Listen here.

John 21:1-14

¹ After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. ² Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵ Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. ⁷ That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. ⁸ The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.

⁹ When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Welcome to the third week of Easter. Can’t you just feel the excitement? Yeah, maybe not. We are peak and valley people. We trudged through the valley of Lent hearing over and over to repent. We were humbled by the Scriptures recounting what our Lord did for us during Holy Week. Then Easter Sunday, we were ready to burst out singing, “Christ the Lord is risen today!” The music, the flowers, the dresses, the ties. The time with family, the delicious ham dinner, hiding eggs full of candy and watching the kids hunt for them. Easter is exciting. We burst out with joy telling each other that our Lord has conquered death and the grave. He is risen, alleluia!

But then Easter Sunday passes. The Resurrection slips into the background. We go back to familiar things. The glow wears off, and the excitement dies down. Now, we can feel guilty about this – maybe we should. But we are no different than the disciples and the women; we’re no different than the very people who were living through the events of Easter.

Look back to John 20 where John tells us about what happened that Easter morning. Mary Magdalene sees the stone rolled away from the tomb. She runs back to tell Peter and John, who both take off running. John and Peter see the tomb empty and the linen cloths. They are excited, their adrenaline is pumping, things are happening. But then Peter and John lamely go back to their homes (v. 10), and the excitement dies down.

After this, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and talks with her, and she finally recognizes that it is Jesus. She clings to Jesus, and Jesus sends her to tell the disciples that she has actually seen Jesus which she does, but John doesn’t give us any indication about what the disciples do with this. So, we are somewhat let down again.

John starts up again in v. 19 saying that Easter evening, Jesus appears in the room where the disciples were. He says, “Peace be with you.” He shows them His hands and feet. He breathes on them and gives them the Holy Spirit and sends them out to forgive sins. But then Thomas, arrives having just missed Jesus. The disciples tell him, “We have seen the Lord! Man, Thomas, you should have been here.” But Thomas throws a wet blanket on it all. Thomas says that he absolutely will not believe until he can place his finger in Jesus’ hands and feet and place his hand in Jesus’ side. Talk about a killjoy.

The next Sunday (v. 26), Thomas gets exactly what he demanded. He sees Jesus. He sees the scars in hands, feet, and side. Jesus calls Thomas to believe, and he does. Then Jesus gives a blessing, “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Then in the last two verses of ch. 20, John writes what sounds like a nice conclusion to his Gospel. He writes, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (Jn. 20:30-31). What a perfect way that would have been for John to end his Gospel. But he doesn’t. He writes these words of our text to tell us about the third time Jesus reveals Himself to the disciples. And Jesus reveals Himself in the most familiar way.

The disciples have left Jerusalem and are back in familiar territory – the Sea of Tiberias which is also known as the Sea of Galilee (Jn. 6:1). And they seem, quite frankly, lost as to what to do. Jesus is risen from the dead. The Teacher they had been following for three years has done everything He said He would do. He has been crucified, dead, buried, and risen just as He said He would be. But Jesus isn’t with them all the time. So Peter decides, “Well, I don’t know what to do, so I’m just going to do what I used to do. I’m going fishing.” And the other disciples say, “Let’s go with you. Why not?”

So these fishers of fish, who had been called to be fishers of men by Jesus who has conquered death, return to the familiar. They go back to being fishers of fish. But they aren’t very successful, in fact they stink. The whole night, they catch nothing.

Day is breaking. The best time to catch fish is past. And here comes Jesus standing on the shore. The disciples had no idea who it was. So, in their minds, there’s a heckler on the shore, “Children, do you have any fish?” “No.” “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” Why they actually did it, I don’t know. But their nets are filled with so many fish, they can’t haul it into the boat.

Pause here. I hope this sounds familiar to you because this is almost identical to what happened in Luke 5. There, Luke records Jesus calling the disciples. Now, many Christians think that Jesus simply calls the disciples, “Follow Me,” and they do and have this three-year adventure. But Jesus actually calls the disciples at least two, and I would argue that Scripture is very clear that Jesus calls them three, times. You can ask me about it later.

Luke 5 is Jesus’ final call for them to be fishers of men. And it is almost identical to our Gospel text. The disciples have been fishing all night and have caught nothing – just like in our text. You start to wonder how the disciples made a living because they never seem to catch anything. In both of these texts, Jesus tells them to let down the nets. In both texts, they catch a lot of fish – in fact too many. In Lk. 5, they fill two boats so full of fish that they start sinking. In Jn. 21, they cannot pull the nets up onto the boat, so they have to drag it behind them.

With all the familiarity, there are differences between these two texts. In Lk. 5, Peter sees this miraculous catch of fish, and you might think that he would offer Jesus a contract to be their fishing guide. But he doesn’t. He says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Here, Peter frantically does everything he can to get to Jesus as quickly as possible. In Lk. 5, Jesus comforts Peter with forgiveness, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Here in Jn. 21, just after this text, Jesus forgives Peter again, but in a different way. Peter had denied Jesus three times, so Jesus asks Peter three times, “Peter, do you love Me?” And Peter answers Jesus three times, “Lord, You know that I love You.” And Jesus restores Peter, “Feed My lambs, tend My sheep, feed My sheep.”

But there is more familiarity to be found here. This text should bring our minds back to the shores of this very sea, about one year earlier when Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. Remember how afterward, the disciples carried off twelve baskets of leftovers for themselves (Jn. 6:1-14). Here in our text, Jesus is sitting on the shore by a fire, and again He provides fish and bread. But Jesus has also provided 153 extra large fish. What is the significance, why does John tell us there were 153 fish? Because that’s how many there were. Jesus takes the bread and gives it to them. Jesus takes the fish and gives it to them. Just as He did before.

John writes, “Now, none of the disciples dared ask Him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.” They knew because Jesus was doing what was familiar.

You know the phrase, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” It sure can. But when it comes to Jesus and your faith, I hope that the familiar brings you a calming peace because your needs don’t change. Of course, you grow in your faith and in your maturity, but you will always need the same forgiveness. Every Sunday, you come here and you confess your sins with the same words and hear God’s absolution with the same words. Jesus told His disciples, “Take, eat. Take, drink. This is My Body and Blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of Me.” To remember Him, we keep eating His Supper because we know He is there.

Jesus said to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. So, every sermon you will hear me preach will essentially be the same: you are a sinner, Jesus died on the cross for your sin, He is risen again, and you are forgiven. There is no new material. Sure we might get tired of hearing it, but I hope instead, you recognize the voice of Jesus in the familiar.

Keep hearing those familiar words because in those words you don’t have to wonder, you don’t have to ask, “Who are you?” because you will know there is Jesus. He keeps doing for you what He has done for you, bringing you to eternal life with Him.

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.