John 21
1 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself. 2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. 6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. 8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. 9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. 12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. 14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
The disciples had fished all night, in vain. As it was becoming dawn they saw a `man’ on the shore. He asked them if they had caught anything. They replied, No. Then, he told them to throw their nets on the “right side of the boat” and the miracle happened. We learn various lessons from this story:
- It teaches us the importance of doing things God’s way. They had to throw the nets on the “right” side of the boat, the correct side.
- Start where God starts, with repentance. The first words of the prophets, John the Baptist, and our Lord Himself was about repentance. First things first. Repentance in the Greek original text means a “change of mind”. The way you used to think must be cast overboard. Everything must be turned around and your whole way of thinking, your language, attitude, all must be on the “right side of the boat”.
- Consciousness of Jesus’ love makes a huge difference to the way you see things. John refers to himself in this passage as the “one whom Jesus loved”. He was so aware of Jesus’ love that it seemed that he was more loved than the others. Are you a complainer, one who feels left out and unloved? It could be that this acute sense of being loved by the Lord was part of why John was the first to recognize him as the Lord.
- As John was witnessing these events he probably called to mind the first miracle of a catch of fish (before they were called as disciples). But now, things were different – the nets were not breaking and the boat was not sinking. The difference was the resurrection! Are you living on the resurrection side, in your Christian life? What an enormous change there is when one is in fellowship with the resurrected Christ! Ponder upon these points and allow the Lord to speak to you. Without knowing Him in His resurrection power you may experience the Lord but you feel that you’re at breaking point. The nets are tearing and your boat seems to be sinking. You say, “It’s too much”, “I can’t handle any more”. Knowing the resurrected Christ changes these attitudes.
- Peter’s reaction shows what Christ resurrection meant to him. As soon as John said “It is the Lord”, Peter forgot about the huge catch of fish and (putting on his garment) threw himself into the water to get to Jesus. In the first miracle of catching fish Peter said to the Lord, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man” (part of repentance is conviction of one’s own sinfulness). Now, this same Peter, who had denied him thrice but experienced forgiveness, went to the Lord.
- The Lord was also teaching His disciples, through this miraculous catch of 153 large fish, that their ministry was to be in catching souls. Soon, at Pentecost, they could count the catch of 3,000 men when they had cast their nets on the right side of the boat, into a sea of sinners.
- Another lesson Christ was teaching them was that this great catch was not the result of human wisdom but God’s power. Peter was a professional fisherman but that night he had caught nothing. Just being simply obedient to Christ’s word to throw their nets on the “right side” accomplished astonishing things. So too, Peter and the disciples (and all of us) must learn that our intellect, abilities and human power, are all useless in accomplishing God’s work. Only the resurrected Christ can achieve great things through you. Don’t lean on your own understanding but lean on Him alone.
Jesus had breakfast prepared for them. Where had He got the fish? The text doesn’t tell us and it doesn’t matter. That’s what the resurrected Christ does for us. It shows us again that He doesn’t need us and our abilities but He invites us to bring the fish and have fellowship with Him.