Revelation by the Sea

John 21:1–8
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In this chapter, John recorded another revelation of Jesus. This story is unique to John’s Gospel. The settling is the Sea of Tiberias (the Roman name for the Sea of Galilee). Throughout his writings, John stressed the fact that Jesus “reveals” himself to people. Reveal equals to manifest or display (1 John 1:2). Every time Jesus reveals himself to people, they are given an opportunity to learn something new about Him. Seven disciples were together: Peter (who had recently denied Jesus thrice), Thomas (who had doubted, but now believed), Nathanael (to whom Jesus had said, “…you will see heaven opened…” – John 1:45-51), James and John (the sons of Zebedee), and two more unnamed disciples. 

Some have speculated, based on this passage, that Peter was intending to start fishing again fulltime. However, it’s clear from Peter’s actions that this was not the case. Peter was a man of action. He didn’t want to just sit around and wait for Jesus to appear. And so, he decided to do something (go fishing) while he waited. This sounds reasonable, however, there was a bit more to it, as we’ll see in the rest of the chapter. 

Peter and the others fished all night but caught nothing. Sometimes our earthly actions just aren’t enough. The next morning Jesus told them where to cast the net, and their obedience resulted in a multitude of fish (vv. 4-6). Apart from Jesus, they could do nothing. John was the first to realize that the stranger on the shore was the Lord Jesus (v. 7), but it was Peter who “threw” himself into the sea to get to get to Him. 

Application

Lord, help me to grasp the reality of my helplessness apart from you. You say in your word, I can do nothing without you (John 15:5). I want to live in the reality of that truth, in complete reliance upon you.