Easter Friday - "Gone Fishing"

Gospel	John 21:1-14 ©

Jesus stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, ‘I’m going fishing.’ They replied, ‘We’ll come with you.’ They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night.

  It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, ‘Have you caught anything, friends?’ And when they answered, ‘No’, he said, ‘Throw the net out to starboard and you’ll find something.’ So they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could not haul it in. The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’ At these words ‘It is the Lord’, Simon Peter, who had practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak around him and jumped into the water. The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land.

  As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?’; they knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.

Although the Gospel writer mentions several Apostles, this story's main characters are Peter and Jesus. Everything that happens points of Peter being the leader of the group since when he announces "I am going fishing" everyone decides to go with him because after all, he is their leader. They get to their boat and spend an evening with nothing to show for it. They come back to shore and Jesus is there and asks them if they caught anything.  They tell Him," no," and he suggests to them that they should cast the net over on the right side of the boat and you will find something.  They do and they get a catch of 153 big fishes. Why 153?  In the time of Jesus that was the number of known species of fish in the sea.  So the number 153 symbolizes the Apostles duty to preach the Good News to all nations, to everyone, everywhere.  Notice also that Simon Peter is said to have gone aboard and hauled the heavy net in - this symbolizes his duty as the chief of the apostles and leader of the Church that Christ established.  One other interesting point that a lot of people do not see, Jesus did not ask for one of the fish that they had just caught.  No, He has breakfast already cooking over a charcoal fire.  Where did He get the fish?  It was dawn so He could not have purchased from anyone.  Scholars say it is the only time in the Gospel where Jesus makes something out of nothing. Every other time He fed people it was with material that was already present such as barley loaves and a few fish, washing jars at Cana filled with water, etc. 

The fish that the Apostles caught that day was caught only after the Risen Lord told them what to do and where to fish. We can do nothing without the help of Christ. So, on this Easter Friday, let us remember that we are the Easter People and that our job is to make certain that the Word of Christ is distributed to all people.  We should not be happy until all people are united in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.