NOTES for Joh 21:1-14
Today's passage shows us how the disciples changed during the three years they spent with the Teacher. They became a close-knit family, brothers hurrying to one another's aid - this is clear from the way they respond to Peter's words (John 21:3). But despite this unity, the Lord gives them no catch. The failure is meant to lead to something greater.
Before us is a scene we have seen before: tired fishermen with empty hands see Jesus standing on the shore and hear His request to cast the nets (Luke 5:4-6). And, as on that earlier occasion, they do not know who is before them. Now He is far away, and they simply do not recognize Him; the previous time they did not know what to expect from this Man.
But these men are not merely fishermen anymore - they are already apostles. In three years the disciples learned to receive and "see" a person, recognizing God and His presence in him; they learned to value each person by listening to his actions and feelings. And precisely for this reason, what they resisted the previous time they now do without delay. And they recognize the Lord.
This is how, at times, the very thing we resist in our life turns out to be the main thing that will bring Jesus into our home...