John 21:1-14
Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered.
6He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."
11Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Luke 24:36-49
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
36While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
37They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."
45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
My father liked to fish, and I have heard a number or fish stories...But the fish stories in the Gospels of John and Luke are of particular interest...When I read these "fish stories" for the first time they struck me as odd and a little strange...Is it odd, or is it just me, that their favorite teacher and rabbi of all time has just died, and they went out to fish...Now maybe that was a tradition, back in Jesus time -but that would be an odd tradition (to go out fishing, after your Teacher dies)...The second odd thing I find in the Fish Stories of our LORD, is that after He died, He ate broiled fish...It makes me believe, I should eat all the fish I can in my lifetime (and some people may think that is odd)...But if Jesus ate broiled fish from a fire, it must be good for the body...Another thing that is odd to me, but maybe normal for their times, is someone did a fish count that day...They caught 153 fish, because Jesus helped them...And we know this, because somebody counted them...Now that is a lot of fish...With the LORD there and resurrected, one or more of the disciples, decided to take the time to count the fish they had caught, instead of going immediately to see and talk to Him...Maybe they counted the fish later after He left, but the way John writes his story, they seem to be counted, while He was there...The last odd thing in these verses is that the disciples were not quite sure it was Him...It must have been someone who looked like Him, because some said it is the LORD, from their boat...After He died, He changed somehow and somewhat...Now this was the third time that He appeared after He had been raised from the dead (so that had seen Him after His death twice before) -but He is still a little bit different...He was right there in front of the Eleven remaining disciples, and none ask "Jesus, is that You, is that really You, You don't look quite like Yourself?"...The Bible says that none of the Disciples dare ask Him, "Who are You?"...
But me thinking these things are odd, is not unusual...I could not have possibly explained how odd the last three years had been for the Disciples and followers of Jesus...He did miracle after miracle, and the non-believer smartly and subtly have their own explanation of these odd things and the oddity of each miracle and how they believe they happened...Then the disciples saw their teacher arrested, hung on a cross, die, and then return from death and eat fish with them...All that would be odd in a story on the history of the greatest religion...It is almost like a myth...The story starts out with a Child...This Child is born from a virgin, and the Child is Divine, and is the Son of God...Somehow the Holy Spirit impregnates the young virgin...Then this Man grows up...He is the Greatest Teacher ever...Then He atones for all the sins of man by His death on a cross (how does that work)...Then He dies on that cross, but then is resurrected and comes back to life...What rational and logical person will believe that story?...This story would be very difficult to think of and make up, let alone believe in...
C. S. Lewis believed and said that “Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed...That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity...It is a religion you could not have guessed...If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up...But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up...It has just that queer twist about it that real things have...So let us leave behind all these boys' philosophies--these over simple answers...The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.” ...
Lewis is right reality can be quite odd...Life is not simple, and salvation is not simply answered...Many odd things happen in life...Many odd things happen around the world...If you were creating a universe and you had to be perfectly original, so you could not use a sun, or moon, or sky, or air, or trees, or grass what would you use to create your world?...What would your creation look like, without these things?...The story of Jesus gives us history, fear, strangeness, great joy, salvation, some oddity, some myth, much mystery, and great complexities...His creation gives us all the things we need and more...This all makes sense coming from the Author of Life and the Author of Creation itself -the Most Complex One of all...