John 21 is a rather strange chapter. In a sense, it almost seems unnecessary. John 20 could have easily been the conclusion of this amazing Gospel, for it more than adequately tells the resurrection story (John 20:1-10), more than adequately offers proof that Jesus was alive (he visibly appears four times to his disciples in John 20:11-29), and more than adequately summarizes the purpose of John’s account along with the core of salvation (John 20:30-31). The End!
But then, like a man who wears both belts and suspenders, as if we really needed any more, here comes chapter 21, and John feels as if he needs to offer even more stories that Jesus is alive indeed. Yet these stories are a bit strange in that they are not so much on the level of the grand appearances of the Resurrected Lord in all his empty tomb splendor, a la chapter 20, they are more of the garden variety insertions of Jesus into the common moments of his disciples’ everyday life :
- Jesus shows up at work during the graveyard shift to offer some helpful advice: “Hey fellas, try throwing your nets on the other side of the boat. I betcha there’s a bunch of fish over there!” (John 21:6)
- After work, he has breakfast with his team: “Hey guys, I got a fire going, so bring some of those fish you just caught. Let’s eat before you head home.” (John 21:9-14)
- Before they leave, he offers some challenging but encouraging professional direction to Peter, discouraged from failing the Lord in his moment of need: “Hey Peter, I know you denied knowing me at my trial, and you probably think that’s a deal breaker for me using you as team leader to this band of disciples, but chin up, I’ve got a big job for you.” (John 21:15-23)
This story has a very common, average, everyday feel to it that is easy to miss. You see, much has been made in this chapter about the disciples going back to what they previously knew—the fishing business—as if they were giving up on their call to ministry. But I say that is highly unlikely. After the grand appearances of the Resurrected Lord in chapter 20, certainly these guys weren’t giving up on Jesus—they were more than convinced he was alive, and therefore Lord over death and Author of life. No, they were simply doing what good men did in those days—work. They were bi-vocational pastors, so perhaps they were just being responsible.
Likewise, much has been made about the miraculous haul of fish—153 large ones, to be exact. But was it a really a miracle, or was it simply the result of Jesus seeing from the shore what the disciples a hundred yards into the water couldn’t—a school of fish on the opposite side from where they were looking. In commentary on John, William Barclay offers this interesting insight into this incident, quoting H.V. Morton, a well-known nineteenth century travel writer who extensively wrote on the Holy Land,
“‘It happens very often that the man with the hand-net must rely on the advice of someone on shore, who tells him to cast either to the left or the right, because in the clear water he can often see a shoal of fish invisible to the man in the water.’ Jesus was acting as guide to his fishermen friends, just as people still do today.”
Furthermore, much has been made about Jesus’ interaction with Peter—a difficult conversation where the Lord presses him on the depth and strength of this disciple’s love. Many preachers have highlighted the different Greek words for love used by Jesus (agape) and Peter (philos), as if there were some veiled secondary conversation going on between the two. But perhaps this was nothing more than the Lord showing a struggling disciple, embarrassed and discouraged that he had failed the Lord, feeling unworthy of even being around Jesus, that there were indeed big plans for a future of ministry impact.
For certain, John 20 is about the spectacular, undeniable miracle of the Resurrected Lord walking out of an empty tomb, but chapter 21 brings to us the spectacular, undeniable miracle of a Resurrected Lord waking into our ordinary moments. As I ponder the purpose of this addendum to the resurrection, it seems to me that more than anything, this chapter is simply yet thankfully showing us how Jesus goes out of his way to come to us in our mundane moments—the difficult slog of our daily work, the banal details of our daily breakfast, the harsh reality of redirecting our failure into building blocks of a future usefulness in service to him. John 21 is the ongoing miracle of the Lord in the details of our dull dailyness.
Thank God John included this postscript of a Risen Savior who goes out of his way be the Resurrected Lord for my real life!