A second fishing miracle – John 21, Part 2

Jesus’ disciples have just had a terrible night of fishing, catching nothing.  Then in the hazy hours of the morning a stranger shows up on shore.

“Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. 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.”

The stranger tells them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat, and they get a miraculous haul of fish!  Too big to haul in.  Perhaps this miracle caused John to think about how this had happened before. In Luke’s account of the life of the Jesus, a very similar miracle occurs at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. 

That other time they had a miraculous catch of fish was three years prior.  At that earlier catch of fish, the men struggled to tow the nets full of fish to shore, and that is when Jesus says to Peter, James and John his famous line about discipleship, “From now on you will fish for people.”  At that moment, they left everything and followed him. 

Three years later, so much has changed.  They’ve walked and talked with Jesus.  They’ve heard the parables, the teachings, and they have observed his way of life.  He healed so many people.  He confronted the hypocritical religious leaders.  He even sent them out on numerous mission trips.  They saw him transfigured, gleaming bright white, with Abraham and Elijah.  They saw him cast out demons.  They saw him raise Lazarus from the dead. They watched crowds proclaim “Hosanna” and try to make Jesus king.  Just a few days later, they have a final meal with him, and he talks about giving his body and blood, and leaving them and sending the Holy Spirit, and then he is betrayed by Judas and arrested.  This is not what was supposed to happen, and they are scared for their lives. 

He is beaten, falsely accused, the whole city is in an uproar, the religious leaders are bloodthirsty, and even the Roman governor Pilate gets involved.  Finally, Jesus is crucified, dies and is buried.  It’s over.  Until the shock of their lives a few days later, when the women report that the tomb is empty and that Jesus is alive!  Then they meet him and it is all confirmed.  He gives them the mission of forgiveness. 

Did this catch of fish in John 20 spark in their minds a memory spanning those three years?  That he has called them to be fishers of people?  Did this catch of fish tie it all together?  To be fishers of people is to invite people to enter and live in the forgiveness of God, forgiveness that Jesus made possible through his life, death and resurrection.  They had seen Jesus model this forgiveness during the three years they walked with him.  Did this catch of fish suddenly make sense?

It seems for at least one of them it did.  We keep reading in verse 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. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.”

Awareness and recall flood into John’s mind as he says to Peter, “It is the Lord!”  They all have breakfast together. But as I wrote in yesterday’s post, there is an elephant in the room there with Jesus.  What elephant? 

Did you notice that Peter is first to jump in the water after hearing that it is Jesus on the shore. It seems Peter is excited to see Jesus because they are about 100 yards from shore.  He could have easily ridden in the boat for a while yet, just like the other disciples did. 

Then it is Peter who fulfills Jesus’ request to bring some of the fish they caught.  Peter is busying himself.  I’m reading between the lines of the story, but it seems to me that Peter is very aware of the elephant in the room.  I purposefully skipped a detail in my telling of the story above.  It’s an important part of the story.  It’s the elephant in the room. Did you see it?

We’ll talk about it in the next post.

Photo by Fredrik Öhlander on Unsplash