John 21:2Meaning & 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.

A question is commonly asked about this fishing of the disciples. Why did Peter and the sons of Zebedee return to what they had been doing before the Lord called them? They were indeed fishermen when He said to them: "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Mt 4:19).

Then, of course, they followed Him, so that by leaving everything they fulfilled His command. Thus, when the rich man to whom He said, "Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me" (Mt 19:21), went away sorrowing, Peter said to Him: "Behold, we have left everything and followed You" (Mt 19:27).

What then does it mean that now, as though abandoning their apostleship, they became what they had been before? They took back what they had left, as if forgetting what they once heard: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of Heaven" (Lk 9:62).

If they had done this when Jesus lay buried, before He rose from the dead, we would think they did it because despair had seized their souls. Yet they certainly could not have done so then. The day on which He was crucified held them all in strain until His burial, which took place before evening.

The next day was the Sabbath, when those who observed the custom of the fathers were not permitted to work. On the third day the Lord rose and again called them to hope in Him, which they had already begun to lose. Still, if they had done it then, we would have thought they acted from despair.

But now He had risen alive from the tomb. The truth of His flesh's restoration had been most clearly revealed to their eyes and hands, so that it could be not only seen but touched and even handled. The marks of the wounds had been made available for contemplation. This brought the Apostle Thomas to confession, though he had said before that otherwise he would not believe in His resurrection.

The Holy Spirit had been received through His breathing. From His mouth these words had poured into their ears: "As the Father has sent Me, so I send you. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you retain, they are retained" (Jn 20:21, 23). Yet suddenly they became, as before, fishers of fish and not of men.

Those troubled by this question must be answered in this way. Those apostles were not forbidden to procure necessary food by their trade, which was lawful and permitted, if they had no other means of support, while preserving their apostleship unharmed.

Would anyone dare to think or say that the Apostle Paul did not attain the perfection of those who, leaving everything, followed Christ, because he obtained food for himself with his hands so as not to burden any of those to whom he preached the Gospel (cf. 2 Thess 3:7)? Rather, in this was fulfilled what he said: "I labored more abundantly than they all," and he added, "yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Cor 15:10).

By this he showed that it must be ascribed to the grace of God that he could labor more than all those apostles in both soul and body. He tirelessly preached the Gospel and yet did not sustain his life from the Gospel as they did, though he sowed the Gospel much more widely and abundantly among many nations where the name of Christ had not previously been preached.

By this he showed that no necessity was imposed on the apostles, but authority was given to live, that is, to receive support, by the Gospel. The same apostle mentions this authority, saying: "If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap your material things? If others share this authority over you, do not we even more? Nevertheless we have not used this authority" (1 Cor 9:11-12).

A little later he said: "Those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar. In the same way the Lord commanded that those who preach the Gospel should live from the Gospel. But I have used none of these things" (1 Cor 9:13-15).

It is therefore quite evident that the apostles were not commanded, but were given authority, to live only from the Gospel. From those in whom they sowed spiritual things by preaching the Gospel, they could reap material things, that is, strengthen the body. As soldiers of Christ, they could receive the due stipend, as it were, from Christ's subjects.

For this reason that same brilliant soldier said shortly before: "What soldier ever serves at his own expense?" (1 Cor 9:7). Yet he himself did not do this, acknowledging that he had labored more than them all.

If blessed Paul, so as not to use with the other preachers of the Gospel the authority that he certainly had equally with them, served at his own expense, then he did this so that his teaching, as though offered for sale, would not offend Gentiles wholly foreign to the name of Christ. Though trained in something else, he learned a craft he had not known before, so that, as a teacher, he might obtain food by his own hands and burden none of his hearers.

How much more natural, then, was the action of blessed Peter, who was already a fisherman and did what he knew how to do, since at that time he had found no other means of support.

But someone will answer: "Why did he not find these means, when the Lord promised, saying: 'Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you'" (Mt 6:33)? Certainly, the Lord fulfilled what He promised in this way. For who else brought the fish so that they might be caught?

We must think that He cast them into the need that compelled them to go fishing only because He wished to manifest a miracle. He intended at the same time to feed the preachers of His Gospel and to endow the Gospel itself with so great a mystery, which He meant to indicate through the number of fish. We also must now speak of this, insofar as He Himself grants the ability.

This is a great mystery in the great Gospel of John. So that it might resound with greater force, it was recorded in the last chapter. Thus seven disciples were present at this fishing: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the two sons of Zebedee, and two others whose names are passed over in silence. The sevenfold number of disciples points to the end of time. For all times pass within seven days.

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.

When the Evangelist John wrote his Gospel, he was about ninety years old. It was very possible that some Christians, recalling Jesus Christ’s words about His beloved disciple, thought that he really would not die. Therefore the Evangelist John explains with special care that the Lord’s words must be understood conditionally (21:22-23). Moreover, in the prediction to Peter of the destiny awaiting him as a preacher and confessor of Christ, the destiny of all Christ’s followers is also prefigured. It concerns their relation to the unbelieving world, among 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, at Jesus Christ’s command, returned from Jerusalem to Galilee. It was the third appearance among the appearances to many disciples: the first was 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 at the Sea of Galilee. He appears precisely during the apostles’ fishing and after the miraculous catch made at Christ’s word. All this had to remind Peter and his companions of the history of their call to follow Jesus, when it was promised that they would one day become fishers of men (Lk 5:1 and following). Just as the fishing figuratively indicated to the apostles their preaching labors, which would be successful with Christ’s help, so the meal Christ then prepared 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 fire. This fire was to remind Peter of the fire in the high priest’s courtyard, around which he denied Christ.

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 short, 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 apostles’ state of soul was such that it was urgently necessary to support and calm them, and not to allow complete disillusionment. This is probably why the appearances of Jesus Christ took place already in Jerusalem. After returning to their native Galilee, the apostles took up their former occupation, fishing. By the Sea of Tiberias, also called the Lake or Sea of Galilee, there gathered Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael, who was from Cana of Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, James and John, and two other disciples not named by the Evangelist. It is supposed that these were Andrew and Philip.

There, from the local inhabitants, simple and good of heart, He first chose the Twelve and then the Seventy disciples. There He found the greater part of His followers. The cities and villages of Galilee, its plains, mountains, and the Lake of Gennesaret served as the place of His preaching. The Risen One wished to reveal the signs of His Resurrection in this land also. He first revealed them to a small number of His closest disciples, and then to a multitude of believers. The feast days had ended, and a further stay of the disciples in Jerusalem could have attracted the attention of Christ’s enemies. The apostles did not yet have authority from the Lord, nor boldness to appear as witnesses of His Resurrection. Therefore, while awaiting future instructions from their Teacher, they decided to return to their homeland. The certainty that their Lord and Teacher was alive, though He did not remain and walk with them as before, was a joyful encouragement for them after all they had endured. It was also a sure pledge that His promises would be fulfilled in the future. If Peter, James, and John could now recall and tell the others the circumstances of the Lord’s glorious Transfiguration (Mt 17:9), then without doubt this event appeared to them in connection with what followed. It was a new confirmation and explanation of Christ’s Godhead. The apostles carried home in their hearts a faith not yet wholly free from dreamlike expectations (Acts 1:6), yet purer and firmer. Soon the enlightening action of the Holy Spirit would cleanse it from every earthly admixture and raise it to the fullness of perfection. Soon after returning to Galilee, Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, James and John the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples came to the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret. It was memorable for the Lord’s many visits. Before their call to the apostleship they had practiced fishing (Mt 4:18, 21; Mk 1:16, 19; Lk 5:5, 10). They loved their work, which in all likelihood served as their chief source of sustenance. At the Lord’s word (Mt 4:19), they had left their nets and other fishing gear, following Him through cities and villages while preparing to become fishers of men. Yet now, in sight of the Lake of Gennesaret, they involuntarily turned to their former habits.

The persons named by John the Theologian probably lived in the two cities just mentioned. As neighbors, they were always together. Nathanael alone was not from close by, and of him it is especially mentioned that he was from Cana of Galilee. Cana lay much farther south, on the parallel of Tiberias, and westward into the depth of Galilee.

But if those mentioned by the Evangelist “were together,” this does not mean that only these seven persons waited for the Lord in Galilee. On the contrary, not only does Matthew 28:16 indicate that all eleven Apostles went to Galilee at His command. One must also think that the appearance to more than five hundred brethren, of which the Apostle Paul speaks (1 Cor 15:6), took place in Galilee. After the feast of Unleavened Bread had ended, not only the Apostles, but many disciples went to Galilee. They went according to the word of the angel and of the Lord Himself to the myrrh-bearing women (Matt 28:5-7, 10; Mark 16:7).

We should also note that Matthew’s Gospel does not mention the Lord’s Ascension. It indicates the Lord’s appearance in Galilee and the content of His conversation with the disciples there. Namely, He sends them to preach and promises to be with believers until the end of the age (Matt 28:16-20). It is very possible that this was precisely the Lord’s appearance to the numerous assembly of brethren of which the Apostle Paul speaks.

The persons who were together, of whom the Evangelist John speaks, were Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, that is, John and James, and probably, by comparison with John 1:41 and 43-44, Peter’s brother Andrew and Philip of Bethsaida. Perhaps all these persons, through kinship, old acquaintance, and common trade, even lived together. They supported themselves by fishing and formed a friendly community.

All the other Apostles, and the many disciples of the Lord who had come to Galilee, likely dispersed to their homes for the time being. They did so until a special summons by the Lord’s command, devoting themselves meanwhile to their usual occupations. Yet one cannot fail to notice that Thomas, from the moment of his confession of faith, seems inseparable from the chief Apostles. We do not know reliably from what city he came. Nowhere is it indicated that he was related to Peter or to the sons of Zebedee. It seems to us that he remained constantly with Peter, fearing to be absent again when the Lord would gladden the disciples by another appearance.

Simon Peter appears as the head of the community formed on the Lake of Galilee. He first proposes going fishing, and all follow him. Peter’s primacy among equals was recognized from the beginning, as also later in the religious life of the Christian community (Acts 1:15; 2:14 and elsewhere). Chrysostom also indicates this when Peter asks the Lord about John’s future fate, below in verse twenty-one.

All those who lived together, and probably had a common meal and common occupation, seem to have owned the large boat that went with them into the lake for fishing. We note that Luke 5:2, 7, 11 indicates that Peter and the sons of Zebedee, though engaged in fishing together, previously had different boats. Compare Matt 4:18, 21.

Fishing everywhere and in all countries is done chiefly by night. Therefore we read both in Luke 5:5 and in John 21:3 that the Apostles who were fishermen worked at night. There is no need to suppose that the Apostles feared to work by day. In Galilee they had no one to fear.

These two events have, as we shall see below in verse six, a close connection. In both cases, by God’s special will, the fishing, which has deep symbolic meaning, was unsuccessful by night, but extraordinarily successful at the Lord’s word.