By the end of John 20, all of the disciples have believed in the Risen Christ and were thus fully assured that he had resurrected from the dead. But were they ready to carry on Jesus’ mission? In other words, could Acts 1 have followed John 20 instead of John 21? The obvious answer is no, but then the question becomes: What purpose does the events of John 21 accomplish in the training of the disciples? Well, just because someone entrusts themselves to Christ doesn’t mean that all sinful thought patterns have been eradicated. Therefore, it could be said that they needed to understand more about faith, since true faith is not a verification or memorization of facts. Faith, by definition, is a looking away from oneself and even a distrust of oneself. The disciples must understand that they are going to need more than just seeing and believing in the Risen Christ. They still need a lot of help seeing themselves rightly and this is a mark of not only maturity, but also usefulness. A.W. Pink gave tremendous insight with these statements: “Before He furnishes the abundant supply, we must first be made conscious of our emptiness. Before He gives strength, we must be made to feel our weakness. Slow, painfully slow, are we to learn this lesson; and slower still to own our nothingness and [to] take the place of helplessness before the Mighty One.”[1]
This applies to any Christian ministry, any service we are called to and any task the Lord has given us to do, whether it’s a one-time opportunity or something ongoing, such as raising children or discipling someone. Anything done for the glory of God is going to require dependence on the Lord and the mindset of being a slave of Christ.
[1] Arthur Walkington Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1923–1945), 1123.