March-April 2024 - Breakfast at Dawn

It was the dawn of a new day when Peter and Andrew first encountered Jesus preaching to a crowd on the Galilean shore and answered his call to leave everything and follow him to “fish for people” (see Lk. 5:1-11). In Breakfast at Dawn, artist Mike Moyers recalls a similar sunrise setting for a later story of new beginnings recorded in John 21. Drawing our attention first to the brilliant orange sky, Moyers leads our eyes down the watery path of reflected colors to the shoreline where seven of Jesus’ disciples are seated around a fire with their risen Lord. 

This peaceful scene is at dramatic odds with the whirlwind of emotions surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection just days earlier. The disciples have returned to Galilee — the place where their hearts were first turned to Jesus — in the hope of seeing Jesus. After a discouraging night of fishing, a stranger on the shore told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat, and immediately it began to strain from a miraculous catch. John then said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” (v. 7, NIV), and from the shore Jesus beckoned, “Come and have breakfast” (v. 12). 

Breakfast at Dawn invites us into that communion around the fire as the disciples’ eyes are fully opened to the power of Jesus’ resurrection and to their renewed call as fishers of people. We might ask, Where is Jesus waiting for our return so that he can empower us in new ways as his disciples?

Cover image courtesy of Mike Moyers. ©Mike Moyers. Prints of cover art are available from MikeMoyersFineArt.com