John 21

This appearance of Jesus to His disciples is recorded only here. Keep in mind that the disciples (including Thomas) have all seen Jesus alive again. Peter says to his friends, "I'm going out to fish." Why? I think it's more than just Peter needing to occupy his time. Based on our discussion in class about rabbis and talmidim, I think Peter believes he is out of the group of Jesus' disciples, so he's going back to his familiar trade. Recalling Peter's denial, this conclusion is probably well-founded (at least from Peter's point of view). The other disciples there say, "We'll go with you." Perhaps they are unsure of their status as talmidim as well. So they go and they catch nothing all night. It's funny that of all the stories of disciples fishing in the Bible, they never catch any fish without Jesus' help. They can't have been that lousy at fishing or they wouldn't have survived two weeks in the trade, but it is perhaps an interesting teaching point that if we are to be "fishers of men" and we think we can do it ourselves, we're going to encounter long nights of empty nets.

Back to the story: Jesus is walking on the shore and calls to them: "Friends haven't you any fish?"  "No," they answered.  I wonder what their tone was toward this mysterious person on the shore asking them about their non-existent catch (they didn't know it was Jesus).  But when Jesus asks them to throw their net on the right side of the boat, they do so and haul in a huge catch of fish.  John then realized it's Jesus on shore and tells Peter.  Peter jumps out and gets to shore where Jesus is waiting with a breakfast of bread and fish (by the way, it's hilarious that Jesus somehow has fish already when the disciples couldn't get any the whole night).  But notice what the breakfast is cooking over when Peter comes to shore: a fire of burning coals. Remember the Greek word for a charcoal fire?  Anthrakia, the same Greek word used for the fire in John 18, where Peter denied Jesus.  If you have ever grilled over a charcoal fire, you know that it has a distinct smell.  I wonder what was racing through Peter's mind as he smelled that familiar smell.  Regardless, the message to Peter is one of Jesus' grace and mercy in the face of Peter's fear and denial.  What followed was Peter's reinstatement to the group of Jesus' disciples.  

Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Praise God for His word! 

Hazaq, hazaq, v'nithazeq!