Appearance At the Sea of Tiberias.

(John 21:1-14).

Even before His sufferings, the Lord had forewarned His disciples that upon His resurrection, He would appear to them in Galilee. This was also stated by the Angels to the women-myrrhbearers, at the Lord’s tomb (Mat. 26:32 and 28:7). Having spent the full 8 days of Passover in Jerusalem, the Apostles returned to Galilee, where, naturally enough, they again began to practice their profession — catching fish on Lake Gennesaret for their livelihood.

Here “Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.” According to Saint John, this was the third appearance of the Lord to His disciples, gathered together. This time there were seven of them: Simon, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, sons of Zebedee i.e. James and John, and two more, who were not named. In this outline, because of his humility, Saint John places himself and his brother last, not even mentioning their names. Whereas, in the other Gospels, they are usually placed after Andrew and Peter. The Apostles fished throughout the whole night but caught nothing. This undoubtedly, would have reminded them of that night, which according to Saint Luke (5:5 and others), preceded their selection for apostolic mission. And here, once again, something similar occurred.

“But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus” — an expression of a sudden appearance. Perhaps the disciples didn’t recognize Him because, as with Luke and Cleopas, He may have appeared “in another form,” or perhaps simply because the darkness of night or the morning fog had not yet lifted. The Lord turned to them with: “Children, have you any food?” and as can be seen further, the word “food” meaning fish. The Lord responded to their negative answer by inviting them to cast their net “on the right side of the boat,” and again, the miracle that they experienced three years ago, was repeated: because of the huge size of the catch, they couldn’t haul in the net. Undoubtedly, this miracle like the first, symbolized their future apostolic activity, in which their personal labors will be under the Lord’s directives.

“That disciple whom Jesus loved,” i.e. John, as he usually refers to himself, stunned by this miraculous catch, immediately knew in his heart Who this mysterious stranger was that stood on the beach, and informed Peter of His conjecture: “It is the Lord!” Not having the effrontery to appear before the Lord undressed, Peter put on his “outer garment” and plunged into the sea, so as to emerge before the Lord from the water, on the other side, fully clothed. This event shows us the distinctive characters of these two Apostles: John — elevated, Peter — zealous, John, more able to observe, Peter — more decisive in action. As Blessed Theophylactus says: “John, ore discerning, Peter, more ardent; John was the first to recognize the Lord, while Peter, the first to hurry toward Him.”

In the meantime, the other disciples drifted over in their boat, dragging the net with the fish. Because the catch was so large, they weren’t game to haul the fish into the boat for fear of capsizing it. That’s why they were towing the net toward the beach, where they could haul it onto the beach without any risk.

Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Once again, the Lord had miraculously prepared food for them, but so that they also partook food from their own endeavors, said: “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” Simon Peter returned to the boat and evidently, with the help of the other disciples, dragged the net ashore, filled with 153 large fish. The other apparent miracle was the fact that the net didn’t burst from such a large weight of fish. In any case, it can be assumed that this miraculous catch of fish produced a profound impression on John — if he remembered the number of fish caught -for the rest of his life. It must have been from their particular reverence, amazed by what transpired that the Apostles stood away from the Lord at a respectful distance. That’s why He invited them to come closer and partake in the food: “Come and eat breakfast.” The Lord too must have been standing at some distance, because “Jesus then came.” As host, He began to treat them to bread and fish. “None of the disciples dare ask Him, ‘Who are You?’ — knowing that it was the Lord” — the disciples saw something extraordinary in the materialized Lord: evidently, He didn’t appear to be as they have grown accustomed to see Him, because upon resurrection, His body became exceptional, glorified, filled with special greatness and Divinity. However, they knew that it was undoubtedly Him.