John 21:1-14

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish

1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5 He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"

"No," they answered.

6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."

11 Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.



Dig Deeper

My first year in kindergarten, I went to a public school before my parents put me in a private school for the next eight years. Overall, that year was not a pleasant memory. I don’t have a bunch of memories about that first year, but most of the ones that I do retain are not good ones. One bad memory that stands out in particular was the time when the art teacher grabbed the pilgrim hat that I was making for Thanksgiving and held it up to the whole class as an example of bad art and what not to do. Honestly though, I never spent too much time thinking about that place once I left. That was, at least, until I was in my twenties and I had to go back to the school for one day. I was a supervisor for the YMCA and they had an after school care program there that I had to go observe for the day. As soon as I began walking down the halls, the distinctive smell of the school brought back a flood of memories that I didn’t even recall having until that moment. It was an amazing experience, but memory experts say that the sense of smell is one of the most powerful agents to trigger memory in human beings.


Somehow all those bad memories that I had, with a few good ones thrown in, came flooding back with the familiar smell of the school I had attended nearly twenty years before. Yet, these were early childhood memories and mostly things that had been done to me. Can you imagine having a strong memory from your adulthood that was associated with a particularly distinct odor? Can you imagine having that memory be something that you did that was terrible, a betrayal of your best friend? Can you imagine the depth of agony that you would feel every time you smelled that pungent odor? Can you imagine all of that? Peter could.


What do you do if you’re Jesus’ disciples after Jesus’ death. They had seen the risen Christ, but what did that mean? What did he want of them? In the absence of having any clear understanding of that, the disciples apparently follow the direction given to them to return to Galilee (Matt. 26:32; 28:7, 10; Mark 14:28; 16:7). Once they were there, though, what should they do? We don’t know exactly what their thought process was, but it seems that they returned to what they knew. They likely figured that they had to make a living somehow. Surely they expected Jesus to return and give them further instruction, but in the meantime they would do some fishing, something most of them knew well.


They followed the typical practice at the time to go out fishing at night. A good haul of fish caught at night could be sold fresh in the market in the morning. But most fishermen know, or so I’m told, that if you don’t get a good catch at night, it’s very unlikely that you would fare any better during the day. Peter wanted to fish, so they decided to go with him. It’s speculation, of course, but it seems pretty reasonable to think that Peter was still devastated by his own actions. True, he had seen the risen Christ twice now, but he still had to have some lingering doubts about himself and his own status as Jesus’ follower. He had been so sure that he would be loyal to Christ, even following him to his death, but when the time came, he failed, not just once, but a second time, and a third time. It seems like Peter, on returning to Galilee, has a normal human reaction to a stressful time or a time of dealing with great failure. We go back to something safe, something we know, something that makes us feel comfortable.


They went through the entire night of fishing but caught nothing. Once again, Jesus appears but they don’t immediately recognize him. John never tries to fully explain the mystery of the resurrection body, and perhaps even years later, he still couldn’t, but it does seem that Jesus was the same, but yet somehow different. They didn’t immediately recognize him, yet they did recognize, but even then they weren’t completely sure and were filled with questions that they didn’t want to ask and seem offensive. Even though they didn’t recognize him immediately, once they did, it’s rather confusing that when they did know who he was, John still tells us that they didn’t want to ask. That only makes sense if his body was the same but somehow different. Perhaps there is a clue in the fact that the resurrection body will never see decay or deteriorate. Imagine a body that was fully grown but never was ravaged by age or the deteriorating effects of the sun. We probably should not reduce the uniqueness of the resurrection body to just that, but perhaps that accounts for some of the recognition difficulties. The more complete answer would include the fact that this is Jesus’ body and it is real and physical, yet somehow it is more than that too.


When they respond to Jesus’ query of whether they caught any fish, Jesus tells them to throw their nets on the right side of the boat. This likely seemed like a ridiculous suggestion coming from someone walking on the shore, but maybe something clicked within them, reminding them that they had been here before. Jesus had told them something similar in Luke 5:4 and they followed him simply because he said so, not because it made any sense. They didn’t know who this stranger on the shore was, but maybe they did somehow. As they put the nets in the water, they experienced the same result. Jesus was perhaps reminding them that anything they might accomplish would only be through him. Relying on their own strength would get them nowhere. They had certainly learned this lesson on the day of the crucifixion as they scattered and deserted Jesus but now he has reminded them again. He had, from the very beginning, called them to be fishers of men. He is about to remind Peter of that, but first the renewed lesson that they must rely on him not themselves. When they obeyed Jesus, simply at his word, they had a haul larger than they could imagine on their own abilities. John recounts that the haul was 153 fish. Many have tried to come up with symbolic significance for John including this number, but the reality is if John meant for this number to symbolize something (something John is quite capable of doing), he leaves us no clues as to how to understand it, and this is not a common symbolic number that can be easily decoded. It is more likely that he simply records the number as a demonstration of how incredibly large the catch was.


They didn’t recognize him immediately, but once the same result comes, they know that this is Jesus. John, who saw into the tomb and believed, also is the first to come to terms with the fact that Jesus has come to them in Galilee just as he had promised. Peter, being his usually impulsive self, jumped into the water and swam toward Jesus. He was excited to see him and was likely still feeling like there was some unfinished business between the two of them.


As they arrive on the shore, they find that Jesus didn’t need their fish. He already had some. The catch was for them. Jesus wasn’t standing on the shore helpless, waiting for them to provide for him. This is a lesson that the church today is wise to remember. God doesn’t need us but chooses to work through us for our benefit not His.


As they approach Jesus, though, they find something even more incredible. Jesus has carefully built a coal fire. John used a specific word, anthrakia, that means "fire of coals." This word is used only one other time in the entire Bible and it is John 18:18. John has carefully shown us something with the rare use of this specific word. Jesus knows the failure that Peter experienced. He knows what Peter has gone through and is still putting himself through. He knows that as Peter denied Jesus, he stood warming himself next a coal fire, a fire which makes an incredibly distinctive smell. Peter would forever be reminded of his failure every time he smelled a coal fire. Jesus knows that not even the wonderful truth of the resurrection would simply erase that memory for Peter. Jesus intentionally, it seems, builds a coal fire. Let’s bring up the memory and let’s deal with. He is, as we will see in the next section, about to give Peter a new memory to attach to the old one. Not to erase the old memory, but to redirect it. He wants Peter to be reminded and motivated by these two memories rather than simply be paralyzed by the first one. Jesus has carefully re-created a coal fire for Peter. How could Peter help but to be flooded with the memories of that night? But Jesus doesn’t just talk to Peter immediately. He’ll get to that, but first he gives Peter a few moments to go back and help bring in the fish and to eat breakfast, all the while taking in the smells and being reminded of his failure. I guess that’s the way it has to be. We can’t truly be restored until we’ve faced our sin fully and come to an honest realization of what we’ve done. Only when that happens can we truly be forgiven and truly forgive ourselves.


Before he talks to Peter, Jesus hands out bread and fish to his disciples. John, it would seem, wants us to hear some echoes of chapter 6 here, when Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes that were following him. He told that crowd that they would have to trust in his life alone if they were to experience the freedom of the life of the age to come. Most of those crowds concluded that this was a teaching that was too difficult to accept. As Jesus recapitulates that action with his true disciples, there is no such defection. They would still have to rely on him alone, but they had already made the decision to follow him and trust in his life alone. This is a truth that believers today must constantly wrestle with and return to. As we return to the memories of our own failures, our own coal fires, we must remember that we need to take the fish and the bread from Jesus. We cannot bring restoration and reconciliation on our own. We must rely on faith alone in the life of Christ alone.



Devotional Thought

Jesus declared in chapter 10 that he was the Good Shepherd who laid his life down for his sheep. We’ve seen him do that not only in his physical death but also in the way that everything he said and did was for the benefit of others. Now, in this scene, we see another example of that. Rather than thinking of himself or demanding an apology, Jesus acts with Peter’s best interests first. He is very intentional about forgiving Peter and making sure that Peter feels forgiven and has a mission that will demonstrate his forgiveness to himself. Take some time today and think about how you can model the kind of forgiveness that Jesus did.