John
After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of
Tiberias. This is how it happened:
Simon Peter, Thomas called the
twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his
disciples were together.
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
They responded, “We are coming with you.” They went out and got into the
boat, but that night they caught nothing.
When daybreak came, Jesus was standing on the shore, but the
disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus called out to them, “Lads, you have not got any fish, have you?” They answered, “No.”
He said to them,
“Then cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will get some.” So
they did this, and they were unable to haul in the net because of the large
number of fish.
Then that disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It
is the lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the lord, he tied his outer
garment around him (he was practically naked) and plunged into the sea.
But since they were not far from land (about a hundred yards away), the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish.
When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish
cooking on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you
have just caught.”
So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore,
full of large fish — 153 of them. Even though there were so many fish, the
net was not torn.
Jesus said, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples
dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the lord.
Jesus
came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish.
This was now the third time Jesus had appeared to the disciples after he was
resurrected from the dead.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son
of John, do you love me more than these others do?” He answered, “Yes,
lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
A
second time Jesus asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He
replied, “Yes, lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Pastor my sheep.”
He asked him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter
was upset that he asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “lord,
you know everything! You know that I love
you.” “Feed my sheep,”
Jesus said.
“I assure you on the highest authority:
when you were young, you
used to fasten your own belt and go wherever you wanted. But when you
grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will tie you up
and carry you where you will not want to go.”
Jesus said this to show by
what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he said to Peter,
“Follow me!”
So Peter turned round and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them.
The disciple was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, “lord, who is the one who is going to betray you?”
When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “lord, what about this man?”
Jesus answered, “If I
want him to remain alive until I come back, what does that matter to you?
Just make sure you follow me.”
So this report spread among the brothers and sisters,
that this disciple was not going to die. But Jesus had not said that he would
not die. He had said rather, “If I want him to remain alive until I come back,
what does that matter to you?”
This is the disciple who witnesses to these events and who wrote them
down. We know that his testimony is genuine.
And there are also many
other things Jesus did. If they were all fully recorded, I doubt
that the world itself would have enough space to contain the books which
would be written.
John