The Meal Before the Mission

Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. Three words. No agenda attached, no performance required first. The disciples had just worked through the night, failed, then succeeded at someone else's direction — and they were tired. Jesus did not greet them with a debrief or a commission. He had already built the fire. He had already laid the fish. He said, Come and dine. There is a sequence here worth noticing. Jesus fed them before he restored Peter, before he handed out tasks, before any of the hard conversations happened. He addressed their hunger first — not as a spiritual metaphor, but as a plain physical fact. Charcoal crackling, bread warming, fish ready. The body mattered to him. We often reverse this order, pushing ourselves toward duty while running on empty, as though need is something to overcome. Jesus treated their need as the starting point, not an obstacle to ministry. — Narrow Highway devotional, 2026-06-09