NOTES for Joh 21:1-14

After the Resurrection, Christ was so transformed that not all the disciples could recognize Him immediately when they met Him. Yet He could still be recognized, and this is remarkable: the Risen One appears not amid fearsome phenomena or wonders that stagger the imagination, but in peaceful everyday activities—in breaking bread, helping with the fishing, preparing food.

Both at the beginning of His preaching to the disciples and before parting from them, Christ enabled them to catch a great many fish. But whereas the first time Peter asked Him to depart because he—still Simon then—was a sinful man, now, far more aware of his imperfection, he himself rushes to meet Christ, the only One who delivers from the power of sin. Once again we see Peter's character, his impetuousness, his unwillingness to wait until the boat reaches the shore. Like Adam, Peter covers his nakedness before the Lord; but Adam hid himself from the Lord, withdrawing from Him, whereas Peter puts on his clothes in order to draw near.

It is hard to say why the Evangelist gives the exact number of fish caught. We can speculate about numerical symbolism, but would it not be simpler to suppose that the number 153, neither a round number nor a traditionally symbolic one, simply attests to the actual size of the catch during an actual appearance of Christ to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias?

For all the importance of what took place at this meeting, outwardly it looked quite ordinary. Yet the Lord can reveal Himself in the midst of everyday life as well.