NOTES for Joh 21:12-13

Why do the disciples not dare ask Him anything? What is this: bewilderment before an unexpected miracle, the unexpected resurrection of the Teacher, compared with which the miraculous catch is a mere trifle? Perhaps that too: they truly did not expect to see Him risen. But there was something else. The disciples remembered perfectly how all of them had scattered then in Gethsemane. How all of them remained in complete certainty that everything was over, right up to the meeting with the risen Teacher. Even now they still did not really understand what was happening and what to expect next. The issue was not only that there, in Gethsemane, practically all of them lost courage and scattered.

The issue was above all that every one of them had proved inadequate precisely as disciples: they had never understood the Teacher when He spoke to them about His death and His resurrection. And now, after meeting the Risen One, this was completely obvious to them all. There was reason to be embarrassed. And in essence there was nothing to ask about: what can you ask if you understand nothing at all? All that remains is to look at the Teacher in confusion and wait for what will happen next, for what He will say and do.

And the apostles wait. They do not yet know that they will have to wait until Pentecost. They simply wait, planning nothing in advance and making no attempt to imagine the further development of events. For the first time in all their time with the Teacher, they tried to understand His words and actions, not their own interpretations of those words and actions. Jesus finally became a real Teacher for them. With a capital letter. Not only because of His divinity, but also because of the corresponding attitude toward Him on their part. This is how life in Christ began for the apostles.