Friday in the Octave of Easter, April 14, 2023

John 21, 1–14

Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way. Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish. When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.

“Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.”  

After Herod Antipas founded the City of Tiberias, named after the Roman Emperor, in 20 A.D., the Sea of Galilee came to be called “the Sea of Tiberias”.  Luke calls the sea “the Lake of Gennesaret” (Luke 5, 1), a much older name which his readers might have been more familiar with.  St. John must have called it “the Sea of Tiberias” for the same reason.  Perhaps that was what the Jewish Christians of Judea, for whom he was writing his Gospel, called it.  It might also have come from an editorial decision by an early copyist who meant his copy of the Gospel for Gentile Christians.  “Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples.”  One of these unnamed disciples may have been Matthew, who hailed from the area, and also Philip, who is associated with Nathanael (Bartholomew).  The fact that John names five disciples but leaves two others unnamed shows the concern for accuracy in his Gospel.  He does not simply say, “Peter and some other disciples” or only name the five he remembers and ignore the ones he does not.  He names the five he remembers and points out that there two others whose names he cannot recall.  “Didymus”.  The name “Thomas” comes from the Hebrew word for “twin”, which in Greek is the word “Didymos”, anglicized to “Didymus”.  This may indicate that he had a twin brother.

“I am going fishing.”  Not for sport but in order to have something to eat.  They did not preaching during the period between the Resurrection of Jesus and the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and so there were no donations for food as formerly.

“Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.”  The time seems to have been around sunrise, so they may not have recognized him because of distance and lingering darkness.  They could have recognized him from his voice, but they might not have since they were not expecting him.  “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.”  This miracle brings to mind that recorded in Luke 5, 4-6, to which Peter responded by saying to the Lord Jesus, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”  Peter may have recollected that miracle with this new catch of fish and realized it was Jesus on the shore.  This would help explain his reaction, jumping into the water in his excitement.  John’s cry, It is the Lord!” confirmed what Peter already knew.

Three times after the Lord’s rising he appeared to disciples and they did not recognize him: Mary Magdalene, in the Gospel of John, the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, and here.  We may learn from this to keep the Lord in our thoughts as we move about the day as he works in our lives and calls us to work with him.  We see him directing the Apostles from the shore, and he does this with us from heaven.  “Watch ye therefore (for you know not when the lord of the house comes, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning): lest coming on a sudden, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch” (Mark 13, 35–37).