The Gospel According to John Chapter 21
Originally posted Thursday, May 1, 2008
General Comment: An appearance
of Jesus in Galilee is reported in Matthew and John. Mark has no resurrection
stories although he does allude to Galilee as the place where Jesus will appear
to the disciples. In Luke, Jesus instructs the disciples to stay in Jerusalem.
The differences in the Gospels are representative of the variations in the
oral traditions used as sources by the writers. In John we see at least two
major sources, one Galilean (22:1-25)
and the other Judean (20:11-29).
Chapter 21 is part
of the last edition of John. It is the work of the redactor who does the final
editing and arranging of the story line. He is responsible for the final form
of the prologue, adding the parenthetical information about John the Baptist,
moving the prophetic aspects of the "cleansing of the Temple"
forward to Chapter two and including material not included in the previous
edition(s). The Gospel is built with units of preaching and teaching material
developed by the evangelists over several decades. Not all of
this material would have been used at first and the redactor has
chosen other units out of the collection, even different versions of the same
passage. This resurrection appearance is an example of an older part
of the tradition being inserted after a later one. There is an element of truth
in John's final statement that if everything Jesus said and did had been
written down - well, we would need more bookshelves.
John Chapter 21:1-14 Jesus Appears in Galilee [see LK
5:1-7]
The word
"showed" in vs. 1 is also translated as "revealed" or
better as "manifested" and John typically uses it this
way to denote a revelation of the heavenly. John notes the gathering of
seven disciples in Galilee. Five are named and two are designated as
"others," one of whom is the "disciple whom Jesus
loved" (see vs. 7). The disciples, or
at least Peter, seem to have retuned to their former lives. The grammar
indicates more than an incidental or a one time occurrence. In any case they
all end up in the boat fishing most of the night (night fishing would
be preferable because the catch would be fresher and more saleable in the early
morning).
By early morning
they had caught nothing. Someone called to them from the shore, "Lads, you
haven't caught anything to eat have you?" which they had not. The
unrecognized stranger suggests they cast the net to the right side of
the boat (in Jewish thought the right side, as with the right hand, is the
"fortunate" side or side of honor). The result was an over abundance
of fish - a miraculous catch. The miracle is understood as a sign, an event of
epiphany when the presence of God's glory is made manifest in an event or a
person's action. The sign leads to the recognition by the disciple whom
Jesus loved that it is Jesus standing at the shore. When Peter heard
it is Jesus he put on his robe, "threw himself" into the water and
swam to the shore. (he would have been wearing a fisherman's
apron/loin cloth so "naked" here means nearly naked). The boat
was out about two hundred cubits and the other disciples dragged the
net full of fish behind it to the shore. Jesus had already prepared
a charcoal fire with fish on it and asked for some fresh fish to add to
the breakfast. Peter obliged to the excess, going aboard and hauling the entire
net of fish ashore. Jesus invites them to breakfast, giving them bread and
fish. The disciples knew it was Jesus. However, John's mention
that they did not dare to ask him who he was indicates John's understanding
that there was something different enough about his resurrected
appearance to create a sense of confusion (or awe?) but not doubt.
There are several
interesting details in this passage which are signs of knowledge about
fishing and an eye witness account. Examples include the preference for
night fishing, the use of the right side as the better of the two, the
boat's distance from shore and the precise number and size of the fish.
Jesus as the host, breaking the bread and giving portions to the disciples and
doing the same with the fish, is meant as a reminder of Jesus' feeding of the
five thousand. It is a sign of the abundance of the age to come, that the
Messianic age has begun.
John Chapter 21:15-19 Jesus and Peter
The first part of
the passage consists of a series of three questions asked of Peter by Jesus.
All three uses of the word love are synonymous in that they hold no differing
value in the text, as if one were a higher or lower form of love than the
others. The same is understood about Jesus words after each of Peter's three
responses. There is no important difference among the use of "feed"
versus "tend" or "lambs" versus "sheep." The
importance rests in the first question, "Do you love me more than
these?" In the context of the previous scene of Peter as one who may be
contemplating returning to the life of a fisherman, the question becomes a
weighing of choices. Will Peter choose the old life or the new life he has been
given by Jesus? Jesus asks Peter, with a wave of his hand, "Do you love me
enough to give up all of this." Peter's affirmative answer
establishes his readiness to be the presumptive leader of Christianity. (It is
upon this text, and that of MT
16:18, that the Roman Catholic Church could draw its
understanding that Peter was its first Pope). That Peter's feelings were hurt
by the repetitive asking of the same question can be understood as arising from
his shame for having denied Jesus three times. That seems a better reason than
a bruised ego.
Peter has been
commissioned as the leader of the Church universal. With that commission come a
certain future. In the life he has left behind he was in control of what he did
and where he went. But now his life has changed. He will now go under a compulsion
as his vocation sends him. Ultimately Peter will die the same death as did
Jesus, as a martyr. He will stretch our his hands; someone else will fasten a
belt around him and lead him to a place he will not wish to go- to a cross
on the Appian way east of Rome. Even so, he will obey Jesus call
"Follow me."
John Chapter 21:20-25 Jesus and the Beloved Disciple
If Peter is the
leader of the Church, who is the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one with no
name, and what is his role? He and Peter have been part of a number of the
most important scenes together and it is apparent in John they are closely
related in importance. Peter asks Jesus about the beloved disciple's fate,
having just received a preview of his own. The answer is a key to understanding
the foundation of this Gospel. Jesus replies that it is not Peter's concern,
even if Jesus wants the beloved disciple to remain until Jesus' return. As for
Peter, his only concern is to attend to the call, "Follow me." As for
the Beloved Disciple" our writer names him as the very source of the
testimony from which this Gospel has been written, and he knows this testimony
is true (vs. 24). Of him John
elsewhere writes, "He who saw this (the death of Jesus Jn. 19:35) has testified so that you
(plural) also may believe. His testimony is true and there is one (the
writer) who knows that he tells the truth." John tells us that this
source, this beloved old man who was there in the beginning with Jesus'
during his Judean ministry, his death and the mystery that followed, has died
and there is great sorrow in the church.
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