This story ends on kind of a strange note. John inserts himself into the narrative, almost awkwardly, and we see Jesus make a statement that then John feels like he needs to clarify. It is a little strange that this would be added in such an uncomfortable way at the end of this great story of reversal and forgiveness. But here it is, so we should deal with it. First, it is clear that John wanted t...  Read More

Jesus inviting his disciples to fellowship and share a meal signals his love for us. But he has some unfinished business with Peter to take care of. Remember, Peter denied Jesus in a pretty profound way before he was on the cross, and Jesus avails himself of this opportunity to have a crucial conversation with Peter. Throughout this story, Peter has been referred to as “Simon Peter.” However, Jesu...  Read More

153 large fish seems like a great big haul! The fact that the net did not break is pretty amazing. Not that I know much about fishing nets, but the way that this story is written, the net not breaking is pretty important. In fact, there are a lot of theories about the number of fish, but that is not really as important as the miraculous net keeping from breaking. Jesus speaks first, with a second ...  Read More

When the disciple Jesus loved, John, told Peter that it was the Lord, Peter put his clothes ON and then swam to shore. This is a little surprising in a few ways. One, it was interesting that he had to put his tunic back on because he had been working so hard he took it off. Two, John found it necessary to again tell everyone that Jesus loved him significantly. Perhaps this was the function of John...  Read More

I have to tell you that I have always thought this was a little silly. I mean, why would they throw the nets on the other side simply on the advice of some guy that they couldn’t really see? The only way that I can figure they would have done that is that they were either desperate, or they were so tired they would have taken any suggestion that sounded in any way plausible. These were professiona...  Read More

I am a horrible fisherman. Truly, I am just the worst. I’ve been fishing maybe 10 times in my life and I have caught nothing. I barely caught anything when we would go spearfishing when I was a student missionary in Majuro, and that was almost like shooting fish in a barrel. (I mean, if the barrel was the Pacific Ocean.)Probably the worst thing about being a fisherman is when you don’t get any fis...  Read More