ACC ~ John 21 v1 - 11

OVERVIEW:

The disciples go fishing, no longer afraid (CHRYSOSTOM). One might ask, however, why they return to fishing after all that had happened (GREGORY THE GREAT). However, there is nothing wrong with the disciples continuing to earn a livelihood after their conversion (AUGUSTINE, GREGORY THE GREAT). Jesus then reveals himself to them, although not all at once, so that they are not afraid to talk with him (CHRYSOSTOM). They have caught no fish, figuratively speaking, under the types and shadows of the old covenant, but then the Sun of righteousness arrives, and their nets are full (AMMONIUS). He addresses them as children, which is the ideal mindset for discipleship (CLEMENT). At a word from the Lord, they cast their nets, even as they had also done when he first called them, and the fish multiplied even as Christians now are multiplying when the Word is proclaimed (AUGUSTINE). As the more contemplative of the two, John is the first to recognize that it is the Lord, while Peter, as the more fervent one, is the first to come to him (CHRYSOSTOM). None of them dared to ask who he was because they knew he was God (JEROME). Once they recognize him, Peter, who was stripped to the waist, dives into the water as though he were diving for the pearl of great price (EPHREM). Once they reach the shore, Jesus eats fish with the disciples to once again prove his resurrection, since they may have thought they had seen a spirit instead of a body (JEROME). The fish he serves them is the firstfruits of their catch (CYRIL).

John records the number of fish caught as 153, which has any number of symbolic interpretations. It can be seen as a symbol for the fullness of grace of all those who partake of the Spirit (AUGUSTINE) as Peter brings the catch of the fullness of the Gentiles (100) and the elect of Israel (50) to Christ for the glory of the Trinity (3) (AMMONIUS). Or one might also think of this number as pertaining to the end of the world using an arithmetic triangle that utilizes the prime number 17 (AUGUSTINE). The unbroken nets symbolize the unified church unbroken by schism in the face of the stresses of the world (AUGUSTINE). Christ came in from the sea, which is the world tossed about, onto the solid shore (GREGORY THE GREAT). He committed the church then to Peter, since he is the one who brings the catch of fish safely to the shore (GREGORY THE GREAT), where there is true rest (GREGORY THE GREAT). In this catch of fishes, contrasted with the earlier catch at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus has the disciples cast their net on the right side. The church also keeps those of the right hand after death in the sleep of peace until it is brought safely to shore in the life to come (AUGUSTINE).

21:1-2 | The Disciples Go Fishing

THE DISCIPLES ARE FREE TO MOVE ABOUT AND WORK

CHRYSOSTOM: Do you see that he does not remain with them continually, nor is his presence with them the same as before? He appeared, for instance, in the evening, and then disappeared. Then after eight days he appeared once again, and again he disappeared. Then he appeared later again by the sea, and then another time, causing great awe. But what does John mean when he says Jesus “showed” himself? It is clear from this that he was not seen unless he condescended to be seen because his body was from this time forward incorruptible and of unmixed purity. But why has the writer mentioned the place? To show that he had now taken away the greater part of their fear so that they now ventured out from their home and went about everywhere. For they were no longer shut up at home but had gone into Galilee to avoid danger from the Jews. Simon, therefore, comes to fish. For since neither [Christ] was with them continually, nor was the Spirit yet given, nor were they at that time yet entrusted with anything and so had nothing to do, they returned to their trade. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 87.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:328**; PG 59:475.

WHY RETURN TO FISHING?

GREGORY THE GREAT: We may ask why Peter, who was a fisherman before his conversion, returned to fishing, when it is said, “No one putting his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” [1] FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 24. [2]

[1] Lk 9:62.

[2] CS 123:180**.

THE DISCIPLES CONTINUE TO EARN A LIVELIHOOD

AUGUSTINE: If the disciples had done this when Jesus was lying in the grave and before he rose from the dead … we might think they did so out of despair. But now after he has risen from the grave, after seeing the marks of his wounds … after he breathed the Holy Spirit on them … all at once they become what they were before, fishers, not of people but of fishes. We must remember then that they were not forbidden by their apostleship from earning their livelihood by a lawful use of their skills, provided they had no other means of living. … For if the blessed Paul did not use that power that he had with the rest of the preachers of the gospel, as they did, but went to warfare using his own resources in case the Gentiles, who were aliens from the name of Christ, might be offended at an apparently minor doctrine; if, educated in another way, he learned a craft he never knew before so that, while the teacher worked with his own hands, the hearer might not be burdened—how much more might Peter, who had been a fisherman, work at what he knew if he had nothing else to live on at the time? But how is it that he had nothing, someone will ask, when our Lord promises, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”? [1] Our Lord, we answer, fulfilled this promise by bringing them the fishes to catch, for who else brought them? He did not bring on them that poverty that obliged them to go fishing, except in order to exhibit a miracle. TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 122.2-4. [2]

[1] Mt 6:33.

[2] NPNF 1 7:439-40**.

RETURNING TO WORK AFTER CONVERSION

GREGORY THE GREAT: We know that Peter was a fisherman, whereas Matthew was a tax collector. Peter returned to fishing after his conversion, but Matthew did not again sit down to his business of tax collecting, because it is one thing to seek to make a living by fishing and another to increase one’s gains by money from the tax office. [1] For there are some businesses that cannot—or hardly can—be carried on without sin. And these cannot be returned to after conversion. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 24. [2]

[1] At that time, this job was often abused for economic gain.

[2] CS 123:180**.

THE DISCIPLES BOUND TO ONE ANOTHER

CHRYSOSTOM: Having then nothing to do, they went fishing, and they did this at night because they were terribly frightened. Luke also mentions this, [1] but this is not the same occasion. And the other disciples followed because from that time on they were bound to one another, and at the same time desired to see the fishing and use their leisure time well. While they were working and tired, Jesus presents himself before them and does not reveal himself all at once so that they enter into conversation with him. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 87.2. [2]

[1] Lk 24:37.

[2] NPNF 1 14:328**; PG 59:475.

21:3-4 | The Disciples Catch Nothing

FEW FISH CAUGHT UNDER THE TYPES AND SHADOWS

AMMONIUS: This is the whole import of this passage: Those who had completed their work in the darkness, before the disciples, had not caught anyone in their nets and snatched them from demonic deceit. They may have caught a very few people, which is almost the same thing as nobody. Not even those who served the types and shadows had been caught, since they also despised the divine law and obeyed instead human commandments. Even worse, the multitude of the Gentiles had also not been caught by the nets, since they did not receive the teachings of God. But when “the sun of righteousness” came, that is, the one who hungered after the salvation of the human race, he did not find anything edible among them. He told them to cast forth the word of the gospel, which is the teaching, on the right side of the boat. One can understand that the law and the prophets had been casting forth their words on the left side. By the grace of the one who gave the order, the disciples drew in many. For the marvel on this matter surpasses the fish of the apostles. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 636. [1]

[1] JKGK 355.

21:5 | Children, Have You Any Fish?

THE SIMPLICITY OF CHILDREN IDEAL FOR DISCIPLESHIP

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Pedagogy is the training of children, as is clear from the word itself. It remains for us to consider the children whom Scripture points to and then to give the Paedagogue [1] charge of them. We are the children. In many ways Scripture celebrates us and describes us in many different figures of speech, giving variety to the simplicity of the faith by diverse names. Accordingly, in the Gospel, “the Lord, standing on the shore, says to the disciples”—they happened to be fishing—“and called aloud, ‘Children, have you no fish?’” In this way he addresses those who were already in the position of disciples as children … setting before us, for our imitation, the simplicity that is in children. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 1.5. [2]

[1] Instructor.

[2] ANF 2:212.

THE TWO CATCHES OF FISH

AUGUSTINE: The Lord appeared to his disciples after his resurrection by the sea of Tiberius and found them fishing, although they had caught nothing. While fishing at night, they caught nothing. Day dawned, and they made a catch because they saw Christ the day, and at a word from the Lord they cast their nets and made a catch. Now we find two catches of fish made by Christ’s disciples at a word from Christ. The first one refers to when he chose them and made them disciples. [1] The second one refers to this current period after he had risen from the dead. Let us compare them, if you agree, and take careful note of the differences between them. It has a lot to do, after all, with the consolidation of our faith.

On the first occasion, then, when the Lord came across the fishermen whom he had not found previously, they had also caught nothing all night, having worked hard without result. He ordered them to throw out the nets. He did not say, on the right, he did not say, on the left, but he simply said, “Throw out the nets.” Before the resurrection, the nets were let out all over the place. After the resurrection, the right side is chosen. Next, in the first catch of fish, the boats are overloaded, the nets are breaking. In this last one after the resurrection, there is no overloading of the boat or breaking of the seine. When they fished the first time, the number of fish caught is not mentioned. This time, after the resurrection, a definite number of fish is mentioned. So let us carry on with the first, in order to arrive at the last. … In the first account we have the nets, the nets of the word, the nets of preaching. Here are the nets. Let the psalm tell us, “I proclaimed, and I spoke. They were multiplied beyond counting.” [2] It is as plain as a pikestaff that it is happening now. The gospel is being proclaimed, Christians are multiplying beyond counting. If they all lived good lives, they would not be overloading the boat. If they were not divided by heretics and schisms, the net would not be breaking. …

The last catch of fish refers to the holy church that exists now in the few, toiling away among the many who are evil. This holy church will be realized in that certain, definite number in which no sinner will be found. … And they will be big fish because they will all be immortal, all destined to live without end. What can be bigger than what has no end? And the Evangelist made it his business to give your memory a flashback to the first catch of fish. Why else did he add, after all, “And though they were such big fish, the nets were not torn”? It was as though he were saying, “Remember that first catch of fish, when the nets were torn.” This will be the kingdom of heaven, no heretics will be barking, no schismatics setting themselves apart. All will be inside, all will be at peace. SERMON 229M.1. [3]

[1] Lk 5:1-11.

[2] Ps 40:5 (39:6 LXX).

[3] WSA 3 6:315-16*. See also Augustine’s comment on Jn 21:11.

21:7 | Peter and John See the Lord

THE DIFFERENT RESPONSES OF PETER AND JOHN

CHRYSOSTOM: When they recognized him, the disciples Peter and John again exhibited their different temperaments. The one was more fervent, the other more contemplative. The one was ready to go, the other more penetrating. John is the one who first recognized Jesus, but Peter is the first to come to him. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 87.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:329*.

THE DISCIPLES KNEW HE WAS BOTH GOD AND MAN

JEROME: After his resurrection, Jesus was standing on the shore; his disciples were in the ship. When the others did not know him, the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” For virginity is the first to recognize a virgin body. Jesus was the same as he was before, yet he was not seen alike by all as the same. And immediately it is added, “And no one dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ for they knew that he was the Lord.” No one dared because they knew that he was God. They ate with him at dinner because they saw he was a man and had flesh. It was not that he was one person as God, another as man: but, being one and the same Son of God, he was known as man, adored as God. AGAINST JOHN OF JERUSALEM 35. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 6:443**.

PETER DIVES FOR THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

EPHREM THE SYRIAN. Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew you out, pearl! It was not kings that put you before people, but those naked ones who were a type of the poor and the fishers and the Galileans. For clothed bodies were not able to come to you. [1] They came that were stripped as children. They plunged their bodies and came down to you. And you much desired them, and you helped them who thus loved you. They gave you good news: their tongues before their hearts did the poor [fishermen] open and produced and showed the new riches among the merchants. On the wrists of people they put you as a medicine of life. The naked ones in a type saw your rising again by the seashore. And by the side of the lake, they, the apostles [2] of a truth, saw the rising again of the Son of your Creator. By you and by your Lord the sea and the lake were beautified. The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing. And from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming and put on his coat; clothed as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two. THE PEARL, HYMN 5.3-4. [3]

[1] Ephrem perhaps is referring to those clothed in sin who are plunged into the waters of baptism, which he here parallels to Peter’s plunge into the water to find the pearl of great price—Christ.

[2] The same word in Syriac means “naked” and “apostle.”

[3] NPNF 2 13:297-98*.

21:9-10 | Jesus Eats Fish

JESUS EATS TO PROVE THE RESURRECTION

JEROME: Our Lord ate to prove the resurrection, not to give his palate the pleasure of tasting of honey. He asked for a fish broiled on the coals that he might confirm the doubting apostles who did not dare approach him because they thought they saw not a body but a spirit. AGAINST JOHN OF JERUSALEM 34. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 6:442*.

THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THEIR CATCH

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: They see a fire of coals, for the Savior had kindled a fire miraculously and put a fish on it that he had caught by his ineffable power. This too he had done by design. For it was not the hand of the holy apostles or the preaching of these spiritual fisherman among the human race that started the work. For he first caught one fish as the firstfruits of those who were to come (not that we mean one precisely, for by one is signified a small number). Then afterward the disciples caught the multitude in their nets, being enabled by his divine bidding to catch what they were fishing for. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.1. [1]

[1] LF 48:699**.

21:11 | Peter Brings the Net to Shore with 153 Fish

THE CATCH OF THE GENTILES AND THE ELECT OF ISRAEL

AMMONIUS: Peter drags the dragnet with the others, bringing the catch to Christ. The hundred can be understood to mean the fullness of the Gentiles. The fifty refers to the elect of Israel who have been saved. And the three set one’s mind on the revelation of the holy Trinity, to whose glory the life of the believers who were caught in the dragnet is naturally connected. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 637. [1]

[1] JKGK 355.

THE MYSTERY OF THE 153 FISH AND THE UNBROKEN NETS

AUGUSTINE: When to the number of 10, representing the Law, [1] we add the Holy Spirit as represented by 7, [2] we have 17. And when this number is used for the adding together of every serial number it contains, from 1 up to itself, the sum amounts to 153. For if you add 2 to 1, you have 3 of course. If to these you add 3 and 4, the whole makes 10, etc. [3] … All therefore who are sharers in such grace are symbolized by this number, that is, are symbolically represented. This number has, besides, three times over, the number of 50, and 3 in addition, with reference to the mystery of the Trinity; while, again, the number of 50 is made up by multiplying 7 by 7, with the addition of 1, for 7 times 7 make 49. And the 1 is added to show that there is one who is expressed by 7 on account of his sevenfold operation. And we know that it was on the fiftieth day after our Lord’s ascension that the Holy Spirit was sent, for whom the disciples were commanded to wait according to the promise. [4] It was not, then, without a purpose that these fishes were described as so many in number, and so large in size, that is, as both 153 and large. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 122.8-9. [5]

[1] Symbolized by ten commandments.

[2] See Is 11:2-3 and the sevenfold gift of the Spirit.

[3] That is, 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17=153.

[4] See Acts 1:4.

[5] NPNF 1 7:442-43. See also Augustine’s Letter 55.17.31 (NPNF 1:313-14).

THE SEA SIGNIFIES THE WORLD

GREGORY THE GREAT: The question also arises as to why, after his resurrection, the Lord stood on the shore while his disciples were laboring in the sea, when before his resurrection he walked on the waves of the sea [1] in his disciples’ sight. … What does the sea indicate but this present age, which is tossed about by the uproar of circumstances and the waves of this corruptible life? What does the solidity of the shore signify but the uninterrupted continuity of eternal peace? Therefore since the disciples were still held in the waves of this mortal life, they were laboring on the sea. But since our Redeemer had already passed beyond his perishable body, after his resurrection he stood on the shore. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 24. [2]

[1] Mt 14:25.

[2] CS 123:180*.

THE CHURCH ENTRUSTED TO PETER

GREGORY THE GREAT: Why was Peter the one who brought the net to land? Our holy church had been entrusted to him. [1] It was to him individually that it was said, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? Feed my sheep.” [2] What was afterward disclosed to him in words was now indicated to him by an action. Because the church’s preacher was to part us from the waves of this world, it was surely necessary that Peter bring the net full of fish to land. He dragged the fish to the firm ground of the shore because by his preaching he revealed to the faithful the stability of our eternal home. He accomplished this by his words and by his letters, and he accomplishes it daily by his miraculous signs. … When the net is said to be full of large fish, we are told how many, namely, 153. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 24. [3]

[1] Mt 16:18.

[2] Jn 21:17.

[3] CS 123:182*.

A SYMBOL OF UNITY

GREGORY THE GREAT: Seven and ten multiplied by three make fifty-one. … The fiftieth year was a year of rest to the whole people from all their work. In unity is true rest. For where division is, true rest cannot be. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 24. [1]

[1] CS 123:183**.

THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH AT THE END

AUGUSTINE: The miracle of the catch of fish is a great mystery in the great Gospel of John. And it is recorded in the last chapter to commend it all the more forcefully to our attention. There were seven disciples taking part in that fishing expedition: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, [1] the two sons of Zebedee and two others whose names are not given. This number refers to the end of time because time is counted by periods of seven days. The statement “When morning arrived, Jesus stood on the shore” also pertains to the end because the shore is the end of the sea and therefore signifies the end of the world. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 122.6. [2]

[1] In his comments on Jn 1:45-51, Augustine had not included Nathanael among the Twelve. See his Tractates on the Gospel of John 7.17 (NPNF 1 7:54).

[2] NPNF 1 7:441**.

A TYPE OF THE CHURCH

AUGUSTINE: The Lord indicated here the kind of character the church would have in the end of the world, just as by that other draught of fishes [1] he indicated its present character. The one our Lord did at the beginning of his ministry, the other after his resurrection. The former draught of fishes signified the mixture of bad and good that composes the church at present. The latter signified the good alone that it will contain in eternity when the world is ended and the resurrection of the dead completed. Furthermore, on that previous occasion Jesus did not stand on the shore but went into a ship which was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the land. … In the former account they put the fishes that were caught into the ship and did not, as here, draw the net to the shore. … The one account took place before the resurrection, the other after the resurrection of the Lord because in the earlier account it signified our being called by the Lord. The account here signifies our being raised from the dead.

In the earlier account the nets are not thrown to the right or to the left so that we might think he was indicating either the good if it was to the right, or the bad if it was to the left. Instead, he has them throw the nets indifferently: “Let down your nets for a draught” is all that he says, meaning that the good and bad were mixed together. But here in this later account he says, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship,” to signify those who should stand on the right hand, the good. … But those who belong to the resurrection of life, that is, to the right hand, and are caught within the net of the Christian name, shall only appear on the shore, that is, at the end of the world, after the resurrection. This is why they were not able to draw the net into the ship and unload the fishes, as they were before. … The church keeps these of the right hand, after death, in the sleep of peace, as it were, in the deep till the net comes to shore. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 122.7. [2]

[1] See Lk 5:1-11. Augustine contrasts this earlier catch of fish with John’s account here.

[2] NPNF 1 7:441-42**.