ACC ~ John 21 v11

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**.