John 21:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He also affirmed that the best soil bears a hundredfold, pointing by this to perfection in the fruit-bearing of a pious soul. The fifty brings to mind, as it were, the remnant of the Israelites according to the election of grace. For fifty is half of one hundred and does not possess perfection in number. The three may contain, as in a single number, a reference to the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity. To the glory and unceasing blessing of the Trinity, the life of those caught through faith is ascribed and understood. For God is in all believers, having near Himself, with respect to sanctification, those persuaded by the preaching of the Gospel.

We know that on the fiftieth day after the Lord's Ascension the Holy Spirit was sent, whom the disciples were to await according to the promise. Therefore it is not by chance that the fish are written to have been great in number and size: in number, 153, and in size, large.

The fact that Peter drew the net to land, that is, to the shore, also pointed to the same end of the age. The Lord Himself revealed this when elsewhere He used the image of a dragnet drawn from the sea: "They drew it up on the shore" (Mt 13:48). Explaining what that shore signified, He said: "So it will be at the close of the age" (Mt 13:49).

On verses 10-11. There so great a multitude of fish was caught that the two boats almost sank (cf. Lk 5:7), that is, they were overloaded. Indeed, they did not sink, but they were nevertheless in danger. Whence in the Church comes such a multitude of those over whom we groan, as though it were almost impossible to withstand this multitude? They enter the Church with habits wholly foreign to the way of the saints and nearly overturn discipline to its foundations.

Here, however, they cast the nets on the right side and could no longer draw the net because of the multitude of fish. What does "could no longer draw" mean, except that those who belong to the resurrection of life, that is, to the right side, and who die within the nets of the Christian name, will appear only on the shore? That is, they will appear at the end of the age, when they rise.

For this reason they could not draw the nets so as to bring the caught fish into the boat, as was done with all those because of whom the net was torn and the boats almost sank. But the Church keeps these right-hand ones, after they have finished this life, in the sleep of rest, as though hidden in the deep, until the net reaches the shore. It was being drawn there over a distance of about two hundred cubits.

There the two boats prefigure the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Here, as I think, the two hundred cubits prefigure the elect from each people, the circumcised and the uncircumcised, as though one hundred and one hundred. For when the number reaches the total of one hundred, it passes to the right hand.

Finally, in that fishing the number of fish is not specified, as if there happened there what had been foretold by the prophet: "I proclaimed and spoke; they are more than can be numbered" (Ps 39:6). Here, however, they did not exceed number, but had a definite number: one hundred fifty-three.

With the Lord's help we must disclose the meaning of this number. If we determine the number that symbolizes the Law, what will it be except ten? It is certainly completely evident to us that the Decalogue of the Law, that is, the ten well-known commandments, was first written by the finger of God on two tablets of stone (cf. Deut 9:10; Ex 31:18).

But when grace does not assist, the Law makes transgressors. It exists only in the letter, because of which the Apostle expressly said: "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor 3:6). Let the Spirit, then, be added to the letter, so that the letter may not kill what the Spirit does not give life to. Then we may fulfill the commandments of the Law not by our powers, but by the mercy of the Savior.

When Grace is added to the Law, that is, the Spirit to the letter, in a certain sense the number seven is added to the number ten. Certainly, in this number, that is, in seven, as noteworthy passages of Holy Scripture testify, lies the image of the Holy Spirit.

For sanctity and sanctification, in the proper sense, belong to the Holy Spirit. Although He is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son, for God is spirit (cf. Jn 4:24), nevertheless the Spirit of both is named by His own name, the Holy Spirit.

When, then, is sanctification first mentioned in the Law, if not on the seventh day (cf. Gen 2:3)? God did not sanctify the first day, on which He created light. Nor the second, on which He made the firmament. Nor the third, on which He separated the sea from the land, and the earth brought forth grass and trees.

Nor did He sanctify the fourth day, on which the stars were made. Nor the fifth day, on which the creatures living in the waters and flying in the air were made. Nor the sixth day, on which the living soul of the earth and man himself were created. But He sanctified the seventh day, on which He rested from His works (cf. Gen 1:3-2:3).

Thus the Holy Spirit is expressed through the number seven. The prophet Isaiah also says: "And the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him." Then he indicates His seven manifestations and gifts, saying: "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of God shall fill Him" (Isa 11:2-3).

And what of the Apocalypse? Are not the seven spirits of God mentioned there (cf. Rev 3:1), although this is one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one individually as He wills (1 Cor 12:11)? But the sevenfold manifestation of the one Spirit was also called by the writer the Spirit Himself who dwelt in him, so that he mentioned seven spirits.

And behold, when the Holy Spirit, through the number seven, is added to the number ten of the Law, seventeen results. If one counts by addition from one to seventeen, the number increases until it reaches one hundred fifty-three. If you add two to one, you get three. If to the resulting three you add three and four, you get ten.

Then, if you add all the numbers that follow up to seventeen, the sum reaches the number named above. That is, if to ten, which you reached by adding from one to four, you add five, you get fifteen. If you add six to this, you get twenty-one. Add seven to this, and you get twenty-eight.

Add eight, nine, and ten to this, and you get fifty-five. Add eleven, twelve, and thirteen to this, and you get ninety-one. Again add fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen to this, and you get one hundred thirty-six. Add to this number the remaining number in question, that is, seventeen, and the number of the fish is composed.

But here not only 153 saints are meant, who will rise to eternal life, but thousands of saints who belong to the grace of the Spirit. Through this grace reconciliation with the Law of God takes place, so that, through the Life-giving Spirit, the letter may not kill. What is prescribed through the letter is fulfilled with the Spirit's help, and whatever is insufficiently fulfilled is forgiven.

Thus all who share in this grace are prefigured in this number, that is, symbolically expressed. This number contains the number fifty three times, and beyond this the number three because of the mystery of the Trinity. The number fifty includes "seven times seven" with one added, for "seven times seven" gives forty-nine.

One is added to show thereby that He who is shown in seven manifestations is one. We know that on the fiftieth day after the Lord's Resurrection the Holy Spirit was sent. The disciples were commanded to await Him as the promise (cf. Acts 2:1-4; 1:4).

Therefore it was not simply said that those fish were "so many" and "such," that is, that there were one hundred fifty-three and that they were large. For it is written thus: "He drew the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three." When the Lord said, "I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill" (Mt 5:17), He intended to give the Spirit through whom the Law could be fulfilled, as though intending to add seven to ten.

After saying a few more words, He said: "Whoever then breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt 5:19). Such a one can be numbered among the large fish.

But the least one, who in deeds breaks what he teaches in words, can be in that Church symbolized by the first catch of fish, which includes good and evil. For it too is called the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus He said: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind" (Mt 13:47). There He meant both the good and the evil, who, He says, must be separated on the shore, that is, at the end of the age.

Finally, to show that those least ones are the perverse, who teach good in words while transgressing it in their evil life, and that in eternal life they will not be as least, but will not be there at all. He immediately added after the words, "shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven": "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt 5:20).

These are surely the scribes and Pharisees who sit on Moses' seat, of whom He said: "Do what they say, but do not do what they do, for they speak and do not do" (cf. Mt 23:2-3). That is, they teach in discourses what they themselves transgress in conduct.

Hence it follows that the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven, such as the Church now is, will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, such as the Church will then be. For by teaching what he transgresses, he will not share in the fellowship of those who do what they teach.

Nor will he be among the large fish, because "whoever does and teaches shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven." Since he is great here, he will therefore abide there, where that least one will not be. There, indeed, they will be so great that "the least there" will be greater than he than whom there is none greater here (cf. Mt 11:11).

Nevertheless, those who are great here, that is, those who in the Kingdom of Heaven, where the net gathers good and evil, do the good they teach, will be still greater in that eternity of the Kingdom of Heaven. These are the ones symbolized by the fish that belong to the right side and to the resurrection of life.

We must speak further, as far as God grants us, about the Lord's meal with those seven disciples, about what He said after the meal, and about the conclusion of the Gospel itself. But we shall not include this in the present sermon.

Since the preacher of the Church separates us from the waves of this world, Peter must necessarily draw to land the net filled with fish. He draws the fish to the firm shore, because by the voice of holy preaching he shows believers the steadfastness of the eternal homeland.

He did this by words. He does this by epistles. He accomplishes this daily by the signs of miracles. As often as through him we are turned toward the love of eternal rest, as often as we are separated from the turmoil of earthly affairs, what else does this mean?

It means that we, like fish taken in the net of faith, are being drawn to the shore. But when the net is called “full of great fish,” it is also added how many there were, namely, one hundred fifty-three.

This number is not foreign to a great mystery. Your concentrated attention to such a mystery awaits a profound interpretation. The Evangelist would not have spoken carefully about the total number if he had not thought it full of mystery.

You know that in the Old Testament all activity is prescribed through the commandments of the Decalogue. In the New Testament, power for the same activity is communicated to the manifold believers through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit.

Foretelling Him, the prophet says: “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety” (Is 11:2).

But he receives grace for action from this Spirit who believes in the Trinity. He believes that the Father, the Son, and the same Holy Spirit are of one power and one essence.

Therefore, since the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit just mentioned are broadly revealed through the New Testament, and the Ten Commandments through the Old, all our virtue and activity can fully be understood by ten and seven.

Let us then multiply ten and seven by three, and the result is fifty-one. This number is not foreign to great mystery, because in the Old Testament we read that the fiftieth year was commanded to be called the jubilee (Lev 25:11).

In that year the whole people was to rest from every activity. Yet true rest consists in unity. One cannot be divided. Where there is the cutting of division, there is no true rest.

Now let us multiply fifty-one again by three, and the result will be one hundred fifty-three. Thus, since all our activity, expressed by faith in the Trinity, tends toward rest, we multiply ten and seven by three in order to arrive at fifty-one.

Our true rest comes when we already know the very glory of the Trinity, whom we confess in the unity of the Godhead. Therefore we multiply fifty-one again by three, and we receive the sum of the chosen in the heavenly homeland, as though the number one hundred fifty-three.

Thus, after the Lord’s Resurrection, the net that was cast was worthy to take as many fish as could signify the chosen citizens of the heavenly homeland.