Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Daily gospel
exegesis from The Logical, Bible study Ministry.
Thank you for tuning in. This is the podcast where we
look at the mass reading for today, the Gospel reading from
today's Catholic mass and we want to pull it apart a bit.
What's the original author? Trying to communicate?
Kate to the original audience. So we start by looking at the
passage for Easter Friday. We're looking at John chapter
21, verses 1 to 14, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples.
It was by the Sea of tiberias and it happened like this.
Simon Peter. Thomas called the twin Nathanael
from Cana in Galilee the sons of Zebedee and two more of his
disciples were together. Simon Peter said I'm going
fishing. They replied will come with you.
They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that
night, it was light by now. And there stood Jesus on the
shore though, the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Jesus cold out, have you caught anything friends?
And when they answered, no, he said, throw the net out to
starboard and you'll find something.
So they dropped the net and there were so many fish that he
could not haul it in the disciple.
Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord at these words, it is
the Lord Simon Peter who had practically nothing on wrapped
his cloak around him and jumped into the water.
The other disciples came on in the boat, towing, the net and
the fish. They were only 100 yards from
land. As soon as they came ashore,
they saw that there was some bread there and a charcoal fire
with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, bring some of the
fish. You have just caught Simon Peter
went aboard and dragged the net to the shore full of big fish
153 of them. And in spite of there being so
many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, come and
have breakfast. None of the disciples was bold
enough to ask, who are you? They knew it quite well, that it
was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward took
the bread and gave it to them and the same with the fish.
This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the
disciples after rising from the dead.
So that's our passage here today.
It's quite a well-known one, and quite a beautiful one for many
people. So what's the context by now?
Jesus has risen on Easter Sunday and he appeared several times in
Jerusalem. During those appearances.
Jesus told the apostles to go back to Galilee and he said
that, if you go back to Galilee, that's where you'll see me
again. So after eight more days in
Jerusalem, the apostles make their way back to Galilee and
that's a 60-mile journey. So would have taken them a,
probably a few days to get back to Galilee.
And that's where most of them are from the Galilee area except
for a couple of them. So once they get to Galilee the
picture, we get, is the apostles.
They sit and wait for Jesus. They're just sitting and waiting
for him to appear. They're following his
instructions. They know that he's going to
come but they don't know. When Jesus has said I'm going to
appear in Galilee that's where he did most of his ministry
early on and that's where he finishes.
And that's where he Ascended into heaven.
Now John the author here, doesn't tell us how long they've
been waiting for in Galilee so we don't know how long it's been
since they traveled from Jerusalem.
A lot of Scholars would say it's probably not long a matter of
days or maybe a week after they traveled from Jerusalem.
What we're going to see here is the seventh appearance of Jesus
after his resurrection. So I've already had the
appearances to the women and the appearances in the room in
Jerusalem. This is now appearance, number
seven, Now some, it's worth noting in terms of literary
criticism some Scholars think that this chapter was added
later because there's chapter 20, sort of has a mini
conclusion in it and now we have chapter 21.
So some of thought that means that this chapter was added on
to the end later. I think the evidence for that is
not particularly strong because what we see here in 21 wraps up
everything. John has been talking about
before that, but it's worth pointing that out as well.
That you might encounter that claim.
So verse 1 there by the Sea of tiberias so that's another name
for the Sea of Galilee which is that big lake where Jesus spends
most of his time doing Ministry. And the apostles were quite
familiar with this area. They spent a lot of their time.
It says the John says it happened like this.
So notice that John wants to make clear to his readers that
he's giving an accurate depiction of what actually
occurred. He says it happened like this.
Verse to Simon Peter Thomas called the twin Nathanael from
Cana in Galilee the sons of Zebedee and two more of his
disciples. So John here lists the people
that are present at this scene. Notice.
It's not all of the Apostles. Only five of the Apostles are
here plus two more of the other disciples.
Some Scholars have thought it's important that we say this
because sometimes you who represented this way, some
schools of thought that the disciples have gone back to
Galilee to go back to their old ways to just go back to fishing.
They've kind of given up on Jesus and they've just gone home
and they weren't expecting Jesus to return.
That doesn't really make sense, though, if you think about
what's going on in this scene of the Apostles that are listed
here, Simon Peter Thomas called the twin Nathanael from Cana the
sons of Zebedee. Only a few Them a fisherman,
Simon, James and John are fishermen.
The others are not fishermen, so it doesn't make sense that
they're all just gone back to Galilee to go back to their old
ways because some of them didn't come from Galilee and some of
them certainly won't fisherman. So it appears that what's going
on here is they've gone back to Galilee and they're basically
just sitting around waiting for Jesus.
And some of them happen to be fishermen.
Verse 3. Simon, Peter says I'm going
fishing, which makes sense because he's a fisherman and
they reply will come with you. You in all honesty, they're
probably just bored and they're looking for something to do
while they wait for Jesus. They're not sure how long he's
going to be. So they went out and got into
the boat but caught nothing that night.
And not time, was the usual time for fishing on the Sea of
Galilee verse for John says, it was light by now.
So, it's early morning. The next day there.
Stood Jesus, on the shore. So Jesus, apparently pops up out
of nowhere here. But the disciples do not realize
that it was Jesus. Now there's a couple of reasons
why that might not recognize him.
We've talked about this in the podcast a bit often in Jesus
post-resurrection appearances. People don't recognize him
initially. And there's two possible
explanations. It could be that he's appearing
in a different form and there's some passages which indicate
that or it could be that God is super naturally blinded them so
they don't recognize him or a combination of both.
It's certainly not because of the distance, it's not like he's
too far away and they can't recognize him.
I think in this case, it's because Jesus looks different.
There's something different about him that they can't quite
put their finger on verse 5. Have you caught anything
friends? The Greek is actually a bit
different there. The Greek actually reads Jesus
says, you haven't caught anything have you.
So it makes it clear that Jesus expects no to be the answer,
maybe, because he wants the disciples to realize that they
can't do anything without him, but on the other hand, if they
rely on him, he'll provide the abundance.
When there is a lack and all through, as we go through
today's text, there's perhaps these spiritual overtones about
What are the fish mean? What is this encounter mean in
terms of Jesus supplying the needs of the Apostles?
So they answer. No, we haven't caught anything.
So he says throw the net out to starboard and you'll find
something. So, starboard is the right side
of the boat. Now, we shouldn't take this to
mean that all night, they had it on the left side of the boat and
they hadn't thought of going to the right side.
That's probably not correct. They probably did have it on the
right side. It's just that.
What's happened now is Jesus, Has super naturally arranged for
the fish to come up to the right side of the boat and so they
drop the net. And there were so many fish that
they could not haul it in. So, this is a nature Miracle.
Jesus controls the movement patterns of fish here, which is
pretty incredible. What's has been written about
the theological implications of this?
So some Scholars say that what John is trying to get across to
his audiences. That if Disciples of Jesus try
to do things in their own strength, they will get nowhere.
But when they rely on the Lord, and they follow his
instructions, then there's a large Harvest and God provides
the result. So, that would be an example of
a spiritual reading of. The text does John intend that
to be the meaning, maybe, but we can't be sure for in this
podcast. We just want to stick with.
What's the literal? Most obvious thing that John is
trying to get across and he's just trying to narrate what
actually happened. Not to rule out, there's other
interpretations but we just can't be as sure of those
spiritual interpretations verse 7, the disciple Jesus loved said
to Peter, it is the Lord. How does the Beloved disciple
know that? It's the Lord, probably, because
the Beloved disciple remembers that this exact same thing has
happened earlier. When they first met Jesus in
Luke chapter 5, verses 1 to 11 or at least when their Ministry
on the Sea of Galilee started. So in the very same place, in
Luke Chapter 5, Jesus gets the apostles to cast their net again
and they get a massive haul of fish.
The upon the Beloved disciple was probably John remembers
that. And he says to Peter, it's the
Lord. Verse 8 at these words, it is
the Lord Simon Peter who had practically nothing on wrapped
his cloak around him and jumped into the water.
So Peter would have been wearing a thin outer garment for his
manual labor as a fisherman and he feels so he's a bit ashamed.
He feels that that's not presentable if he's going to
meet Cheese's. So he wraps an extra cloak
around himself and he jumps into the water and swims over to
Jesus. He's so enthusiastic to get to
Jesus. Notice the level of detail that
John as the It includes here that indicates that it's an
eyewitness that we get this information from it.
The writer John knows that the information was obtained from
the Beloved disciple that it's the Lord and they know what
Peter was wearing and that he wrapped a cloak around himself.
So certainly it does seem like the Beloved disciple is John the
author himself. The other disciples came on in
the boat to work, Towing the net in the fish, they were only
about a hundred yards from land, so they want to bring the fish
into Shore. So they come into sure they're
not that far out. So it wouldn't have taken them
too long to bring it in, although it's a very heavy
catch. The soon as they came ashore,
they saw that there was some bread there and a charcoal fire
with fish cooking on it. So Jesus has prepared breakfast
for them. Why while these are his closest
Companions and he knows they've been working.
Working all night. So the least he can do is give
them some breakfast. Notice what?
He's cooking his cooking bread and fish.
Now, these were pretty common foods at the time, so there
might not be any significance there, but on the other hand,
Jesus might have deliberately chosen to cook bread and fish
because he wants the disciples to recall the multiplication
Miracles. He performed with bread and fish
earlier on the feeding of the 4000 and the feeding of the 5000
which involved bread and fish. Verse 10.
Jesus said, bring some of the fish, you have just caught.
So Jesus wants him to add some of the fish they've caught and
add it to the fire so that there's enough breakfast for
everyone. And again a spiritual reading of
this might suggest that Jesus wants us to add our efforts into
his to partner with him. In order to expand the kingdom.
Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore
full of big fish. So, Simon jumps into the boat
and he unhooks unhooks than that, and drags in into short.
Now, that's not easy. Considering the disciples
struggled to pull it up earlier. But somehow, Peter manages to
pull it in by himself and there was 153 fish in the net.
Clearly, again we have evidence of an eyewitness, only a no
eyewitness wouldn't know how many fish there was when they
counted them. What's the significance of the
number 153? Why does John fuel necessary to
count them and include the number here, there's lots of
different suggestions. Some have thought it has
something to do with the number of nations.
The apostles are going to preach to.
I think the most likely explanation on the literal sense
is that John is just including the number here to communicate
to his readers just Any fish. There was to communicate that it
really was a miraculous. There's 153 fish.
And also to highlight John, basically saying I was there.
I saw the fish, so I don't know if there's any particular
significance to the number and in spite of there being so many,
the net was not broken. Now, this is interesting because
in Luke, in Luke Chapter 5, the first time they pulled the net
in of fish, that Jesus gave them in that case, the net did break.
But here, the net does not break.
Maybe there's some significance to that to the fact that the
neck doesn't break some have suggested and this probably
could be right, the fact that Peter holes in an unbroken net
all by himself symbolizes the unity of the Apostles under the
headship of Peter. So, Peter is the one who's in
charge of ensuring, the net doesn't break and that the
church remains unified. I like that explanation.
I think that maybe John was trying to get that across.
When he included it. Verse 12, Jesus said to them
come and have breakfast. So they all sit down together
around the fire. None of the disciples was bold
enough to ask, who are you? They knew quite well that it was
the Lord. Now that's an interesting verse.
If they know it's the Lord, why do they need to ask?
What's the concern here? Why are they sort of wondering
whether they should ask him if they know it's him?
I think that suggests that he does.
Look different. There are little bit confused,
it's like they know deep down inside that it must be the Lord,
but there's something when they look at him that makes them a
bit unsure. Maybe he looks different.
Aunt. The second question that arises
from this strange versus, why the disciples not bold enough to
ask Jesus, why not just say, are you Jesus.
Maybe they don't want to be seen as being weak in faith.
They don't want to be the one that asks the question, maybe
but it's just speculation. Now, is your single earlier in
John chapter 16 verse 23, Jesus predicts this day, he predicts
that he's going to appear to the apostles and he says, to the
apostles on that day, you will not question me about anything.
And that's essentially what happens here is they don't want
to ask him anything. Verse 13.
Jesus then stepped forward took the bread, and gave it to them
and the same with the fish. So, Jesus is the host of the
meal again, this was the third time that Jesus showed himself
to the disciples after raising from the dead.
Now, John says, it's the third time, although we need to pull
this apart of it because John has actually narrated for
appearances because there's the appearance to Mary Magdalene as
well. So by now this would be the
fourth appearance and in Fact, if we add all the gospels
together adding in some information from Matthew and
Luke, this is actually the seventh appearance of Jesus.
So, why does John says for third appearance, will notice what the
text says, and this is why it's important to look at the text
itself. This was the third time that
Jesus showed himself to the disciples.
This is actually the third time that Jesus shows himself to the
collective group of disciples and that's what John is talking
about. The first time was late on
Easter Sunday, when he appears in the room and then the second
time was the following Sunday when Thomas was present.
Now, this is the third time when he appears to the disciples
collectively, Many scholars. Believe that what we've just
seen here is this miraculous catch of fish is in some way
symbolic of the Apostles mission to be Fishers of Men in the
world and maybe there's all this symbolism going on between Jesus
and the apostles, potentially, although I don't think that's
entirely clear. I think it might just be that
John is recounting this story because he was there and he saw
it happen. Now after this, if you continue
reading, John chapter 21, there's that conversation
between Jesus and Peter about feed my sheep, feed my Lambs,
but that comes in later in the liturgical year.
So, we'll look at it a bit later on, in this podcast.
Now, that's the end of our passage and we just want to look
briefly at where does the catechism talk about this
passage? What is the Catholic Church?
Believe about it. Well, in paragraph 6, 45 in the
condition of Christ's reason Humanity.
There's a discussion about Jesus body after his risen, it says by
means of touch and the sharing of a meal.
The Risen Jesus establishes, direct contact with his
disciples. He invites them in this way to
recognize that he is not a ghost.
And above all to verify that the Risen body in which he appears
to them, is the same body that had been tortured and crucified
for it, still Bears the traces of his passion.
Yet, at the same time, this authentic real body.
Possesses the new properties of a glorious body.
Not limited by space and time, but able to be present how, and
when he Wills for Christ's Humanity can no longer be
confined to Earth and belongs, henceforth only to the father's
Divine realm for this reason to the Risen Jesus enjoys, the
Sovereign freedom of appearing as he wishes in the guise of a
gardener or in other forms familiar to his.
Disciples. Precisely to awaken their faith.
And it references there, the passage of scene from John
chapter 21 perhaps because in John chapter 21, Jesus appears
to be showing up in this form that the disciple was don't
fully recognize. And then in paragraph, 4 48,
there's a discussion about the word, Lord, and what the word
Lord means, it says very often in the gospels.
People are dressed Jesus as Lord.
This title, testifies to the respect and Trust of those who
approached him for help and healing at the prompting of the
Holy Lord, expresses, the recognition of the Divine
mystery of Jesus. In the encounter with the Risen
Jesus the title becomes adoration, my Lord and my God it
does takes on or connotation of love and affection that remains
proper to the Christian tradition quote it is the Lord.
And so that last phrase, there it is.
The Lord come straight out of John chapter 21 and that is
something that all Christians can reflect on and think about
do we believe that Jesus is Lord.
So we'll leave it there for today.
Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying this, if
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podcast. Thanks.
We'll see you again tomorrow. As we continue to explore.
Jesus post-resurrection appearances.