Fishing, Breakfast, and the Care of Christ - John 21:1-14

John 21:1-14 is a lot like a bean dip. A seven layered bean dip to be precise. Or maybe lasagna would have made more sense since tonight’s dinner theme is Italian. That’s a layered Italian dish, right? Just like a seven layered bean dip, John 21:1-14 is layered.

Because on the surface, we have a very straightforward story, don’t we? Some disciples go out to fish, don’t catch anything through the night, then Jesus tells them where to find fish, make an enormous catch and then they eat breakfast on the beach with Jesus.

For some of you that probably sounds like an outstanding vacation to others it sounds like a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

But after reading this passage you can’t help but ask yourself, what does all of this mean? What’s the significance here?

Scripture must be mined. We have to dig beneath the surface, sort of like bean dip.

And to keep my seven layer bean dip metaphor going, when you dig a little deeper, when you get a full scoop of refried beans onto your chip, you’ll realize that this passage is reminding us that Jesus will provide for his church. He will be her influence, strength, and power.

By the way, when I’m done preaching this sermon none of y’all are going to be hungry anymore. There’s going to be a lot of leftovers back there after this sermon.

But nevertheless, it’s true! Jesus will provide for his church! And that’s really what we see from this passage: first we see failure apart from Christ (vv. 1-3), second, we see success through Christ (vv. 4-8), and lastly, we see the provision of Christ (9-14).

Now you may read this passage and say, Jake, you keep talking about the church, but I didn’t read anything about a committee, business meeting or worship service. And of course that’s true.

But keep in mind who this passage is dealing with: it’s Jesus ministering to the men who he had called to ultimately build his church. And so, it’s with that in mind, I’m saying that this passage says something to the church.

John chapter 21 is really the epilogue of John’s gospel. What we have here is a transitional period in redemptive history, it’s post resurrection, Jesus has already risen from the dead, and appeared to his disciples prior to sending them out to proclaim the gospel. Jesus appeared to them in order to encourage them.

And one of the primary questions that arises post-resurrection is what will Jesus’ relationship with his disciples be? Obviously, it’s not the same anymore, but what will it be like moving forward?

Failure Apart from Christ (vv. 1-3)

We’re at a scene change if you will in John’s gospel. All of this takes place not in Jerusalem but in Galilee. And of course, we know this because in Matthew 28, the angel at the resurrection said that Jesus was heading to Galilee and the disciples are in Galilee and we know this because they’re fishing on the Lake of Tiberias, which is also known as, the Lake or Sea of Galilee.

And now, seven disciples have gone fishing. Peter is clearly the ringleader and several others have volunteered to go out with him.

There’s a significant amount of scholarly debate over whether or not it was appropriate for the disciples to be out fishing. That might be thinking, which Scripture says that fishing is a sin?

But think about the context: Jesus has breathed the Holy Spirit on them and he was sending them out into the world. But here they seem to have returned to their old way of life. We’re they neglecting the call that Jesus had put on their lives? Or were they simply working so they could have something to eat?

The truth is, we’re not explicitly told.

Personally, I think the disciples still didn’t fully understand what they were supposed to be doing! We’re supposed to go to Galilee and then what? Ofcourse, they still needed to eat in the meantime.

But notice when they go out to fish. Apparently, the disciples were big fans of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, because they went “Fishin in the Dark.”

Of course, I’m joking, because they were certainly working the whole time. And I’m not a fisherman, but as I understand, nighttime fishing can be very fruitful.

Nevertheless, they were fishing at night, which is an important detail that we can easily overlook. One of John’s favorite themes is light and darkness. Obviously darkness represents worldliness and the absence of God’s presence, while light represents righteousness and God’s presence.

Which of course makes you look at verse 3 a little differently: “They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.”

In other words, they went fishing by themselves, at night, and Jesus is nowhere to be found.

But remember our passage is bean dip. Pay attention to the broader imagery of the passage: here are the men who were instrumental in the founding of the church fishing alone in the darkness without a bite.

It’s impossible to read this passage without thinking about Luke chapter 5 when Jesus first called his disciples and told them that he would make them “fishers of men.”

Jesus is going to make them fishers of men.

After all, where does the church’s success, power, and blessing come from? It all comes from God doesn’t it?

John Calvin makes this point commenting on these verses as well: He wrote, “God often tries believers, that he may lead them to more highly value his blessing. If we were always prosperous, whenever we put our hand to labor, scarcely any man would attribute to the blessing of God the success of his exertions, all would boast of their industry, and would kiss their hands.”

Which is, of course, true isn’t it? Whenever things are going well, we quickly credit ourselves. We think that our work ethic, our industriousness, our strategic thinking, is the reason for our success.

And that is an incredibly dangerous place to be in as a church - to actually believe you, under your own power, strength is to credit for all the wonderful things that have happened in the life of your particular church.

Of course, that’s a scary place to be in as a church, but the same thing can happen to all of us as individuals too. We can fall into the trap of believing that all the wonderful things that have happened to us in our life are strictly due to our work ethic, industriousness, and effort.

But I’m sure you can all see the problem with this: God is missing. We begin to see ourselves as the source of all blessing and not the Lord.

It’s the equivalent of fishing for men in the dark without Jesus. It cannot be done!

Not only should we credit the Lord for all the blessings we experience particularly in the church, we must understand that it only comes by and through his power.

Success through Christ (vv. 4-8)

Success and blessing in the church is never independent from Jesus Christ. It always comes through him.

It’s true for both the church and for us as individuals as well. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

We’re totally dependent upon him.

I mentioned it earlier, but our passage this morning closely parallels Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5 is where Jesus first calls several of his disciples. Interestingly enough, most of the men mentioned in Luke 5 are also mentioned here in John 21.

But in Luke 5, Peter and other men were out fishing when Jesus called them to follow him. But before that happened Jesus told them to “go out into the deep and put out their nets.” He offers some unsolicited advice.

And Peter tells him, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” But eventually they listened to Jesus, went out into the deep, and “...enclosed [such] a large number of fish, [that] their nets were breaking.”

Is any of that sounding familiar to you? They worked all night, caught nothing, then Jesus gave them advice and they pulled in an enormous catch of fish.

Look at verse 4 with me: We’re told that the “day was breaking.” The theme of light and darkness is at work. Of course, the light highlights the presence of the Lord.

Alone in the darkness, the disciples had failed. But now that Jesus was on the shore they were going to experience dramatic success. But initially, the disciples did not recognize him. We’re not told why they didn’t recognize them.

He asks them what could come across as a condescending question: “Children, do you have any fish?”

Of course, it wasn’t condescending, it was a sincere question. “Children” can also be translated as “boys” or “lads.” “Boys or lads, do you have any fish?”

To which the disciples quickly respond, “no.”

It’s hard not to respond curtly to obvious questions, especially when you’ve been working on something for a long time to no avail.

This always seems to be a car project for me. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and thought, I can knock this out in an hour. Eight hours later I’m in the exact same place, just with a bigger mess around me.

One of the most obnoxious things in the world at that precise moment is when someone walks up to you and asks, “did you fix it?”

If you’ve ever been in that situation then you know it takes all the self-control in the world to simply say, “no.”

That’s the sort of thing I imagine may have been going on in this passage. Remember, John tells us in verse 4 that the disciples didn’t recognize Jesus. So for all they know they’re fishing in front of a peanut gallery.

Here are these expert fishermen, having an unsuccessful fishing trip, when a man they don’t recognize starts yelling fishing tips at them from the shore. And his advice isn’t what you might call, advanced fishing techniques. He doesn’t tell them, you’re using the wrong type of net, or schools of fish congregate on that part of the lake, no his advice is, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”

It’s honestly shocking that Peter didn’t have a snarky comment: “Oh, we’ve never thought of something like that before!”

In all seriousness, it’s quite remarkable that they take advice from Jesus because at first they didn’t recognize him.

I can’t help but wonder if they were so tired they were beyond the point of caring. At this point, why not? Let’s see what happens.

And of course we know what happened. They tossed the next onto the right side and John tells us in verse 6 “...they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.”

It’s a miracle isn’t it?

Again, all of this is incredibly similar to Luke 5. Luke records in verse 6, “And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.”

And after that, Jesus told them, “...from now on you will be catching men.”

But again, this passage is bean dip! Because what was promised in Luke 5 will soon become a reality. They will go out and they will preach the gospel, and they will “catch men.”

Interestingly enough, both Peter and John were fishing in the boat when Jesus called them in Luke 5. I only mention that because I can’t help but wonder if at that point something clicked. I can help but think John had to think… wait a minute, I’ve been here before.

Because John says to Peter in verse 7, “It is the Lord.”

It always seems like John figures things out before Peter, but Peter always acts before John.

And this passage is certainly no different, because Peter puts on his clothes in order to swim to the shore to be with Jesus. Normally, you don’t put on clothes to go swimming.

Usually you shed clothes to go swimming. And Peter was probably fishing in a loin cloth or something and it seems that he revered Jesus so much that he didn’t want to be in his presence scantily clad.

It’s easy to get caught up in all the details and miss the big picture of what’s going on: Apart from the Lord Jesus they’re unable to catch anything. But with the Lord Jesus the haul is so big they barely pull it in.

The other day I had a phone call with a friend who is looking to potentially plant a PCA church in Tennessee, and he’s going to go through the Church Planting Assessment Process but was feeling pretty discouraged over his recent “pre-assessment interview.”

Because he was asked about his personal evangelism in the interview. Specifically, the man conducting the interview asked him how many conversions, and baptisms he had seen as a result of his personal evangelism. And my friend said, “I guess none.” His interviewer then told him that was not good.

And he called to ask me for my thoughts. I asked him, “Are you afraid to talk about the gospel with unbelievers?” And he said, “of course not!” So I told him, “Don’t worry about it.”

Because it’s a ridiculous question to begin with. The question implied that great evangelists have the power to convert someone to Christ! Not only is that not reformed or presbyterian it’s inconsistent with what the Word of God teaches.

We don’t catch the fish, we just get in the boat and drop the nets.

Conversions say very little about you and me, but they say a lot about the lovingkindness of God, don’t they?

Don’t forget, this passage is bean dip.

Think about what’s being communicated here: Jesus is going to send out his disciples, his representatives for church, to preach the gospel, and their success would come not from their efforts or abilities. Their success would come through Jesus.

The Provision of Christ (vv. 9-14)

Jesus was going to take care of the results, but not only was Jesus going to take care of the results, he was going to take care of them. Is that what we see in verses 9-14?

Jesus provided for his disciples. They get to shore and he’s already got breakfast cooking!

There are a lot of parallels between Jesus’ breakfast meal and John 6, where Jesus fed the five thousand. It was the exact same meal - fish and bread, and the language between the passages are similar. Jesus already had the fish and bread on the fire before any of the disciples got to shore, which has led many scholars to think that this may have been a miraculous meal as well.

Another interesting fact about this passage is John records the exact number of fish in verse 11: they caught 153 fish. Why would he go out of his way to mention it? It’s an incredibly specific detail isn’t it?

There’s been a lot of speculation over the 153 fish, there may be a connection to Ezekiel 47, or perhaps it’s a gematria, which has to do with the Hebraic practice of assigning numbers to letters, words, and phrases. I don’t think that anyone can speak definitively as to why this incredibly specific detail made it into Scripture other than to make sure you and I know they caught a lot of fish that morning.

But again, those are the sorts of details that can distract us from the broader point: Not only was Jesus the reason for their success, he continued to minister to them. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.” The cross was his primary act of service.

But Jesus also washed his disciples’ feet, and of course, in this passage, he cooked them breakfast. I’m sure that’s a breakfast none of them ever forgot.

But again, if the chief concern of this text has to do with the ministry of the disciples and the future of the church, and Jesus is pressing a very simple point home to them.

He’s not going to abandon them. He’s going to be with them. Even after Jesus ascended into heaven, he didn’t leave them stranded. He’s giving them a glimpse of what he promised in Matthew 28: “ behold, I am with you to the end of the age.”

He’s going to be with them and provide for them every step of the way.

Sort of like, fixing breakfast after a long night of fishing.

Hopefully you can see that the primary message of this particular text has very little to do with actually fishing. Rather, this passage has everything to do with Jesus sustaining and providing for the church.

That was true then, and it’s true for the church today. The church under the strength of her own power will always fail.

Far too often the church believes in order to ‘catch men,’ that is, see people get saved then the church must make concessions and become more accommodating.

Is that trusting that the Lord will provide or is it fishing by yourself in the dark? When we are weak then we are strong. When we are dependent upon the Lord, when we realize that, “[We do] not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” - that’s the strength of the church.

And the Lord is always going to take care of us. I hope we can all find peace in that wonderful truth this evening. Our lives are in his hands and so is the church, but where else would you rather be?

Let’s pray together.