Miraculous Catch of Fish

Gospel of John

Jn 21:1-14

¹ After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way.

² Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples

³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.”

⁶ So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish

⁷ So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.

⁸ The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish.

⁹ When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”

¹¹ So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.

¹² Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord.

¹³ Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish.

¹⁴ This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.

Gospel of Luke

Lk 5:1-11

¹ While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.

² He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.

³ Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

⁴ After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

⁵ Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.”

⁶ When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.

⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

⁹ For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him,

¹⁰ and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

¹¹ When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

Comparisons

	John	Luke
Name of the Lake/Sea	Sea of Tiberias	Lake of Gennesaret
Characters named	Seven disciples: Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples	Three disciples: Simon, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon
Time of day	"When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore."	"After he had finished speaking" to a crowd.
Sitz im leben	After the resurrection	Toward the beginning of the public ministry
No fish	"That night they caught nothing."	"“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing."
Boat owner	"So they went out and got into the boat."	Simon
Location of boat on the water	Close enough to shore for conversation: "they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards."	"Put out into the deep."
Instruction	“Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.”	“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Recognition of Jesus	"The disciples did not realize that it was Jesus."	The fishermen listened to Jesus preach from the boat.
Jesus' location	Jesus was on shore.	Jesus was in the boat.
Peter's response	When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.	When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

Features Unique to John

• "the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus."

153 Fish

The natural reading

The count of fish in John's gospel seems fishy to some readers (pun intended; you may laugh now) because to us it seems unlikely that the disciples would stop to count the number of fish or that the exact number would be remembered years after the event.

Nevertheless, strange things do happen. After breakfast and the conversation with Jesus was over, the disciples must have done something with the fish--divided them among themselves for consumption or sale, or, perhaps, shared them with others. Counting the day's catch seems to me like a normal activity for fishermen, and it does not seem like a hugely difficult number for a fisherman to remember, even late in life.

No part of the text requires seeking deeper meanings in the number.

Take your choice! Of course, perhaps it just means that there were 153 fish!

From Cantebury Tales Blog:

"In First Century Judaism, “Torah” and “Word of God” were synonyms: Torah is the Word of God. Again we see John taking the synoptics to a higher level, taking us deeper into the Gospel. Jesus promised to bring Torah to its completion (cf Mt 5:18); the final Gospel reveals that Torah has become flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.

At the end of his life, “when Moses had written down this Torah,” he gave this order: “[Every seven years] you shall read this Torah aloud in the presence of all Israel.” (Deut 31:9-11). Over the centuries, an annual cycle of readings was adopted to fulfill this requirement. The cycle of Torah readings – or “portions” – varied from century to century and place to place.

The 1910 Jewish Encyclopedia reports that a three-year Torah cycle used in Palestine around the First Century had 153 Torah portions. “The 153 parts into which the Torah was divided in the cycle of three years, which prevailed in Palestine till the exiles from Spain brought their customs into the Holy Land, are known as 'sedarim'.” (“Parashah,” Cyrus Adler, Lewis N Dembitz)"

Another take:

"When the things in our lives take a different path than the one we expected, we sometimes tend to want to fall back on the things we used to know, our old certainties. This story has a number of things to teach us.

First of all, we need to be careful of grabbing hold of the things we used to rely on. We cannot find nourishment and guidance anywhere other than from Christ. But there is another message in the 153 fish.

The Bible tells us explicitly that there were 153 fish in the net. That may have had a very special significance for the apostles. Firstly, in that time, there were only 153 known species of fish. Jesus had already called the disciples 'fishers of men' (Mark 1:17) but they focused initially exclusively on Israel. The number 153 represented every possible, known people group in the world at that time, in other words, the whole world.

Numbers have a special significance for Jews1. In both the Hebrew and Greek alphabets the letters served as both letters and numbers2 and every; word can also be a number. In writing and explaining the Bible, Jews regularly make use of the numerical values of words. This is evident in various places in the Bible. The book of Proverbs contains exactly 375 proverbs from Solomon (Proverb 10:1 and 22:16) which exactly matches the numeric value of his name 'Solomon' in Hebrew. Proverbs 25:1 to 30:1 consist of 140 proverbs gathered and edited by the appointment of King Hezekiah. The numeric value of Hezekiah's name is 140. The number 666 from Revelations is probably one of the most well known examples of the numeric value of a word or name.

It is interesting to note that 153 is the numeric value of the expressions: 'The Passover (Ha Pesach),' and also of the words 'Sons of God (Bene Ha Elohim).'. . . "

Some of the Fathers:

St. Augustine says: The catch of fish tells us of the salvation of men, but man cannot be saved without keeping the 10 commandments. But, on account of the fall, man cannot even keep the commandments without the help of grace and the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the number 7 signifies holiness, since God blessed the 7th day and made it holy (Gen 2:3). But 10 plus 7 equals 17, and if all the numbers from 1 to 17 are added together (1+2+3…+17), they equal 153. Hence, the 153 fish signify that all the elect are to be saved by the gift of grace (7) and the following of the commandments (10).

Or rather: St. Augustine notes that there were 7 disciples in the boat (Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, James and John, and two other disciples), who had all been filled with the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. 7 times 7 equals 49. 49 plus 1 makes the perfection of 50. Now, 3 is the number of the Trinity and also of our faith (which is founded on the Trinity); but 50 times 3 (for our faith) is 150, plus 3 (for the Trinity) is 153. Hence, the 153 fish signify the fullness of the Church (7), filled with the Holy Spirit (7), perfected (50) in her faith (3) in the most holy Trinity (3).

St. Gregory the Great says: 10 and 7 are perfect numbers, which added together make 17. This, times 3, for the perfection of faith in the Trinity, makes 51. This, times 3 again, makes 153.

St. Cyril breaks 153 into 100 (the great number of gentiles to be saved), plus 50 (the smaller number of Jews to be saved), plus 3 (the Trinity who saves all). Others follow St. Cyril, but modify this as follows: 100 (the multitude of married lay faithful in the Church), plus 50 (the many faithful who commit themselves later in life to continence either living as widows or living with their spouse in a brother-sister relationship), plus 3 (the precious few who commit their whole lives to celibacy as virgins) equals 153 (the whole Church taken together as a single body). [!]

Perhaps most convincing of all is the theory of St. Jerome: It was thought at that time that there were only 153 species of fish in all the world. Hence, the disciples caught 153 fish, signifying that men of every class and time would be saved through the Gospel.

Features Unique to Luke

• “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
• Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

Miscellany

• Three disciples: Peter, James, and John. Transfiguration, Agony in the Garden.