Post-Resurrection Catch
Preaching
Ordinary Words, Extraordinary Deeds
Preaching The Miracles Of Jesus
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 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. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" 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 there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Reflections On The Text
This vivid story is one of the longest sustained narratives in the Gospels. It also has parallels with two texts already considered in this study: the catch of fish in Luke 5:1-10 and the wedding at Cana in John 2:1-11. The latter of these, since it occurs in the same Gospel, is especially useful as a key to understanding what John is saying in this post-resurrection story. In that first sign, performed in Cana, also in Galilee, Jesus "revealed his glory" to the disciples, which prompts them to "believe in him" (2:11). As John's Gospel draws to a close in chapter 21, the resurrected Jesus has returned to Galilee and "showed himself again" through a miraculous deed that for his followers confirms his identity.
The passage opens with an indefinite description of how much time has elapsed since Jesus' resurrection, his appearance to most of the disciples later that day, and his subsequent dramatic appearance to Thomas a week later. All of those things happened in Jerusalem. Chapter 21 is set in Galilee, the location of Jesus' early ministry, including such key Johannine events as the already mentioned wedding at Cana in chapter 2 and the feeding of the 5000 in chapter 6. Both of those stories speak of an abundance that is unexpectedly brought forth from meager resources. Similar things happen in the present passage as Jesus returns to Galilee.
The named disciples in 21:2 include Simon Peter, who witnessed the empty tomb in 20:2-8; Thomas, to whom the crucified Jesus has just appeared in 20:19-29; and, somewhat surprisingly, Nathanael, who has not been identified since John 1. In that passage, a cycle of call and response is unleashed in which Nathanael is informed by Philip that the Messiah has been found. His name is Jesus, and he is from Nazareth (1:43ff). Nathanael then dismissively (and famously) says, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Still he accepts Philip's invitation and goes to see Jesus. But before he can get close, Jesus identifies Nathanael as a "true Israelite." In the course of the ensuing conversation, Nathanael is so impressed with Jesus that he confesses him to be the Son of God. Even Jesus is taken aback by the force of Nathanael's confession, assuring him that Nathanael "will see greater things than these" (1:50). Nothing more is heard from or about Nathanael until this moment when chapter 21 opens and he is there with Simon Peter and Thomas and a few others. Is this at last the time for the "greater things" to be revealed?
The disciples' return to Galilee suggests a return to their former lives, as if their experiences with Jesus had made no lasting impact. They had been with him. They had seen him do marvelous things. They had watched him gather great crowds, suffer at the hands of his enemies, and die a painful death. They had also witnessed him risen from the dead, bearing the marks of crucifixion on his body. Yet as incredible and as significant as all those things were, the disciples are now going back to where they used to be and doing what they used to do -- fish! The holy moments have passed. The extraordinary time has ended. It's time to get on with life. However, their desire to return to the old days is not successful for "they caught nothing" (21:3). They cannot go back. There is nothing there for them in their former lives; the nets are empty.
Jesus is on the shore while they fish, but they do not recognize him. Difficulty in identifying the resurrected Jesus is a common theme in the Gospel stories. Mary Magdalene mistakes Jesus for the gardener in John 20:11-18. Likewise, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35 fail to recognize the stranger in their midst as they walk with him away from Jerusalem. For Mary, the recognition comes when Jesus calls her name. In Luke, Jesus is identified as he breaks the bread at the table in Emmaus. In the present passage, the dramatic reversal of the fishermen's fortunes signals to them the presence of their Lord.
Fishing the way they used to, they are completely unsuccessful. Fishing the way Jesus now directs, casting the net on the other side of the boat, brings the disciples great abundance. Their future indeed is with this One. They cannot go back to what they used to do and who they used to be. Their old lives bring up nothing but empty nets. But with Jesus, who continues to seek them out and direct their lives, there is great possibility for them. The unnamed, beloved disciple first makes the identification, sharing his conclusion with Peter that it is indeed the Lord who has come among them. The scene parallels the Easter story in John 20 where the beloved disciple beats Peter in their race to behold the empty tomb. Now in John 21 Peter confirms what his colleague has announced by enthusiastically jumping in the water.
As happened at that wedding in Cana, a bleak situation in Galilee has been reversed. The disciples come to the shore to a meal that Jesus has been preparing for them. They drag the astonishing number of fish, so precisely remembered as 153 in number, a detail that takes the reader back to the feeding of the 5000 where five loaves and two fish yielded food for all -- and twelve baskets of leftovers. Just as in that meal, Jesus has acted miraculously and bounteously once again, and all are fed. Just as confession is the result of the meal for many in John 6: "When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, 'This is indeed the prophet who has come into the world' " (6:14); so too in this meal for the disciples, Jesus' identity is sealed: "They knew it was the Lord" (21:12). He has shown himself to them, fully and decisively. The greater things have indeed come to pass
In the final scene of this passage, Jesus takes the bread, along with the fish, and gives it to them, rehearsing the actions of the Last Supper as told in the synoptic Gospels. John himself uniquely narrates that final gathering before Jesus' death not as Passover meal, but as the occasion for Jesus to demonstrate the tasks of discipleship as he washes the feet of his followers (John 13:1-20). However, John has simply been saving the sharing of bread for a later point in the story. It is here, following the resurrection and the full revelation of Jesus' glory displayed through this remarkable catch of fish, that John chooses to set the communal eating of bread. It is truly the meal for those whose lives have been dramatically reversed by Jesus, those who have no need "to ask him, 'Who are you?' because they knew it was the Lord" (21:12). The meal is the confirmation of who Jesus is and the fulfillment of what Jesus has done.
Preaching Possibilities
This rich and sustained narrative can point the preacher in any number of homiletical directions. One area of inquiry could be the return of the disciples to their ordinary lives following the resurrection. They had experienced incredible things. They had the holy moments, the mountaintop experiences. Yet those are not the norm; rather life continues to be lived in simple patterns and unremarkable routines. They have to return to fishing. Their experiences with Jesus do not exempt them from living in the world. Yet it is there, in all of life's ordinariness, that the resurrected Lord comes to them. Not while they are praying, not during some pious ritual, not during some candlelight vigil, but while they are fishing, while they are doing that which they normally do. This episode encourages us to look and listen for the ordinary ways Jesus comes to us in the middle of the usual, ordinary stuff of life.
The lectionary setting of this text, a couple of weeks after Easter Sunday, underscores this interpretation. There is an indisputable letdown in the church after Easter. The special services are over. Attendance diminishes. The extra flowers have gone. The trumpets have disappeared. Advent is some seven months away, and while there are a few bright spots between now and then, what we mostly have before us is plain, ordinary stuff, the usual routines and basic patterns.
The promise of this passage is that it is precisely in the ordinary rhythms that we are likely to encounter the extraordinary reality of Jesus Christ. As we wake, work, eat, sleep, follow our schedules, collect our checks, and pay our bills, Christ is among us. The holy moments are not limited to Sunday morning or Easter or Christmas. The challenge, both for the disciples in this text and for us in our lives, is to develop the ability to recognize the Lord even (and especially) amidst the ordinary times and places of our lives.
Another way to go at this passage homiletically is with that curious detail of 153 fish. The precision of that number suggests that it was not an estimate nor was it simply made up. Somebody counted, somebody remembered, somebody thought that that number was too important to forget. Somehow it mattered to preserve that number in all of its accuracy, as if to demonstrate in a particular way the blessing that had been received and to specify that God is not just up there, out of sight, out of mind. The 153 fish in that net shows that God does particular things in our lives.
Perhaps the number retained so precisely as this story was handed down is a challenge to us to remember the particular ways we have been blessed. What are the specific descriptions of the blessings we have received, of the abundances we have enjoyed? What are the times when God has led us through the valley, pulled us out of the ditch, set before us a new opportunity, healed a relationship, given us a fresh start? When have we heard the voice from the shore that grabbed our attention and suggested another way that led to a great abundance? God acts in real ways, identifiable ways. God gets involved in the details, bringing forth particular things in particular ways in particular lives.
This specificity of God's blessing also affords a sacramental connection for this passage beyond the obvious linkages suggested by the meal on the beach. In baptism, we do not just throw water on people and say whatever comes to mind, rather we call the candidates by name and we use the exact words given to us by Jesus, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Likewise, we do not celebrate eucharist by setting out some snacks and letting people serve themselves. Instead, we follow Jesus' lead, taking the bread and blessing it and breaking it and giving it to one another, even as we repeat the words we have received: "This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you." Religion is not a haphazard endeavor. There is meaning in the precision. There is blessing in the specificity. God gets involved in the details. We are invited to notice, to count, to remember.
This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Reflections On The Text
This vivid story is one of the longest sustained narratives in the Gospels. It also has parallels with two texts already considered in this study: the catch of fish in Luke 5:1-10 and the wedding at Cana in John 2:1-11. The latter of these, since it occurs in the same Gospel, is especially useful as a key to understanding what John is saying in this post-resurrection story. In that first sign, performed in Cana, also in Galilee, Jesus "revealed his glory" to the disciples, which prompts them to "believe in him" (2:11). As John's Gospel draws to a close in chapter 21, the resurrected Jesus has returned to Galilee and "showed himself again" through a miraculous deed that for his followers confirms his identity.
The passage opens with an indefinite description of how much time has elapsed since Jesus' resurrection, his appearance to most of the disciples later that day, and his subsequent dramatic appearance to Thomas a week later. All of those things happened in Jerusalem. Chapter 21 is set in Galilee, the location of Jesus' early ministry, including such key Johannine events as the already mentioned wedding at Cana in chapter 2 and the feeding of the 5000 in chapter 6. Both of those stories speak of an abundance that is unexpectedly brought forth from meager resources. Similar things happen in the present passage as Jesus returns to Galilee.
The named disciples in 21:2 include Simon Peter, who witnessed the empty tomb in 20:2-8; Thomas, to whom the crucified Jesus has just appeared in 20:19-29; and, somewhat surprisingly, Nathanael, who has not been identified since John 1. In that passage, a cycle of call and response is unleashed in which Nathanael is informed by Philip that the Messiah has been found. His name is Jesus, and he is from Nazareth (1:43ff). Nathanael then dismissively (and famously) says, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Still he accepts Philip's invitation and goes to see Jesus. But before he can get close, Jesus identifies Nathanael as a "true Israelite." In the course of the ensuing conversation, Nathanael is so impressed with Jesus that he confesses him to be the Son of God. Even Jesus is taken aback by the force of Nathanael's confession, assuring him that Nathanael "will see greater things than these" (1:50). Nothing more is heard from or about Nathanael until this moment when chapter 21 opens and he is there with Simon Peter and Thomas and a few others. Is this at last the time for the "greater things" to be revealed?
The disciples' return to Galilee suggests a return to their former lives, as if their experiences with Jesus had made no lasting impact. They had been with him. They had seen him do marvelous things. They had watched him gather great crowds, suffer at the hands of his enemies, and die a painful death. They had also witnessed him risen from the dead, bearing the marks of crucifixion on his body. Yet as incredible and as significant as all those things were, the disciples are now going back to where they used to be and doing what they used to do -- fish! The holy moments have passed. The extraordinary time has ended. It's time to get on with life. However, their desire to return to the old days is not successful for "they caught nothing" (21:3). They cannot go back. There is nothing there for them in their former lives; the nets are empty.
Jesus is on the shore while they fish, but they do not recognize him. Difficulty in identifying the resurrected Jesus is a common theme in the Gospel stories. Mary Magdalene mistakes Jesus for the gardener in John 20:11-18. Likewise, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35 fail to recognize the stranger in their midst as they walk with him away from Jerusalem. For Mary, the recognition comes when Jesus calls her name. In Luke, Jesus is identified as he breaks the bread at the table in Emmaus. In the present passage, the dramatic reversal of the fishermen's fortunes signals to them the presence of their Lord.
Fishing the way they used to, they are completely unsuccessful. Fishing the way Jesus now directs, casting the net on the other side of the boat, brings the disciples great abundance. Their future indeed is with this One. They cannot go back to what they used to do and who they used to be. Their old lives bring up nothing but empty nets. But with Jesus, who continues to seek them out and direct their lives, there is great possibility for them. The unnamed, beloved disciple first makes the identification, sharing his conclusion with Peter that it is indeed the Lord who has come among them. The scene parallels the Easter story in John 20 where the beloved disciple beats Peter in their race to behold the empty tomb. Now in John 21 Peter confirms what his colleague has announced by enthusiastically jumping in the water.
As happened at that wedding in Cana, a bleak situation in Galilee has been reversed. The disciples come to the shore to a meal that Jesus has been preparing for them. They drag the astonishing number of fish, so precisely remembered as 153 in number, a detail that takes the reader back to the feeding of the 5000 where five loaves and two fish yielded food for all -- and twelve baskets of leftovers. Just as in that meal, Jesus has acted miraculously and bounteously once again, and all are fed. Just as confession is the result of the meal for many in John 6: "When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, 'This is indeed the prophet who has come into the world' " (6:14); so too in this meal for the disciples, Jesus' identity is sealed: "They knew it was the Lord" (21:12). He has shown himself to them, fully and decisively. The greater things have indeed come to pass
In the final scene of this passage, Jesus takes the bread, along with the fish, and gives it to them, rehearsing the actions of the Last Supper as told in the synoptic Gospels. John himself uniquely narrates that final gathering before Jesus' death not as Passover meal, but as the occasion for Jesus to demonstrate the tasks of discipleship as he washes the feet of his followers (John 13:1-20). However, John has simply been saving the sharing of bread for a later point in the story. It is here, following the resurrection and the full revelation of Jesus' glory displayed through this remarkable catch of fish, that John chooses to set the communal eating of bread. It is truly the meal for those whose lives have been dramatically reversed by Jesus, those who have no need "to ask him, 'Who are you?' because they knew it was the Lord" (21:12). The meal is the confirmation of who Jesus is and the fulfillment of what Jesus has done.
Preaching Possibilities
This rich and sustained narrative can point the preacher in any number of homiletical directions. One area of inquiry could be the return of the disciples to their ordinary lives following the resurrection. They had experienced incredible things. They had the holy moments, the mountaintop experiences. Yet those are not the norm; rather life continues to be lived in simple patterns and unremarkable routines. They have to return to fishing. Their experiences with Jesus do not exempt them from living in the world. Yet it is there, in all of life's ordinariness, that the resurrected Lord comes to them. Not while they are praying, not during some pious ritual, not during some candlelight vigil, but while they are fishing, while they are doing that which they normally do. This episode encourages us to look and listen for the ordinary ways Jesus comes to us in the middle of the usual, ordinary stuff of life.
The lectionary setting of this text, a couple of weeks after Easter Sunday, underscores this interpretation. There is an indisputable letdown in the church after Easter. The special services are over. Attendance diminishes. The extra flowers have gone. The trumpets have disappeared. Advent is some seven months away, and while there are a few bright spots between now and then, what we mostly have before us is plain, ordinary stuff, the usual routines and basic patterns.
The promise of this passage is that it is precisely in the ordinary rhythms that we are likely to encounter the extraordinary reality of Jesus Christ. As we wake, work, eat, sleep, follow our schedules, collect our checks, and pay our bills, Christ is among us. The holy moments are not limited to Sunday morning or Easter or Christmas. The challenge, both for the disciples in this text and for us in our lives, is to develop the ability to recognize the Lord even (and especially) amidst the ordinary times and places of our lives.
Another way to go at this passage homiletically is with that curious detail of 153 fish. The precision of that number suggests that it was not an estimate nor was it simply made up. Somebody counted, somebody remembered, somebody thought that that number was too important to forget. Somehow it mattered to preserve that number in all of its accuracy, as if to demonstrate in a particular way the blessing that had been received and to specify that God is not just up there, out of sight, out of mind. The 153 fish in that net shows that God does particular things in our lives.
Perhaps the number retained so precisely as this story was handed down is a challenge to us to remember the particular ways we have been blessed. What are the specific descriptions of the blessings we have received, of the abundances we have enjoyed? What are the times when God has led us through the valley, pulled us out of the ditch, set before us a new opportunity, healed a relationship, given us a fresh start? When have we heard the voice from the shore that grabbed our attention and suggested another way that led to a great abundance? God acts in real ways, identifiable ways. God gets involved in the details, bringing forth particular things in particular ways in particular lives.
This specificity of God's blessing also affords a sacramental connection for this passage beyond the obvious linkages suggested by the meal on the beach. In baptism, we do not just throw water on people and say whatever comes to mind, rather we call the candidates by name and we use the exact words given to us by Jesus, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Likewise, we do not celebrate eucharist by setting out some snacks and letting people serve themselves. Instead, we follow Jesus' lead, taking the bread and blessing it and breaking it and giving it to one another, even as we repeat the words we have received: "This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, shed for you." Religion is not a haphazard endeavor. There is meaning in the precision. There is blessing in the specificity. God gets involved in the details. We are invited to notice, to count, to remember.
