Jesus' Appearance to His Disciples (John 21:1-25)

Introduction:

We’ve come to the last message in the Gospel of John…it has been a glorious journey as we have seen through the eyes of one who was there and inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote to us revealing that Jesus was the Christ, the messiah who atoned for the sins of His people; the Son of God, the Word that became flesh, revealing to us the Father, showing us heavenly truths using physical means; so that by believing, trusting, abandoning ourselves to these truths we might have life, eternal life in His name.

This morning, as we conclude this Gospel, we see the reality of why we call this a Gospel, or Good News, as we see Jesus’ Appearance to His Disciples and the restoring and commissioning of ones who had failed greatly, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, they were about to turn the first century world upside down.

Text: John 21:1-25

John 21 ESV

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. 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” 20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” 23 So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” 24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Main Idea: Because Jesus meets us at our lowest moments, He transforms our failures into stepping stones for greater purpose and intimacy with Him.

This chapter appears to be a kind of postscript prepared by John for the purpose of Peter’s restoration after his denials of Jesus (18:15–18, 25–27), and to command intimate commitment to their Lord.

You will note that much of what Jesus does during this encounter with His disciples is related to events that had happened with His dsciples over the last three years, so we begin with a…

I. Catch of Renewal (1-6)

This passage highlights Christ's intentional engagement with His disciples, illustrating that Jesus seeks out those who are His even when they are confused and seemingly have lost their way.

1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.

Jesus revealed himself - again we see that it was Jesus who took the initiative to divinely reveal hHimself to His disciples.

Sea of Tiberius. So called from a city on its western shore, this body of water is also called the Lake or Sea of Galilee (6:1). Jesus promised to appear to His apostles in Galilee (Matt. 28:10).

2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.

Nathanael of Cana in Galilee. Nathanael’s hometown was the site of Jesus’ first sign (2:1–11). The confession that Nathanael offered, when Jesus’ omniscience dispelled his contempt for Nazareth, “You are the Son of God!” (1:49), conveys the truth in which the gospel is designed to elicit faith (20:31).

the sons of Zebedee. Identified in the Synoptic Gospels as James and his brother John, partners with Peter and Andrew in the fishing trade (Mark 1:19–20; 3:17).

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.

I am going fishing. Perhaps Peter, having denied the Lord, thinks he has forfeited the privilege of being a witness of Jesus’ resurrection. For whatever reason, Peter reverts to what he knows best…fishing.

that night they caught nothing. Fishing at night is not unusual in this era. They had been here before, the stage is set similar to that of Luke 5:4–11, especially v. 5.

4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Again, they were not seeking Jesus.

5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”

Children, do you have any fish?. That the stranger on the shore addresses them in this way, expressing affection as well as implying their immaturity or dependence, is surprising, as is His knowledge that they have caught nothing (implied in the form of His question) and the fact that without objection or hesitation they heed His inexplicable directive to cast their net on the right side of the boat.

They answered him, “No.”- Jesus of course knew that they had caught no fish, but He asked them to focus on the reality of frailty and inadequacy of human effort, and once again bring into focus the necessity of Christ in their lives.

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.

Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. - this is not the first time they had heard Jesus command them to do this, and in fact, it becomes the identifying mark that the stranger on the shore was actually Jesus.

Luke 5:4–6 ESV

4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.

not able to haul it in. In this earlier miracle, the quantity of fish threatened to break the nets (contrast v. 11) and to sink both boats that were used to haul them in.

Thus Jesus identifies Himself through Catch of Renewal in order to bring about a…

II. Communion of Restoration (7-14)

This scene portrays Jesus as the source of spiritual nourishment, inviting His followers to partake in communion with Him.

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.

That disciple whom Jesus loved. John is quick to recognize Jesus by the command and result of Jesus command.

“It is the Lord!” - this miracle immediately brings about the reality of who Jesus is, and with purpose and excitement, the disciples respond…

put on his outer garment. This is strange for someone about to jump into the water. It seems to be a gesture of reverence for Jesus, before whom Peter does not want to appear unclothed.

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. - the other disciples followed suit.

9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. - what Jesus does here commemorates two important events in the life of His disciples, the first, the…

charcoal fire. It’s as if Jesus had made this fire to commemorate what Peter remembers full well, and has lived with guilt ever since, John 18:18.

John 18:18 ESV

18 Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” - bring some of the fish, Jesus says, that were divinely provided, and by human obedience hauled in.

As if to say, this is what you must expect from now on as those commissioned to complete the covenant of redemption in which Jesus was the atoning sacrifice and they now would be the proclaimers of this atoning sacrifice.

In other words, they will see that as God mandates and provides, His children must obey and implement His commands as divine tools in the master builder’s hands.

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.  

Simon Peter ... hauled the net ashore. It’s as if Jesus is reminding them of the earlier miraculous catch with the call to Simon Peter and Andrew and Zebedee’s sons, their partners, to become fishers of men (Mark 1:17; Luke 5:10; cf. Matt. 13:47–50). In John’s gospel, miracles are signs that are certainly real historical events but also bear symbolic import (6:32–35; 9:39), so this post-resurrection miracle probably signifies the abundance of people who will be gathered to Jesus from all the nations through the apostolic gospel (compare 12:19; 1:29; 10:16).

BTW, Various attempts have been made to interpret the number 153 symbolically, but more likely it simply represents the number of fish counted. Fishermen routinely counted the number of fish prior to selling them fresh at the market.

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.

Come and have breakfast - Jesus dining with His disciples was nonetheless a common place for Him and His disciples over the past three years. It was so reminiscent of their life together that all know it was Jesus.

Important note: this is very characteristic of God’s desire to dwell with His people, from the book of Genesis, all the way through the book of Revelation, this is part of God’s divine posture.

13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. - this is now the second important event in the life of His disciples that Jesus actions here are representing (this first being the charcoal fire)…

Jesus ... took the bread ... and so with the fish. His actions recall those by which He fed more than five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish (6:11).

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

the third time. Not the third appearance absolutely, but the third to a group of the apostles (cf. 20:19–23, 24–28), with a specific group wide purpose.

We’ve seen how Jesus reveals Himself through the Catch of Renewal in order to bring about a Communion of Restoration, but purposefully Jesus is about to show this restoration in a Conversation of Redemption…

III. Conversation of Redemption (15-19)

We see here the conversation between Jesus and Peter, where past failures are redeemed through Christ's transformative love. Peter's threefold restoration highlights the personal and relational aspect of Jesus' redemptive work, offering a model for how He restores broken purposes.

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

Simon, son of John. Jesus used this name at the beginning of His solemn declaration in response to Peter’s confession (Matt. 16:17).

do you love me more than these. It is possible to understand this question in several ways.

“Do you love Me more than these others love Me?”; or

“Do you love Me more than you love these others?”; or

“Do you love Me more than you love these nets and fish?” (cf. v. 3 note).

In the context and since Jesus predicted Peter’s threefold denial in response to Peter’s protest that he alone would stay faithful even as all others fell away (Matt. 26:33–35), the first sense seems most likely: “Is your claim true, Simon, that your love for me exceeds that of others?”

There are two Gk. verbs for love used in these passages, the first, agapao in Jesus’ first and second questions, but changes to phileo when the question is raised the third time (v. 17). Peter’s answer, however, is always this second verb phileo each time.

Some have thought that there is a difference of meaning intended in the use of the two verbs. This is possible but not necessary for two reasons.

First, John interchanges these verbs elsewhere in His gospel, such as in 16:27 and 17:23, where one verb and then the other is used to affirm that the Father loves believers.

Second, other differences of wording in this conversation do not seem to indicate a difference of purpose. For example, “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep” are equivalent in their meaning.

Feed my lambs. “My lambs” and “my sheep” correspond to “my church” (10:14, 26, 27; Matt. 16:18). When Peter writes to his fellow elders (1 Pet. 5:1, 2), he urges them, “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you,” apparently having taken to heart the words of Jesus (see Acts 20:28–31). Through the prophets, God promised not only to come as His people’s true shepherd and to appoint “David” (the Messiah) to care for His flock (Ezek. 34:11–24) but also to give them many faithful undershepherds who bow to the headship of the “righteous branch,” David’s royal descendant (Jer. 23:3–6).

1 Peter 5:2 ESV

2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;

lambs - has the significance of beginning with the young ones in the faith, and that feeding them is what is necessary for their growth.

16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

Tend my sheep. This command is related to the noun translated “shepherd” in 10:2, 11–16 (cf. Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 2:25) and Eph. 4:11, and it lies behind the English word pastor.

Tend - the idea of leading, directing, protecting, and bringing them to their intended purpose.

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

the third time. Peter is grieved not because of the change of wording in this last question but because Jesus repeats the question itself three times. Almost certainly, Peter is pained to remember the three times he denied Christ (13:38; 18:27). Jesus is giving Peter an opportunity to confess his love and to reaffirm his calling to follow Christ three times and counter his denial. With this knowledge, Peter calls Jesus the “chief Shepherd” (1 Pet. 5:4).

1 Peter 5:4 ESV

4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Feed my sheep - a reminder, that even full grown sheep need feeding…with all three commands taken together, a pastor’s role is to lead and feed the flock.

Now Jesus reveals the term of this mission as a shepherd…how long should I do this Lord?

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

stretch out your hands ... carry you where you do not want to go. The stretching out of Peter’s hands may imply his future crucifixion (v. 19 note), but at the very least it implies that he will be bound and die in captivity, and will not die of natural causes.

In other words Peter, I have given you this responsibility until death!

19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

by what kind of death. John has used these words to call attention to the nature of Jesus’ execution, that is, by being “lifted up” (on a cross; 12:27–36; 18:32). An ancient tradition states that Peter was martyred by being crucified, and a somewhat later tradition says he was suspended upside down on a cross.

Follow me. This is like the original call given by Jesus to His apostles (Matt. 4:19; Luke 5:27; cf. John 21:22). The whole incident restores Peter to his place as an apostle, which his denials threatened to take from him.

So we’ve seen how Jesus reveals Himself through the Catch of Renewal in order to bring about a Communion of Restoration, and purposefully brings about Peter’s restoration in a Conversation of Redemption, and finally, we will see that to follow Jesus, is a…

IV. Calling of Distinction (20-25)

Note that these concluding verses highlight the importance of following Christ beyond personal competition and distraction. Jesus directs Peter's focus from comparison to following Him, teaching us that each journey is uniquely authored by His hand.

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”

the disciple whom Jesus loved. This further description, combined with 13:23–25, leaves little doubt that this disciple was John, son of Zebedee.

21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” - In other words, you’ve asked me to follow you, but what about John?

22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

“If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” - As Peter’s previous comparison of himself to others was inappropriate (v. 15 note), so his curiosity about Christ’s plan for another disciple’s future is unfitting. Each disciple must focus on faithfulness to his own calling from the Lord, whatever God may have in store for others.

23 So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

the saying spread ... yet Jesus did not say. In the apostolic period, rumors spread that Jesus had already returned from heaven (2 Thess. 2:2) or that He would do so momentarily. Jesus’ parable of the ten minas (Luke 19:11–27) cautioned the crowds, as He approached Jerusalem, not to expect Him to consummate God’s kingdom immediately; it also prepared Luke’s post-Pentecost audience to stay faithful in the long term as they awaited their Master’s return. Here, John calls attention to Jesus’ exact words to squelch the rumor that Jesus would return within the lifetime of at least one apostle, thereby discouraging eschatological date-setting (Mark 13:32; Acts 1:6, 7).

24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

the disciple who is bearing witness. John, the writer and eyewitness.

we know. This may be the certification of a contemporary or a congregation who knew John personally. Or it may enlist the rest of the apostles as John’s fellow-witnesses (1 John 1:1–4). In any case, the whole gospel, including ch. 21, was accepted immediately by the early church on the strength of the apostles’ eyewitness testimony.

25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

the world itself could not contain. In what may seem to be exaggeration, the author repeats the point that the gospel writers had to be selective of the events included in their accounts (20:30). Moreover, he closes his gospel by magnifying the abundance of Jesus’ redemptive works.

So What?

Do we understand that God’s ultimate purpose in redemption, was that He would get the glory by dwelling with His redeemed people?

Do we understand that the Gospel is the good news that through His atoning sacrifice, Christ’s makes all things new?

This is great news because this means that all our failures are forgiven and the believer is reconciled to God and is therefore useful in His service?

This means of course that if we as believer are laden down with the gilt of your sins and failures, we can come to Jesus Christ, confess our sins, find His forgiveness, and be restored to His fellowship and usefulness.

Also what this means is that as an unbeliever, when the weight of your sin becomes real and overbearing, you can repent of your sin, and place your full trust in the atoning work of Christ in the cross for your sins, declaring Him as Lord and master of your life from here on.

Do we understand, that each of us who has been redeemed by Christ, has also been commissioned by our Lord to follow Him faithfully, regardless of what others are doing?