Bible Study series: John 21:1-14. It took a miraculous catch of fish for them to recognize him.

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John 21

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Scripture: John 21:1-14

¹ Afterwards, Jesus again revealed himself to the disciples on the Lake of Tiberius. He made himself visible in this way.

² Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathaniel from Cana of Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter said, “I am going fishing.” They said, “We are also coming with you.” They went out and got in the boat, and throughout that night they caught nothing. ⁴ While it was still early, Jesus stood on the shore. However, the disciples did not recognize that it was Jesus. ⁵ Jesus said to them, “Boys, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some!” So they cast the net and they were no longer able to draw it from the multitude of fish. ⁷ Then that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” Then, when Simon Peter heard that it was Jesus, he tucked in his outer garment, for he was otherwise naked. And he threw himself in the lake. ⁸ But the other disciples came by boat, for they were not very far from the land, but about one hundred yards, drawing the net with wish. ⁹ Then, as they reached the land, they saw a charcoal fire laid and a fish laying on it and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Peter got up and drew the net on land, filled with big fish, 153. And they were so many, the net did not tear. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” No one dared to question him, “Who are you?” because they knew who that it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and them it to them, and likewise with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time Jesus made himself visible to the disciples, after he had been raised from the dead. (John 21:1-14)

Comments:

It is right to ask whether this entire chapter is an epilogue written a short or long time after the two-verse epilogue (20:30-31), by a group of disciples (“and we know that his testimony is true” in v. 24) who published the entire Gospel. Stylistically, the Greek is very similar to the rest of the Gospel, but this similarity is not difficult to achieve because John’s Greek seems easy to duplicate for native Greek speakers two thousand years ago. (In contrast, the longer ending to Mark’s Gospel is very different). The vocabulary differences (28 words) can be accounted for by the context—fishing and the mission to feed the sheep and Peter’s ultimate end.

Jesus provided a miraculous catch of fish, in order to call Peter (Luke 5:1-11). Now Peter needs another miraculous catch to get his attention.

1:

The Lake of Tiberius is the Roman designation for the Lake of Galilee (see 6:1), named after the Roman emperor, Tiberius.

Here we have another resurrection appearance. The men are in Galilee and Jesus said to go up north and meet him there (Matt. 28:10; 14:28). Bruce points out, rightly (as usual), that the movements back and forth between Jerusalem and Galilee can be tied to the sacred calendar. They left Jerusalem after Passover and Unleavened bread, not immediately with the pilgrims, but two or three days later. So they stayed up north for an unknown time, but made their way back to Jerusalem before Pentecost (Feast of Weeks or Festival of Harvest)

See my post on the feasts:

Festivals in Leviticus 23 from a NT Perspective

2-3:

Some of the persons of the drama have been named before: Thomas (20:24), Nathaniel (1:45), but the two sons of Zebedee (James and John) have not been named in this Gospel, unless he is the “other disciple” and the beloved disciple. Total in this scene: seven.

Bruce: “Perhaps the editors used this form of words here to help readers reach some conclusion about the identity of the beloved disciples, who, as the following narrative makes plain, was one of the company” (comment on vv. 1-3). In other words, the beloved disciple is John, son of Zebedee. However, Bruce also says that the editors also bring in two unnamed disciples, so the identity of the beloved disciple is not so easy.

The Meaning of the Names of the Twelve Apostles

Peter was not going to waste any time lollygagging before they went back down to Jerusalem. They needed to eat, just on a practical level, so they went back to the trade they knew best—fishing. (Beasley-Murray also notes their practical need to eat, comment on v. 3.) Employment is better than passing time idly. The other men must have been employed in the fishing trade.

Mounce points out, insightfully, Peter’s natural leadership. All he has to do is announce that he was going fishing, and the other follow, naturally (comment on vv. 2-3).

However, they never caught any fish. This passage recalls Luke 5:5, which says Peter, James, and John worked all night but caught nothing, though the two scenes are different—one at the beginning of the story and this one at the end. Fishermen sometimes catch nothing. Then a stranger appeared.

4-6:

The night may have been still darkening the scene, making visibility difficult. Apparently they were so discouraged that they obeyed, without question, the stranger’s order to cast the net on the right or starboard side. Then the fish became so numerous that they could not bring the catch on board.

Jesus “stood” on the beach. The text does not say he “arrived.” This indicates that he appeared as he did behind locked doors (20:19). Jesus was “made manifest” or “manifested himself” (HT: Mounce, comment on v. 4).

They did not catch any fish. Carson notes, correctly (comment on v. 3), that fishing at night was normal, but he wonders whether the message here is that without Christ they can do nothing (John 15:5). But with Christ’s leadership, they can do all things which the Father wills, including catching fish and then being fishers of men.

To me, this looks like a miracle. In Luke 5:8-9, Peter was so struck by the miracle that he knelt down before Jesus. Here this miracle is the trigger of recognition.

7-8:

It was John who was triggered. He exclaimed, “It’s the Lord!” This is more or less a full profession of faith, though he was still learning how to relate to the Lord. Remember, throughout Jesus’s ministry, the disciples ate and drank with him and took naps and rested with him as he got tired and thirsty and slept out under the open starry night, as they camped out. This may explain why it was a process of learning who Jesus really was. He was the Lord, the Messiah and Son of God, but how deep does their knowledge go? After Pentecost, John learned that he was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God and through the Word everything was created. Yet the Word became flesh and tabernacled with humankind (John 1:1-4, 14). But before Pentecost, they were still in process. Even after Pentecost, they still had to receive fuller revelations of who Jesus was.

100 yards = 100 meters (and a little more)

I have to smile at Peter. He threw himself into the water to swim where Jesus was. When the other disciple and Peter ran to the tomb, the other disciple got there first and peeped inside but did not go in. Peter went in without hesitating (20:5-6). Peter is the one who asked permission to walk on water towards Jesus (Matt. 14:28-29). Here he is again leaping into the water, the Greek literally reading “threw himself.” Mounce like an earlier commentator (Temple), who says Peter’s conscience was stained with disloyalty, so he needed personal assurance of forgiveness and restoration (comment on v. 8). I like this idea.

He tucked in the lower part of his garment under his belt so he could swim more easily. He was clad in only in his fisherman’s smock and tucked it in his belt, not to impede his legs and to swim more easily. The word “otherwise” was inserted for clarity. Mounce says that the lake was shallow at the northwestern side, so we should picture Peter wading ashore (comment on v. 7). Morris writes that lexicons say the word “naked” can mean without an outer garment but the man wears his undergarment. So Peter wore a loincloth or a sleeveless tunic (comment on v. 7).

Finally, In Luke 5:7, Peter caught so many fish that they had to signal their partners to come and help, for the boat was about to sink. Here, they could not draw the catch of large fish into the boat, but dragged the full net behind them, as they rowed. So there are differences in the two stories because they are different stories at different times.

9-11:

Peter went back to the shore and saw a meager meal waiting. Then he waded out to drag the net of fish onto the shore. Peter was strong. I had always pictured him as husky, and this passage confirms it.

Obviously someone had to count the fish to reach the total, in order to tell this story of another miraculous catch of fish (see Luke 5:1-11). What to make of the number? Why even mention it?

Options:

The Septuagint (pronounced sep-TOO-ah-gent) is a third to second century B.C translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, and it says that 153,600 “proselytes who were included in Solomon’s subjects” (2 Chron. 2:17; see also 1 Kings 5:15). This refers to later Gentiles who will convert to the Jesus Movement.

The number of 153 is the total of adding up the numbers 1-17 (inclusive).

The number 153 is a triangular number, which means that if you have 153 pebbles and put them in an equilateral triangle, each side (including the corners) would have 17 pebbles. A triangle can symbolize the Trinity. If that’s not what a triangular number means, then you can figure it out.

In Greek, letters are assigned numbers so Simon adds up to 76 and fish (ichthus) = 77, so, 76 + 77 = 153.

17 means the number of the Ten Commandments plus the seven-fold Spirit of God (Rev. 1:4), so 10 + 7 = 17, which brings us back to the triangle.

In the miracle of the feeding of five thousand, there were five loaves, but they collected twelve baskets of bread (6:1-15). So, 5 + 12 = 17, and we are back to the triangle.

The Trinity is represented twice in this simple equation: (50 x 3) + 3 = 153.

The number 153 is the sum of the squares of 12 (the number of the twelve apostles and the twelve tribes of Israel) and the (the number of the Trinity).

Ezek. 47:9-10 talks about fishermen standing by the sea and spreading their nets from Engedi to Eneglaim, and its fish will be of many kinds. Evidently the prefix en is the word for spring, and gedi yields the number 17 because Hebrew letters are also assigned numbers. 17 is the triangle number. Also eglaim yields 153. So gospel fishermen will spread their nets and catch people of all kinds.

Finally, Richard Bauckham says the key words in 20:30-31 are “sign,” “believe,” “Christ,” and “life.” Each word appears for the last time in those verses. Yet the number of times they appear in the whole Gospel is as follows: “sign” (17x), “believe” (98x), “Christ” (19x), and “life” (36x). Add up the last three totals and you get 153. And then 17 is the triangular number again. It is not that the original readers would understand this, but John did, and he embedded this number in his Gospel for the deeper readers (HT: Klink, p. 902). I’m not clear that a writer would burden himself with keeping track of a word 98 times or 19 times, a prime number. It is a clever idea, however.

I’m confident that there are other numerical and symbolic readings online. Look them up.

If there is a symbolic reading, then it is in the net (so says Bruce, insightfully, in his comments on vv. 9-11). In Luke 5:6, before the mission got underway with the involvement of all the disciples, the nets broke. A miracle, but the net broke. Here, at the end of Jesus’s mission—at its culmination—the net is full but does not break. Also, the catch was so big that it could not be hauled up into Peter’s boat. No small boat can contain all the fish that the gospel net can take in. “The disciples’ haul of fish is a parable of their missionary activity that lies ahead. But this activity, with its pastoral sequel, will be attended by success only as they follow the directions of their risen Lord” (Bruce, ibid.)

I am really not into reading numbers in this way. But you can take or leave some or all the symbols. My belief is that they counted up the fish because they were businessmen, and they would share the catch (Morris).

12-13:

Jesus invited them to have breakfast with them, and they knew it was the Lord. So no one dared to inquire of him, asking “Who are you?” The verb question (exetazō, pronounced ex-eh-tah-zoh) can be translated, depending on the context, as “inquire,” “make a careful search for someone,” “question, examine” (Shorter Lexicon). It is rare verb for the NT, used only three times. The point is that this is not a casual question, but an examination. They were nervous about asking him about his identity by cross-examination. Plus, they knew who he was, so why ask?  Once again, they are still insecure.

Carson:

The disciples had been granted the strongest possible reasons for believing in Jesus’ resurrection, and indeed did so: they knew it was the Lord. But whether because they could see Jesus was not simply resuscitated (like Lazarus), but appeared with new powers, or because they were still grappling with the strangeness of a crucified or resurrected Messiah, or because despite the irrefutable power of the evidence presented to them resurrection seemed strange, they felt considerable unease—yet suppressed their question because they knew the one before them could only be Jesus. (comment on vv. 12-13, emphasis original)

No wonder why Bible students interpret Jesus breathing or exhaling (20:22) as not anywhere near as powerful as Pentecost (Acts 2) because after the powerful Pentecost, their personalities change, becoming mighty ministers, with signs and wonders following them, just like Jesus.

In Jerusalem, the resurrected Jesus asks them for food, which probably happened before they went north to Galilee, and they offered him broiled fish and bread (Luke 24:41-43). He had miraculously fed the multitude near the lake (6:1-15), and now he is feeding his disciples, by another miracle. This bears the marks of another sign in John’s Gospel (Bruce).

Bruce points out that in Greek the standard word for fish is ICHTHUS = Iēsous (Jesus) + CHristos (Christ) + THeou (of God) + hUioS (Son) = Jesus Christ, Son of God. Or the longer form: Iēsous (Jesus) + CHristos (Christ) + THeou (of God) + hUios (Son) Sōtēr (Savior). Maybe it is passages like vv. 1-14 that produced the abbreviation, particularly in Rome during tough times of persecution directed against Christians. It was a sign that Christians secretly gathered here.

14:

This verse is related only to John’s narrative. Jesus did manifest himself first to the disciples (20:19-23), to Thomas (20:24-29) and here to these seven disciples. Sorry, but Mary is an individual, and the author of the Gospel says Jesus appeared to the disciples (plural) for the third time. She was part of the wider disciples, but not a part of these main disciples. No disrespect intended.

One final point: the verb “was manifested” is in the passive and may indicate the divine passive, which means that God is the unstated subject of the sentence. The Father worked the miracle of manifesting his Son. The Father is leading the way, and the Son is obeying.

Here is the table produced in John 20.

I hope it clarifies the main passages:

Resurrection Appearances
Appearance	Place	Time	Scriptures
The Empty Tomb	Jerusalem	Resurrection Sunday	Mt. 28:1-10; Mk. 16:1-8; Lk. 24:1-12; Jn. 20:1-9
Mary Magdalene	In a garden in Jerusalem	Resurrection Sunday	Mk. 16:9-11; Jn. 11-18
Other women	Jerusalem	Resurrection Sunday	Mt. 28:9-10
Two men on Road to Emmaus	Emmaus seven miles from Jerusalem	Resurrection Sunday	Mk. 16:12-13; Lk. 24:13-32
Peter	Jerusalem	Resurrection Sunday	Lk. 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5
Ten disciples in upper room	Jerusalem	Resurrection Sunday	Lk. 24:36-43; Jn. 20:19-25
Eleven disciples in upper room	Jerusalem	Following Sunday	Mk. 16:14; Jn. 20:26-31; 1 Cor. 15:5
Seven disciples	Sea of Galilee	Some time later	Jn. 21:1-23
Eleven disciples on mountain	Galilee	Some time later	Mt. 28:16-20; Mk. 16:15-18
More than five hundred	Unknown	Some time later	1 Cor. 15:6
James	Unknown	Some time later	1 Cor. 15:7
His disciples at his ascension	Mount of Olives	Forty days after resurrection	Lk. 24:44-49; Ac. 1:3-8
Paul	Damascus	Several years later	Ac. 9:1-9, 22:3-16, 26:9-18; 1 Cor. 9:1
Adapted from NIV Study Bible, p. 1754.

Also see Do I Really Know Jesus? He Appeared to His Disciples

GrowApp for John 21:1-14

1. The net of the gospel is big enough to catch the whole world in all its variety, by the Father’s will. How big is your heart for people you meet?

RELATED

14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels

12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel

4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel

3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel

SOURCES

For the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:

John 21