John 21:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore Peter goes out with the others to fish. The others join him as he sets out for this. Through this also our Savior Jesus Christ orders what is profitable for us. For He once said to them, when He laid on them the yoke of teaching and called them to apostolic ministry: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt 4:19).

To assure them again, by a plain image, that what He had said would certainly be fulfilled, He persuades them clearly from their own familiar occupation. His promise would prove entirely true. The blessed disciples took up their craft, for they were fishermen. Yet they “caught nothing,” though they labored “all” the night. When morning had already come, and the light and rays of the sun began to spread, “Jesus stood on the shore.” But they did not know that it was He.

Then He asked whether they had anything in their nets that belonged to food. They said that they had caught nothing at all. Then He commanded them to cast the “net on the right side of the boat.” They say: Though through the whole night we have spent vain and useless toil, yet “at Your word” we will let down the nets. As soon as they did this, the weight of the fish caught exceeded the strength of those drawing the net.

Such is the narrative that the divine Evangelist has given us. We have just said that through an event quite evident and truly accomplished, the Savior assured the holy Apostles that, according to His word, they would be fishers of men. Therefore, explaining as far as we can the true meaning of what occurred as in a figure, we shall try to bear witness to the truth of the Savior’s words. By unfolding the details of the event as far as possible, we shall offer readers, I think, no small grounds for spiritual contemplation. For “give occasion to a wise man, and he will be wiser. Instruct a righteous man, and he will increase in receiving” (Prov 9:9).

Therefore, by the disciples’ fishing through the whole night, while they caught nothing and spent their labor in vain, I think this is indicated. We shall find scarcely anyone persuaded by the preaching of the ancient teachers and caught for the full accomplishment of God’s will. Or else we shall find very few. For a very small number is equal to nothing when taken from an immense multitude. And the human race is rightly presented as immense throughout the whole inhabited world.

What, then, was the difficulty and obstacle that made the labor of the ancients vain? What condemned their preaching to barrenness? It was night, and there was still darkness. A certain spiritual blindness and demonic deception lay upon the eyes of the mind, not permitting them to see the truly divine and true Light. For there was none who did good, according to the word of the Psalmist. There was not even one. All had turned aside, and all had become useless (Ps 13:1, 3; cf. Rom 3:12).

If Israel was in some manner caught through Moses, still it was on the level of those not caught at all. For Israel performed worship in shadows and figures and was guided by a law that brought nothing to perfection (Heb 7:19). Indeed, that we must regard figurative worship as quite useless, and even contrary to God, can easily be seen from this. He rejects bloody sacrifices and every kind of earthly and bodily offering. For He says: “Why do you bring Me frankincense from Sheba, and cinnamon from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not pleased Me” (Jer 6:20).

We say this not in order to dishonor the first commandment given of old, nor from a desire to accuse the law. On the contrary, we wish to show our hearers that God, the Master of all, looks only to the beauty of the Gospel life. Therefore those caught for useless service in shadows and figures are placed as though on the level of those not yet caught, until the time of reformation should dawn (Heb 9:10). For Christ clearly said when He became man: “I am the truth” (John 14:6).

But if something else must be added to this, I shall not delay, for the sake of profit. Those who were called through Moses to instruction by the law despised even the law that had been given. As though loudly laughing at the holy commandment, they turned to teachings and commandments of men (Matt 15:9). They fell into so harsh and insensible a disposition that even the word of the holy prophets lost its force among them. Therefore the prophets cried out: “Lord, who has believed our report?” (Isa 53:1; cf. John 12:37; Rom 10:16). Jeremiah likewise says: “Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me a man of judgment and strife for the whole earth. I have not lent, nor has anyone lent to me. My strength has failed because of those who curse me” (Jer 15:10).

How, then, should disobedient and unbridled Israel not be counted on the level of those wholly uncaught, when it trampled underfoot even the law appointed through Moses? As for the multitude of the Gentiles, that they were then still uncaught and remained wholly outside the enclosure of divine teachings requires no proof from us. For darkness was upon their heart, and a diabolical night drove away the light of true knowledge of God.

Thus those who lived before the coming of Christ, having labored, so to speak, “through the whole night,” still had their spiritual net empty of fish.

He did not mean bread, but what is added to bread at table, here fish. The disciples answered, “No.” Then the One standing on the shore advised them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat and promised success. The success was extraordinary. The seven could not draw in the nets because of the multitude of fish. Later they counted, for each brother except one, twenty-two large fish. This successful catch probably reminded John of their earlier miraculous catch. He surmised that the Lord Himself was on the shore and immediately told the others. As soon as Simon Peter heard this, he threw himself into the water to come to Jesus more quickly, or so that He might not depart from them. The others also arrived there immediately. On the shore it was no longer they who offered Him refreshment, or a meal, from their catch. He Himself did so, distributing bread and fish to them. If the catch foretold to the disciples the effect of their preaching, then the drawing of the catch to Jesus’ feet foreshadowed the end of their activity in this ministry. It also foretold what success they were to expect. The meal given by Jesus signified the reward from Him in His Kingdom, or the supper in the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus this supper recalled the Last Supper in Jerusalem before the Passion. Yet it also had another special relation to those events.

This conditional expression was already understood among the disciples of Jesus Christ to mean that this disciple would not die.

When the Evangelist John wrote his Gospel, and at that time he was about ninety years old, it may well have been that some Christians, remembering those words of Jesus Christ about His beloved disciple, thought he truly would not die. Therefore the Evangelist John explains with special care that those words of the Lord must be understood conditionally (Jn 21:22-23).

Moreover, in the prediction to Peter of the fate awaiting him as preacher and confessor of Christ, the fate of all Christ's followers is also prefigured in their relation to the unbelieving world, among which the Gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached.

The exact time of this appearance cannot be determined. In general it falls within the time when the Apostles, by the command of Jesus Christ, returned from Jerusalem to Galilee. It was the third appearance in the series of appearances to many disciples: the first in Jn 20:19, the second in Jn 20:26.

The purpose of this appearance was the restoration of the Apostle Peter, who had denied Christ three times, to his apostolic dignity. Therefore the Risen One appears not just anywhere, but precisely at the Sea of Galilee. He appears precisely while the Apostles are catching fish, and after the miraculous catch according to Christ's word. All this was to remind Peter and his companions of the history of their calling to follow Jesus, when they were promised that one day they would become fishers of men (Lk 5:1 and following).

As the catching of fish figuratively indicated to the Apostles their labors in preaching, which with Christ's help would be successful, so the meal arranged by Christ afterward could point its participants to the enjoyment of the blessings of eternal life. This would be their reward for faithful and zealous service to the Gospel.

It may also have been significant that the Lord prepared this meal by means of a fire. This fire was to remind Peter of the fire in the courtyard of the high priest, near which he denied Christ.

Yes, in His farewell discourse with the Apostles, just before entering Gethsemane, Jesus said: "After I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee" (Mt 26:32). After this, the Angel who appeared to the myrrh-bearing women after Jesus' Resurrection said: "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him" (Mt 28:7; Mk 16:7). Finally, the risen Jesus Himself, appearing to the same myrrh-bearing women, said: "Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me" (Mt 28:10).

In a word, Jesus intended to appear to His Apostles for the first time in Galilee, where He had commanded them to go. Why, then, did He appear to them in Judea, and indeed before His appearances in Galilee? The state of the Apostles' souls was such that it was extremely necessary to support them, calm them, and not allow complete disillusionment. This is probably why the appearances of Jesus Christ took place while they were still in Jerusalem.

The appearance in Galilee

Having returned to their native Galilee, the Apostles took up their former occupation, fishing. At the Sea of Tiberias, also called the Lake or Sea of Galilee, Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, James and John, and two other disciples not named by the Evangelist gathered together. It is thought that these were Andrew and Philip.

"He appeared." "Do you see that He does not associate with them constantly, nor as before? He appeared in the evening and withdrew. Then once again, after eight days, He again withdrew. Then He appears now at the sea. From this it is clear that if He had not condescended, He would not have been seen, because His body was already incorrupt and immortal" (Chrysostom; cf. Theophylact).

We read this indication in the Gospel of Luke and in the first chapter of Acts. Yet Luke mentions only the Lord’s appearances in Jerusalem. The Evangelist Matthew speaks only of the Lord’s appearance in Galilee. Mark (16:19) speaks of the Lord’s appearance in Jerusalem, for immediately afterward he narrates the Lord’s Ascension into heaven. The Evangelist John speaks of the Lord’s appearances in Jerusalem, but in chapter twenty-one he supplements the account of the Lord’s appearances with events that took place in Galilee.

The twenty-first chapter, though plainly added to the Gospel that ends at the last verse of chapter twenty, has never given rise to any doubt that it was written by John. See the study of verse twenty-three. Only John himself could reject the account that had formed among the people concerning him, namely, that he would not die.

The addition of this chapter was evidently made by the aged John the Theologian. Perhaps it was at the request of his flock, who wished to know about the Lord’s appearances in Galilee. Or perhaps it was after news had been received of Peter’s martyric death. In John’s mind, this was joined with the words the Lord had spoken to Peter, and with the need to refute the tradition that had formed concerning himself.

We shall see in the text that only verse twenty-four, with its expression, “we know that his testimony is true,” must belong, as we think, to the assembly of presbyters and elders of the Church of Ephesus. They received his Gospel from the hands of their shepherd. Or, still more probably, they received from his hands the supplementary twenty-first chapter. John may have required them to attest with their signature that they had received it from their shepherd’s hands. Thus it would raise no doubt about its authenticity, together with the whole Gospel according to John, which had already been in the hands of the Ephesian Christians somewhat before chapter twenty-one was written.

We shall try to study the important and mysterious indications contained in this chapter as we read the text itself.

21:1. “After this Jesus showed Himself again to His disciples, after He had risen from the dead, at the Sea of Tiberias. And He showed Himself in this way.”

In John 6:1 we find an expression for this large lake, or inland sea, in which two of its names are joined: “the Sea of Galilee, that is, of Tiberias.” But this inland sea had an even more ancient name, Chinnereth, or Chinneroth or Chinnereth, as the translators of the Russian Bible render it in Joshua. In the Biblia Sacra it is Chinnereth and Cinnereth. In the Greek Bible it is χενερέθ. Today it is Bahr Tabariyya. This name we find in Numbers (Num 34:11) and in Joshua (Josh 12:3; 13:27). It seems to have changed in pronunciation into Gennesaret. We encounter this last name as the name of a strip of land near Capernaum on the western shore in Matthew (Matt 14:34), and as the name of the lake itself in Luke (Luke 5:1).

In the time of the prophet Isaiah, in all probability, people spoke of the region lying near the lake and of the lake itself only as the region of Galilee and the Lake of Galilee. At least in the well-known prophecy of Isaiah 9:1, there is mention of “the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, on the way by the sea.” To understand this prophecy geographically. One must turn to Jacob’s prophecy concerning his sons (Gen 49:13, 14, 21), to Moses’ prophecy concerning the tribes of Israel (Deut 33:18, 23), and compare the allotment of the tribes in Joshua 19:10-39. The prophet calls it “Galilee of the Gentiles.”

This inland sea began to be called Tiberias only after Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, transferred his capital to the newly and almost entirely built city which he magnificently adorned. He gave it the name of the emperor Tiberius.