In the Beginning: The Book of John

(John 21:1-9 [HCSB])

1 After this, Jesus revealed Himself again to His disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed Himself in this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called “Twin”), Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of His disciples were together.

3 “I’m going fishing,” Simon Peter said to them. “We’re coming with you,” they told him. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4 When daybreak came, Jesus stood on the shore. However, the disciples did not know it was Jesus. 5 “Men,” Jesus called to them, “you don’t have any fish, do you? ”

“No,” they answered.

6 “Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” He told them, “and you’ll find some.” So they did, and they were unable to haul it in because of the large number of fish. 7 Therefore the disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord! ”

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer garment around him4 (for he was stripped) and plunged into the sea.

8 But since they were not far from land (about 100 yards5 away), the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. 9

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread.

A miracle at daybreak

Jesus appeared a minimum of eleven times after the resurrection which were attested to by witnesses numbering in the hundreds.

Seven Christ-followers went out in the boat to catch fish, and all night long they caught nothing. Fishing is, of course, not always a predictable enterprise, and it was known that the Sea of Galilee was overfished and had begun to yield less in certain locations:

The fishing was indeed dismal, they all were bone-tired; the day already looked unproductive. However, at sunrise a figure beckoned them from the shoreline. As with Mary Magdalene at the tomb, the men did not recognize Jesus at first. I have wondered how He must have appeared to them from the distance of a football field. Did he glow? Did He stand out on the shoreline in some peculiar and supernatural way? There is at least one extra-canonical gospel that says Jesus appeared in various forms to people as they needed to see Him.

What must they have thought when asked about their catch for the night? Was the stranger mocking them, somehow aware of their bad luck, knowing that there would be no fish for them to sell at the morning market?

Yet the fishermen’s obedience was remarkably intact; they responded immediately by recasting their nets as directed; and their nets were filled to bursting with a very specific number of fish.

John recognizes Jesus first, and it is Peter who clothes himself and swims to shore dragging the full net. While John’s Gospel is the only one to recount the story of breakfast on the beach, Luke tells how Jesus ate fish in the presence of His Disciples to prove that he was not an apparition, but a resurrected being with physical properties.