John chapter 21

vs 1

It does seem a little odd that John would go on after chapter 20, but apparently he does. And this end section is not like the spurious end of Mark either - it is well attested to.

So, John wants to tell us about another appearance Jesus made to the disciples. And this one was out in the open near the Sea of Gailee.

vs 2

That's a rather large group of the disciples, just apparently hanging around. And this is after Jesus has appeared to them. They don't seem all that purposeful.

vs 3

I'm not sure if fishing at night is a normal thing. Perhaps it is. Anyway, they catch nothing. Gives you a fair indication of the size of the boat, though. I would assume that you can't just walk up to the sea of Galilee and steal a boat that size - I'm assuming it's Peter's boat he left behind.

vs 4

So they went out fishing all night together (like a typical bunch of blokes, who brought the beer? Oh, that's right, Thomas). Jesus sits on the shore watching them. They must just think it's some guy who thinks fishing is a spectator sport.

vs 5

"Haven't you any fish?" is a nice way of saying "You've been out there all night, and you haven't caught a bloody thing? I thought you were a fisherman by trade Peter. Obviously you suck at it!"

vs 6

Now I will admit freely that I have never been massive-net fishing. So I don't know thing one about doing it. I've been line fishing plenty of times. And I am pretty sure that throwing your net out on the other side of the boat is not a sure-fire method of catching fish. In fact, I would say it's a stupid solution. They do it though, and lo and behold they catch so many fish they can't even get them in the boat. That's pretty awesome. Perhaps I should try fishing off the other side of the boat sometime.

vs 7

So John, looking out at this strange guy who had given them fishing instructions sees that it's Jesus, and he says so. Peter then proceeds to do a Forrest Gump. One thing about the picture that the Bible paints about Peter - it is fairly consistent. It must have been quite the personality trait to have been recorded so faithfully.

vs 8

Well of course they weren't far from shore, I mean, Jesus was calling out to them, and they were replying. Lucky there's a couple of other fishermen aboard though, otherwise Peter's loss from the ship may well have a caused them to be stuck out there. Not everyone knows how to steer a boat, after all. I think it's great that Peter is keen to go see Jesus, but he is abandoning that huge catch of fish that Jesus gave him in the first place. Love the creator and not the creation, I guess.

vs 9

Bread and fish. It's funny - you see these similar food types all the way through both testaments, and you might think "Wow, these foods are really holy", bread and wine in particular. But the simple fact is that they were the food that was everywhere. They didn't have as much choice as we did. These foods are not special. You could try and link this miracle to the feeding the 5000 miracle if you wanted. I think you'll just find that bread and fish were common, especially if you were living around the Sea of Galilee.

vs 10

I guess Jesus had enough for himself, and rather than bust out another miracle, he thinks one is enough (the huge catch of fish) and that they can just bring some and eat.

vs 11

Apart from what this story tells us about Jesus and his disciples, it also tells us a bit about fishing on the Sea of Galilee at the time. I mean, what was a big catch for them? Well, apparently, 153 fish was huge, and you would expect the net to break with that many fish. The exact number, 153, is just another bit of evidence that John who is writing it is an eye witness - how else would you know the exact number of fish?

vs 12

Jesus asks them to have breakfast, and then we have this wierd sentence about none of them asking who he was, because they all knew it was Jesus. Does that mean that Jesus looked different, and they recognised him another way. Or is it a cultural thing where you're meant to ask someone who they are if they invite you to breakfast? Probably not that.

Ok, so he looked different, but they all knew it was him. The language still seems a little guarded. They dared not ask him? I guess after the ribbing Thomas got for believing only when he saw him, none of them were prepared for their names to go down in history as "blind idiot Nathan" or whatever.