John 21:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He will be borne in triumph by angels, and we ourselves will be in an immortal body. Beholding Him, we shall enjoy the rest of blessedness, which surpasses every word. Therefore, I beseech you, let us strive in every way not to be deprived of such glory. There is nothing difficult in this, if only we wish it. There is nothing burdensome, if we are attentive. "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim 2:12). What does "endure" mean? It means to bear afflictions and persecutions, and to walk the narrow path. The narrow path is difficult in itself, but by our resolve and hope in the future it becomes easy. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor 4:17-18). That is, He is carried on spears. There was a custom of carrying victorious generals in a special way with spears, for their glorification.

Therefore, when He ascended, He said to the Apostles, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20). Therefore, as He is present with us, let us reverently honor Him every day and do what is pleasing to God, ta aresta, before His face. Even if we cannot see Him with bodily eyes, with a life of self-restraint we can unceasingly behold Him with the eyes of the mind. We can not only behold Him, but also gather great fruit from it. For the very remembrance of God removes every sin, cleanses every evil, and estranges us from every wickedness. Such contemplation is the creative beginning of every virtue, the mother of purity and dispassion, and the giver of eternal life and the unending kingdom. Caring for this sweet contemplation, and directing the mind's gaze toward Christ as present with us, each of us says as David said: "Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war rise against me, in Him I will hope" (Ps 26:3).

Toward morning someone on the shore asked whether they had anything to eat, not bread, but what is added to bread at table, here meaning 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 twenty-two large fish for each brother, except one. This catch probably reminded John of their former miraculous catch. He guessed that the Lord Himself was on the shore and at once told the others. As soon as Simon Peter heard this, he threw himself into the water to draw nearer to Jesus more quickly, or lest He depart from them. The others also arrived there immediately. On the shore it was not they who offered Him refreshment or a meal from their catch, but He Himself. He distributed bread and fish to them. If the catch foretold to the disciples the effect of their preaching, then drawing the catch to the feet of Jesus foretold the end of their activity in this ministry. It also foretold what successes 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 His sufferings. Yet it also had a special relation to those events.

Already among the disciples of Jesus Christ this conditional expression was understood 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 could well be that some Christians remembered those words of Jesus Christ about His beloved disciple and thought he truly would not die. Therefore the Evangelist John explains with particular care that those words of the Lord must be understood conditionally (21:22-23). Moreover, in the prediction to Peter of the destiny awaiting him as preacher and confessor of Christ, the destiny of all Christ's followers is also foreshadowed. It shows their relation to the unbelieving world, in the midst of which the Gospel of the kingdom of God will be preached. The time of this appearance cannot be precisely determined. In general, it belongs to the time when the apostles, by the command of Jesus Christ, returned from Jerusalem to Galilee. It was the third appearance among the appearances to many disciples, the first being 20:19 and the second 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 on the Sea of Galilee. He appears precisely while the apostles are fishing, and after a miraculous catch at Christ's word. All this was meant to remind Peter and his companions of the history of their calling to follow Jesus. Then they had been promised that one day they would become fishers of men (Lk 5:1ff.). As the fishing figuratively pointed the apostles to their preaching labors, which would succeed with Christ's help, so the meal afterward arranged by Christ 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 had significance that the Lord prepared this meal by means of fire. This fire was to remind Peter of the fire in the high priest's courtyard, near which he had denied Christ.

Having acknowledged his sin and bewailed it with bitter tears immediately after his fall, the apostle no longer dared place his love above the love of the other disciples. He did not even dare compare it with theirs, but answered simply and humbly, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” To this humble confession the Lord said to the apostle, “Feed My lambs.” According to the explanation of Basil the Great, by “lambs” He meant those newly born in the faith.

Yet toward His disciples after the Resurrection, the Lord showed a special fatherly mercy. He not only stood as a Father before their table more than once, when He appeared to them together. He also ate food with them, according to the testimony of the Evangelist Luke; see Lk 24:43.

He did this to signify communion with them in the flesh, as also in the spirit.

The Evangelist’s indication is very remarkable: the disciples did not dare ask Him, “Who art Thou?” since they knew that He was the Lord.

There can be no doubt that the human body which clothed the Lord, and was raised with Him to the throne of the Holy Trinity, became still more majestic and illumined after His words: “I ascend to My Father” (Jn 20:17).

Thus the disciples knew that this was the Lord. Yet with a certain reverent trembling they sometimes asked themselves whether He was the One to whom they had grown so accustomed.

Was He the One who allowed simple dealings with Himself, as equal with equal? Was He the One who loved and taught them, and who endured insults and death?

The question, “Who art Thou?” which the disciples did not dare to utter, did not mean that they doubted that this was the Lord Jesus, risen from the dead. John clearly indicates this in verse 12.

The unspoken question had a deeper and more important meaning. It was like the question Jacob put to the mysterious wrestler, who answered him: “Why do you ask My name? It is wonderful.” And He blessed him there; see Gen 32:29.

Nothing more was explained to Jacob. But the Apostles had already received the explanation of the mysteries of God in the final discourse. At times reverent perplexity still came upon them, yet they did not utter the question that rose to their lips.

This was because the Holy Spirit reminded them and explained to them what the Lord had spoken before. “He,” said the Lord, “will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you” (Jn 16:14).

In verse 14 the Evangelist adds that this was the third time the Lord appeared to the disciples after He had risen from the dead. Clearly the Evangelist is speaking only of the Lord’s appearances to the disciples gathered together, that is, to the representatives of Christ’s Church as Church.

Therefore this number does not include the Lord’s appearances to Mary Magdalene and the myrrh-bearing women, to Peter, to James, and to the disciples going to Emmaus. These were appearances to individual persons, not to the Church.

Thus we clearly understand that the Lord appeared to the assembly of the Apostles on the day of His Resurrection. Then He appeared seven days later, together with Thomas. This appearance on the Lake of Galilee, to many disciples together, was the third.

For this reason it was the first appearance after the disciples had gone from Jerusalem to Galilee. After this appearance on the Lake of Galilee, the Lord’s appearance in Galilee to more than five hundred brethren must have taken place, of which the Apostle Paul speaks (1 Cor 15:6).

It may be supposed that during the Lord’s conversation with Peter, John, and the other disciples by the lake, He commanded them to inform all the other disciples of the place where they would see Him.

Pious tradition indicated that the gathering of the disciples took place where the Lord delivered the Sermon on the Mount concerning the Beatitudes. This is Mount Hattin, near Capernaum; compare the expression “to the mountain” in Mt 28:16.

That the appearance to the five hundred disciples should be understood in Mt 28:16-17 seems evident from the fact that some doubted. This word, of course, could no longer refer to any of the Apostles, who had seen the Lord.

It probably refers to some of the many disciples to whom the Lord appeared, most likely after the events on the Lake of Galilee and the restoration of Peter in all the rights of the foremost Apostle.

Here the Lord probably spoke repeatedly with the Apostles and disciples about the Kingdom of God; see Acts 1:4. After this He commanded them to go to Jerusalem.

There He ascended from the mountain called Olivet, near Bethany; see Lk 24:50 and Acts 1:4, 9-12.