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Now a second great catch of fish. I want you to remember your call. That you are to be a fisher of men.

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Does that make sense? Alright, look at the third thing. The fire of charcoal in verse 9.

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They come up on shore. They know this has got to be the Lord Jesus. What's He doing? He's made breakfast for them.

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Have you got any fish? But He already had fish on the grill. He was feeding them.

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What does the fire of charcoal remind us? For Peter, it reminds us of his denial.

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Why? There's only one other place in the Gospel of John where a fire of charcoal is mentioned.

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Guess where it is? At Caiaphas' house when Peter denied him three times.

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Can the Lord even use smells to bring us to conviction? I believe when it mentions the fire of charcoal, that's on purpose.

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He smelled the fire of charcoal and immediately he remembered, I denied this man.

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I denied him three times before he went to the cross. Again, this is the resurrected

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Jesus that's appearing before them. So look at that in terms of the fire of the charcoal.

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It speaks of Peter's denial in verse 9. Look at the fourth thing. The fish.

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The fish that were caught speak of Jesus' deity. That He was the

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Son of God. Does anybody know how many fish this passage mentions? 153.

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What is significant about 153? Well, it could be they had to count the fish because they're going to take them over to the market in McDowell and they would know how much fish that they were going to get a check for.

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That could be as simple as it is. But in Jewish gematria, which is Jewish numerology, the number 153 is equivalent to the

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Hebrew word ani elohim. I am God. And I believe this miracle that Jesus did of this second great catch of fish was saying to them,

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I am no ordinary person. I have died. I have risen from the grave. I am the

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Son of the living God. 153. Ani elohim.

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And I've got it from the Hebrew. I'll let you take a picture of it so you can go back home and show how each

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Hebrew letter has a numerical value. And ani elohim is 153 in value proclaiming that He is the

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Son of God. All right. You still with me? All right. Let's look at the fifth object that we find here.

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The meal. Jesus fixed them breakfast. The meal speaks of Peter's restoration.

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Listen carefully. This breakfast was no ordinary breakfast.

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This was called the shulan. This was called the table of reconciliation.

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Jesus and Peter had to be reconciled. Anytime in biblical days that a covenant was made between two parties, if the covenant was broken, the person who broke the covenant would often invite the offended party to a meal.

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And they would, if he accepted, then they would get things right. And they would reconcile with one another.

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Here is Jesus, the offended, inviting Peter, the offender, to the table of reconciliation, to the shulan.

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This was no ordinary meal. This was a part of the process in restoring

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Peter to that covenant relationship after he denied Jesus three times.

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You got that? One more thing. One more thing. The sheep.

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Jesus says three times, Peter, do you love me? Do you agape me? Lord, you know that I phileo you.

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I love you like a friend. No, Peter, do you agape me? Are you willing to give your whole life for me?

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God's kind of love, agape. Lord, you know that I love you like a friend. And finally, the third time,

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Jesus says, do you even love me like a friend, phileo? Lord, you know all things.

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Why three times did he ask him? And remember, Peter was dismayed about it. Why did he ask him three times?

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He denied him three times. What does Jesus say each time?

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Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. The sheep here are a picture of Peter's mission.

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After he's restored, what was he to do? Three things. Peter, I want you to feed my sheep.

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I want you to lead my sheep. And I want you to be willing to bleed for my sheep, if that's what

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I ask you to do. I want you to be willing to die for me. So take that Bible study back and apply that and examine that in light of the six objects that are found in John 21.

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Now, one more thing that I would say, and then we have some time. We need to be back at the bus no later than noon, okay?

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And there are restrooms up here on the way up. I want you to look at this. This was a natural harbor.

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Look at the steps here. The water came all the way up to here. They would step up, and this church has been built right here because this is where they believe that Jesus prepared the meal, the table of reconciliation.

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Mensa Christi, the table of Christ. You can see it inside the flat rock upon which he prepared the breakfast.

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But again, don't forget, no ordinary meal. It was the table of reconciliation.

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It was Jesus reconciling Peter after his denial and then calling him to refocus on the mission ahead.

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Got it? Praise the Lord. Tabgha sits directly on the northwestern shore of the

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Sea of Galilee. It's just a few hundred feet south of the traditional location of the

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Sermon on the Mount at the foot of the Mount of Beatitudes. This place was originally called

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Heptapogon, and the name Heptapogon morphed over time into Tabgha.

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Tabgha is the Arabic name for this place, and in Hebrew, it's called Ein Sheva. Both Ein Sheva and Heptapogon mean seven springs, and there are springs in this area that flow into the

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Sea of Galilee. Now, the water that's coming from these springs is warmer than the water in the lake, and this warmer water attracted fish, especially in the wintertime.

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And since there was fish there, this place also attracted fishermen. Church tradition says that this is the place where Peter and Andrew were called to be fishers of men.

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Mark's account in Mark 1, verses 16 through 18 says, And as he walked by the

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Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

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Then Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him.

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We can't say for sure that Tabgha is the place where these disciples were called, but it's interesting that in both

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Luke and Mark's account, there's a couple of very subtle clues that would lend some support to this tradition.

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Luke also tells this story in his gospel, and starting in Luke chapter 5, verse 1, he gives the setting.

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Luke says, On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the

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Lake of Gennesaret. The Lake of Gennesaret is another name for the Sea of Galilee.

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This may give us a clue to the general vicinity. The plain of Gennesaret is just to the west of Tabgha.

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This plain is about three and a half miles long and a mile and a half wide. So by virtue of the fact that Luke called it the

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Sea of Gennesaret, is he subtly trying to clue us in that this event took place near the plain of Gennesaret.

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Mark's gospel also gives us a little clue. When he had gone a little farther from there, he saw

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James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.

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And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after him.

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Then they went to Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and taught.

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Capernaum is only one and a half miles to the east of Tabgha. And reading

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Mark's account, it sounds like they were nearby the city of Capernaum. So what we have here is that Tabgha is bookended on the west by the plain of Gennesaret and on the east by Capernaum.

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So are Mark and Luke giving us clues about the location of this event? Could be.

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Tradition also tells us that this is the place where after Jesus's death, the disciples temporarily returned to their fishing.

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This rocky outcropping right here on the shore of the Sea of Galilee is said to be the place where Jesus stood on the shore and called out to his disciples who were in the boat fishing.

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John's gospel says that when they left the boat and came ashore, they found that Jesus was cooking fish for them.

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This church building, which is called the Church of the Primacy of Peter, is built over top of the rock, which is said to be the place where Jesus was cooking their breakfast of fish.

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If the tradition is true, then you are looking at the rock where Jesus asked

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Peter three times if he loved him and commanded him to feed my sheep.

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Just a few hundred feet away stands a church building called the Church of the Loaves and Fish. It is said to be the location of the feeding of the 5 ,000.

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However, Luke records that the feeding of the 5 ,000 took place near Bethsaida, and the apostles, when they had returned, told him all that they had done.

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Then he took them and went aside privately into deserted place belonging to the city of Bethsaida.

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Luke then goes ahead to tell about the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5 ,000.

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Now, Bethsaida is four and a quarter miles away on the east side of the

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Jordan River. There's often validity to these ancient traditions, but in this case, we have a clear cut statement from Luke telling us where the miracle happened, and that was in Bethsaida over four miles away.

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A great deal of Jesus's ministry took place right in this area around the

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Sea of Galilee, and these locations are all very near each other. It's a place that's very rich in Bible history, especially events from the life of Jesus.