Episode 137 - Jesus revealed himself again - John 21:1-8

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1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. 8 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

According to John, Jesus appeared to the disciples on the evening after his resurrection and then again eight days later when Thomas was with them. On both occasions, he simply appeared in the locked room with them. There was no knock on the door and wait for someone to let him in. That seems a little freaky when you first think about it. That Jesus is just there at his will. But, if you stop and consider the implications, it reveals that nothing can prevent or impede God’s presence with his people. I find that comforting.

In the first verse of this chapter John says twice that Jesus “revealed himself.” There were times during his earthly ministry when Jesus “hid himself.” (See John 8:59, John 12:36) Now it would appear that he is often hidden but revealed himself at times deemed important by the Father. In this case, the disciples have emerged from their seclusion and are ready to get on with life it would seem. Peter announced that he was going fishing and others quickly joined him. They were fishing on the “Sea of Tiberias,” another name for the Sea of Galilee.

Did you notice the little detail John added about when they were fishing? It was at night when it was dark. Sound familiar? Unbelieving Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. After the miraculous feeding of the multitude, the disciples got into a boat to cross over to the other side and a storm came up when they were halfway across the Sea of Galilee. John mentions, “It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.” (John 6:17) Now, once again the disciples are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee when it’s dark and Jesus is not with them. John had said in his introduction, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5) I mentioned early in this study that the Greek word translated as “overcome” could also mean “understood.” It would seem that the literal darkness they were experiencing also testified metaphorically of their lack of understanding concerning Jesus. Peter and the others returned to the place where they had been when Jesus first called them. But, that’s not where they were to remain and Jesus appeared to them in order to bring some light to their understanding.

By themselves and in the dark, “they caught nothing.” They were completely unsuccessful on their own. That is a good lesson for us. We can do nothing apart from God’s presence and will with us. 

It seems to me that just four verses into this story, we have enough to challenge us for this week. Let me summarize what I see.

  1. Nothing prevents God’s presence with us. We can trust that he is accessible and aware of our needs even though we can’t see him or even sense him.

  2. When we trust that the Lord is good and cares about us and is present with us we are exercising faith without seeing and we are not in darkness.

  3. We will not be truly successful in our endeavors if we are not listening to the Lord and seeking His will.

We’ll continue with this story in our next episode.