1 After this Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and He revealed Himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. 3 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.
4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” 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 it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7 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. 8 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.
9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 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. 12 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. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.
You’ll remember from last week that chapter 20 closes the narrative of John’s Gospel, while the final chapter is more of an epilogue.
Warren Wiersbe explains the purpose of John 21 by writing, “The average reader would conclude that John completed his book with the dramatic testimony of Thomas, and the reader would wonder why John added another chapter. The main reason is the apostle Peter, John’s close associate in ministry in the book of Acts. John did not want to end his Gospel without telling his readers that Peter was restored to his apostleship. Were it not for the information in this chapter, we would wonder why Peter was so prominent in the first twelve chapters of the book of Acts. John had another purpose in mind: he wanted to refute the foolish rumour that had spread among the believers that John would live until the return of the Lord. John made it clear that our Lord’s words had been greatly misunderstood. I think John may have had another purpose in mind: he wanted to teach us how to relate to the risen Christ. During the forty days between His resurrection and ascension, our Lord appeared and disappeared at will, visiting with the disciples and preparing them for the coming of the Spirit and their future ministries. They never knew when He would appear, so they had to stay alert. (The fact that He may return for His people today ought to keep us on our toes!) It was an important time for the disciples because they were about to take His place in the world and begin to carry the message to others.”
Before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples in Mark 14:28, “After I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee,” and in Mark’s account of Resurrection Sunday, the angel told the women who went to the tomb early that morning, “Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.” (Mark 16:7)
It was in Galilee, a small area on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, or Sea of Tiberius as it was also known, where Jesus grew up and spent most of the three years of His public ministry, which included His teachings, His calling of the 12 disciples and where He performed many of His miracles.
As a devout Jewish man, He would have made the journey south to Jerusalem on many occasions to celebrate the many Jewish festivals, plus, of course, His final visit to Jerusalem which began on Palm Sunday.
The majority of Jesus’ earthly ministry though, took place in Galilee, so it was appropriate that this was where Jesus gave His final instructions to His disciples prior to His ascension. J. C. Ryle wrote, “Jesus knew well the influence which scenery and places exercise over the mind of man. He would recall to the memory of His disciples all that they had witnessed in the early days of His ministry, where He had begun with them, there He would have one of His last interviews with them, before leaving the world.”
There are three main incidents in John 21, which we will look at over the next 3 weeks. Today we focus on the miraculous catch of fish. The lesson to us in this miracle is that as the church, we are to submit to His authority as He directs our service to Him. Next Sunday is the restoration and reinstatement of Peter, followed by Jesus’ final call of obedience to His followers as we take the message of the Gospel into the world.
The Sea of Galilee played an important part in Jesus’ ministry, both before and after His resurrection. The disciples knew it well, and as the angel had told the women on the morning of the resurrection, the disciples travelled to Galilee from Jerusalem, and were waiting for Jesus.
Peter has often been criticised for acting impulsively, and here we have another example. There are some commentators who have condemned Peter and the others for going fishing, but Jesus did not rebuke them when He arrived. These men were, after all, fishermen by trade, so it made sense for them to try and provide for their families as they waited for Jesus’ instructions.
John MacArthur wrote, “The most reasonable explanation for Peter and the others to go to Galilee in order to fish was that they went in obedience to the Lord’s command to meet Him in Galilee. Peter and the others occupied themselves with fishing, which was their former livelihood, while they awaited Jesus’ appearance.”
It is also no coincidence that they caught nothing that night. This was highly unusual for such experienced fishermen as they were. One commentator has called this “the failure of the experts.” But again we see the sovereign hand of God in this account, as they were about to learn an important lesson for their own ministries in the future.
They knew how to catch fish. That’s what they did for a living, but that night of failure was part of the plan and purpose of God.
John tells us in verse 4 that Jesus was standing on the shore as dawn broke, but they didn’t recognise Him. It had happened before. There were times when the disciples were supernaturally prevented from recognising the risen Jesus, but we must be careful of reading something into the text which is just not there.
On previous occasions, as with Mary at the tomb and the disciples on the Emmaus road, Jesus had led His followers from unbelief to belief in His resurrection and triumph over death, and both times He was not recognised at first. But by the time we come to John 21, the disciples did believe, so there really was no need for Jesus to intentionally conceal His identity in this case.
The fact that they didn’t realise it was Jesus standing on the shore might simply be that they were some 100 metres away, and it was very early in the morning. Vernon McGee writes, “I think this was a normal experience. He was in His glorified body and He could be recognised; yet they would have been a distance out on the lake, and in the early morning it would be difficult to identify people on the shore.”
Verses 5 and 6 continue, “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.”
There is an important point we need to see here as Jesus told them to cast their net onto the other side. They’d been trying to catch fish all night, and were no doubt frustrated and even annoyed by now, so it’s easy for us to picture them desperately casting their net forwards, backwards, left and right all night, but to no avail, so when Jesus told them to try the other side, we might imagine them thinking, “Well, let’s give it one more try before we give up.”
But that is not how fishing with nets from boats is done. The tides and winds dictate how trawlers use their nets. The name itself explains it. The boat drifts along with the tide or the wind, dragging - trawling - the net behind it. Modern day trawlers with their on-board refrigeration, electronic fish finders and powerful engines are completely different to the primitive boats the disciples would have used, but some things don’t change, like trawling the net behind or alongside the boat as it drifts along.
Which makes Jesus’ command to cast the net on the other side a strange command at best. You just don’t throw a net into the water you are about to drift into. It’s not only pointless, because you would soon run over the net, but also extremely dangerous as it would almost certainly become caught in the rudder, making the boat impossible to steer.
The point of all of this is that we need to learn that God works in ways we simply don’t understand most of the time.
Contrary to popular belief, “The Lord moves in mysterious ways, His wonder to perform” is not a verse found in the Bible. It’s a line in one of William Cowper’s hymns, but the principle is most certainly Biblical.
The Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
And Paul writes at the end of Romans 11, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counsellor? Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33-36)
God gives the commands, and we are to obey them, but notice how Jesus directed His disciples in three distinct steps in John 21.
First, He asked them a question, the point of which was to reveal to the disciples their own need and failure. “Do you have any fish?” When we study God’s Word, the Spirit searches our hearts, asking questions, as it were. We see it throughout the Bible, beginning all the way back in Genesis 3 as God asked Adam and Eve, “Where are you? Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? What is this you have done?” (Genesis 3:9, 11, 13)
In the next chapter the Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?” If you do well, will you not be accepted?” (Genesis 4:6–7)
Through the prophet Nathan God asked David after he fell into sin, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in His sight?” (2 Samuel 12:9)
Isaiah was asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8)
Jesus asked many questions, most of which cut right to the heart. “Who do you say I am? Do you want to go away as well? Whom do you seek? Woman, why are you weeping? Whom is it you are seeking?”
God doesn’t ask us questions because He does not have the answers. He asks questions to get us to face our situation. Jesus asked the disciples if they’d caught any fish because they had to admit they’d failed.
The first step on our journey to salvation is recognising our great need: To be justified in the sight of God, and how we have completely and utterly failed to be reconciled to Him in our own strength.
Secondly, having asked a question, Jesus gives a command. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”
Why the right side? Because that was the side they were commanded to by Jesus, despite the fact that doing such a thing went against all the disciples knew about the art of catching fish. If He’d said the left side, that’s where the fish would have been.
This was no arbitrary miracle. Jesus didn’t feel sorry for the disciples because they’d caught nothing all night. As always, context is important. Jesus was about to return to heaven, leaving the disciples and His church (which includes each of us) to continue the task of sharing the Gospel, and they and we have to learn that the point is not so much where the work is to be done or even how. It is whether it is being done under the guidance of God through the Holy Spirit and in obedience to Him and His will as revealed in the Bible, or by our own wisdom and initiatives, which will always fail.
Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “My beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.”
The question is, how do we know our labour is for the Lord, or in vain? Our first stop is Scripture. Whatever we do needs to be done prayerfully, and in accordance with the commands of God revealed to us in His Word.
Thirdly, after challenging the disciples with a question and giving them a command, He sends His blessings.
In response to their obedience to His command, Jesus provided such a large catch of fish that they couldn’t pull the net onto the boat. They literally had to drag it ashore.
Verse 11. “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.”
There are a couple of important points here. Why 153 fish? Why not approximately 150? Or just more than a hundred?
Firstly this authenticates John as an eye witness. He was there, and he knew exactly how many fish were caught, but more importantly, the exact number reminds us of Jesus’ promise in John 6:37-40. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
God knows you by name, and He calls you by name. When you respond to Him in faith, you are His, and He will guard and keep you to the end. This is why, when the disciples caught exactly 153 fish, the net did not break.
James Boice writes, “The 153 fish symbolise men and women won for Christ. In the earlier story in Luke 5, the net was broken. Here it remains intact, for none of those whom God has called and given to Jesus will be lost. Those whom we convert may well be lost; such are not true conversions. But those whom God calls to Christ through us will never be lost.”
This is the doctrine of election, and the firm promise we have in the Bible that we are His for eternity. This time the net did not break, and later that morning Peter was commissioned to feed Jesus’ sheep, not with bread and fish, but with the Word of God - with the Gospel of a risen, glorified Christ. The Gospel will not only save, but it will hold. Even in our failures, we are kept secure by the power of God through faith.
Ephesians 1:11-14 says, “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.”
This is the last recorded miracle of Jesus, and the only miracle recorded after His resurrection in all 4 Gospel accounts.
There is a recurring theme we see in the miracles in both the Old and New Testaments. God often uses what people have as the basis for His miracles.
The disciples are fishing and catch nothing, so Jesus miraculously fills their net. At the wedding in Cana the water jars were empty, so Jesus had the disciples fill them with water and then changes the water to wine. He takes a boy’s simple picnic lunch and feeds many thousands of people. He asked Moses what he had in his hand. Moses replied that it was a staff, and with that staff, God performed many miracles as He led His people out of Egyptian slavery.
God took David’s shepherd’s crook, and gave him a royal sceptre to rule God’s people.
Whatever it is you hold in your hand, whatever skill or talent God has gifted you with, He can use to do mighty things for His kingdom if you are prepared to submit to His authority and will. We just need to be sensitive to and aware of the opportunities we have each day.
Unwillingness or just plain disobedience is a common obstacle in our lives. Vernon McGee wrote, “So many people wish they were somewhere else or in some other circumstances. My friend, if God can’t use you right where you are, I don’t think He can use you somewhere else.”
Also, whatever God does, He does in abundance. The water jars were full of wine. There were baskets of food left over after the crowd had been fed, and the disciples’ net was full of fish.
And then remarkably, Jesus prepared breakfast for His disciples, even using some of the fish He had provided for them in the first place. What does this teach us?
He accepted their service. When they fished at His command, He accepted what they brought. “Come and have breakfast,” He told them in verse 12. McGee also wrote, “Jesus did say, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel,” but He would rather you would come and have breakfast with Him before you go.”
Notice also, Peter’s reaction when he realised it was Jesus on the shore. He dived overboard and swam towards Jesus as fast as he could.
On a previous occasion, in Luke 5 something very similar happened. The disciples had fished all night but caught nothing. “Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.’ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’” (Luke 5:3-8)
Now, in John 21, Peter has a similar experience of Jesus, yet he responds completely differently.
The first time he begged Jesus to leave him, but now he dives into the water and swims as hard as he can to reach Jesus. Why the radical change?
Remember that very recently Peter committed the greatest sin of his life, denying Jesus three times. What has changed is that Peter has learned the grace of God for sinners in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The resurrected Jesus appeared to Peter and the others, not with terrifying words of judgment or rebuke, but with mercy and love. “Peace be with you.”
We need to learn that same lesson, because Jesus invites us into His gracious presence to receive the mercy and peace we need. If Jesus offered peace through His sin-atoning blood to the disciple who denied Him, then we can know He offers saving grace to all who respond to the Gospel of grace.
“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 21:1-14
What does this account teach us about obedience to God?
There are 3 stages which Jesus takes His disciples through in this passage.
Firstly, He asks them a question (v5)
Secondly, He gives a command (v6)
Thirdly, He provides a blessing (v6)
What does this teach us about obedience and Christian ministry and service?
Compare the reaction of Peter when he realised it was Jesus on the shore with how he responded to Jesus previously. (See Luke 5:4-8)
Peter had yet to be reinstated by Jesus (that came after this miracle), so why was there such a change in how Peter reacted?
What was the significance of Jesus preparing breakfast for the disciples, and what can we learn from this?