When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread…. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. - John 21:9 & 14

Peter likely thought the delay was because he was dismissed. But Jesus was biding his time, picking the perfect moment.

There is bread from the dinner where Peter boasted ‘even if all these others falter, not me’ the pride before the fall. There is a fire from the moment he warmed himself and denied his boast not once but three times over. There is morning, the sun is rising, a cock will be crowing; the sound marking the moment after he betrayed his friend. A sound that greets him every morning like an alarm clock, so that he starts each day knowing what kind of man he is.

Without saying a word Jesus uses ever scent, sound, and sight to remind Peter of his sin, but not to shame him, but to teach him that the place of invitation is not the place of perfection, or even the place of good performance but the pit. He is invited from where he is and not from where he should be. In the place of his failure Jesus is present and says: ‘Come and have breakfast with me.’