John was brief and to the point about their evening. The zero result in fishing seemed to reflect their mood as it often does. A lack of productive results in life is directly impacted by an unsettled mind and emotions. They were being taught, by useful reflection in prolonged silence, to see their unsettled selves. Sitting in the dark in a boat with no fish biting minute after minute, and hour after hour, would be disconcerting and make keeping awake difficult. Any change in the stimulation of their senses would have triggered an instant response to escape their boredom. Hence, this was an ideal time for Jesus to win their attention.
The miraculous catch of fish
That opportunity came when the first soft yellow glow of sunrise arrived gently creeping up into the pale blue sky still dotted by the occasional white dots from the closest stars. Suddenly they noticed movement on the shore.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
None of the disciples originally recognised the stranger to be Jesus only one hundred yards away on the shore[1], just as Mary Magdalene had not recognised the gardener standing behind her in the garden to be the newly resurrected Jesus, nor the two disciples walking along a road at length discussing recent events in Jerusalem not recognising him until he took control of breaking bread to begin their meal together, nor Thomas until he was invited to place his hands in the nail prints of Jesus. Each of these physical connections opened the eyes of their spirits to be able to see the spiritual identity of the new spiritual body of Jesus. This spiritual resurrection body of Jesus seemed to be recognised more by a spiritual connection sparked by a physical act. Physical seeing had to become spiritual seeing. Physical sight had to result in comprehension, e.g., “I see what you mean. I see what you are saying.”
5 He called out to them, “Children [2], haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”
When they did, they were unable to haul the net in, because of the large number of fish.
In this case, a sudden high contrast in their physical and mental state brought on by the miracle initiated by the stranger on the shore was dramatic. They were overwhelmed with the numbers of fish caught and the weight of the catch. This onslaught was more than a few fish from a few bites. These were large fish. It would be an understatement to say that Jesus had suddenly and dramatically caught their attention.
John immediately identified Jesus as the source of the miracle. He had stayed at the cross of Jesus with his mother to the end and gained clearer sight of the spiritual warfare of love against evil being heightened until the end. His clear sighted sacrificial love, devoid of the feelings of betrayal carried by his friends, could see this was Jesus encountering them with a dramatic act of love to signal that there had been no decrease in his care for them.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”
Jesus did not need any of the fish caught by his miracle. He had already made provision for both fish and bread being cooked on the fire he had set. Sending back the disciples to gather some of the miraculous catch served to reinforce the size and weight of the miracle, and then discover the further miracle that the net had not been torn.
11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.
The counting of the fish may have resurfaced in their memory counting the number of baskets of scraps left over from 5 loaves and 2 fish used to feed lunch to 5,000 or the number of basketfuls remaining from feeding 4,000. They had been there before counting the evidence of unbelievable miracles performed by Jesus. In this case of his sudden unexpected appearing, he gave them the opportunity to feel like they were contributing something to the meal of renewed relationship. Have you ever found yourself complaining about being caught in some mundane repetitive exercise only to begin slowly to see its benefit in producing a miracle of change in some long-established, attitudinal or behavioural rut in your life?
In this case, Jesus had positioned Peter, John and the disciples to be out of balance with their ordinarily repeated routines and familiar levels of success when fishing day after day and year after year. He destabilised their usual levels of physical control in order to open them up for the extraordinary. Jesus had placed them in this state before. It is the place where redemption happens, because it is the place where relationship based on trust can start. It is the state of heart needed by every aspiring disciple of Jesus. We cannot take up any task to follow Jesus into a process of redemption with anyone, including ourselves, without trusting his full control to orchestrate his connection with the uniquely created spirit of the person he is in the process of redeeming and bringing alive. Furthermore, we cannot begin the task of spiritual renewal without his spiritual feeding.
12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Peter’s time
Now was Peter’s time for personal restoration of his relationship with Jesus. The role Jesus had given him of being the rock, on which he would build his new spiritual society that could thwart any scheme of the Devil seeking to destroy the image of God in man, required clarity of sight to spot Satan’s never-ending schemes and unbending resistance to them.
When Peter made the boast that he would never deny his master, he was unaware of the comparative weakness of any soul attempting to stand up against such rapidly moving and determined spiritual forces, no matter how brilliant and in control he felt. He had crumbled and crashed. He found himself to be part of the abysmal tragic statistic that relatively few individuals gain eternal life, even though it is offered freely to all. Jesus had to teach Peter that the church he was building would be engaged in spiritual warfare that only the Spirit of God could win unified with the spirit of a believer submitted in unity to a group of like-minded disciples united with him.
The measure of love
To understand how Jesus reconnected with the disciple he had chosen to build his new spiritual community of relationships upon, it is important to understand the driving motivation in God to create the first humans. Peter would have learned from the synagogue that God is a relational, eternal being, who at some point in eternity past desired to create beings who could freely choose to love him and others sacrificially, intimately and morally, displaying God’s own pure nature and love. Such outwardly directed love required firm commitment to maintain the self-sacrifice needed. The Greek word used for such love was agàpé. This is the quality of love Jesus asked, if Peter had for him.
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love (agàpé) me more than these?”
Jesus asked about that quality by framing it in a comparison question to take Peter back to his original boast.
“In comparison to these friends, who have eaten with us, (and who have followed me for the past three years), do you agàpé (love) me more than them?”
Peter was not going to feed his original boast again, after failing it so abysmally. His answer avoided any comparison of his agàpé with the others. Instead, he dodged the comparative question and focused on the empathetic nature of his love as expressed by the Greek word philéo(affection)[3]. He knew he was an impulsive, passionate person, who acted the moment his moral framework was alerted of wrong. His friends had seen that impulsive love and its effects in action often. It had refused Jesus washing his feet. They had heard Peter boast, “…you shall never wash my feet” and Jesus immediately reject the boast, “…Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” (13:8)
Agàpé is a wider term for love that embraces the assent of the will to matters of principle and duty. It is used for God’s saving love as the greatest example ever of sacrificial love. It was foreshadowed by the example of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Now Jesus displayed it hanging on the cross for all humanity until his suffering and blood had paid the price for all sin and opened the pathway to God for all people. Agàpé is more sustained by the head and will compared to philéo as an expression of the affections and personal attachments of the heart. The degree of Peter’s sense of personal attachment to Jesus had failed in the events of the crucifixion. He could no longer claim, for example, that he loved Jesus more than John, who was present at the cross of Jesus when Peter was absent.
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I philéo (have affection for) you.”
Jesus ignored Peter’s avoidance of claiming sacrificial love such as displayed by Jesus on the cross. He responded with a command to Peter to fulfill the basic daily necessity of a shepherd who wants to grow a flock for later slaughter, viz., feeding. At least, make sure the lambs are fed daily if you want later to get a good sale price.
Jesus said, “boskó (Feed) my lambs.”
The little rock on which Jesus planned to build his church needed to be more than a provider of food for the lambs. He needed to be a shepherd who knew how to attend to all the needs of his flock. He had to provide the correct environment for them in all regards: lead them to pasture, provide good pasture, guard against physical threats, protect them from wild animals, provide safe pens for the night, etc. His flock would need shepherds who addressed all needs of growth modelled on Jesus as the original, or chief shepherd. Consequently,
16 Again Jesus said to him a second time,, “Simon son of John, do you agàpé (love) me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I philéo (have affection for) you.”
After a second test, Peter’s answer showed that he was not confident to commit to agàpé love. Jesus therefore adjusted back his questioning of Peter’s motivation to establish, for Peter’s sake as much as for his own, that the desire of his heart was to love and serve Jesus, even if his desire had not yet solidified into a firm foundation of resistance against any future attacks from Satan to demolish it.
Jesus said, “poimainó (take care of, shepherd, rule, tend) my sheep.”
After this command, Jesus did not give Peter any breathing space to process this request.
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you philéo (have affection for) me?”
Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you philéo (have affection for) me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I (have affection for) you.”
Jesus adjusted his response again to bring Peter to a place of strongly considered inner certainty that he would always love Jesus with a deep affection. Peter needed to hear his confession of love again. That realisation was the ground that needed to be identified with certainty for Jesus as well as Peter, in order for Jesus to illustrate the end outcome of Peter’s love sustained under attack from Satan.
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
Crucifixion!
Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
Would he now follow? Had Jesus managed to increase Peter’s understanding of how far his love and trust of him would go? Did Peter still have any flaw in his understanding of the identity of this miracle worker and wise man to whom he had given the last three years of his life? In particular, what limits of authority would he place around Jesus? How we “see” Jesus still determines what kind of “Lord” we want him to be, and where we are placing the limits on his requirements of us. These judgements are more about us than him. Few admit this according to the measure provided by Jesus.
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
Peter made the same mistake wrapped up a little differently. His first question about betrayal was seeking in a masked way to test that the betrayer would not be him. This second attempt at comparison was a less subtle question with Peter’s finger of comparison clearly targeted at John.
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
The response of Jesus was unbending. Every person wanting to be a disciple of Jesus must consciously switch their measures of success and authenticity away from any and every comparison of self with any other person and focus only on Jesus. Will I follow him or hang onto the excuses that I currently allow for myself, which he will not?
Our final engagement with Journeying with Jesus cannot avoid giving an honest answer to this question. The extent to which I seek to soften my assessment becomes the extent to which I betray myself.
Conclusion
Journeying with Jesus
John authenticated his entire record of journeying with Jesus on his journey for his Father that concluded with his return to his Father after having sought to glorify and please him in everything he asked his Son to do.
Summary assertion
24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
The accuracy of this record of journeying with Jesus has stood the test among its immediate and the thousands who have joined their journey with Jesus from 1 AD until now.
Summary conclusion
25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
John concluded by asserting that what he has written is only a partial record. As each day passes, his statement grows in strength. God’s Holy Spirit continues to Advocate for all searching for truth, and he keeps on working with his Father in unity with his disciples.