WWUTT 1013 The Disciples Go Fishing?

After Jesus had showed himself to his disciples, following his resurrection, they went fishing.

Because of course, what else would you do? But once again, Jesus called them to become fishers of men when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 21.

The last chapter of John's Gospel, which we'll get into today by looking at verses 1 -14.

The Apostle John wrote, After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the

Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way, Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin,

Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

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 as day was breaking,

Jesus stood on the shore, yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 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.

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.

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.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread.

And Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have caught. 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. 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. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.

This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Now, as I mentioned yesterday, chapter 21 of John's gospel is an epilogue.

It's John wrapping up all the events that he's talked about over the course of his gospel and especially focusing on the commission that Jesus was going to give to Peter, contrasting that with the commission

Jesus was going to give to John. So those two disciples have the most focus here in chapter 21, but also highlighting

Jesus' third appearance to his disciples after his resurrection. In chapter 21, verse 1, we read that after this,

Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.

Now, as I had mentioned when we first began our study of the gospel of John, a reference to the

Sea of Tiberias is one of the evidences that we use for a late dating of the writing of this gospel, meaning that John had likely written this after the destruction of the temple in 70

AD, whereas the previous three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, were all written before the destruction of the temple.

There are certain things that changed after Rome destroyed the temple, and one of those things was the naming of the

Sea of Galilee. It was no longer called the Sea of Galilee, it was called the Sea of Tiberias.

And so John would have used that name given a late dating of the writing of this gospel rather than calling it the

Sea of Galilee, which it was not known by anymore. Also one of the other things I'd mention is that the Sadducees were no longer part of the

Sanhedrin. That group of the Sanhedrin was done after the destruction of the temple, although the

Pharisees remained. So you'll still have mention of the Pharisees, but there's no mention of the Sadducees. And again, that being another evidence of the late dating of the writing of the gospel of John.

All of the things that we have read in the chapters previous from chapter 13 on through chapter 20, all of that had gone on during the

Feast of Unleavened Bread. So since the feast was over and the disciples no longer feared the

Jews coming against them to destroy them, they've returned to Galilee. So that's what's going on here in chapter 21.

Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, which again is in Galilee, and he revealed himself in this way.

Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples were together.

Now the sons of Zebedee were James and John, and we know that when Jesus first called

Peter to follow him, James and John were with him. So James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were were kind of partners with Peter in this trade of fishing.

So when Peter said, I am going fishing and they reply to him, we will go with you.

Well, that's not unusual because that's who they were. They were fishermen by trade. But what

John is meaning to show here, even by including this dialogue, because he didn't have to put

Peter said, I'm going to go fishing and the disciples said, we're going to go with you. He could have just put and they went fishing.

So why include this exchange? Well, what John is meaning to show here is that the disciples really didn't know what to do next.

And so they went right back to doing what they were doing when Jesus first called them.

They were fishermen. So not knowing what else to do, they went fishing.

And Peter says, I'm going to go fishing. They said, we're going to go with you. And they went out and got into the boat.

But that night they caught nothing. So it wasn't just because they were bored.

It wasn't just because they were looking for something to do. They were truly meaning to go fishing with the intention of selling fish in the market the next day.

It was common for the Jews to go fish at night.

That way they could sell the fish fresh in the market in the morning.

So that's why the disciples went out in the boat and they were attempting to catch something that night.

But they didn't catch anything. They were going back to their livelihood. They thought, hey, we got to make some money somehow.

So let's go get jobs. Let's go out on the boat. We'll go fishing.

We'll sell fish in the market the next morning. They were going back to their way of life. And it says in verse four, just as day was breaking,

Jesus stood on the shore. Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish?

They answered him, no. And 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.

Now this is just like when Jesus had first called Peter to follow him. And we read this story in Luke chapter five.

While the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.

And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

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.

So see, Jesus did this miracle with them when he first called Peter. And here he was doing this miracle again.

I'm going to keep going here in Luke chapter five, verse seven, they signaled 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. He knew that he was dealing with someone powerful, someone divine, that they would perform a miracle such as this.

Peter suddenly becomes aware of his sin in the presence of the God man, Jesus Christ, and says, depart from me.

I'm a sinful man, O Lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.

And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. That's Luke five, 10.

And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid of from now on, you will be catching men.

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him biggest catch of fish they had ever made.

This was bank to a fisherman to have had so many fish that their boats are even sinking.

But what do they do when they arrive at the land? They leave everything that they had caught best catch of their lives, a catch that fishermen will spend their whole lives fishing and not end up with a catch like that.

And they left it behind to follow Jesus. This is how Jesus first called

Peter, James and John. But instead of here in John 21 becoming fishers of men, they went right back to being fishers of fish and they didn't catch any fish.

And Jesus does this miracle with them again and not necessarily to show himself to them again as being the son of man who's there on the shore performing this miracles before their very eyes, just as he had in the first place.

But it was also to show to them again that he was going to make them fishers of men.

Only the large catch that they were going to bring in wasn't going to be fish, but it was going to be men.

It was Jesus reminding them once again of this calling because at the present that that's not what they were pursuing.

They were going back to their livelihood as fishermen, catching fish to sell them in the market the next day.

So Jesus does this miracle once again, and it's John that recognizes it.

I'm back in John 21 verse seven. The disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the

Lord. And of course he did because John was there when

Jesus did this miracle the first time in Luke chapter five. It was Peter along with the sons of Zebedee, James and John.

So when this miracle is done again, John knows it is

Jesus. And again, that that disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John.

That's the way John humbly referred to himself rather than drawing as a drawing attention to his own name or his position in this story as a figure close to Jesus.

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he was stripped for work and he threw himself into the sea.

Now we don't quite understand what's going on here. This is one of those things where it's more customary to the time and place.

So it's difficult for us to grasp the meaning of this. But basically Peter was wearing his undermost garments, had taken his cloak and his tunic off so that the loose clothing wasn't going to get in the way.

Also would have been very hot and it's just not the kind of clothes you work in. So Peter was girded up in such a way to be doing some hard work, sleeves rolled back and nothing covering his legs.

It was it's not that he was naked when he was working, but it also wasn't appropriate attire for when you're going to sit and converse with somebody.

So as Peter is going out to meet his Lord, he wants to be a little bit more decent than the work attire he was wearing.

So he puts on his cloak and then he jumps into the water and he swam. He swims to the shore for Jesus, for his master.

This is showing the zeal that Peter had for Jesus. Also I think there's a bit of a comparison going on here.

I don't want to say that there's necessarily a competition between Peter and John. That's a little more speculation than the text actually gives to us.

But remember that when it was first announced to the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead,

Peter and John are the two that run out to go see the tomb. And who gets to the tomb first?

But John. And why does he get there first? Because he was younger, a little more spry.

Peter gets to the tomb. He's the first one in the tomb, though John had had arrived there first.

In this particular case, when they recognize that Jesus is the one who's standing on the shore who told them to cast their nets into the sea,

John's the first one to say it. It is the Lord. But Peter's the first one to jump into the water. I think it demonstrates his zeal just as it did when he was running to the tomb.

But he wants to be first. So he's getting in the water this time. Nobody's going to stop him.

Nobody's going to beat him there. He wants to be the one to get to Jesus. Now, the rest of the disciples remain in the boats and they are hauling this catch back to the shore.

But this shouldn't be understood as being any less zealous than Peter and John. Again, for the purpose of this epilogue,

John is singling out Peter and himself for the instructions that Jesus is going to give to each one of them, respectively.

So we shouldn't look down on the rest of the disciples, thinking that they're remaining in the boat, pulling in this haul means that they're more worldly than the others.

No, because Jesus was asking for fish and he was going to serve the fish up for them for breakfast.

He had everything prepared for that. So it was good that they kept hold of this catch and were bringing it into shore with them.

So I'm going to read verse seven again. The disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, it is the

Lord. And when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he was stripped for work and he threw himself into the sea.

The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about 100 yards off.

So about the length of a football field, that's not too far away for Jesus to have called out to them and they be able to hear him and respond to them.

And, you know, it's it's a long distance to shout, but not to too far away. Verse nine, when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread.

And 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.

Again, this is demonstrating Peter's zeal. Peter was the first to get to Jesus. The rest of the disciples brought in the boat.

But when Jesus said, bring me some of the fish that you have just caught, Peter is the one that goes over and brings the net ashore full of large fish.

And it says one hundred and fifty three of them. That's John 21. Eleven. There are some Bible teachers that have tried to discern some sort of numeric value to this light like this is supposed to add up to something.

One plus five equals six plus three equals nine. Well, what does that symbolize? Maybe the 15 means something.

The three means something else. Maybe it's one and fifty three. You know, there are all sorts of things that people have done to try to ascertain what this number could mean.

I really think that the number is so random, not like anything else that you find in the

Bible that it's so you can't calculate it as meaning something in particular.

It's just the number of fish that they caught to show the power of Christ that was demonstrated to them even in this miracle that he performed post resurrection.

They hauled in a catch. It was one hundred and fifty three fish. It was common for them after their catches to count their fish, knowing exactly how many fish they had to be able to sell at market.

Although there was so many, the net was not torn. It says there in verse eleven.

So showing this is a lot of fish, huge number of big fish, 153 and part of the miracle just added on to this miracle is that the net wasn't even torn when they pulled in this catch and brought it into land.

Jesus said to them in verse 12, come and have breakfast. Now, none of the disciples dared ask him, who are you?

Not this time. They weren't afraid of having seen a ghost this time. They knew that it was the

Lord. They had all seen him raised twice so far as Jesus had presented himself to them in Jerusalem and now showing himself to them again in Galilee.

And verse 13, Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them. And so with the fish, just like when he fed the five thousand, the breaking of the loaves and the fish.

Only this time he didn't have to break two fish to feed five thousand. Instead, he he caused five thousand fish.

Not really. But you get what I'm what I'm saying. So verse 14, this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

And as far as Jesus appearances go, his post resurrection appearances. This is the last one that John mentioned.

There were many other appearances that he made. This was the third occasion. And this is the last that we have in John's gospel.

We know that later Jesus told them to go to a mountain in Galilee. So here they are in Galilee.

This is immediately after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They go back to Galilee. They encounter the Lord there.

And we know that Jesus eventually did tell them to go to a mountain in Galilee and wait for him there because it's there on that mountain in Matthew 28, where he gives them the great commission.

Now, when he ascends into heaven, that's from the Mount of Olives. That's down. So they go back down toward Jerusalem before Jesus ascends back into heaven.

But for the time being, here they are in Galilee. Jesus has breakfast with them. And this is, again, to show them that he is not a spirit or a ghost.

He is in his body, his human body that was resurrected from the grave, because only a person who was of flesh and bone could sit there and eat breakfast with you.

So these are the three occurrences, the three appearances that Jesus gave to his disciples that they would know that he, in his body, had resurrected from the dead.

All of the other appearances that Jesus would make were for different purposes. But for this occasion, for showing himself to the disciples, he affirms it with two or three witnesses, right?

Because that's what it says in the law. Every testimony must be affirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

So Jesus appears to them three times, affirming that he truly has resurrected to them in body.

Where we're going to go next, as we finish up chapter 21, is the exchange between Jesus and Peter.

That's what we'll look at on Monday. Then Jesus and his beloved apostle, John, we'll look at on Tuesday, and then we'll do a final wrap -up and finish everything up in our study of the gospel of John, Wednesday of next week.

We're almost there. We see the end in sight, having spent our time in this gospel for nearly a year.

I hope that you have enjoyed it. Let's conclude with prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank you for your presence with us, having brought us to yourself through your son, and giving us your

Holy Spirit, so that even in our vocations, even in our jobs, we know that Jesus is with us, and he is calling us to go into the world and share the gospel, and that we would be made fishers of men, just as he called his own disciples to be.

So I pray that we would be faithful to that. In reading your word, in knowing these things, in growing deeper into the gospel, we are also being commissioned to take the gospel to the world.

So may we be able to do so with boldness and with wisdom, serving our

Lord Christ, seated in heaven above, at the right hand of the Father. We thank you for your goodness and grace, in Jesus' name, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a

New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.