Reading [John 21:1-14 – reader]
Jesus and the Miraculous catch of Fish
Introduction
The author & the process
John, probably the youngest disciple, has finally, in his old age been persuaded to write down the story of his Life with Jesus. I have a picture of an old man dictating to a scribe, who is writing the story, not perhaps word for word, but in a way that makes it easier for reading. The scribe believes that John is finished with his reminiscences, and perhaps John does too, so at the end of the previous chapter we have:
John 20:30-31
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
That sounds like the end, but there's more ...
In this last chapter John does three things,
he tells the story of a miraculous catch of fish – which we will be looking at in more detail in a minute,
he tells the story of Peters reinstatement, and
he corrects a misunderstanding that was common at the time. His contemporaries believed that Jesus had said he (John) would not die before Jesus returned.
Perhaps the last chapter was written solely to put an end to this rumour, or perhaps it was written to reinforce Peters leadership, or perhaps the scribe just didn't realise that John had not really finished. We can never know for sure.
Why tell this story?
So why did John tell this story of the miraculous catch of fish? Maybe it is just the setting for the reinstatement of Peter, or maybe there are other things that John is telling his readers. As we look through this passage we will look at what the disciples are learning, and how that might also be applied to us.
Memories & and a hard fruitless night
Sightings of Jesus
Seven of the disciples were together, by the sea of Galilee, or the sea of Tiberius as it was also known. Its a couple of weeks after the resurrection. They have left Jerusalem and returned home. There have already been two sightings of Jesus according to John, or two that he found worthy of reporting anyway, according to some calculations there have been six sightings by now, and there may well have been more.
Disciples expectations
What were the disciples expecting to happen? They were obviously waiting for something, or they would have returned to their fishing earlier, perhaps they were starting to loose hope, or perhaps they just needed the money. Whatever it was they had not completely abandoned their boats, and had obviously maintained them and their nets in good working order throughout the time they had been with Jesus. Peter may have been impetuous, even hot headed, but he was also a skilled fisherman, and would not have put to sea in a dilapidated boat.
A Hard night's Day
Fishing was a nocturnal activity. Once out to sea the net was thrown over the side, and then as it was pulled in would trap any fish in the water near the nets. Without our modern ability to track the shoals of fish this was a very random activity, and would have resulted in only a few fish per throw at best, sometime nothing, sometimes one, or two, sometimes five or six. There would be many nights when the catch was barely enough to feed their families, but mostly they would have just enough to sell a few, so that they could buy bread and the other things they needed to survive. The sun begins to rise, they have been working hard all night and NOTHING.
They turn towards the shore, and begin the trip home. On the shore there is a figure, He calls out to them “Hey, Boys!, Don't you have any fish?” “No” they shout back.
“Throw your net on the other side of the boat, you'll find some” There must have been an air of authority in the command, because they don't argue, they just do it. And there are the fish. Right over a shoal. The net is full – too full to pull back over the side of the boat.
Something clicks (at last) in the depths of John's brain. Groundhog Day! Deja vue? or perhaps he was given a nudge by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps John remembered a similar incident, right after he first met Jesus. John hasn't told us that story, but Luke has. Lets take a look at that story now.
Luke 5:1-11
“One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding round him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man! For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men. So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”
The disciples have learnt
They have learnt a lot since that night maybe three year ago, when they had also caught nothing. When I first read the story in Luke, I thought how good of Jesus that he had paid them for them for borrowing their boat, but as I got to know Jesus better I realised that payment was the last thing on his mind. Yes, the miraculous catches provide food, and money - if the excess is sold, but it is much more of a lesson about the bountifulness of God, and gives an insight into who Jesus is, as we can see that from Peters reaction
“Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
We can see that the disciples have learnt a lot about landing a really big catch too. They don't try to haul the nets into the boat, they already know that if they do they will sink the boats and tear the nets. Instead the haul the nets ashore, behind the boat, with the fish still in the water. Having the fish on the shore gives them the chance to count how many they have caught – and that's probably the only significance of the number 153.
The disciples have learnt about Jesus
In Luke they have Jesus in the boat with them. They clearly have a respect for Jesus – He is addressed as “Master”, but after the catch of fish they have learnt something much more important about him. In our story today in John, they take the instruction from an apparent stranger, and only when the repeat of the previous miracle occurs do they realise who they are talking to. Now Jesus has directed them to the fish without them being aware of who he is, or even being in close proximity. Another lesson for them to learn, and perhaps Jesus' main theme during these days between the resurrection and ascension. “You do not need my physical presence in order for me to be with you”.
Last week we heard of Thomas and his need for proof, and Jesus said “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. He is teaching his disciples that they will very soon have to get along without His presence.
In one of Johns previous reported sightings Jesus “breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."” Now he is beginning to demonstrate how the Holy Spirit will work in their lives.
The command of a stranger that seems the obvious thing to do. The event that reminds you of something, and leads you to recognise God in a new way. I like to think that John, of all of the disciples would have been thinking about these thing – perhaps as he helped the others pull the fish onto the shore.
Breakfast is served
When the boats are moored and the fish brought on shore, there is Jesus – with breakfast ready for them. The fire is built, there is fresh bread and the fish are already cooking. Jesus invites them to bring some of the fish they have caught, and adds them to the breakfast. I love the smell of Kippers for breakfast, and I can just imaging the smells that would have greeted the hungry men. They had been tired and dejected after a long nights work with nothing to show for it, but now they had a good catch, and a free breakfast.
For all their work, the effort they have put in throughout the night nothing has been gained. The Jesus turns up and they have little extra to do to have the most amazing catch. At the end of the Luke story Jesus promises that they will now catch men rather than fish. Jesus has used the fish again to remind them that they have to have him there , if they are to have any success in catching anything. The same is true for us as we go about catching men for God. Without Jesus there to guide us to those who are ready to be caught we will not have any success. We may work hard, and exhaust ourselves in the process, but we will catch no-one, until we let Jesus tell us were to look. Then we will catch the men he has prepared for us to catch.
At the edge of the lake, its an idyllic scene. The eight men sitting on the ground at the edge of the lake, enjoying their breakfast. The early morning sun still rising over the hills, the mists starting to clear, the day is beginning to warm up, it was still and peaceful, and the men begin to relax and enjoy their food.
The resurrected Jesus
BUT There was something not quite right. The disciples are uneasy. Who is this stranger they are having breakfast with. Its Jesus! Yet somehow it isn't. He's doing the things that Jesus does – He's feeding them. How many times have they seen Him distribute food? From the feeding of the five thousand, to the last supper. It's what He does. There's the fish as well, they all remember that now. Who else would know where the fish are? Who else would tell them exactly when and where to cast their nets? It's Jesus, of course it is, and yet somehow He's different. They are afraid to ask. They'd like to say “Who are you?”, but it isn't the right question. Peter in particular will be wary of what he says. He knows he has failed Jesus. He knows he has said things and not lived up to them. They all have, to some extent, perhaps only John does not feel completely ashamed of the way he has behaved. All of them are used to waiting for Peters lead, and are not prepared to break the silence. So they sit quietly and eat their breakfast.
Trauma changes people
Meeting Jesus between the resurrection and ascension is of course a unique experience. No-one has ever met a resurrected man before. Jesus has been through a terrible experience in the last few weeks. At a human level traumatic experiences change people. The television presenter Richard Hammond, who works on Top Gear, and Braniac, had an accident in a dragster that very nearly killed him. Its a fairly unique accident because most of the injuries he suffered are internal. He recovered remarkably quickly too. He still looks like Richard Hammod, yet if you watch repeats of his programs from before and after the accident its easy to tell which is which. There's something different about him. Its difficult to say exactly what those differences are. A different look in his eyes, slight changes in the way he says things, and in his body language. Now Richard did not really die. The difference are not enough to make you question whether it's really Richard or not.
Jesus did really die. The body that he has during this time is clearly quite different from the one that was nailed to the cross, and yet it isn't. It's still Jesus.
He looks the same – he even retains the scars, the injuries don't stop his body working. Its still Jesus
He has a few neat tricks as well, and can enter rooms through locked doors. Its still Jesus. The disciple knew that.
Who are you?
Who are you?
Throughout the New Testament its a question that is asked by all those who come into contact with Jesus. Often expressed with incredulity and awe. “"Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" ? Its asked (or not actually asked) by the disciples a number of times.
Whether we see Jesus as a man in his earthly ministry, or as a resurrected man as in our passage for today, or through the Holy Spirit, and his followers in the book of acts and the history of the Christian church, the question is is always the same. Who are you?, Who is this man?
Perhaps the disciples didn't ask because they didn't want to hear the answer. They knew it well enough, but in their frame of mind, it was not something they wanted to hear. Perhaps it was too hard to take in in the early hours of the morning after a failed nights fishing, with the man they had left alone to face an undignified and brutal death sitting cooking them breakfast.
The question for us
Who are you?
I wonder if you're prepared to ask the question, or are you like the disciples too afraid to ask?
I wonder what answer you're thinking of? Does it spring easily to mind? How well do you know Jesus?
The disciples had been with him and followed him for three years, and yet he can still surprise them, and make them afraid. The Jesus we know expresses him self through the scriptures, through the Holy Spirit within each of us, and through the life of the church.
For me at least he is sometimes difficult to recognise, and often springs uncomfortable surprises, and asks me to fish in unfamiliar waters, but then, like the disciples, I'm just a trainee fisherman.
