John 21:1-3
“After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”
John indicates that this is at least the third time Jesus reveals himself to people after his resurrection; it might even be the fourth if we include Jesus appearing to Mary Magadalene at the tomb. Jesus first appeared to the disciples locked in a room without Thomas, then appeared to them locked in a room with Thomas, and now he appears to seven of the disciples who are out fishing. The more I think about this appearance of Jesus the more I want to believe it was primarily for Peter. Jesus had some unsettled business with Peter and this is where he chooses to settle it with him.
There’s some indication that Peter has returned to doing what he did when he met Jesus, fishing. I don’t know that he fully threw himself into fishing again after Jesus’ death; and I’m equally uncertain that Peter fully gave up fishing when he became Jesus’ disciple, otherwise how would he have made a living and how would the collective disciples have had a treasury bag from which Judas had been stealing.
I think it’s significant that Peter is out fishing again when Jesus appears to him and these other disciples. Jesus had first called Peter to be one of his disciples with the promise/challenge “’Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’” (Matthew 4:19) The three years that Peter was a disciple of Jesus was his instruction on how to be a fisher of men rather than a fisher of fish. Nevertheless, Peter is back fishing for fish.
“Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, do you have any fish?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. (v4-6) There are probably a multitude of things happening when Jesus says ‘Children, do you have any fish?’ The fact that Jesus uses the word “Children” might well have been an endearing comment that illustrates Jesus’ close relationship with his disciples, and in a language that they understood to be personal to them. Remember, this was Peter who had initiated the fishing trip, and I think everything is moving toward an interaction between Peter and Jesus. Not to be lost amidst the fishing is that Jesus had done things similar to this while he was with the disciples, and it was with Peter. In Matthew 17 Jesus is confronted by those who collected the temple tax and challenged as to whether he should be paying the tax. In order to pay the tax he send Peter out fishing and tells him “’Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.’” (Matthew 17:27)
This is how Jesus has to teach me so often too. The Lord will give me a lesson on some thing in my life; some issue, some blind spot, some weakness, some sin, some area of disobedience, or simply something he wants me to learn about being a disciple of his. I do okay for a while, then things crop up that totally distract me from working on that area that Jesus has brought to my attention. Rather than continuing to focus on learning what it was that Jesus was trying to teach me, I go off on some rabbit trail chasing something else, something I deem more important. Then, Jesus has to come back to me and bring me back around to focusing again on that issue he had me originally focus on; and in lots of cases, he has to start the instruction process all over again—I’ve completely slipped or forgotten what Jesus had originally taught me, or I only learned bits and pieces of what he was trying to get me to learn.
Peter doesn’t easily recognize the person speaking to him as Jesus, but John does. “That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.” (v7)
We would expect Peter to jump out of the boat and into the sea to make his way to Jesus; that was typical Peter. Peter’s actions often remind me of people I meet on a regular basis in ministry. I come across some people some times who are the first to jump into something in order to serve out of their own neediness. They want to serve others because in doing so a need in their own life is met; a need of affirmation, a need of acceptance, a need of feeling important, a need of measuring they’re serving God, and other needs that fill their emotional gas tanks. In some regards this is Peter too. Peter always had to be the first to do something that Jesus was involved in. Lots of times I want to chock this up to Peter’s immaturity or Peter’s personality, or that he was impetuous. But, in other ways I can’t help but think that Peter had some emotional need within himself that was met each time he jumped to the forefront of something Jesus was doing. Maybe Peter was trying to convince himself that he was a true and good disciple of Jesus.
“The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.” (v8-11)
Peter, more and more, becomes the focal point of Jesus’ encounter with this group of disciples. Peter swims to shore; the other disciples bring the boat and the catch of fish in. For some reason, Jesus tells the disciples to “bring some of the fish that you have just caught,” yet Jesus has already made breakfast and it’s cooking on the fire on the beach. Once again, Peter is the first to react and runs to the boat and begins to haul onto the beach a net filled with 153 fish—I’m sure Peter needed help getting the fish onto the beach though.
“Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.” (v12-14)
The invitation to Peter (and the other disciples) to come and have breakfast with Jesus was likely a proverbial olive branch; Jesus is extending peace and grace to Peter, and the rest of the disciples, since they all (except John) had collectively abandoned Jesus during his arrest, trial and crucifixion. It’s the offer of redemption to the disciples, even after they’ve blown it, and especially Peter. In the coming verses Jesus will offer restoration to Peter as an individual.
This is the beautiful thing about Jesus; he can teach and instruct us, he can call us and have expectations of us, and all the while he knows we are made of dust, that we’re frail, that we fail, that we’re unfaithful, that we’re weak, that we have a tendency to return to what we’ve always done, that in our neediness we take the focus off Jesus and put it upon ourselves, and yet he still pursues us out of his great love for us.
