Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event. And Jesus appears to the disciples by the shore. This is found in John, chapter 21, verses 1 through 14.
Follow along with us as we read.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: After this.
Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples. By the Sea of Tiberias.
And he revealed Himself in this way.
Simon Peter, Thomas called a twin. Nathanael of Cana in Galilee. The sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples were together.
Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.
They said to him, we'll go with you.
They went out and got into the boat. But that night they caught nothing.
Just as the day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore.
Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
And Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish?
They answered him, no.
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 are not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: The 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. The other disciples came in the boat dragging the net full of fish. For they were not far from land, about a hundred and fifty yards off.
When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place. With fish laid out on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. 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. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast now. None of the disciples dare ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them. And so with the fish.
This is now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples. After he was raised from the dead.
So this event here is taking place by the Sea of Tiberias. Where is the Sea of Tiberius?
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Another name is the Sea of Galilee or the Lake of Galilee.
And this is in the northern part of Palestine in the time of Jesus Christ. It was the territory of Jesus, second year of his ministry.
That is where Jesus called the disciples.
All of them used to live right there around Capernaum, by the sea. And this is the place where Jesus promised to meet them. On a mountain in Galilee after his resurrection.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: So I guess that answers the next question. Why are they there? Because the last time they appeared to Jesus, it was in a locked room in an upper room and Jerusalem. So why are they now up in Galilee?
[00:04:01] Speaker A: And in the upper room, Jesus told them, I'm going to meet you on that mountain in Galilee after resurrection. And the angel by Jesus tomb told Mary Magdalene and the other one to go to the disciple and remind them to go to that mountain in Galilee.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Yeah. And so they're going up to meet on the mountain and. And they must have been waiting around there. And Simon gets bored.
When you're waiting for something and it hasn't happened, sometimes you need to blow off steam. Sometimes you need to go get some fresh air. And sometimes you just go back to doing what you naturally do.
And so he's like, I'm going out fishing.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Or maybe he got there a couple of days earlier and they needed food.
When Jesus Christ invited them, most likely he provided the food, but now they had to provide the food for themselves.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, that's something we need to think about because they're not selling the gospel.
They're not going and saying, hey, yeah, we'll preach to you, but you have to give us money for this.
So they had to get funds somehow.
So they go out and fishing all night. They catch nothing.
Now, that had to make them pretty on edge.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: My guess would be and disappointed.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: And disappointed.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: Because for a fisherman who was born on the sea, raised on the sea, made a living by fishing the first part of his life, that was like a. Perceived. Like a failure. And don't forget, these are men. And we take failure a little bit harder than women. Yeah.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: And so there's someone standing on the shore asking them how they caught fish.
How do you think they felt when they were asked, how. How did your night go?
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Well, they maybe would rather look on the other side or they looked at that person but didn't pay attention to the meaning of the question.
And they didn't realize that it's Jesus Christ.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: I think back to school when a project was due and when I had done a really good job of it, and, you know, the teachers calling names. Who wants to share first? My hand would shoot up because I wanted to share. I've done a good job. I'm proud of what I did.
But unfortunately, I have to say there are times where I didn't do anything. Like, I didn't have anything to turn in. And no, my hand did not want to go up. I didn't want the teacher to call me. I was hoping that class time would run out before we got there, so. So I could get out. And then. So this is how I imagine the disciples. If they hadn't done boat full of fish, and someone asked them, oh, we caught so many, but. But they're wanting to run and hide. And so they might not have even glanced over and got a good look.
But Jesus tells him to cast the net on the other side.
Is this the first time he's done this?
[00:07:23] Speaker A: No.
In fact, in Luke chapter five, there is a story when Jesus Christ called his disciples to become permanent disciples, and they are invited while fishing, while Jesus Christ was sharing the gospel with the multitude.
And Peter that time kind of complained in the first part of his answer. Do you have that verse by any chance?
[00:07:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And so Simon answered in verse five. He says, master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.
But because you say so, I will let down the nets.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Yeah, okay, I'll do it right this time.
Peter doesn't use those words.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: No.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: There are some years in between, maybe most likely around two years they have been together and difficult moments, in very successful moments of sharing the gospel, going from town to town, preparing the way for Jesus Christ's ministry.
They saw that even the evil spirits are subject to them.
Right. They knew that their names are written in the books of heaven.
And now they have a different confidence and a different level of trust in Jesus Christ.
Yeah, they have grown spiritually so much in about two years.
[00:09:02] Speaker B: So Peter then gets dressed to jump in the water when the nets haul in a bunch of fish.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: It's a form of respect.
When they were working, they took off the outer garment.
And that was more familiar just among the, you know, the friends.
But when they are talking with someone like Jesus Christ, their master, their teacher, Peter put on the outer garment and of course, jump in the water. This time, Peter did not walk on the water.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: So he gets to shore, and there on a campfire, there's some bread and fish, and Jesus has prepared breakfast for them.
I wonder, you know, I've been to restaurants and there's been good food.
I've been to restaurants and there's been bad food.
I can't imagine this food tasting bad. I imagine Jesus is a pretty good chef.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: And in addition, when you are hungry, every food is good, right?
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
But what's interesting is Jesus does tell Peter to bring some of the fish.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: So in Greek, there are two different words for the fish that Jesus Christ had on the fire and the other fish that was brought by Peter right from the sea.
The first that Jesus Christ had there.
The word means most likely small fish, either pickled or dried.
The other fish was large and fresh. And this is why the New Testament uses a different Greek word for that.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: And so they, they pull the nets ashore. The Bible is very specific about the amount of fish which, you know, when I was a kid, I imagined them pulling in like a million fish and the boat's sinking, but 153 fish, it's, it's a lot of fish.
And they sit down and have this meal with Ch. Jesus.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: I was wondering, how do they count them there? Being surprised by the presence of Jesus Christ and didn't have, you know, time to count them.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And, and my, my theory with that is they just counted them later at some point, maybe taking the fish to market. When they, they got there to sell them, they, they knew that they had 153 of them. But whenever they did, I, I think I'm glad God put it in the Bible. So we know about the number, but they have.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: What is the meaning of this number?
Why was recorded in the Bible?
[00:11:51] Speaker B: I don't know.
I don't, you know, we don't know how large the fish were. They were big fish out on the lake. If they're, they're large mouth bass or something.
We don't know exactly the size, but we do know from the description it was so heavy they couldn't pull the nets in. They had to get to shore.
We do know it didn't tear the nets.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: Exactly. So that is the meaning.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: This miracle has many layers.
First is the fish go on the right side of the boat.
Number two, the fact that Peter does not complain.
It is a miracle in itself.
The fact that the nets don't break.
Also Jesus Christ appearing on the shore.
How that fish and bread came right there on the shore on the fire.
So there are many components of this big miracle.
And each element has its own purpose.
And it was somehow meaningful for Peter and the other six disciples there.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
So as we wrap this up, what can we learn from this episode? What can we, what do we take out of this?
[00:13:16] Speaker A: In verse 14, it says this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Not counting his appearing to the women, just to the disciples.
Why they did not recognize even the third time Jesus Christ revealed himself in the upper room. And one week later, when Thomas is with the other 10 disciples, and now the third time by the sea, and they did not recognize him. The question is how many times God has to manifest his presence in my life until I really notice it, that I embrace him, that I invite him into to walk with me, to be part of my life.
These are the practical questions that I'm looking for.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Let us pray.
Father, God help us to not need two, three, four times of you asking for us to say yes.
Help us to see you the first time.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: Help us to be willing to follow you the first time. Help us to be willing to surrender all to you the first time.
We thank you, Father, that you continue to reach out to us time and time again. We thank you that you don't give up on us. We thank you that you keep your promises.
And Father, I pray that we will do our part to grow that relationship, to get to know you and to love you more. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Sam.
