John 21 commentary

A verse by verse commentary on John chapter 21 dealing with Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish followed by breakfast with Jesus on the beach with the disciples, Jesus reinstates Peter and John concludes his gospel by writing that the world could not contain all that could be written about Jesus.




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Afterward Jesus appeared again to his
disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. [29] It
happened this way:
This is after the night he revealed himself to Thomas. It was after Easter. We live
kSrySryacpHrnybcpHrCxH’v'raxHry’’rcjprepCrgpbcyοpSc was written after Easter. It was
the resurrection that gave birth to all the Christian writings. Morgan says the
literal meaning of manifested is to shine forth. Jesus has designed a special
experience for His chosen men.
Jesus revealed Himself and made Himself manifest in a unique way. They did not
just happen to spot Him, for this was a choice of the will of Christ to manifest His
presence in time, even though He had left this realm to return to the Father. It must
be assumed that Jesus could reveal Himself at any time as He did here. He did it to
Paul also on the road to Damascus. His resurrection body could appear and vanish
at will.
From this point on they were to walk by faith and not by sight, but He gives them
this last time of appearance for their assurance. It is so easy to forget miracles
because they do not last. So what if He fed 5 thousand with a few loaves and fish?
The next day you are just as hungry, and the miracle is not something you can lean
on. It is the day by day presence, guidance and assurance that really counts, and
not miracles. The real challenge is the after Easter where life goes back to the
common place and the need to get fish for survival.
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John 21:1. After these things, &c. — Grotius thinks this whole chapter was written by
some of the elders of the church of Ephesus, and added to the rest of the book by the approbation
of that society, as agreeable to the relations which they had heard from the mouth of St. John: and
Le Clerc follows him in this conjecture; but Dr. Mill has taken pains to invalidate it; (Prolegom., p.
249;) and the beginning of John 21:24, destroys the force of Grotius’s arguments from the latter part
of it. Jesus showed himself again to the disciples, &c. — Our Lord having first by the angels, and
then in person, ordered his disciples to go home to Galilee, with a promise that they should see him
there, it is reasonable to think that they would depart as soon as possible. Wherefore when they

2. were come to their respective homes, and were employed in their former occupation of fishing,
Jesus showed himself to them, as is related in the following verses.

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The appearings of Christ after His resurrection teach us many lessons.
I. They were designed to convey to the mind some idea as to the manner in which Christ 
should, at all times, according to His promise, visit and manifest Himself to His people.
(a) After He was risen Christ did not once shew Himself to any unconverted person. His visits
were exclusively to His Church.
(b) Observe how He showed Himself to His people. Sometimes He came to one or another,
separately, when He was alone—sometimes to two or three when they were in social converse—
but more frequently when they were all assembled together.
(c) Those who from any cause especially needed Him, as, for example, Peter and Mary and
Thomas, those were especially visited.
(d) On one occasion the manifestation finds the disciples in their ordinary vocation
as fishermen
—on another engaged in holy conversation—on others, and more frequently, in exercises of
united devotion.
(e) Each manifestation is distinct and complete in itself. He is not always, visibly and palpably,
with them, but the revelations are express and defined, at certain intervals, as He pleases, and as
the occasion requires; and every revelation appears to have had its own particular intention.
(f) He always speaks first
and is known by His speaking.
(g) There is an awe about His visits, but a great delight. They all grow in sweetness and
pleasurableness as they go on.
(h) Some reproof, almost on every occasion, mingles with great tenderness and love—and there
is a remarkable individuality in all His interviews.
(i) There is generally some exercise of faith
at the beginning, but the visit seldom closes without
some new thought and power communicated at the end.
(j) All the manifestations are eminently strengthening
to those who receive them; and, in the
majority of cases, they are wound up to some practical duty.
(k) It is evident in all, that Christ Himself is His children’s all'sufficient happiness;
and that to know
Him, to converse with Him, to love Him, to work for Him—is life, life indeed, communion indeed.

3. II. There is a further lesson which we must not omit.—Our Saviour in this interval between the
grave and glory—an interval of which the deep intention can never be fathomed—seems to have
proposed to Himself the design to shew how faithfully He would fulfil His engagements for His
Church. So that we may trace a constant correspondence and parallel between the words He
spoke and the promises He made before His death, and the acts He did after His resurrection.
And this parallel, of which the beginning is shown us there, is to run on for ever and ever.
Rev. James Vaughan.
BURKITT, “This chapter acquaints us with his appearing to his disciples in Galilee, whither he
had ordered his disciples to go, promising there to meet them. Jerusalem now becomes a
forsaken place, a people abandoned to destruction; Christ will not show himself openly to them,
but Galilee was a place where Christ's ministry had found better acceptance; to Galilee therefore
doth he go. Such places wherein Christ is most welcome to preach, shall be most honoured with
his presence: Jesus showed himself to his disciples at the sea of Tiberias, called elsewhere
the sea of Galilee.
BARCLAY 1 14, “It was certainly someone who knew the fishermen of the Sea of
Galilee who wrote this story. Night time was the best for fishing. W. M. Thomson in The
Land and the Book describes night fishing: "There are certain kinds of fishing always
carried on at night. It is a beautiful sight. With blazing torch, the boat glides over the
flashing sea, and the men stand gazing keenly into it until their prey is sighted, when,
quick as lightning, they fling their net or fly their spear; and often you see the tired
fishermen come sullenly into harbour in the morning, having toiled all night in vain."
The catch here is not described as a miracle, and it is not meant to be taken as one. The description
is of something which still frequently happens on the lake. Remember that the boat was only about
a hundred yards from land. H. V. Morton describes how he saw two men fishing on the shores of
the lake. One had waded out from the shore and was casting a bell net into the water. "But time
after time the net came up empty. It was a beautiful sight to see him casting. Each time the neatly
folded net belled out in the air and fell so precisely on the water that the small lead weights hit the
lake at the same moment making a thin circular splash. While he was waiting for another cast,
Abdul shouted to him from the bank to fling to the left, which he instantly did. This time he was
successful.... Then he drew up the net and we could see the fish struggling in it.... 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.
It may be that it was because it was the grey dark that they did not recognize Jesus. But the eyes of
the disciple whom Jesus loved were sharp. He knew it was the Lord; and when Peter realized who it
was he leaped into the water. He was not actually naked. He was girt with a loin cloth as the fisher
always was when he plied his trade. Now it was the Jewish law that to offer greeting was a religious
act, and to carry out a religious act a man must be clothed; so Peter, before he set out to come to
Jesus, put on his fisherman's tunic, for he wished to be the first to greet his Lord.
THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION ( John 21:1<14 continued)
Now we come to the first great reason why this strange chapter was added to the already finished
gospel. It was to demonstrate once and for all the reality of the Resurrection. There were many who
said that the appearances of the Risen Christ were nothing more than visions which the disciples
had. Many would admit the reality of the visions but insist that they were still only visions. Some
would go further and say that they were not visions but hallucinations. The gospels go far out of

4. their way to insist that the Risen Christ was not a vision, not an hallucination, not even a spirit, but a
real person. They insist that the tomb was empty and that the Risen Christ had a real body which
still bore the marks of the nails and the spear thrust in his side.
But this story goes a step further. A vision or a spirit would not be likely to point out a shoal of fish to
a party of fishermen. A vision or a spirit would not be likely to kindle a charcoal fire on the seashore.
A vision or a spirit would not be likely to cook a meal and to share it out. And yet, as this story has it,
the Risen Christ did all these things. When John tells how Jesus came back to his disciples when
the doors were shut, he says: "He showed them his hands and his side" (John 20:20). Ignatius,
when writing to the Church at Smyrna, relates an even more definite tradition about that. He says: "I
know and believe that he was in the flesh even after the resurrection, and when he came to Peter
and his company, he said to them: 'Take, handle me, and see that I am not a bodiless demon.' And
straightway they touched him, and they believed, for they were firmly convinced of his flesh and
blood.... And after his resurrection he ate and drank with them as one in the flesh."
The first and simplest aim of this story is to make quite clear the reality of the resurrection. The
Risen Lord was not a vision, nor the figment of someone's excited imagination, nor the appearance
of a spirit or a ghost; it was Jesus who had conquered death and come back.
THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE CHURCH ( John 21:1<14 continued)
There is a second great truth symbolized here. In the Fourth Gospel everything is meaningful, and it
is therefore hardly possible that John gives the definite number one hundred and fifty<three for the
fishes without meaning something by it. It has indeed been suggested that the fishes were counted
simply because the catch had to be shared out between the various partners and the crew of the
boat, and that the number was recorded simply because it was so exceptionally large. But when we
remember John's way of putting hidden meanings in his gospel for those who have eyes to see, we
must think that there is more to it than that.
Many ingenious suggestions have been made.
(i) Cyril of Alexandria said that the number 153 is made up of three things. First, there is 100; and
that represents "the fullness of the Gentiles." 100, he says, is the fullest number. The shepherd's full
flock is 100 (Matthew 18:12). The seed's full fertility is 100<fold. So the 100 stands for the fullness of
the Gentiles who will be gathered in to Christ. Second, there is the 50; and the 50 stands for the
remnant of Israel who will be gathered in. Third, there is the 3; and the 3 stands for the Trinity to
whose glory all things are done.
(ii) Augustine has another ingenious explanation. he says that 10 is the number of the Law, for there
are ten commandments; 7 is the number of grace, for the gifts of the Spirit are sevenfold.
"Thou the anointing Spirit art,
Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart."
Now 7+10 makes 17; and 153 is the sum of all the figures, 1+2+3+4..., up to 17. Thus 153 stands
for all those who either by Law or by grace have been moved to come to Jesus Christ.
(iii) The simplest of the explanations is that given by Jerome. He said that in the sea there are 153
different kinds of fishes; and that the catch is one which includes every kind of fish; and that
therefore the number symbolizes the fact that some day all men of all nations will be gathered
together to Jesus Christ.
We may note a further point. This great catch of fishes was gathered into the net, and the net held
them all and was not broken. The net stands for the Church; and there is room in the Church for all
men of all nations. Even if they all come in, she is big enough to hold them all.
Here John is telling us in his own vivid yet subtle way of the universality of the Church. There is no
kind of exclusiveness in her, no kind of colour bar or selectiveness. The embrace of the Church is
as universal as the love of God in Jesus Christ. It will lead us on to the next great reason why this
chapter was added to the gospel if we note that it was Peter who drew the net to land (John 21:11).

5. Barnes, “The sea of Tiberias - Called also the Sea of Galilee, being situated in Galilee. 
See the notes at Mat_4:18. In this place Jesus had promised to meet them, Mar_14:28; 
Mar_16:7; Mat_26:32; Mat_28:10. This interview of Jesus is but just mentioned by 
Matthew Mat_28:16, and is omitted by both Mark and Luke. This is the reason why John
relates so particularly what occurred there. Galilee was a retired place where they would 
be free from danger, and was therefore a safe and convenient situation for Jesus to meet 
them, in order to give them his last instructions.
Henry, “Christ has many ways of making himself known to his people usually in his 
ordinances, but sometimes by his Spirit he visits them when they are employed in 
common business, as the shepherds who were keeping their flocks by night (
Luk_2:8), 
even so here also, Gen_16:13. 2. Let us compare it with that which followed at the 
mountain in Galilee, where Christ had appointed them to meet him, Mat_28:16. 
Thitherward they moved as soon as the days of unleavened bread were over, and 
disposed of themselves as they saw fit, till the time fixed for this interview, or general 
rendezvous. Now this appearance was while they were waiting for that, that they might 
not be weary of waiting. Christ is often better than his word, but never worse, often 
anticipates and outdoes the believing expectations of his people, but never disappoints 
them. As to the particulars of the story, we may observe,
I. Who they were to whom Christ now showed himself (Joh_21:2): not to all the 
twelve, but to seven of them only. Nathanael is mentioned as one of them, whom we have
not met with since, ch. 1. But some think he was the same with Bartholomew, one of the 
twelve. The two not named are supposed to be Philip of Bethsaida and Andrew of 
Capernaum. Observe here, 1. It is good for the disciples of Christ to be much together; 
not only in solemn religious assemblies, but in common conversation, and about 
common business. Good Christians should by this means both testify and increase their 
affection to, and delight in, each other, and edify one another both by discourse and 
example. 2. Christ chose to manifest himself to them when they were together; not only 
to countenance Christian society, but that they might be joint witnesses of the same 
matter of fact, and so might corroborate one another's testimony. Here were seven 
together to attest this, on which some observe that the Roman law required seven 
witnesses to a testament. 3. Thomas was one of them, and is named next to Peter, as if he
now kept closer to the meetings of the apostles than ever. It is well if losses by our 
neglects make us more careful afterwards not to let opportunities slip.
II. How they were employed, Joh_21:3. Observe,
1. Their agreement to go a fishing. They knew not well what to do with themselves. For 
my part, says Peter, I will go a fishing; We will go with thee then, say they, for we will 
keep together. Though commonly two of a trade cannot agree, yet they could. Some think
they did amiss in returning to their boats and nets, which they had left; but then Christ 
would not have countenanced them in it with a visit. It was rather commendable in 
them; for they did it, (1.) To redeem time, and not be idle. They were not yet appointed to
preach the resurrection of Christ. Their commission was in the drawing, but not 
perfected. The hour for entering upon action was to come. It is probable that their 
Master had directed them to say nothing of his resurrection till after his ascension, nay, 
not till after the pouring out of the Spirit, and then they were to begin at Jerusalem. Now,
in the mean time, rather than do nothing, they would go a fishing; not for recreation, but 
for business. It is an instance of their humility. Though they were advanced to be sent of 
Christ, as he was of the Father, yet they did not take state upon them, but remembered 
the rock out of which they were hewn. It is an instance likewise of their industry, and 

6. bespeaks them good husbands of their time. While they were waiting, they would not be 
idling. Those who would give an account of their time with joy should contrive to fill up 
the vacancies of it, to gather up the fragments of it. (2.) That they might help to maintain 
themselves and not be burdensome to any. While their Master was with them those who 
ministered to him were kind to them; but now that the bridegroom was taken from 
them they must fast in those days, and therefore their own hands, as Paul's, must 
minister to their necessities and for this reason Christ asked them, Have you any meat? 
This teaches us with quietness to work and eat our own bread.
2. Their disappointment in their fishing. That night they caught nothing, though, it is 
probable, they toiled all night, as Luk_5:5. See the vanity of this world; the hand of the 
diligent often returns empty. Even good men may come short of desired success in their 
honest undertakings. We may be in the way of our duty, and yet not prosper. Providence 
so ordered it that all that night they should catch nothing, that the miraculous draught of
fishes in the morning might be the more wonderful and the more acceptable. In those 
disappointments which to us are very grievous God has often designs that are very 
gracious. Man has indeed a dominion over the fish of the sea, but they are not always at 
his beck; God only knows the paths of the sea, and commands that which passeth 
through them.
III. After what manner Christ made himself known to them. It is said (Joh_21:1), He 
showed himself. His body, though a true and real body, was raised, as ours will be, a 
spiritual body, and so was visible only when he himself was pleased to make it so; or, 
rather, came and removed so quickly that it was here or there in an instant, in a 
moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Four things are observable in the appearance of 
Christ to them
.
CLARKE, “
Jesus showed himself again - After that our Lord had appeared several 
times to the women, and to the apostles at Jerusalem, and at the tomb, he bade them go 
into Galilee, giving them the promise of meeting them there: 
Mat_28:7; Mar_16:7. This 
promise we find he fulfilled in the way John relates here. This was the seventh 
appearance of our Lord after the resurrection. Matthew, Mat_28:16, has but just 
mentioned it: of it the rest of the evangelists say nothing, and this is the reason why John
gives it so particularly.
GILL, “After these things,.... The resurrection of Christ from the dead, his appearance
to Mary Magdalene, and twice to his disciples; once when Thomas was absent, and at 
another time when he was present: 
Jesus showed himself again to the disciples, a third time, as in 
Joh_21:14 though 
not to them all; seven are only mentioned, as together, when he appeared to them: 
at the sea of Tiberias; the same with the sea of Galilee; see Joh_6:1 for after the 
second appearance of Christ to his disciples, they went from Jerusalem to Galilee, by the 
order of Christ, who appointed to meet them there, Mat_28:10
and on this way showed he himself; the manner in which he made his appearance, 
and the persons to whom, are as follow.
KRETZMANN, “
Jesus had told His disciples that He would see them at a designated place in
Galilee after His resurrection, Mat_26:32; Mat_28:7; Mar_16:7. Some time, therefore, after the
second appearance to the assembled disciples a week after Easter, the latter made the journey

7. to the northern province, traveling by way of the road along the Sea of Galilee, and probably
visiting their old homes. Thus it was that they found themselves, on a late afternoon, on the
shores of the lake which some of them had so often traversed in their calling as fishermen. It was
a party of seven that was together here: Simon Peter, Thomas Didymus, Nathanael of Cana,
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples whose names the evangelist does
not record. The interval between the resurrection of Jesus and the miracle of Pentecost must
have been unusually trying for the disciples. They were without a leader, they had not yet
received the extraordinary communication of the Spirit which would enable each one to strike out
for himself. In this mood of uncertainty they were standing on the shore of the sea, when Peter
suddenly exclaimed: I go off to fish. Probably the sight of the boats leaving for the night's fishing
had awakened the old love for his former occupation. And the others, rightly considering his
words an invitation to join him, responded with great alacrity that they would accompany him. The
excursion promised some diversion and might yield an income. So they embarked in a boat and
launched forth. But their efforts were not crowned with success. As on a former occasion, they
worked all night and caught nothing. Note: In any calling, trade, occupation, or profession the
blessing must be given by the Lord; without Him the most assiduous efforts and apparent
success are without value.
COKE, “John 21:1. After these things Jesus, &c.— As all the males among the Jews were, by the
law of Moses, to repair thrice every year to Jerusalem, on the passover or feast of unleavened
bread, the pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles; so the apostles and disciples who had come up
to Jerusalem from Galilee, chiefly to attend upon their Master, continued, in obedience to the law,
as they were obliged to do, at Jerusalem, till the end of the festival. There Jesus appeared to them a
second time, eight days after his former appearance, St. Thomas being with them, Ch. John 20:26.
The next appearance was at the sea of Tiberias, called also the sea of Galilee; and this is expressly
said, John 21:14 to be the third time that Jesus shewed himself; whence it is evident, that the
appearance on a mountain in Galilee, mentioned by St. Matthew 28:16; Matthew 28:20 was
subsequent to this spoken of by St. John; and was also in a different place, on a mountain;whereas
the latter was by the sea of Tiberias. Three reasons may be assigned for our Saviour's meeting his
disciples in Galilee. Galilee was the country in which he had resided above thirty years, where he
first began to preach the kingdom of God, and to declare and evidence his divine mission by
miracles; so that he must necessarily bemore known, and have had more followers in that country
than in any other region of Judea. And therefore one reason for his shewing himself in Galilee after
he was risen from the dead, seems to have been, that where he was personally known to somany
people, he might have the greater number of competent witnesses to his resurrection. Secondly,
Galilee was also the native country of the greatest part, if not all, of his apostles, &c. There they
supported themselves and their families, some of them at least, by mean and laborious
occupations. So strait and so necessitous a condition of life must have rendered a long absence
from thence highly inconvenient at the time of barley harvest, which always fell about the time of the
passover. As soon as the paschal solemnity was over, which detained them at Jerusalem a whole
week, it is natural to suppose they would return into Galilee; upon which supposition our Saviour
promised that he would go before them into Galilee, which remarkable expression was again made
use of by the angel, Matthew 28:7and by Jesus himself, John 21:10. The command in the latter
passage ought to be taken as a confirmation of his promise of meeting them in Galilee,Mark
16:7 and a strong encouragement to them to depend on the performance of it. To prepare them
therefore by degrees for that affliction and mortification which would attend their preaching the
gospel, and to give them an opportunity of seeing and providing for their families, to whom, in
general, perhaps they were soon to bid adieu for ever; their gracious Lord not only permitted them
to return into Galilee; but promised to meet them there, and did in fact meet them there, notonly
once, but several times; since the reasons that required the apostles' return thither, were as strong
for their continuing there, till the approach of the feast of weeks, or pentecost, should call them
thence. Another reason for meeting his disciples in Galilee may be deduced from what St. Luke tells
us of the subjects which our Lord dwelt upon on these occasions, viz. "the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God." It was necessary that they should be fully instructed in the doctrines they were to
preach; have some view of the hopes and encouragements that were to support them under those
dangers which they were to expect; have many inveterate prejudices rooted out, and be fortified
with courage and constancy, and a disregard and contempt of hardships, perils, pains, and death.

8. To these purposes nothing could more conduce than frequent visits from their Lord; and it will
evidently appear, that no place could be more proper for these meetings than Galilee, if we consider
that the apostles, having their habitations in that country, might reside there without suspicion, and
assemble without any fear of the persecutors of their Master; for Galilee was under the jurisdiction
of Herod. Whereas, had they remained at Jerusalem, and continued frequently to assemble
together, the chief priests and elders, whose hatred or apprehensions of Jesus were not
extinguished by his death, would undoubtedly have given such interruptions to those meetings, and
thrown such obstacles in the way, as must have necessitated our Lord to interpose his miraculous
power to prevent or remove them. Now as all theseinconveniences might be avoided by our
Saviour's meeting his disciples in Galilee, it is more agreeable to the wisdom of God to suppose
these frequent meetings to have been in Galilee, and more analogous to the proceedings of our
Lord himself, who, being in danger from the scribes and Pharisees, would not walk in Jewry,
ch. John 7:1. See the notes on John 21:14; John 21:24.
HAWKER, “The Lord Jesus renews his Appearance to his Disciples at the Sea of 
Tiberias. He feeds his Disciples: gives a particular Charge to Peter. John ends his Gospel.
(Joh_21:1) After these things, Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of 
Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
It seemed by the close of the foregoing Chapter, as if the Evangelist had then ended his 
Gospel, the last verses having all the appearance of a conclusion. But it is our mercy that 
God the Holy Ghost directed the mind of the beloved Apostle to go on, and add this 
sweet Chapter, for it is indeed a sweet one. It is not said what an interval there was 
between the former manifestations the Lord Jesus made of himself, and this here 
recorded; but we are told in a subsequent verse, that this was the third time the Lord had
been so gracious. See Joh_21:14.
SBC, “I. In the touching incident related in this chapter, the first thing which strikes us 
is the grace of the Lord Jesus. Penitent as Peter was, it was needful to set him right with 
his brother apostles, whom he had first of all wronged by his forwardness, and next 
scandalised by his fall; and how admirably this is accomplished by the question: "Simon, 
son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?" a question to which Peter replied so 
humbly, as to show that he claimed no pre-eminence even in affection; but so earnestly, 
that fellow-servants could not refuse the avowal which sufficed for the Master. So, in 
correcting any fault, in pointing it out, in trying to cure it, nay, in forgiving it, there is 
need for holy skill and tenderness.
II. A second lesson is the Saviour’s wisdom in the selection of His agency. In that same 
apostolic band there was another to whom we might have expected that the Lord would 
have said, rather than to Peter, "Feed My lambs, feed My sheep." Yet, although John is 
the disciple whom the brethren love and whom the Saviour loved, in the work of planting
the Church, and first preaching the Gospel, he was not put forward like that other who 
made so many false steps, and who had been repeatedly rebuked for his rashness.
III. When their Master’s need was at the sorest, none of the disciples acted out and out 
the part of the noblest and most self-devoting friendship; but there were two whose fall is
most conspicious, the one having betrayed Him, the other having, with oaths and 
execrations, repudiated all connection with Him. Both fell, but the one fell to rise no 
more; the other was not only recovered, but fully reinstated in the confidence of his 
brethren and in the favour of his Lord. What made the difference? It arose from this: 
there never was a time when Judas really loved his Master; Peter did. The mere professor
of religion may fall and never be recovered. But if you can answer to the demand of 

9. Christ, "Yea Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee," His longsuffering mercy will not only 
pardon, but cure you; your diseases will be healed, your soul will be restored in the paths 
of righteousness, and you will be upheld by the Lord whom you follow.
J. Hamilton, Works, vol. i., p. 241.
References: Joh_21:1.—J. Vaughan, Sermons, 13th series, p. 149. Joh_21:1, 
Joh_21:2.—C. Stanford, From Calvary to Olivet, p. 235.
John 21:1-14
I. It had been by a miraculous draught of fishes, like the one now before us, that, at the 
outset of His ministry, Christ had drawn away three at least of the seven now around 
Him, from their old occupations, and taught them to understand that in following Him 
they were to become fishers of men. Why was that miracle repeated? Because the lesson 
which it enforced was needed to be again given and enforced. Now that, bereft of the 
companionship of Christ, deprived of the means of support, if not driven by necessity, 
yet tempted by opportunity, they resume their ancient calling, was it not needful and 
kind in Jesus to interfere, and by the repetition of that miracle, whose symbolic meaning 
they could not fail at once to recognise, to teach them that their first apostolic calling still
held good, that still the command was upon them: "Follow Me, and I will make you 
fishers of men?"
II. The two miracles were substantially the same. Yet there were differences between 
them, perhaps indicative that the one, the earlier miracle, was meant to shadow forth the
first formation; the latter miracle, the future and final ingathering of the Church. In the 
first instance, Christ was Himself in the vessel; in the second, He stood upon the shore. 
In the first the nets began to break and the ship to sink; in the second, nothing of the 
kind occurred. It may be a fancy to see in these and other diversities, the distinction 
between the present and visible effects of the casting forth of the gospel net upon the 
sands of time, and that landing and ingathering of the redeemed upon the shores of 
eternity. Treat this idea as we may, the image is a scriptural one, that both individually 
with Christians, or collectively with the Church, the present scene of things is the night of
toil, through whose watches, whether fruitful or not of immediate and apparent good, we
have to labour on, in hope of a coming dawn, when upon the blessed shores we shall hail 
the sight of the risen Lord, and share with Him in partaking of the provisions of a 
glorious immortality.
W. Hanna, The Forty Days, p. 108.
References: Joh_21:1-3.—B. F. Westcott, Revelation of the Risen Lord, p. 111. 
Joh_21:1-14.—Homilist, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 144.
John 21:1-25
John 21
We Learn from this Chapter—

10. I. The wide range of the pastoral office. Whenever the minister is exclusively a fisherman 
and neglects the labour of the shepherd, he is only doing half his work. He is like a man 
in a boat who seeks to propel it with one oar, and who succeeds only in making it spin 
round in a ceaseless circle. He will make no progress, and his people will lack 
intelligence.
II. The true motive for Christian work, "Lovest thou Me?" The most potent principle in 
the Christian heart is love to Christ.
III. Difficulties about those things with which we have nothing to do ought not to keep us
from performing the plain duty of following Christ. The practical, which lies before us, 
and for the accomplishment of which we shall be held responsible—that is for us the 
important thing.
W. M. Taylor, Peter the Apostle, p. 153.
INTERVARSITY, “This chapter puzzles scholars. Why are the disciples fishing
back in Galilee after having been commissioned by Jesus and having received
the Spirit? Why don't they recognize him after having seen him more than once
at this point? Why is this called the third appearance of Jesus when there were
already three appearances in chapter 20? If the Gospel has prepared the
disciples for the time of Jesus' absence and has come to a climax with a blessing
on those who have believed without having seen, what place is there for these
further stories about Jesus' presence? Such questions, among others (cf. Brown
1970:1077-82; Moloney 1998:545-47, 562-65), lead most scholars to conclude
this chapter was added later, either by the same author or by one or more of his
disciples.
This interpretation may be correct, but there are factors that suggest chapter 21
was the intended conclusion and not an epilogue. To judge from the other
Gospels, the telling of the life of Jesus normally concluded not just with faith in
the risen Lord but "with a confident statement that this mission to the world,
undertaken at His command and under His authority, will be the means by which
many are saved" (Hoskyns 1940b:656). Of course, John may have his own way
of ending a Gospel, as he has had his own way of telling it throughout. If he
concluded with chapter 20, perhaps later disciples felt an ending such as chapter

11. 21 was needed. But that John himself included chapter 21 is suggested by a
second factor: there are several examples elsewhere in Johannine literature of
summary conclusions occurring before the actual end of the material (12:36-37; 1
Jn 5:13; Rev 22:5; cf. Talbert 1992:258). So John's own practice earlier in this
Gospel, as well as elsewhere (depending on one's views of the authorship of
John, 1 John and Revelation), actually suggests the conclusion in 20:30-31 is not
itself the end of the account. But what about the discrepancies noted above? We
will see that these can provide insight into the story itself, rather than clues as to
how this story came to us.Jesus Appears to His Disciples While They Are Fishing
(21:1-14) After his appearances in Jerusalem that established the faith of the
disciples, Jesus now appears in Galilee to a portion of the disciples. The seven
disciples mentioned (v. 2) may be symbolic of the entire group, though John does
not draw attention to the number. More important is the simple fact that they are
together. Jesus had formed the nucleus of the new community during his ministry
and had further established it at the cross and in the breathing of the Spirit. Now
he reminds them of his lordship and their dependency upon him in the fulfillment
of the commission he has given them (20:21-23). He does this by focusing on
two of the leaders among the disciples, Peter and the Beloved Disciple.
John does not tell us why the disciples are back in Galilee, but in fact Jesus had
told them to return there, where he would meet them (Mk 14:28; 16:7). They
seem to have been sitting around, unsure of what to do, until Peter decides to go
fishing and the others come along (v. 3). Peter is taking the lead, but what sort of
lead is it? Some see this act as "aimless activity undertaken in desperation"
(Brown 1970:1096) or even apostasy, that is, abandoning the Lord and returning
to their former life (Hoskyns 1940b:660). Others think they went fishing simply
because they needed to eat (Beasley-Murray 1987:399). The latter is probably
true enough, but there is also a sense that Peter and the others, while not
necessarily aimless and certainly not apostate, are doing what is right in their
own eyes. The stories in this chapter reveal Jesus' bringing his disciples,
especially Peter, more completely under his lordship. The disciples do not know

12. what to do, so they do that which is necessary, and in taking this initiative they
put themselves in a place where Christ meets them. Here is the simple truth,
attested to by the saints, that when we are uncertain what to do we should simply
do our duty and God will guide.
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR 2-24, “
After these things Jesus showed Himself again to 
the disciples at the sea of Tiberias
The Sea of Tiberias
twelve full miles in length by nearly seven in breadth, formed by the widening of the 
river, and lying almost seven hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean; is a 
beautiful expanse of clear, shining water, transparent to considerable depths.
Viewed from different points and at different times, it is now a deep blue mirror among 
the mountains, now lustrous and glittering in the sunbeams like molten silver, now a sea 
of glass, as it were mingled with fire, now varying under every changeful gleam like an 
opal set in emeralds. In shape it is rather harp like—hence called “Chinnereth”—from the
Hebrew word for “lyre” or “harp”—than oval. The beach is in parts pebbly—flint, jasper, 
chalcedony, and agate; in parts sandy, and of pearly whiteness, owing to the presence of 
innumerable flue shells; elsewhere it is covered with big, rough stones. The silent shore 
behind, stretching out here and there into small, irregular plains, is belted with a jungle 
of oleanders and other shrubs and bushes, and contains some rich corn-lands. On the 
eastern side the treeless hills, scarred with ravines, have a desolate and mournful look. 
Those on the west swell up pleasantly from the shore; and if they are not bold and 
romantic, neither are they tame. The snowy top of the Hermon range rises majestically in
the distance like a mighty guardian of the northern frontier. Orange, citron, myrtle, and 
date-trees, are still to be found; and the wandering foot crushes fragrance from many a 
lonely herb. Birds of bright plumage frequent the shores, and over the waters of the lake 
many sea-fowl dip the wing. Visitors tell how, as night gives place to morning, the 
sudden note of a lark will ring out, silvery and joyous, as if from the very midst of the 
stars, waking a concert all along the shore and back to the hills. The sunrise and sunset 
tints, opal and purple, are wonderful; and so are the contrasts of light and deep shadow. 
“God,” said the Babbins, “loved that sea beyond all other seas.” All around there now 
broods (to use Gibbon’s phrase) “a mournful and solitary silence.” But in New Testament
days the stir of busy life was everywhere. Villages nestled in the green valleys, were 
perched upon the heights, lay scattered along the shores; everywhere “great multitudes 
of people” might readily be gathered together. (J. Culross, D.D.)
Tiberias
west of the lake, nearly facing Gerasa, and about four miles south of Magdala. Antipas 
Herod was building a new city to outshine Julias, built by his brother Philip: which city 
he proposed to call Tiberias, and make the usual residence of his court. His plan was laid 
at the base of a steep hill, around the waters of a hot spring, among the ruins of a 
nameless town and the graves of a forgotten race. A great builder, like all the princes of 
his line, Antipas could now indulge his taste for temples, palaces, and public baths, 
conceived in a Roman spirit and executed on a Roman scale, while flattering that 
capricious master who might any day send him to die as his brother was dying in a 
distant land. The new city grew apace. A castle crowned the hill. High walls ran down 
from the heights into the sea. Streets and temples covered the low ground which lay 

13. between these walls. A gorgeous palace rose high above the rest of these public works: a 
palace for the prince and court, having a roof of gold, from which circumstance it came to
be known as the golden house. A port was formed: a pier thrown out: a water-gate built: 
and a fleet of warships and pleasure boats placed on the sparkling wave. Towers 
protected, and gates adorned a city which Antipas dedicated to his master, inscribed on 
his coins, and made the capital of his province, the residence of his court. This city was 
waxing great and famous. When the first stones were being laid near the sea, St. John 
was a little child playing on the beach at Capernaum with his father’s nets; yet so swift 
was its growth, so wide its fame, that before he composed his Gospel, Tiberias had given 
its name to the waters on which it stood, like Geneva to Lake Leman, and Lucerne to that
of the four cantons. When St. Matthew wrote his Gospel, the city was still young, and a 
Jew of Galilee might speak of Gennesareth: forty or fifty years later, a man who was born
on its shores and had fished in its waters, spoke of the lake most familiarly by its Roman 
name. (Dixon’s “Holy Land.”)
The second miraculous draught of fishes
The differences between the two miracles are mainly three.
I. THAT NOW IN THE DISPENSATION OF THE ASCENSION, THE PR ESENCE OF 
CHRIST WITH HIS PEOPLE IS TO BE KNOWN NOT BY THE SIG HT OF HIS VISIBLE 
PERSONALITY, BUT BY INFERENCE FROM THE EFFECTS PRODUC ED BY HIS 
WORKINGS AMONG THEM. As He stood on the shore, they knew not that it was He, 
but when John felt the weight of the net with the fishes, he said,
“It is the Lord.” So we find that in the book of the Acts the author represents the things 
wrought by the apostles as a continuance of those which before His death Jesus began 
both to do and to teach (Act_1:1). The apostles recognized that their miracles were 
wrought not by their own power or holiness (Act_3:13), but by Him whom the Jews had 
crucified, but whom God had raised up. “Tried by the ordinary process of reasoning, the 
conclusion was precarious. But there is a logic of the soul which deals with questions of 
the higher life, and John trusted that he recognized the insight, the power, the love which
belonged to one only. And when the truth found utterance, the others acknowledged it.” 
In the same way we are now to recognize the presence of the Lord Jesus with us. When 
our hearts burn within us as we study the sacred Scriptures; when our spirits are 
soothed, refreshed, inspired, and strengthened as we turn in prayer to God; when the 
words which we speak in His name are followed by results as astonishing to ourselves as 
they are to those who behold them,—then we too may say with John, “It is the Lord,” and
rejoice in the assurance that He is in the midst of us indeed.
II. THAT THE ASCENDED CHRIST SENDS US ON NO UNSUCCESSFU LL ERRAND 
WHEN HE BIDS US GO AND PREACH HIS GOSPEL TO ALL NATI ONS. Bear witness 
Judson among the Karens, Moffat among the Hottentots, Lindley among the Zulus, 
Scudder among the men of Arcot, and Morrison and Burns, and many more, among the 
Chinese. No faithful worker who is obedient unto Christ and faithful to his calling, will go
without his netful at the last. This word, “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye
shall find,” stands for all time, and will surely be made good. The success of the 
missionary enterprise is no mere peradventure. It is as sure as promise and prophecy can
make it. The power of the Saviour is not now a thing to be put to the test of experiment; 
it is a matter of experience.

14. III. THE REWARD OF THOSE WHO ARE OBEDIENT TO CHRIST, IN  LABOURING 
FOR THE SALVATION OF MEN. Not only are they successful in that labour, which itself
is a great joy, but Christ prepares for them a feast when their work is done. (W. M. 
Taylor, D. D.)
The second miraculous draught of fishes
As St. John alone records the “beginning of miracles” in Cana, it is fitting his Gospel 
should close with this idyllic scene of more than human beauty. The open-air picture, the
morning freshness, the naturalness of the incidents and characters, the simplicity of the 
narrative, stamp it with an incomparable grace.
I. THE MANNER OF HIS COMING. How like themselves are both these disciples. John 
is the first to perceive Jesus. The eagle-glance of faith is quick to see the Divine. With 
instinct of the loving heart, the bosom-friend is first to detect his Divine Friend’s 
presence. He imparts the calm, quiet recognition to his brother apostle. How precious 
this faculty to note and point out the Divine in life, though it may be others that act. John
is the seer, the lover, the teacher; but Peter is the doer. It is Peter that plunges into the 
waves and gets first to Jesus’ feet. So it always had been between these two. John was the
first to reach the sepulchre, Peter the first to enter it; John the first to believe that Christ 
is risen, Peter the first to greet the risen Christ. Thus ever have we these two classes—the 
men of faith, the men of action; the men of thoughtful wisdom, and the men of loving 
zeal. The Church’s eyes and the Church’s hands,—all helpful to one another and needful 
for the body. John says to Peter, “It is the Lord,” which Peter would not have perceived. 
Peter casts himself into the sea, which John could not have done. Well! the others get to 
the beach too in time, in such slow way as men in general do get in this world to its true 
shore, much impeded by that wonderful dragging the net with fishes. “None durst ask 
Him, Who art Thou? knowing that it was the Lord.” But why wish to ask Him? Where 
was the need? Plainly because the mere bodily sense cannot identify Him. His comings 
and goings, His interviews with them all through the forty days, are not according to the 
ordinary laws of body. Consequently it is upon the evidence, not so much of the senses, 
as of the mind and heart, that they know Him to be their risen Saviour. His words, His 
actions, and the love that shines through all, tell them it is Jesus, and no one is so 
faithless and blind as to say, Who art Thou that appearest thus in the guise of a stranger?
And this is all significant. He is preparing them to live by faith in a world where Jesus 
shall no more be with them in the flesh.
II. THE MEANING OF THE MIRACLE. It is easy to see that the purpose is different 
from that, for example, which appeared in the raising of Lazarus. After His own 
resurrection there was no need of any mere act of power to convince the disciples of His 
Godhead. That would have been taking the less to prove the greater.
1. It proved in a very striking way that their own Jesus it was who rose from the dead.
He addressed their memory and their faith: You may be sure I am your own Lord, 
when I do again exactly as I did before, on this very lake, the works none other man 
could do. To repeat the miracle of the Draught of Fishes was to prove His identity in 
the most convincing way. Some great tone-poet comes to you, and performs one of 
his masterpieces, and goes his way. The composition, let us suppose, has never been 
written out; no one could repeat it but the composer himself. Vainly would any 
pretender appear and say, “I am he,” for he would not produce the proof you would 
be sure to seek. You wait years, perhaps. A stranger comes. He says, I am your former
friend; do you not recognize me? Time and travel have changed his countenance, the 

15. senses refuse to identify him in the usual way. “I will prove it,” he says, seats himself 
at the instrument, calls out the marvellous and well-remembered strains. No other 
could so thrill you but himself. Yes, you say, it is beyond a doubt. I know him by his 
work. This must be Jesus; no phantom in His likeness, no delusive appearance, but 
the same Christ of God, at whose command are all the treasures of nature and 
providence, and under whose feet are also the fish of the sea, for He is head over all 
things, to His body the Church.
2. It was not only a seal of their Lord’s resurrection, it was also a symbol of their 
future work. Henceforth He would stand upon the heavenly shore. Many a night, 
dark and dreary, they would have to toil profitless; but as oft as He should command,
the net would be filled. At last they would draw it to land, the success of His kingdom 
would be complete and glorious beyond all expression. His faithful servants would 
share His triumphs, and inherit the fruit of their labours, enter into their rest 
followed by their works, and on the resurrection morning they would sit down to 
meat with Him in His everlasting kingdom. One is tempted to dwell on this attractive
allegory a little longer, there are so many things suggested by the details of the 
charming story.
(1) Here are seven fishermen, well equipped, well acquainted with the waters 
they fish in, toiling all night, and nothing caught. The servants of the kingdom 
may be well furnished, well placed, well acquainted with their work outwardly, 
yet not thereby is their real success secured. It is the Lord’s presence and the 
Lord’s command that makes it sure. An activity based upon mere human impulse 
and sympathy—“I go a fishing, We also go with thee”—was fruitless. That which 
drew its inspiration from the word of Christ had immediate success.
(2) A conversation about non-success opens the way for better things; so the 
Lord oft begins the blessing with His Church and servants when He makes them 
feel and be concerned about the want of blessing.
(3) The blessing and the success come by casting the old net in a new way, in a 
new direction. It is the unchanging gospel that we are to preach; but in each age 
and time it needs new castings, fresh forms, and it is the ever living Spirit that 
will keep us right with His progressive indications. The meal on the shore, too, is 
suggestive of many things besides the final feast of heaven. It is, indeed, more 
strictly suggestive of “times of refreshing” upon earth, for it is early in the day, 
fitting for more labour. Where Jesus got the fish and bread and fire of coals we 
are not told, but there it was ready; and how like the gracious surprises He 
prepares for His faithful servants! Surprising success followed by surprising 
satisfaction and soul comfort. (J. Laidlaw, D. D.)
The second miraculous draught of fishes
I. THE APPEARANCE AT THE LAKE. (Joh_21:1-3).
1. The scene of operation: the Galilean Sea.
(1) Endeared by early associations. Many a time had the disciples plied their craft
upon its waters (Mat_4:18-22).
(2) Hollowed by sacred memories. Across that lake they had often sailed with 
their Master (chap. 6:16; Mat_7:18-23). Here they had thrice witnessed the 
display of Christ’s power (Luk_5:1-11; Mt

16. 8:26: 14:22, 23), and had heard Him preach to crowds on the shoreLuke 5:3; Mat_13:2). 
Around it they had travelled with Him in His wanderings.
(3) Recommended by past experience. A water famed for multitude, variety, and 
excellence of its fish.
2. The company of fishermen.
(1) Their number. Seven: the perfect number, the symbol of completeness, and 
thus representative of the infant Church.
(2) Their names. Simon Peter, the man of rock, the symbol of energy and zeal. 
Thomas, the man of doubt, typical of prudence, Caution, timidity, reason. 
Nathanael, the guileless, emblematic of transparent sincerity, and sweet 
simplicity. The two sons of Zebedee, once sons of thunder, now men of love and 
self-sacrifice. Two other representatives of the great army of unknown, 
undistinguished, to be found in every age and country in the train of Christ. 
Together they shadow forth varieties of character and endowment in the Church.
3. The proposed expedition.
(1) Its proposer—Peter. The Church, no less than the world, needs men of action 
to lead the way, pioneers to open up new paths, persons of imagination and 
enthusiasm to devise and impress others with the practicability of what they 
suggest.
(2) Its accepters. Started by Peter, the notion was taken up by his companions. 
The mass of mankind in religion, as in politics, not only require to be led but are 
ready to follow. The capable man never wants instruments. He who can rule will 
find subjects.
(3) Its commencement. It began well. Everything augured hopefully. The 
reputation of the lake was high; the time the best possible for fishing; the 
company ardent and experienced. They lost no time, spared no pains, and were 
not soon disheartened. Whatever Christ’s people do they should act so to deserve 
if they cannot command success.
(4) Its result.
(a) Nothing at least as to appearance. They caught no fish.
(b) Something, yea, everything in one.
They met with Christ, found what they expected not, returned with what they had not 
gone to seek. So Christ defeats His people’s schemes that He may the better carry out His
own, disappoints their hopes that He may give them immediate fruition, and leave them 
to themselves that they the more readily welcome and enjoy Himself when He comes.
II. THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT (verses 4-8).
1. The Stranger on the beach.
(1) The time of His appearing—morning; cf. the Angel of Jehovah (Gen_33:26); 
Christ in the days of His flesh (Mat_14:25), and after His resurrection. So Christ 
still appears to His people in the morning, because it is morning in every soul 
when He appears.
(2) The circumstance of His non-recognition. They “knew not,” as Mary and the 
Emmaus travellers, and perhaps for similar reasons. Christ may now be beside 
His people when they are not aware.

17. (3) The unexpected question, cheerily put and with friendly solicitude, “Lads, 
have ye aught to eat?” i.e., Has your cast been successful? Put also not for 
information, but to arrest attention and excite expectation.
(4) The disappointed reply. They had failed, as three of them had once done 
before (Luk_5:5); they had spent their strength for nought Isa_49:4); as gospel 
fishers often seem to do (Gal_4:11; 1Th_3:5).
(5) The proferred counsel. The right side always the side Christ appoints. He who
does not what Christ bids fishes on the wrong side.
(6) The prompt obedience. It is never wise to be above taking advice; much less 
when advice comes from Christ (Col_2:3).
(7) The marvellous success. The royal road to success in religion is obedience to 
Christ’s commands (Eph_3:20).
2. The recognition from the boat.
(1) By whom made. By the disciple in whose heart glowed a pure flame of love for
Jesus. The heart rather than the intellect the organ of spiritual apprehension. 
John had been the first to perceive that Christ was risen (chap. 20:8). Now he is 
the first to recognize His Person.
(2) How expressed—“It is the Lord!” Concentrating in the exclamation love, joy, 
adoration, desire, a world of thought, an ocean of holy feeling, a heaven of 
spiritual aspiration.
(3) With what followed. Instantaneous recognition by Peter, and startling activity
(cf. Mat_14:28).
3. The landing of the net.
(1) The labour of it.
(2) The success of it.
(3) The wonder of it. Neither will the gospel net fail till it has landed all Christ’s 
people.
III. THE MYSTERIOUS BANQUET (verse 12-14).
1. The heavenly provision (verse 9). Emblematic of the reward Christ’s servants will 
enjoy at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev_19:9).
2. The earthly contribution (verse 10). A large part of the future reward of Christ’s 
servants will consist in beholding the fruit of their labours (1Th_2:19-20).
3. The royal invitation (verse 12). So will they be welcomed when they reach the 
heavenly land (Mat_25:34).
4. The solemn distribution (verse 13). A picture of the higher entertainment 
Mat_26:29), of which Christ gives the foretaste in the Lord’s Supper. Lessons:
1. The fruitlessness of labour even in the Church, apart from the presence and power 
of the glorified Redeemer (Joh_15:5).
2. The certain and abundant success of those who work in the way and along the 
lines suggested by Christ.
3. The blessed recompense awaiting faithful labourers in Christ’s service. (T. Whitelaw, 
D. D.)

18. The appearance of Christ at the Sea of Tiberias
Note
I. THE POVERTY OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES.
1. We find them working to supply their temporal wants at one of the humblest of 
callings. Silver and gold they had none, and therefore they were not ashamed to 
return to business.
2. This poverty goes far to prove the Divine origin of Christianity. These very men 
who found it necessary to work hard in order that they might eat, were the first 
founders of the Church, which has now overspread one-third of the globe. These were
the unlearned and ignorant men who boldly confronted the subtle systems of ancient 
philosophy, and silenced it by the preaching of the cross. These were the men who, at
Ephesus, and Athens, and Rome, emptied the heathen temples of their worshippers 
and turned them to a better faith.
II. THE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS OF DIFFERENT DISCIPLES OF C HRIST.
1. Once more we see Peter and John side by side and behaving in different ways. 
John was the first to perceive Christ, but Peter was the first to struggle to get to Him. 
John’s love was quickest to discern, but Peter’s impulse was quickest to stir.
2. Let us, then, not condemn others because they do not see or feel exactly as we do 
(1Co_12:4). God’s gifts are not bestowed precisely in the same measure. Some have 
more of one, and some more of another. Some have gifts which shine more in public, 
and others those which shine in private. Martha and Mary (Luk_10:39-40; 
Joh_11:20-28), were both loved by our Lord. The Church of Christ needs servants of 
all kinds, and instruments of every sort; penknives as well as swords, axes as well as 
hammers, chisels as well as saws. Let our ruling maxim be Eph
6:24.
III. THE ABUNDANT EVIDENCE WHICH SCRIPTURE SUPPLIES OF OUR  LORD’S 
RESURRECTION. Here, as in other places, we find an unanswerable proof that our Lord 
rose again with a real material body. That Peter was convinced and satisfied we know 
(Act_10:41). (Bp. Ryle.)
The seven who saw the risen Lord
I. THEY WERE TOGETHER. How did they come to hold together, instead of seeking 
safety by flight, which would have been the natural thing after the death of their Leader? 
And yet here we find them where everybody knew them to be disciples of Jesus, holding 
together as if they had still a living and uniting bond. There is only one explanation, viz., 
that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. You cannot build a church on a dead Christ; 
and of all the proofs of the Resurrection there is none harder for an unbeliever to account
for than the simple fact that Christ’s disciples held together after He was dead.
II. THE COMPOSITION OF THIS GROUP.
1. Of the five men who made the Primitive Church (chap. 1.), there are three who 
reappear here, viz., Peter, John, and Nathanael, and two unnamed men, who, I think,

19. are “Philip and Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother,” both of them connected with 
Bethsaida, the place where probably this appearance of the risen Lord took place. So 
then the fair inference is that we have here the original nucleus again—the first five—
with a couple more, “Thomas, who is called Didymus,” and the brother of John, one 
of the first pair.
2. There, along the beach, is the place where four of them were called from their nets 
three short years ago. On the other side is the green grass where the thousands were 
fed. Behind it is the steep slope down which the devil-possessed herd rushed. There, 
over the shoulder of the hill, is the road that leads up to Cana from which little village
one of the group came.
3. Look at the list, having regard to the individual members that make it up.
(1) Foremost stand the two greatest sinners of the whole—Peter and Thomas—
singularly contrasted, and yet alike in the fact that the Crucifixion had been too 
much for their faith. The one was impetuous, the other slow. The one was always 
ready to say more than he meant, the other always ready to do more than he said.
The one was naturally despondent, the other never looking an inch beyond his 
nose, and always yielding himself up to the impulse of the moment. And yet both 
of them were united in this, that the one, from a sudden wave of cowardice, and 
the other, from giving way to his constitutional tendency, had both of them failed 
in their faith, the one turning out a denier and the other turning out a doubter. 
And yet here they are, foremost upon the list of those who saw the risen Christ. 
There are two lessons there. Let us learn
(a) With what open hearts and hands we should welcome a penitent when he 
comes back.
(b) Who they are to whom Christ deigns to manifest Himself—not 
immaculate monsters, but men that, having fallen, have learned humility and 
caution, and by penitence have risen to a securer standing, and have turned 
even their transgressions into steps in the ladder that lifts them to Christ. And
the little group welcomed them, as it becomes us to welcome brethren who 
have fallen and who repent.
(2) Nathanael, a guileless “Israelite indeed,” so swift to believe that the only thing
that Christ is recorded as having said to him is, “Because I said … thou believest? 
Thou shalt see greater things than these.” A promise of growing clearness of 
vision and fulness of manifestation was made to this man, who never appears 
anywhere else but in these two scenes, and so may stand to us as the type of that 
quiet, continuous growth, which is marked by faithful use of the present 
illumination, and is rewarded by a continual increase of the same. If the keynote 
to the two former lives is that sin confessed helps a man to climb, the keynote to 
this man’s is that they are still more blessed who, with no interruptions or denials
by patient continuousness in well-doing, widen the horizon of their Christian 
vision and purge their eyesight for daily larger knowledge. There is no necessity 
that any man’s career should be broken by denials or doubts; we may “grow in 
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.”
(3) The two sons of Zebedee—sons of thunder—who were eager, energetic, 
somewhat bigoted, not unwilling to invoke destructive vengeance, all for the love 
of Him; touched with ambition which led them to desire a place at His fight hand 
and His left. But by dwelling with Him one of them, at least, had become of all the
group the likest his Master. And the old painters taught a deep truth when they 

20. made John’s almost a copy of the Master’s face. To him there was granted a place 
amongst this blessed company, and it is surely a trace of his own hand that his 
place should be so humble. Any other but himself would certainly have put James
and John in their natural place beside Peter.
(4) “Two other of His disciples” not worth naming. Probably the missing two out 
of the five of the first chapter; but possibly only disciples in the wider sense. What
does it matter? The lesson is that there is a place for commonplace, 
undistinguished people, whose names are not worth repeating in Christ’s Church,
and we, too have a share in the manifestation of His love. We do not need to be 
brilliant, clever, influential, energetic, anything but quiet, waiting souls in order 
to have Christ showing Himself to us as we toil wearily through the darkness of 
the night.
III. THE PURPOSE OF THIS GROUP IS SIGNIFICANT. What did th ey thus get together
for? “Simon Peter saith, I go a fishing. They say, We also go with thee.” So they are back 
again at their old trade, which they had not left for ever, as they once thought they had.
1. What sent them back? Not doubt or despair; because they had seen Jesus Christ up
in Jerusalem, and had come down to Galilee at His command on purpose to meet 
Him. It is very like Peter that he should have been the one to suggest filling an hour 
of the waiting time with manual labour. John could have “sat still in the house,” like 
Mary, the heart all the busier because the hands lay quietly. But that was not Peter’s 
way, and John was ready to keep him company. Peter thought that the best thing 
they could do till Jesus chose to come, was to get back to their work, and he was 
sensible and right. The best attitude to be found in by Christ is doing our daily work, 
however secular and small it may be. A dirty, wet fishing-boat, all slimy with scales, 
was a strange place, but it was the right place, righter than if they had been 
wandering about amongst the fancied sanctities of the synagogues.
2. They went out to do their work; and to them was fulfilled the old saying, “I being 
in the way, the Lord met me.” Jesus Christ will come to you and me in the street if we
carry the waiting heart there, and in the shop, and the kitchen. For all things are 
sacred when done with a hallowed heart, and He chooses to make Himself known to 
us amidst the dusty commonplaces of daily life. He said to them just before the 
Crucifixion, “When I sent you forth without purse or scrip, lacked ye anything?” And 
they said,
“Nothing.” And then He said as changing the conditions, “But now he that hath a purse 
or scrip, let him take it.” As long as He was with them they were absolved from these 
common tasks. Now that He had left them the obligation recurred. Keep at your work, 
and if it last all night, stick to it; and if there are no fish in the net, never mind; out with it
again. And be sure that sooner or later you will see Him standing on the beach and hear 
His voice, and be blessed by His smile. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
A night and a morning by the lake of Galilee
I. “SIMON PETER SAITH UNTO THEM, I GO A-FISHING” ( Joh_21:3).
1. We are inclined to wonder at the smallness of this memorandum. The very same 
thing might have been said yesterday by many a simple trawler at Teignmouth, or 
any other fishing station, yet this has been made an organic part of the Book of 
books. The writer leaves out the momentous events that were stirring millions at that

21. moment, and puts into it this! Some critics have thought the thing too trivial, but we 
believe that so small a thing could not have been set down unless it held some great 
significance.
2. Notice a remarkable slowness of spiritual apprehension. “I go,” says Peter. Well, 
whither? to “the mountain in Galilee” whither Christ commanded His disciples? “No, 
to the sea, of course.” Call to mind that when Jesus instituted the Supper, when every
word should have been taken to heart with double distinctness, He said, “After I am 
risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.” The angel at the sepulchre said, “Go 
quickly, and tell His disciples … that He goeth before you into Galilee, as He said.” 
Then He followed up the angelic message with one to the women on the road; still 
they were slow to move, but still He had compassion on their infirmity, and appeared
to them in Jerusalem on the two first days; then his manifestations ceased for a 
while. At length they came to Galilee, but only to their old station, and, as it appears, 
with no thought of seeing Jesus, otherwise all would have been on the spot at the 
earliest possible moment. But we only see seven, and Peter says, “I go!” not to the 
mountain, but to the sea.
3. The announcement seems to have been made in a fit of despondency. Christ had 
told Peter and his companions to give up fishing when they became His disciples, and
they instantly left all and followed Him. Peter made emphatic reference to this when 
he said, “Lord, we have left all and followed Thee!” And Christ’s reply taken with the 
words of the disciple, seem to speak of the forsaken fishing-boat as the sign of a final 
and consummated act. We never hear of them working at their old craft for a living 
again. We picture the apostles as waiting at Jerusalem for another Divine visit, but 
this had not been granted. Then, solemnly and sadly, they came back to the familiar 
place, and there they waited. Every night Peter’s heart would say, “He will come to-
morrow;” but to-morrow, and tomorrow came, and no Jesus. Then that heart cried 
out, in a burst of passionate sadness, “I give up, for He will not come any more.”
II. “THEY SAY UNTO HIM, WE ALSO GO WITH THEE.” Certain  men seem to be 
naturally and unaccountably influential. When your spirits touch theirs, you feel a 
fascination that holds or moves you like a hand. Peter had this kind of electricity. We can
imagine the exchange of such words as: “I go to the mountain.” “We go with thee.” “I give
up.” “We give up.” “I go a fishing.” “We also go with thee.” Great leaders have a “going” 
power peculiar to themselves; but more or less, for good or evil, every man must be 
influential, and what he does others will do. We can imagine such interchange of 
language between a parent and his children: “I am going into the ways of the world.” “We
also go with thee.” “I believe, and am going to cast in my lot with those who believe.” “We
also go with thee.”
III. “THEY WENT FORTH, AND ENTERED INTO A SHIP IMMEDIATE LY; AND THAT
NIGHT THEY CAUGHT NOTHING.”
1. Here is one instance, out of many, of Christ not allowing His disciples to prosper 
while in a wrong course. It is an evil omen when Christians prosper while in a course 
of practical unbelief. This omen is not seen in lives that are to reach a high standard. 
In such cases love blights prosperity and tangles schemes.
2. On the other hand, sensitive consciences will need to be reminded that want of 
success is not in every instance from something wrong. A ship may be manned by 
good Christians, yet founder; a concern in which none are embarked but disciples 
may toil all night, and catch nothing. And so, faithful heart, losses will be gain to you.
In the darkest hour of outward affliction there may be the dawn of a morning of rich 

22. discovery. “The Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning 
shall be ended.”
IV. “BUT WHEN THE MORNING WAS NOW COME, JESUS STOOD ON  THE 
SHORE,” &c. Weary and dispirited they saw a shape that was dim in the mist; they 
“knew not that it was Jesus.” His voice pealed out, but it woke within them no answering 
echo of memory. It was like Him to come after them when they would not go after Him, 
and to call them His children after all! “Have ye any food?” He asked. Where-ever 
disciples toil the Lord looks on; if they suffer failure, let them know that the watchful eye 
sees, that the great heart feels. He has taught His children the prayer, “Give us this day 
our daily bread,” and therefore is not likely to let them starve. In answer to this inquiry 
they only said “No;” the short word of cross, aching, disappointed men. Then said He, 
“Cast the net on the right side,” &c. It was the advice of One who was slow to take 
offence, and whose precept usually implies a promise; of One whose infinite grandeur 
does not keep Him from interest in our commonest callings.
V. “THEY CAST, THEREFORE, AND NOW THEY WERE NOT ABLE T O DRAW IT FOR
THE MULTITUDE OF FISHES.”
1. This startling wonder was to remind them that they had been consecrated “fishers 
of men.” The Divine Symbolist delighted to clothe the spiritual work of His servants 
in language borrowed from their worldly employments. Obviously, it suggests
(1) Downright hard work. The word “minister,” like the word “fisherman,” is not 
simply the name of an office or dignity, but of a toiler.
(2) “Diversity of operations.” It is a mediaeval notion that the only way of taking 
the fish is by the net, which is understood to be the one true Church; but when 
Christ appointed His followers to be fishers of men, He specified for their use no 
particular mode. A fisherman has to go through great varieties of experience; he 
may be out on a stormy sea, or he may have to creep, or hide, or watch in the 
leafy covert or reedy river. Some kinds of fish are to be taken by spear, some by 
line, some by net—hand-net, or draw-net, or basket-net. He must never angle for 
a whale, or harpoon a trout. “You must,” says Izaak Walton, “be the scholar of the
fish before you can be his master.”
(3) And the work of the spiritual fisher is rather one of skill than of violence—he 
must draw, not drive.
(4) That our spiritual work must be done by ourselves, and not by proxy. When, 
for instance, a man is called to be a preacher, let him preach his own sermons
—“Fish with your own hooks.”
2. The act may also have been in tended to cheer them, and all desponding workers, 
by foreshowing the final success of all work done for Christ. Regarding the two 
miracles as signs, the scene of fulfilment in the one case is earth, in the other, heaven.
In the first miracle the “nets broke”; the fishers did not therefore take all the fish, and
there was no attempt to count the number taken. In the second case no nets were 
broken, and when the toilers reached the land they brought their richly-laden nets 
with them. Soon shall we strike upon the eternal shore; then all who have laboured in
the great cause shall rejoice in the sea-harvest of souls; then, for the first time in all 
history, will the statistics of the Church be complete and trustworthy—“one hundred 
and fifty and three.”
VI. “THEREFORE THAT DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED SAITH UNT O PETER, IT 
IS THE LORD. It was owing to a mysteriousness of look, perhaps, that Jesus was not at 

23. once identified. The Greek verb used in the account of His first miracle is used also in 
this. In the first, it is said that He “manifested forth His glory”; in the second, “Jesus 
manifested Himself,” &c. Two things are taught by the use of this word
1. That the discovery was the act of Jesus, not that of His disciples; they did not of 
their own will see Him, hut He, by a distinct act of His will, showed Himself to them.
2. It was a spiritual manifestation, and He was seen not so much by the eyes of the 
body as by the eyes of the soul. John was the first seer. Even in human friendship, 
and not less in the Divine, love has the quickest ear, the sharpest eye, and the surest 
faculty of interpretation. Then there was a plunge. “Steady, Peter,” we cry, if no name
had been given, we should have known that it could be no other.
IV. “JESUS SAITH UNTO THEE, BRING OF THE FISH WHICH YE  HAVE NOW 
CAUGHT.” Soon as they had touched land there was a new wonder. “The beach had been
bare a moment before, but now they saw a fire burning with a little fish on it, and bread 
at hand. They seem to pause, unable to obey; and so “Simon Peter went up, and drew the 
net to land full of great fishes.” When these were counted, Jesus said, “Come and break 
your fast.” All knew Him now; but not a word could they speak, Formerly they would 
have asked many questions. Taking first the bread, and then the fish, He divided them 
just as He had done while He was yet with them. He who marshals in their sweep the 
grand army of the stars, and who holds in His hand this globe, stood there in human 
form waiting on these tired boatmen. (O ,Stanford, D. D.)
The risen Christ and His disciples
I. THE SELF-MANIFESTATION OF JESUS AFTER HIS RESURRECT ION. We now 
come to a new term in the narrative: “He showed Himself,” or “He manifested Himself,” 
or “He was manifested to His disciples.” This shows that He was not seen except by an 
act of His own will, overcoming His natural invisibility. He can only manifest Himself to 
our hearts when we are ready for Him, and just so He could only appear to those who 
were ready for the sight. We must always remember that there were moral reasons for 
the manifestation of Jesus after His resurrection beyond the necessity of proving the fact 
of His victory over death. He rescued the apostles from despair and unbelief and recalled
them to their tasks and to a holier intimacy with Him than was possible before He was 
crucified.
II. THE DISCOVERY OF JESUS BY HIS DISCIPLES. There are disciples in all ages of 
the Church who see the presence of Jesus by the intuition of love. And such was John. He
saw without beholding. He knew, not so much by faith, as by the love that believeth all 
things and never faileth. And yet this John was not of a sluggish, indolent nature. We 
have known souls who were,, the first to detect, the presence of Jesus in the Church and 
to say “It is the Lord!” They feel, while others are asking for evidence. There are others, 
like Peter, marked by their obedience to faith. John said: “It is the Lord!” When Peter 
heard that it was the Lord, he hastened to find Him. It does not appear that Peter saw 
Him any more than John did. He believed the word of John, and moved forward at once 
to verify it. John could wait; not so Peter. No doubt it will be found that both these 
temperaments are essential to the progress of the kingdom of heaven and to the bringing
of the people of God to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, who united 
perfectly the active and the contemplative elements of character. (Edward N. Packard.)

24. The risen Christ and His disciples
The last chapter of the Gospel of John is an appendix, and not a supplement. The story of
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection closed somewhat hurriedly with the preceding 
chapter. But now what about the future? What about the disciples’ work for the world? 
This chapter answers. The relation between the Gospel of John and this appendix is the 
same as that between Luke’s Gospel and his book of the Acts. The latter is the sequel of 
the former. Hence this twenty-first chapter is concerned about work, and about the 
disciples’ future until Jesus comes again.
I. JESUS GUIDES THE DISCIPLES IN THEIR WORK. The work w as commonplace—
fishing; the story is simple, but the feelings of the actors must have been profound. The 
feast at Jerusalem is over. The disciples have made the journey of a long week’s travel 
back to Galilee. It is not the Galilee of a few former months. There is no assembling of 
crowds for instruction, no miracles of mercy, no loved leader to keep the disciples in one 
body. Four are lacking on this fishing excursion. He has been seen alive after His 
passion, but not here in Galilee; it was away in Jerusalem. Galilee doubtless thinks that 
Jesus is no more. The atmosphere surrounding the eleven is oppressive; they are 
lonesome, idle, restless. The active spirit of Peter must find something to do. He 
proposes to go a-fishing, and six more of them accompany him. There is a minute 
particularity about the story. We are told who and how many composed the company, 
and how they came to “go a fishing.” They noted that Jesus “stood” on the shore. The 
distance of the ship from the land is given, &c. These details, whatever other value they 
may have, certainly show how the hearts of the seven fishermen were wrought upon. 
Impressions, feelings, move men. Thought is born of them, and the whole course of life 
may be changed by them. Whence came that fire of coals, and the fish laid thereon, and 
the bread? This very wonder must have intensified the whole scene for them. Intensity 
was necessary. From the feelings of this hour they were to find not only the course of 
their own life, but also the wisdom to direct the world’s. In the Transfiguration they saw 
His divinity; in the foot-washing they perceived His humility; and now, in this hour of 
fishing, they had set before them the lesson of their coming leadership of the world. Left 
to themselves, their labours were abortive, but under His direction many fish were taken.
In a word, His guidance was necessary to future success. The work in hand was a parable 
of the glorious work which they were to do. These who were winning fish were to win 
men—an office as much greater as a man is better than a fish.
II. JESUS IS REVEALED TO THE DISCIPLES IN THEIR WORK. T hat net full of fishes 
was such a revelation of the Christ to them as they had not reached in the more 
wonderful miracles of feeding the multitude, casting out demons, or raising the dead; for
in these He did His own work, but in the draught of fishes He helped the disciples in 
theirs. Though the power was still all His own, He became a fellow-helper with them. 
Henceforth He will work mightily through them and with them. This revelation was to 
serve the disciples in two ways. It was necessary to convince the world of the fact
1. That the “Christ should suffer and rise from the dead.” The Resurrection is the 
key-stone of the Christian religion. But what a stupendous tax on men’s minds, to lay 
it upon them to believe that One who died was now alive again, and alive for 
evermore! Yet to establish this fact in the world there must be indisputable 
testimony. The witnesses must be so qualified that they could go forth with “many 
infallible proofs,” so that they could say, “We did eat and drink with Him after He 
rose from the dead.”
2. Of His activity in the affairs of men. For Jesus’ death and resurrection do not take 
Him from His friends, but give Him to them. They needed this revelation of Him in 

25. work; for men are most of all sceptical on the point of the Lord’s active participation in 
their efforts and needs. One says, “If thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean;” another 
cries, “If Thou canst do anything;” but the true heart alone says, Thou wilt, Thou canst, 
Thou dost—so that the apostles afterward reported not what they had done, butwhat 
“God had done with them;” and Mark sums up their history with similar words, “The 
Lord working with them.” Christian faith is more than to believe historic Biblical facts. It 
believes God in Christ to be the one present, working Agent in the world to-day.
III. JESUS EATS WITH THE DISCIPLES AFTER THEIR WORK. This  breakfast is every
way beautiful. It seems to be Jesus’ aim in this whole morning’s scene—its climax; for as 
soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire glowing on the beach, and food in 
preparation. With this the disciples had had nothing to do. Still they have a share in 
providing the meal, for He says, “Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.” He 
graciously ascribes the capture to them. When all is ready He asks them to “come and 
dine.” The end of the Incarnation, the Cross, and the Resurrection is to bring God and 
man into family relationship. It was one who sat at this breakfast this morning who 
afterward wrote, “And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus 
Christ.” The breakfast was also a prophecy of the time when the saint and the Saviour 
shall meet together to rejoice in the fellowship of a completed work. Paul wrote to those 
whom he had won to the Lord, “What is our hope or joy or crown, of rejoicing? Are not 
even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ?” (History, Prophecy, and Gospel.)
The relation of Christ to the secular rife of His disciples
This narrative is purely secular, but is none the less religious.
I. CHRIST DOES NOT RELIEVE HIS DISCIPLES FROM THE NECES SITY OF 
SECULAR LABOUR. He does not exempt His disciples from the law “He that doth not 
work shall not eat.” Were He to do so it would be an injury rather than a blessing to 
physical health. Intellectual vigour and moral development depend upon it. Inaction 
when there is power of action is a crime, and since the Infinite Lawgiver is infinitely 
benevolent, what is contrary to His will must be injurious.
1. The individual himself is injured. Muscular inactivity enfeebles the body; mental 
inactivity the intellect; moral inactivity the soul. Look at those who “stand all the day 
idle.” They are your feeble mothers, delicate sisters, nervous fathers, lackadasical 
sons, simpering women and moody men.
2. The idle man injures others: he is a social thief, and should be punished like every 
other kind of thief.
II. CHRIST ALLOWS THE POSSIBILITY OF FAILURE IN THEIR SE CULAR 
ENDEAVOURS. They “caught nothing.” A different result might have been expected: but
the settled laws of nature pay no particular deference to piety, and exemption from 
failure would not always be a blessing. It would tend to nourish worldliness, self-
sufficiency, and religious neglectfulness. Liability to failure is a spur to industry, and a 
motive for prayerful dependence on heaven. Let not therefore any unfortunate Christian 
tradesman conclude that Christ has deserted him; and let not society conclude that he is 
ungodly because he has failed. The disciples toiled all night and caught nothing.
III. CHRIST IS DEEPLY INTERESTED IN THEIR SECULAR CONCER NS.
1. His eyes are ever on them in their work, though they may be unconscious of Him 
(Joh_21:4). He knoweth the way you take.

26. 2. He sometimes so signally interposes for their help or demonstrates His presence 
among them (Joh_21:6).
IV. CHRIST OFTEN MAKES THEIR SECULAR TRIALS THE MEANS O F A CLOSER 
FELLOWSHIP WITH HIMSELF ( Joh_21:12). Here we have a display of
1. His merciful condescension.
(1) He prepared the food.
(2) He ate with them, and thus identified Himself with their physical necessities.
2. His remedial wisdom. His eating enlisted their social sympathies and heart-
confidences. He who would follow Him in His saving mission must go and do 
likewise. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The reward of faith
John’s Gospel, which seems to come to a close with the end of the preceding chapter, is 
here re-opened. You can see John laying down his pen and rolling up his scroll, when he 
has put in the last sentence of the preceding chapter. But that Holy Spirit brought these 
things to his remembrance, and he eagerly unrolled his scroll and added them. It is thus 
not inaptly described as “a postscript to the Gospel.” And it is not over curious in us to 
ask why John should have put in this chapter.
1. It might be sufficient to say that these things were added because of their interest. 
That is the reason underlying our own postscripts. Indeed, with certain 
correspondents, it has become a bye-word that the P.S. is really the letter.
2. It might be said that John added these things to tell a good story of Peter. John 
loved Peter, and Peter’s character has never been any the worse for this chapter. You 
know some one like Peter. He is under a dark shadow to-day, and he deserves it. But 
you know something to his credit, and when all people are running him down, shame
to you that you are not telling it.
3. But I rather think that John added these things because of their bearing upon his 
purpose in writing a Gospel, viz., to show the Divinity of that Man from Nazareth. 
Now, this stands or falls by His resurrection, which this chapter proves in its very 
first line. “After these things Jesus showed Himself again,” and again, and again. 
Here is proof upon proof of what can never be over-proved, that Jesus rose from the 
dead. Let us look at
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DISCIPLES.
1. Certainly they were strange circumstances. About two or three years ago they had 
been called into fellowship with Christ, and with each other, and that had meant for 
them a time of perpetual excitement. The fellowship of Christ to-day may be a 
humdrum affair, but it was not so then. And I would say if you want an exciting life, 
don’t kick over the traces and go off as did the prodigal son—that is the flattest kind 
of life ever tried; but if you want a racy, bracing life, come and be a whole-hearted 
disciple of Jesus. For the last two or three weeks this excitement has been of the 
intensest kind. They had seen their Master betrayed, crucified, buried. But He had 
risen from the dead, and had said: “Receive ye the Holy Ghost. As
My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” Yet here they were away up in Galilee, as 
idle as a harrow in the frost.

27. 2. This waiting for Jesus to come to them was doing them good, and Peter’s speech is
the proof of it. We see them grouped together, and talking with one another about 
what they knew of Jesus and what they expected from Him. “Ah! He will be sure to 
come, and come soon.” Thus at times would they utter the wish of their hearts; but at 
others, with minds burdened with a great fear, they would ask: “But what if He 
should not come?” Under these circumstances I can imagine Peter suddenly 
assuming a brave and determined look, and saying, “Well, come He soon or late, or 
not at all, our families are here, and there is plain, honest, homely work to do.” Now 
that, I think, is a token that Simon Peter was improving, and that this time of waiting 
was a training, intended to strengthen faith. He is not now the blustering coward of 
the judgment-hall, whipping out his sword, and striking the wrong man in the wrong 
place. Peter could have done far better with an oar than a sword. But now Peter is 
sobered; our Lord’s prayer and hopes for him are to be realized after all. “Satan hath 
desired to have thee. Thou wouldst make a splendid devil’s servant. Thou wast born 
to lead men either from God or to God. I need men like you.” His faith has not failed. 
He strengthens his brethren, and they say unto him, “The thing is good. We also go 
with thee.” May God send back to His Church to-day a good score of Peters.
3. Now our Lord makes no mistake when He calls a man like this to Himself and to 
His service. God deliver the Church from the paralysing power of men “Who never 
say a foolish thing, and never do a wise one.” The Church to-day has far too many 
men ready to put breaks on her progress—cautious men—but far too few men of 
steam power, men to tell us what to do, and who go and do it.
II. THE MIRACLE IN RELATION TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES. The m iracle has a 
lesson, one face of which looks towards our work-a-day life, while the other looks 
towards one’s spiritual work for Christ.
1. Let us deal with the worldly aspect. These men were taught very sharply that 
success in catching either fish or men must come from Christ. Christ told them: “You 
cannot get fish without Me, and you cannot go back to your secular life—you are 
spoiled for that.” Ah, dear backslider, you need to hear this! A man who is a fisher or 
a fishmonger may become an apostle, but an apostle can never return to his old 
worldly calling. You will either be exceedingly miserable until Christ forgives and 
restores you, or the name and doom of castaway shall be thine. But the night’s failure
and the morning’s miracle surely taught them that Christ is Master in all 
departments of life, and must be looked to with a single eye for all success that is 
worth having. Remember that these men were born and bred to fishing. Have you 
ever tried to advise a fisherman? You had better not, for if you do you will very likely 
get an answer a great deal plainer than polite. Somehow Peter had grace and sense 
enough to check the word that was rising to his lips, and to do as he was told. And it 
was well that he did so, for soon the pull upon the back rope made John draw his 
breath and dart the look and the word into Peter. “This is the Lord.” So still does the 
Lord visit His people at their work. But we draw a hard and fast line, on one side of 
which we are Christian workers, and we are all for faith and prayer; but then, on the 
other side, we are tradesmen or their wives, and the world, the flesh, and the devil 
take it out of us right round the week. The Lord wrought this miracle in order to 
obliterate that dividing line, and to teach that all success worth having will come 
from Him. Then what a grand religion ours must be for working people! In these 
days, when the word “unemployed” is continually in our ears, and the dismal thing 
perpetually in front of us, what a splendid religion is that of Christ! What a difference
it makes between the unemployed man who believes in Christ, and the unemployed 
man who has no such belief! The feet of both are in the gutter, but the head of one is 

28. in heaven. Both alike must go round seeking for work; but he who loves the Lord, 
before he starts on his weary journey, goes down upon his knees before Him at whose
girdle hang the keys of shops and yards and offices, and prays: “Lord, Thou hast done
the great thing for me; wilt Thou see me lack a covering and a crust?” and such a man
cannot be unemployed—he is glorifying God, and verily he shall be fed.
2. The other face of this miracle looks toward that spiritual work in which, from the 
very fact of our being disciples of Christ, we must engage. Do not raise the plea that 
now I am speaking of ministers and those who are actually under some kind of 
ordination. Nay, if your fishing is not capable of being spiritualized from mere bread-
winning and fish-catching into soul-saving, then it is the worst for you. If you cannot 
take Christ into your business, anal so serve Him there, that you should spread 
abroad such an influence of Christ’s grace and presence as shall serve as a bait to 
entangle in the meshes of a net those who come in contact with you, then wash your 
hands of it, and have done with it for ever. Only remember that in this fishing for 
men we must look to Christ for our orders, and serve Him implicitly. How many 
boats are plying on the dark waters of London, and yet how few fish are caught, how 
few souls saved! What is the reason? It cannot be that there are no fish; the waters 
are seething with what we profess to be seeking. Then why should the net come 
empty to the boat so often? Is not this the reason—that we believe in Christ in a sort 
of dumb way, but we are not looking at Him and we are not getting His orders? If any
of us lack wisdom, let us ask of God, and it shall be given us. He that winneth souls is 
wise, but it is with a wisdom that cometh straight from above. (J. McNeil.)
EBC 1-14,  “APPEARANCE AT SEA OF GALILEE.
"After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias;
and He manifested Himself on this wise. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas 
called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two 
other of His disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, 
We also come with thee. They went forth, and entered into the boat; and that night they 
took nothing. But when day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach: howbeit the 
disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore saith unto them, Children, have ye 
aught to eat? They answered Him, No. And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right 
side of the boat, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to 
draw it for the multitude of fishes. That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved saith unto 
Peter, It is the Lord. So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his coat 
about him (for he was naked), and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came 
in the little boat (for they were not far from the land, but about two hundred cubits off), 
dragging the net full of fishes. So when they got out upon the land, they see a fire of coals 
there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye 
have now taken. Simon Peter therefore went up, and drew the net to land, full of great 
fishes, a hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, the net was not 
rent. Jesus saith unto them, Come and break your fast. And none of the disciples durst 
inquire of Him, Who art Thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus cometh, and taketh 
the bread, and giveth them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus 
was manifested to the disciples, after that He was risen from the dead."-- Joh_21:1-14.
The removal of the doubts of Thomas restored the Eleven to unity of faith, and fitted 
them to be witnesses of the Lord’s resurrection. And the Gospel might naturally have 
closed at this point, as indeed the last verses of the twentieth chapter suggest that the 
writer himself felt that his task was done. But as throughout his Gospel he had followed 

29. the plan of adducing such of Christ’s miracles as seemed to throw a strong light on His 
spiritual power, he could not well close without mentioning the last miracle of all, and 
which seemed to have only a didactic purpose. Besides, there was another reason for 
John adding this chapter. He was writing at the very close of the century. So long had he 
survived the unparalleled events he narrates that an impression had gone abroad that he 
would never die. It was even rumoured that our Lord had foretold that the beloved 
disciple should tarry on earth till He Himself should return. John takes the opportunity 
of relating what the Lord had really said, as well as of recounting the all-important event 
out of which the misreported conversation had arisen.
When the disciples had spent the Passover week at Jerusalem, they naturally returned to 
their homes in Galilee. The house of the old fisherman Zebedee was probably their 
rendezvous. We need not listen to their talk as they relate what had passed in Jerusalem, 
in order to see that they are sensible of the peculiarity of their situation and are in a state 
of suspense.
They are back among the familiar scenes, the boats are lying on the beach, their old 
companions are sitting about mending their nets as they themselves had been doing a 
year or two before when summoned by Jesus to follow Him on the moment. But though 
old associations are thus laying hold of them again, there is evidence that new influences 
are also at work; for with the fishermen are found Nathanael and others who were there, 
not for the sake of old associations, but of the new and common interest they had in 
Christ. The seven men have kept together; they participate in an experience of which 
their fellow-townsmen know nothing; but they must live. Hints have been thrown out 
that seven strong men must not depend on other arms than their own for a livelihood. 
And as they stand together that evening and watch boat after boat push off, the women 
wishing their husbands and sons good-speed, the men cheerily responding and busily 
getting their tackle in trim, with a look of pity at the group of disciples, Peter can stand it 
no longer, but makes for his own or some unoccupied boat with the words, "I go a-
fishing." The rest were only needing such an invitation. The whole charm and zest of the 
old life rushes back upon them, each takes his own accustomed place in the boat, each 
hand finds itself once more at home at the long-suspended task, and with an ease that 
surprises themselves they fall back into the old routine.
And as we watch their six oars flashing in the setting sun, and Peter steering them to the 
familiar fishing ground, we cannot but reflect in how precarious a position the whole 
future of the world is. That boat carries the earthly hope of the Church; and as we weigh 
the feelings of the men that are in it, what we see chiefly is, how easily the whole of 
Christianity might here have broken short off, and never have been heard of, supposing it
to have depended for its propagation solely on the disciples. Here they were, not 
knowing what had become of Jesus, without any plan for preserving His name among 
men, open to any impulse or influence, unable to resist the smell of the fishing boats and 
the freshness of the evening breeze, and submitting themselves to be guided by such 
influences as these, content apparently to fall back into their old ways and obscure 
village life, as if the last three years were a dream, or were like a voyage to foreign parts, 
which they might think of afterwards, but were not to repeat. All the facts they were to 
use for the conversion of the world were already in their possession; the death of Christ 
and His resurrection were not a fortnight old; but as yet they had no inward impulse to 
proclaim the truth; there was no Holy Ghost powerfully impelling and possessing them; 
they were not endued with power from on high. One thing only they seemed to be 
decided and agreed about--that they must live; and therefore they go a-fishing.

30. But apparently they were not destined to find even this so easy as they expected. There 
was One watching that boat, following it through the night as they tried place after place, 
and He was resolved that they should not be filled with false ideas about the 
satisfactoriness of their old calling. All night they toiled, but caught nothing. Every old 
device was tried; the fancies of each particular kind of fish were humoured, but in vain. 
Each time the net was drawn up, every hand knew before it appeared that it was empty. 
Weary with the fruitless toil, and when the best part of the night was gone, they made for
a secluded part of the shore, not wishing to land from their first attempt empty in 
presence of the other fishermen. But when about one hundred yards from the shore a 
voice hails them with the words, "Children"--or, as we would say, "Lads"--"have you 
taken any fish?" It has been supposed that our Lord asked this question in the character 
of a trader who had been watching for the return of the boats that he might buy, or that it
was with the natural interest every one takes in the success of a person that is fishing, so 
that we can scarcely pass without asking what take they have had. The question was 
asked for the purpose of arresting the boat at a sufficient distance from the shore to 
make another cast of the net possible. It has this effect; the rowers turned round to see 
who is calling them, and at the same time tell Him they have no fish. The Stranger then 
says, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find"; and they do so, not 
thinking of a miracle, but supposing that before any man would give them such express 
instructions he must have had some good reason for believing there were fish there. But 
when they found that the net was at once absolutely loaded with fish, so that they could 
not draw it into the boat, John looks again at the Stranger, and whispers to Peter, "It is 
the Lord." This was no sooner heard by Peter than he snatched up and threw over him 
his upper garment, and throwing himself into the water swam or waded ashore.
In every trifling act character betrays itself. It is John who is first to recognise Jesus; it is 
Peter who casts himself into the sea, just as he had done once before on that same lake, 
and as he had been first to enter the sepulchre on the morning of the Resurrection. John 
recognises the Lord, not because he had better eyesight than the rest, nor because he had
a better position in the boat, nor because while the rest were busied with the net he was 
occupied with the figure on the beach, but because his spirit had a quicker and 
profounder apprehension of spiritual things, and because in this sudden turn of their 
fortune he recognised the same hand which had filled their nets once before and had fed 
thousands with one or two little fishes.
The reason of Peter’s impetuousness on this occasion may partly have been that their 
fishing vessel was now as near the land as they could get it, and that he was unwilling to 
wait till they should get the small boat unfastened. The rest, we read, came ashore, not in
the large vessel in which they had spent the night, but in the little boat they carried with 
them, the reason being added, "for they were not far from land"--that is to say, not far 
enough to use the larger vessel any longer. Peter, therefore, ran no risk of drowning. But 
his action reveals the eagerness of love. No sooner has he only heard from another that 
his Lord is near, than the fish for which he had been watching and waiting all night are 
forgotten, and for him, the master of the vessel, the net and all its contents might have 
sunk to the bottom of the lake. What this action of Peter suggested to the Lord is 
apparent from the question which a few minutes later He put to him: "Lovest thou Me 
more than these?"
Neither would Peter have sustained any serious loss even though his nets had been 
carried away, for when he reaches the shore he finds that the Lord was to be their host, 
not their guest. A fire is ready lit, fish laid on it and bread baking. He who could so fill 
their nets could also provide for His own wants. But there was to be no needless 
multiplication of miracles; the fish already on the fire was not to be multiplied in their 

31. hands when plenty were lying in the net. He directs them, therefore, to bring of the fish 
they had caught. They go to the net, and mechanically, in their old fashion, count the fish
they had taken, one hundred and fifty and three; and John, with a fisher’s memory can 
tell you, sixty years after, the precise number. From these miraculously provided fish 
they break their long fast.
The significance of this incident has perhaps been somewhat lost by looking at it too 
exclusively as symbolical. No doubt it was so; but it carried in the first place a most 
important lesson in its bare, literal facts. We have already noticed the precarious position
in which the Church at this time was. And it will be useful to us in many ways to 
endeavour to rid our mind of all fancies about the beginning of the Christian Church, and
look at the simple, unvarnished facts here presented to our view. And the plain and 
significant circumstance which first invites our attention is, that the nucleus of the 
Church, the men on whom the faith of Christ depended for its propagation, were 
fishermen.
This was not merely the picturesque drapery assumed by men of ability so great and 
character so commanding that all positions in life were alike to them. Let us recall to 
memory the group of men we have seen standing at a corner in a fishing village or with 
whom we have spent a night at sea fishing, and whose talk has been at the best old 
stories of their craft or legends of the water. Such men were the Apostles. They were men
who were not at home in cities, who simply could not understand the current 
philosophies, who did not so much as know the names of the great contemporary writers 
of the Roman world, who took only so much interest in politics as every Jew in those 
troublous times was forced to take--men who were at home only on their own lake, in 
their fishing boat, and who could quite contentedly, even after all they had recently gone 
through, have returned to their old occupation for life. They were in point of fact now 
returning to their old life--returning to it partly because they had no impulse to publish 
what they knew, and partly because, even though they had, they must live, and did not 
know how they should be supported but by fishing.
And this is the reason of this miracle; this is the reason why our Lord so pointedly 
convinced them that without Him they could not make a livelihood: that they might fish 
all the night through and resort to every device their experience could contrive and yet 
could catch nothing, but that He could give them sustenance as He pleased. If any one 
thinks that this is a secular, shallow way of looking at the miracle, let him ask what it is 
that chiefly keeps men from serving God as they think they should, what it is that 
induces men to live so much for the world and so little for God, what it is that prevents 
them from following out what conscience whispers is the right course. Is it not mainly 
the feeling that by doing God’s will we ourselves are likely to be not so well off, not so 
sufficiently provided for. Above all things, therefore, both we and the Apostles need to be
convinced that our Lord, who asks us to follow Him, is much better able to provide for us
than we ourselves are. They had the same transition to make as every man among 
ourselves has to make; we and they alike have to pass from the natural feeling that we 
depend on our own energy and skill for our support to the knowledge that we depend on 
God. We have to pass from the life of nature and sense to the life of faith. We have to 
come to know and believe that the fundamental thing is God, that it is He who can 
support us when nature fails, and not that we must betake ourselves to nature at many 
points where God fails--that we live, not by bread alone, but by every word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of God, and are much safer in doing His bidding than in 
struggling anxiously to make a livelihood.

32. And if we carefully read our own experience, might we not see, as clearly as the Apostles 
that morning saw, the utter futility of our own schemes for bettering ourselves in the 
world? Is it not the simple fact that we also have toiled through every watch of the night, 
have borne fatigue and deprivation, have abandoned the luxuries of life and given 
ourselves to endure hardness, have tried contrivance after contrivance to win our 
cherished project, and all in vain? Our net is empty and light at the rising sun as it was at
the setting. Have we not again and again found that when every boat round was being 
filled we drew nothing but disappointment? Have we not many times come back empty-
handed to our starting-place? But no matter how much we have thus lost or missed every
man will tell you it is much better so than if he had succeeded, if only his own ill-success 
has induced him to trust Christ, if only it has taught him really what he used with 
everybody else verbally to say,--that in that Person dimly discerned through the light that
begins to glimmer round our disappointments there is all power in heaven and on earth--
power to give us what we have been trying to win, power to give us greater happiness 
without it.
But this being so, it being the case that our Lord came this second time and called them 
away from their occupations to follow Him, and showed them how amply He could 
support them, they could not but remember how He had once before in very similar 
circumstances summoned them to leave their occupation as fishermen and to become 
fishers of men. They could not but interpret the present by the former miracle, and read 
in it a renewed summons to the work of catching men, and a renewed assurance that in 
that work they should not draw empty nets. Most suitably, then, does this miracle stand 
alone, the only one wrought after the Resurrection, and most suitably does it stand last, 
giving the Apostles a symbol which should continually reanimate them to their laborious 
work. Their work of preaching was well symbolised by sowing; they passed rapidly 
through the field of the world, at every step scattering broadcast the words of everlasting 
life, not examining minutely the hearts into which these words might fall, not knowing 
where they might find prepared soil and where they might find inhospitable rock, but 
assured that after a time whoso followed in their track should see the fruit of their words.
Not less significant is the figure of the net; they let down the net of their good tidings, not
seeing what persons were really enclosed in it, but trusting that He who had said, "Cast 
your net on the right side of the ship," knew what souls it would fall over. By this miracle 
He gave the Apostles to understand that not only when with them in the flesh could He 
give them success. Even now after His resurrection and when they did not recognise Him
on the shore He blessed their labour, that they might even when they did not see Him 
believe in His nearness and in His power most effectually to give them success.
This is the miracle which has again and again restored the drooping faith and 
discouraged spirit of all Christ’s followers who endeavour to bring men under His 
influence, or in any way to spread out this influence over a wider surface. Again and 
again their hope is disappointed and their labour vain; the persons they wish to influence
glide out from below the net, and it is drawn empty; new opportunities are watched for, 
and new opportunities arrive and are used, but with the same result; the patient 
doggedness of the fisherman long used to turns of ill-success is reproduced in the 
persevering efforts of parental love or friendly anxiety for the good of others, but often 
the utmost patience is at last worn out, the nets are piled away, and the gloom of 
disappointment settles on the mind. Yet this apparently is the very hour which the Lord 
often chooses to give the long-sought-for success; in the dawn, when already the fish 
might be supposed to see the net and more vigilantly to elude it, our last and almost 
careless effort is made, and we achieve a substantial, countable success--a success not 
doubtful, but which we could accurately detail to others, which makes a mark in the 

33. memory like the hundred and fifty and three of these fishers, and which were we to relate
to others they must acknowledge that the whole weary night of toil is amply repaid. And 
it is then a man recognises who it is that has directed his labour--it is then he for the 
moment forgets even the success in the more gladdening knowledge that such a success 
could only have been given by One, and that it is the Lord who has been watching his 
disappointments, and at last turning them into triumph.
The Evangelist adds, "None of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art Thou? knowing that 
it was the Lord"--a remark which unquestionably implies that there was some ground for
the question, Who art Thou? They knew it was the Lord from the miracle He had 
wrought and from His manner of speaking and acting; but yet there was in His 
appearance something strange, something which, had it not also inspired them with awe,
would have prompted the question, Who art Thou? The question was always on their 
lips, as they found afterwards by comparing notes with one another, but none of them 
durst put it. There was this time no certification of His identity further than the aid He 
had given, no showing of His hands and feet. It was, that is to say, by faith now they must
know Him, not by bodily eyesight; if they wished to deny Him, there was room for doing 
so, room for questioning who He was. This was in the most delicate correspondence with
the whole incident. The miracle was wrought as the foundation and encouraging symbol 
of their whole vocation as fishers of men during His bodily absence; it was wrought in 
order to encourage them to lean on One whom they could not see, whom they could at 
best dimly descry on another element from themselves, and whom they could not 
recognise as their Lord apart from the wonderful aid He gave them; and accordingly even
when they come ashore there is something mysterious and strange about His 
appearance, something that baffles eyesight, something that would no longer have 
satisfied a Thomas, something therefore which is the fit preparation for a state in which 
they were to live altogether by faith and not at all by sight. This is the state in which we 
now live. He who believes will know that his Lord is near him; he who refuses to believe 
will be able to deny His nearness. It is faith then that we need: we need to know our 
Lord, to understand His purposes and His mode of fulfilling them, so that we may not 
need the evidence of eyesight to say where He is working and where He is not. If we are 
to be His followers, if we are to recognise that He has made a new life for us and all men, 
if we are to recognise that He has begun and is now carrying forward a great cause in this
world, and if we see that, let our lives deny it as they may, there is nothing else worth 
living for than this cause, and if we are seeking to help it, then let us confirm our faith by 
this miracle and believe that our Lord, who has all power in heaven and on earth, is but 
beyond eyesight, has a perfectly distinct view of all we are doing and knows when to give 
us the success we seek.
This, then, explains why it was that our Lord appeared only to His friends after His 
resurrection. It might have been expected that on His rising from the dead He would 
have shown Himself as openly as before He suffered, and would specially have shown 
Himself to those who had crucified Him; but this was not the case. The Apostles 
themselves were struck with this circumstance, for in one of his earliest discourses Peter 
remarks that He showed Himself "not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before
of God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead." And it is
obvious from the incident before us and from the fact that when our Lord showed 
Himself to five hundred disciples at once in Galilee, probably a day or two after this, 
some even of them doubted--it is obvious from this that no good or permanent effect 
could have been produced by His appearing to all and sundry. It might have served as a 
momentary triumph, but even this is doubtful; for plenty would have been found to 
explain away the miracle or to maintain it was a deception, and that He who appeared 

34. was not the same as He who died. Or even supposing the miracle had been admitted, 
why was this miracle to produce any more profound spiritual effect in hearts unprepared
than the former miracles had produced. It was not by any such sudden process men 
could become Christians and faithful witnesses of Christ’s resurrection. "Men are not 
easily wrought upon to be faithful advocates of any cause." They advocate causes to 
which they are by nature attached, or else they become alive to the merit of a cause only 
by gradual conviction and by deeply impressed and often repeated instruction. To such a 
process the Apostles were submitted; and even after this long instruction their fidelity to 
Christ was tested by a trial which shook to the foundations their whole character, which 
threw out one of their number for ever, and which revealed the weaknesses of others.
In other words, they needed to be able to certify Christ’s spiritual identity as well as His 
physical sameness. They were so to know Him and so to sympathise with His character 
that they might be able after the Resurrection to recognise Him by the continuity of that 
character and the identity of purpose He maintained. They were by daily intercourse 
with Him to be gradually led to dependence upon Him, and to the strongest attachment 
to His person; so that when they became witnesses to Him they might not only be able to
say, "Jesus whom you crucified rose again," but might be able to illustrate His character 
by their own, to represent the beauty of His holiness by simply telling what they had seen
Him do and heard Him say, and to give convincing evidence in their own persons and 
lives that He whom they loved on earth lives and rules now in heaven.
And what we need now and always is, not men who can witness to the fact of 
resurrection, but who can bear in upon our spirits the impression that there is a risen 
Lord and a risen life through dependence on Him.
JOHN MACDUFF 1-14, “
"Afterward Jesus appeared again to His disciples, by the Sea 
of Tiberias. It happened this way . . ." John 21:1-14
We are once more summoned in thought, in this beautiful closing chapter of John's 
Gospel, to the Lake of Gennesaret. Since we last followed the footsteps of Jesus there,
the great event had been accomplished. That Adorable Being, whose miracles of love 
and power had hallowed its shores, had expired in anguish on the cross, and risen in 
triumph from the tomb. The mighty debt of ransomed myriads had been paid; glory 
had been secured to God in the highest; peace on earth, and good-will had been 
granted to men!
We do not wonder to find that the Disciples have returned again to their native sea, 
when we recall the announcement referred to in the preceding chapter, made first by 
the angels and repeated by the Lord Himself, that He was "to go before them into 
Galilee," and that there they were to see Him.
We naturally love those localities which have been specially consecrated to us by 
early and hallowed associations. No spot is so dear to a hero, on his return from the 

35. scene of his triumphs, as the village where he was born, or the banks of the stream 
where childhood, in its young morning of joy and hope, delighted to wander. More 
cherished still is the place associated with spiritual blessings—the room sanctified by 
a father's counsels and a mother's prayers—the dwelling where we held endeared 
communion and fellowship with Christian and congenial hearts—the House of God 
where we first listened to the joyous word which brought life and peace to our souls.
Might not Jesus, as MAN, participate to some degree in such feelings, when we find 
Him now seeking out once more His beloved and honored haunts on Tiberias before 
He ascended to glory? Every creek and bay, every hamlet and mountain slope, had 
some memorial of mingled majesty and love. There poverty, disease, demon fury, 
death itself, had surrendered and succumbed at His word. The very sea and storm 
had conceded to His might, and crouched submissive at His omnipotent mandate.
And if these scenes were sacred and hallowed to the Master, equally sacred would 
they be to the Disciples. There they had listened to His utterances of matchless 
wisdom—there they had been summoned by Him to undertake their Great Embassy. 
Busy as they were now once more at their old occupation on the Lake, wherever they 
turned their eye, its undulating shores must have been fragrant with His name and 
presence. Capernaum rose before them with its crowded memories of power and 
mercy. Yonder were the bifurcated peaks of the Mount, where the most wondrous of 
discourses was uttered—yonder was the plain, flushed now with the loveliness of 
spring, where the Sower had sowed—yonder, in the far north, was the green 
tableland where the barley loaves were dealt out as emblems of mightier spiritual 
blessings—yonder, hiding itself amid sterner nature, was the scene of demoniacal 
conquest—there, yet again, the bleak mountain oratory, where the Lord of all this 
wondrous Panorama poured out His soul in the ear of His Father. And when night 
fell, and the stars looked down, at one moment, from their silent thrones, and the 
next were swept from the heavens by the sudden storm, the Apostle fishermen would
remember the majestic form of Him who walked before on these very waters, and the
Voice that mingled with the moanings of the tempest, saying, "Peace, be still"—"Fear 
not, it is I, do not be afraid."
Can we doubt that these solemn and manifold remembrances would now often tune 
their lips on their lonely night watch—that day after day they would be thus 
interrogating one another, "Where shall we see Him?" "When shall we again hear His
longed-for voice? He is faithful who promised that He would meet us here again. 
Even so; come, Lord Jesus, come quickly."
Seven of them—James and John, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, and probably Andrew 

36. and Philip—have been out on the Lake all night long; but their toil, as on a former 
occasion, is unrecompensed. Morning begins to streak the mountains of Naphtali—
distant Hermon is unveiling his diadem of snow. As they approach within a few 
cubits of the shore, in the grey dawn of that morning light, a solitary figure attracts 
their eye—"they did not know that it was Jesus!" The first word He uttered might 
have told them all!—"Children!" Yet still they recognize Him not! He appears but as a
passing wayfarer whom curiosity has drawn to watch the mooring of the boat on the 
shingle. He inquires if they have any fish captured that might serve for a morning 
meal? They answer despondingly that they had none!
The mysterious Stranger bids them "cast out on the right side of the ship." The result 
was so vast an enclosure of fish that they were unable to draw it to land. The quick-
sightedness of love discerns the divine Presence—the similarity of the present with a 
former occasion has led the Beloved John to scrutinize more closely the person of the
Speaker. Catching up the sweet music of that well-known voice, he is the first to 
reveal the joyous secret, whispering it first with half-trembling lips into the ear of his 
chief associate—"It is the Lord!" Peter, with characteristic impetuosity and fervor, 
wraps around him his coarse fisherman's tunic, springs into the sea and swims a 
hundred yards to shore, in order that he may cast himself soonest at the feet of his 
Great and Good Master. The other disciples follow behind, dragging with them the 
net with its encumbering load!
Who can describe the profound emotion of that meeting at that calm hour when all 
nature was hushed and still? It is simply and artlessly told in the Gospel narrative. 
No strong or exaggerated effects are inserted by the Apostle to mutilate the simple 
grandeur of the picture. Not a tear, not a word, not a question is recorded. No, in 
significant silence they confront the Holy One—"None of the disciples dared ask him,
Who are You? knowing that it was the Lord!" But there was an unusual—it may be a 
miraculous—provision ready for them at that landing place—"a fire of coals, fish laid 
thereon, and bread." The feast had been prepared by their adorable Lord. Before 
inviting to partake of it, however, He bade them drag their nets to land. Peter in a 
moment complied with the request, and it is specially noted that, as full as the net 
was, and that too of "large fish," it was brought on shore unbroken.
"Come and dine" was the brief invitation given and accepted. The Master and his 
seven disciples surround that lowly table. "Jesus came, and took the bread, and gave 
it to them, and fish likewise."
Strange and mysterious transaction! We are at once led to inquire as to its 
signification and meaning. A feast of the kind did not seem in itself necessary at that 

37. spot or hour. The fishermen disciples were near their own Bethsaida dwellings, and 
the risen body of the great Redeemer, we have reason to believe, was not dependent, 
as it was before the Resurrection, on the "bread which perishes" to sustain it. We 
have already found that many of our Lord's actions around these shores were 
symbolic of some great spiritual truths. We cannot for a moment doubt that the 
present is to be classified with these, and that that morning hour and morning meal 
were fraught with momentous lessons to the disciple-guests, and to the Church in 
every age. Let us seek, with God's blessing, to gather from this detailed narration 
some of that SOLEMN INSTRUCTION it was designed to impart, specially to the 
disciples and in the main also to ourselves.
I. Before speaking of the Feast, let us, for a moment, advert to the same general 
lesson, which a previous similar incident furnished, that God honors and consecrates
daily toil.
The disciples met their Lord while they were engaged with their nets and boats, 
prosecuting their former calling. A risen Jesus would thus teach us, that instead of 
worldly industry proving a hindrance and impediment to the religious life, it may 
rather, if not perverted and abused, become the very channel through which God 
delights to meet His people.
It is a healthful and encouraging lesson in this everyday working world of ours—to 
the merchant at his desk and the apprentice at his counter, the artisan at his 
hammer, the ploughman at his field, and the cottager at her wheel. It tells that that 
tear and wear—that "loud stunning tide" of human care and incessant toil so far from
being incompatible with the service of God, may be made by Him the very medium 
for higher and more exalted revelations of Himself.
There are times, indeed, when worldly work—the grinding wheels of business—must 
be hushed, and we are alone with God. There are solemn seasons when the din of 
earth dare not intrude; Closet hours—Sabbath hours—Sanctuary hours, without 
which the spiritual life would languish and die. Jesus had met the Disciples lately, in 
"an upper chamber in Jerusalem." It was their solemn convocation on the first day of
the week—Gennesaret, with its nets and fishing vessels, was forgotten then—it was 
the Day and the Place of prayer and communion. Jesus met them as He delights to 
meet His people still in their Sabbath assembly, and "breathed upon them, and said, 
Peace be unto you, receive the Holy Spirit!" But having shown us these, His own 
disciples, in their Sabbath attire, he would seek to show us them also in the rough 
attire of everyday life.

38. He had left them for a while with the indefinite assurance—"I go before you into 
Galilee, there shall you see Me." How, meanwhile, are they to employ themselves? 
are they to remain in listless inactivity at their native village? are their boats to be 
anchored on the beach, and their old means of honest industry abandoned? No; if 
there be no immediate apostolic work ready for them, like their "beloved brother 
Paul," at a future day, when, side by side with the tentmakers of Corinth, he plied his 
busy task, they will teach a great lesson, to the world and the Church, of how God 
loves honest earnestness in our lawful worldly callings; and how, moreover, diligence
in business may be combined with fervency in spirit serving the Lord! Jesus tells us 
He is to meet us again; but we are not, meanwhile, with hermit spirits, to abandon 
life's great duties. We are to carry out these with unabated ardor. Let us never forget 
that it was while the disciples were out formerly with their fishing craft, toiling all 
night, and returning faint and weary in the morning light, that Jesus met them and 
put honor on their laborious efforts by bidding them, "let down once more for a 
catch"—and filling their empty net with a multitude of fishes!
II. The disciples were reminded, by this renewed miraculous capture, of their former 
call and consecration as FISHERS OF MEN.
Their Lord had put signal honor upon them; constituting them His companions, and 
apportioning for them a work of unparalleled magnitude, responsibility, and honor. 
But during an interval of time fraught with momentous consequences to the world, 
they had proved unworthy of their distinguished trust—they had become traitors to 
their Master—cowards in adversity. Might He not transfer the apostolate to others? 
How could He still confide to the trembling band that had cowered in terror when 
the Shepherd was smitten (one of their number basely denying Him!)—how could He
still confide to them a vast commission which, in the first hour when their heroism 
had been tested, they had basely trampled under foot?
No! they had fainted and grown weary of Him—might He not justly have grown 
weary of them? But "the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the 
earth, faints not, neither is weary. He gives power to the faint; and to those who have 
no might He increases strength." The gospel-net is still to be entrusted to their 
hands. At His word myriads of immortal souls should, through their instrumentality, 
be enclosed in it. He would, moreover, comfort them with the assurance of His 
continual presence and blessing—that, in the darkest night of their worldly or 
spiritual toil, they might think of a Great and Wise Provider—a wakeful eye of 
Heavenly love that would never allow them to toil unowned and unrecompensed. 
While, on the one hand, He would seek them to feel their utter impotency without 
His presence and blessing, He would also assure them of the triumphant success 
which should follow, and must ever follow, His omnipotent word and prompt 

39. obedience to it—that, being "steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of 
the Lord," their labor in the Lord should not be in vain!
III. Another truth this Gennesaret scene was designed to teach, is the victorious and 
safe ingathering of the Church of God at the Resurrection morning.
On the occasion of the former Miraculous Catch, the nets had been broken. These 
nets, on that previous occasion, have been supposed by commentators, from the days
of Augustine downwards, figuratively, to represent the Church of God in its present 
condition. The boats, you will remember, when our Lord then spoke to Peter, were 
still out on the deep, they were "ready to sink"—the weight and struggles of the fish 
broke the meshes of the net, and many of the enclosed escaped into their old 
element. Fit type of the visible Church in its militant state—still on the stormy sea, 
often threatening to sink, the net rent with unholy and unhappy divisions, enclosing 
indiscriminately both "bad and good"—believers and professors—saints and 
hypocrites—those having the form without the power of godliness, who are arrested 
for a season only to return once more to their sinful element.
But in this second miraculous enclosure all is different—the net is not hauled in, 
while the boats are still on the sea—the fishermen are now done with the sea of life, 
its storms and toils, and night-watchings; they have planted their own footsteps on 
the Heavenly shore, and brought their net along with them.
It is a lovely picture of the Resurrection Morn, when all divisions and separations 
among Churches and Christians shall be at an end—when every fish in the sea of 
immortal being, "all the children of God scattered abroad," shall be gathered in. 
Notwithstanding the vast aggregate, not one shall be missing. Over the unbroken net 
the glorified Redeemer will be able to repeat the declaration of His last intercessory 
prayer—"Those whom You gave Me I have kept, and none of them is lost."
IV. Another object Christ had in view, in this morning feast and meeting, was to 
demonstrate His own real and undoubted Humanity.
He wished to convince the disciples that it was no shadowy apparition which, at that 
morning hour, saluted them and then vanished away. It was the Man Christ Jesus—
the same Adorable Being who had been known to them often before on these same 

40. shores in "the breaking of bread."
True it is, indeed, we are fully warranted in believing that His bodily form had 
undergone some mysterious change since the Resurrection. The term here employed 
is significant—"He showed Himself." "His body, after the Resurrection, was only 
visible by a distinct act of His will." It is possible, too, there may have been some 
alteration in feature; perhaps the weary, toil-worn, wasted countenance of the Man 
of Sorrows, those furrowed lines of deep woe, which had imprinted themselves on 
the disciples' last memories in the Garden—these may have been exchanged for an 
aspect of calm elevated joy, befitting the Risen Conqueror.
But one thing they could not mistake—His heart of hearts was unchanged! They 
would not wound Him by questioning His personal identity. This seems to be the 
meaning of the Evangelist's singular statement—"None of the disciples dared ask 
him, Who are You? Knowing Him to be the Lord." They saw, perhaps, some external 
alteration (they must have done so, else why so slow to recognize Him as they were); 
but they knew Him from His words, His looks, His loving soul—they knew Him to be 
the Lord.
He Himself, by the most significant act, confirms the joyful assurance. He reveals 
Himself as an unchanged Savior. Though risen and exalted, and with untold honors 
in prospect, He still condescends to lowly offices of love and mercy. He meets His 
fishermen-apostles in the chill damps of a spring morning on the Lakeshore. He who,
before His decease, washed their feet, and "wiped them with the towel with which he 
was girded," has risen from the grave with the same loving heart which He ever had! 
He meets them at the frugal meal—He prepares that meal with His own hands—He 
partakes with them—He calls the lowly guests His "Children!" He would proclaim, as 
His name and memorial to all generations—"Jesus in His life of humiliation—Jesus 
in His state of exaltation—Jesus risen—Jesus glorified—Jesus crucified—Jesus 
crowned—is the same yesterday, and today, and forever!"
V. In this Feast, Jesus would seem to speak, by anticipation, of a nobler and better 
festival He was then on His way to prepare for His Church in glory.
After the night of toil, and the miraculous catch, came the joyous Banquet. Glad must
have been the surprise to these weary jaded men, after their discouraging labors, to 
find their Greatest and best Friend ready to welcome them on shore, with provided 
pledges of temporal and spiritual blessings. It told a joyous story of the future—it 

41. forewarned, in the first instance, of a possible (no more, a certain) night of 
discouragement—baffled labors—work impeded—souls uncaptured and unsaved. But
all at once, in the hour of utter hopelessness, the Lord gives the word—the nets are 
lowered and filled—the elect are gathered in—the great gospel net with its priceless 
enclosures is brought safely to the Heavenly shore!
Better than all, Jesus Is There!—the world's long night-season is over—the eternal 
morning dawns and the first sight which catches the eye of the triumphant and 
glorified Church is—her Glorified Lord. Faithful to His own promise, He has come 
again to receive them to Himself, that where He is, there they may be also. They who 
have faithfully and manfully toiled through the night of earthly disaster and 
discouragement, shall then "sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob," in His 
Father's kingdom.
Let us rejoice in the prospect of this glorious meeting—May we be among the number
of those who "love His appearing!" Some of you may be out now amid the darkness 
of the earthly sea—the lights in your earthly firmament may be dimmed—one star 
after another, that cheered you over the waves, may be mysteriously extinguished. 
But soon shall daybreak appear; and, standing on the Heavenly shores, in His own 
peerless ineffable love, Jesus will be waiting to greet you with the welcome—"Enter 
into the Joy of your Lord."
And finally, we must regard this whole scene as an encouragement to devoted work 
in the Lord's service.
That Feast was the reward of labor. Had there been no night of toil, no mutual 
invitations to "go fishing," that Holy Stranger would not have met them at day-dawn 
with so gracious a meal and so rich a blessing. "God is not unmindful of your work of 
faith, and your labor of love;" your services to His people and His cause shall not go 
unrecompensed by Him on the Great Day, when "He will give to every man according
as his work has been." Each, remember, has His net of influence and responsibility; 
forbid that we should confront our Lord, at last, on the shores of eternity, with the 
woeful confession—"My time is done, and my work is not done!"
But while there is a word of exhortation and encouragement to all, there seems to be 
a special one for Christ's special Servants—Ministers of the gospel—for the Apostles 
of Gennesaret, and the true "Successors of the Apostles"—successors in their faith 
and zeal, their self-sacrifice and devotion, who are "wise to win souls"—faithfully 

42. letting down the gospel net for the catch.
Their work is concluded. Their Lord himself is standing waiting to receive them at 
the everlasting Feast of His own presence and love. The banquet is prepared—shall 
He issue the invitation, "Come, all things are ready?" No, something still is needed! 
the Almighty Provider has yet some element of bliss to add, before the feast is 
complete. "Bring," He says, "of the fish that YOU have caught!"
Oh, wondrous thought! the faithful Servants of Christ—the "Fishers of men"—are 
told by their Lord, on that joyous morn, to bring with them the immortal souls they 
have captured! Assembled at the heavenly feast—with the Savior before them, and 
the white-robed band of immortals saved through their instrumentality, seated by 
His side—they shall be enabled, in Paul's burning words of triumph, to exclaim, 
"What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not YOU in the presence of the 
Lord Jesus?"
PULLIT, “
After these things Jesus manifested himself again t o the disciples at 
the sea of Tiberias. The opening formula is one often adopted by John (see
particularly Joh_2:12; Joh_5:1, Joh_5:14;Joh_6:1); considerable periods of time and cycles of
ministry are frequently covered by it. Another chapter is opened, another series of events to be
recorded which had left undying impression on the apostle's mind, and, in full view of numerous
other traditions, was chosen by himself as especially worthy of record. "Jesus manifested
himself." In Joh_2:11 we hear that "he manifested his glory;" now he manifested his Person, as an
act of his own will. He was "manifested in the flesh" (1Ti_3:16), but now that flesh was itself more
directly under the control of his personality, and the mere sensuous eye and carnal
understanding could not without his special permission realize that wondrous presence. The
passive form of the verb is used in Mar_16:12, Mar_16:14. The touch of feeling involved in the
active voice must not be overlooked. The "again" clearly points back to the previous
manifestations described in Joh_20:14, Joh_20:19, Joh_20:26. On each occasion his coming,
though in a recognizable human body, was a body (a /ορφή , not a σχῆ/α ) which had the
qualities of spirit. "The disciples" are afterwards mentioned by name. It was to disciples only that
he "appeared." Believers in him were those alone who could see this spiritual body. The effect
produced upon them was that of objective reality, but this was made to prepared spirits. Such a
proceeding is akin to all the grander operations of nature, and the most august manifestations of
God. "At the sea of Tiberias." This is the only place where the "sea of Galilee," or of
"Gennesareth," is called the "sea of Tiberias." That it was identical with the familiar lake is evident
from the known site of Tiberias (now represented by the modern town Tubarieh), a city which is
mentioned by Josephus ('Ant.,' 18.2.3; 'Bell. Jud.,' 2.9. 1; 'Vit.,' §§ 12, 13, 64), and which, from its
schools of learned men, had a great place in later Jewish history. Moreover, in Joh_6:1, Joh_6:23,
if the Greek be accurately rendered, the writer spoke of "the sea of Galilee, of Tiberias,"
interpreting the name well known by the Jews, through another name by which it would be better
recognized by Gentiles (see note on Joh_6:1). Dr. Farrar, 'Message of the Books,' sees in the
nomenclature a hint of the later origin of the Fourth Gospel than the date assigned to the synoptic
narrative. 'Er; is used because the shore where they saw him was a raised beach or cliff" above"
the sea. It must be observed that the same phrase is used inJoh_6:19 and Mat_14:25 for Christ's
walking "upon the sea;" but the ἐπὶ is itself explained here by the αἰγιαλόν of Mat_14:4, just as the
preposition receives elsewhere more literally another meaning from the context. And he 

43. manifested himself thus; "on this wise," i.e. after the manner to be described. This is the
commencement of our Lord's discourses on the kingdom of God (Act_1:3). This was the
beginning of the great fulfillment of his own predictions (Mat_26:32; Mat_28:10), and of the angel's
words to the women. The narrative gives the deep heart'tones and genuine teaching of the risen
Lord.
PULPIT 1-14, “(1) There are no rational external grounds for attributing any portion of Joh_21:1
25. to any other hand than to that of the author of the previous portion of the Gospel. Manuscript
authority is entirely unanimous in assuming the integrity of the Gospel in this respect. There could
not have been any period when the first twenty chapters were published without the
accompaniment of this "appendix." If any appreciable time had elapsed when this was the ease,
the fact would have been testified by the discrepancy of the codices, or references, or versions of
antiquity. It seems that there is some dubiety in the original form of Codex à
 as to the twenty<fifth
verse, though the doubt of its editor did not extend to Joh_21:24. Critics are divided, however, on
purely subjective and internal considerations. Even Hengstenberg, who urgently maintains that
the chapter is an original and integral portion of the Gospel, yet feels the contrast so great in its
general tone that, apart from the spiritual and allegorical interpretation to which he resorted, he
would "have preferred to pass the whole chapter by." Doubtless there are details which are to
some extent staggering; but the burden of argument is strongly in favor of its Johannine origin,
whatever may be its precise meaning. Joh_21:14 15
 are without question eminently and
luminously Johannine, and the reference to the second advent is in entire harmony
with Joh_14:3
 and other passages of the valedictory discourse. The use of a few words and
phrases like πρωίας γινοVένης
 for πρωΐ́  , and of τολVᾶν and ἐξετάζειν , is so trifling that similar
deviations from customary phrase might really be found in almost every other chapter. The whole
chapter forms a complete paragraph, well compacted, and it cannot be torn to pieces. So that we
conclude, both on internal and external grounds, that all difficulties are surmounted by the
supposition that the author, after making a formal close to his Gospel as a whole,
with Joh_14:30
 and Joh_14:31 of the previous chapter, did, before publication, either
contemporaneously or shortly afterwards, produce an appendix, which was closely connected
with the preceding, yet with a different but highly significant intention.
(2)
 Critics have differed upon the intention. Some have urged that it is simply a continuation and
completion of the narrative, with the object of revealing the personality of the author and affording
the means of identification. Ewald, with Grotius and Keim, suggests, indeed, that it was written by
John the presbyter, or some friend of the apostle under his sanction, with no intention of
concealing his part in the composition. Others have supposed that the motive was to explain the
origin of the legend that had arisen with reference to the prolongation of the apostle's life, by
linking it to the veritable words of the Master himself. The view of Dr. Westcott is that the
conviction of Thomas (Joh_20:24 29) is the key to the method of this continuative narrative; that
the writer proceeds to give other and analogous illustrations of the method in which obstacles to
faith may be overcome. I think, with Dr. Salmond, in an article in the Monthly Interpreter, April,
1885, that all the incidents proceed on the supposition that the disciples had all come to a clear
understanding that the Lord had risen. They were beginning to estimate the new light that this
would cast on human life, and a believer's duty in the world. The great majority of modern critics
see in it the representation, by the aid of one of the numerous manifestations of the forty days
before the Ascension, of the nature of our Lord's continuous presence with his disciples to the
end of time; his participation and enjoyment in the work which he had assigned to them; the
special commission he gave to the two conspicuous and beloved disciples, with indications of the
meaning of apostolic work, the perils it might encounter, and the principles of holy service till he
should come again in his glory. Those who regard the Gospel as a pious romance treat the
chapter as a spiritualization of the Acts of the Apostles written by a theologian of the second
century. Thus Thorns. Very many of these have called attention to the obvious references in this

44. narrative to the Galilaean ministry and service of the fishermen as given in the synoptic records,
with the points of special contrast between the first and the latest draught of fishes. Some, in an
adverse sense, have supposed that the evangelist simply transfers, from the commencement of
the Galilaean ministry, the whole incident, and modifies the details to suit his different ideas
concerning the Lord and his apostles. This is contradictory of the entire theory that we have urged
with reference to the Gospel itself. Those who are not strongly prejudiced against the idea of
harmonizing the four narratives rightly show that John here blends the twofold traditions,
preserved in Matthew and Luke, of the scenes of our Lord's post<resurrection self<manifestations.
Matthew lays all his emphasis on our Lord's appearance in Galilee, for which he had prepared the
disciples on the night of the Passion (Mat_26:32), and again by the message of the angels
(Mat_28:10); and this he sets forth in great majesty, corresponding probably with St. Paul's
assurance that it was made or accompanied by an appearance to more than five hundred
brethren at once. Luke, on the other hand, fails to refer to an Galilaean appearance, and confines
his record to the self<manifestations in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, or on the Mount of Olives.
John, with characteristic differences, shows that he well remembers special appearances to the
disciples in Jerusalem, and also on the familiar shores of the Lake of Tiberias, confirming,
therefore, the value of each of the groups of facts recorded in the synoptic Gospels.
Once more, it is contended by many who admit the composition of the twenty<first chapter to be
by St. John, that he was here producing a striking epilogue to the whole, which answers in many
ways to the prologue in the first chapter; that as the prologue illustrates
(a)
 the pre<incarnation energy and presence of the Loges (Joh_1:1 5), so we have hero the idea of
the post<resurrection energy and presence of the "Son of God" in the work of the Church,
watching, waiting, guiding, helping, co<operating with his own, "who received him, and to whom
he gave power to become sons of God;"
(b)
 that as in Joh_1:6  we have the various methods by which the οἱ ἴδιοι receive and bear witness
to the archetypal light, from John the Baptist to the company of the regenerated, so here
fromJoh_1:14 19
 we have a representation of the principle of witness, the powers and ends of holy
love, the methods and law of Divine pleasing; and
(c)
 that as in Joh_1:14 18  the prologue sets forth his first coming in the flesh full of grace and truth,
in Joh_1:20 23
 the risen Lord predicts and to a certain extent defines the second coming. This is a
very attractive, if somewhat conjectural, series of comparisons. It cannot be said that these
analogies do not exist. The correspondence consists in the two sets of facts rather than in the art
of the writer. The true representation of the efficacy of the Lord's resurrection<life and ascended
majesty is contained historically in the "Acts," which are far more certainly "Acts of the Risen
Lord" than "Acts of the Apostles," and are contained prophetically in the Revelation of St. John.
We have in this appendix or epilogue to the Gospel, indications and specimens of the kind of
intercourse which prevailed between Jesus and his disciples during the forty days, and a
specimen which, after the manner of John, made the deepest and most ineffaceable impression
upon his own mind. It was, indeed, the third appearance to the apostles after his resurrection, but
not the last. M'Clellan, in his special dissertation on the subject, treats with great warmth and
vigorous denunciation the theory of the Gospel being concluded with Joh_20:1 31., and of the
subsequent addition by the apostle of Joh_21:1 25. His arguments are little better than assertions,
based upon the translation or paraphrase which he gives of the πολλὰ Vὲν οὖν
 , etc.,
of Joh_20:30. This is as follows: "' Accordingly (
 οὖν ), whilst it is true ( Vὲν ) that Christ wrought
many other miracles in the presence of his disciples, besides (
 καὶ ) those which are written in the
Holy Scriptures of this book, yet (
 δὲ ) these which are recorded, are recorded with this special
object, that ye may believe in Christ [though ye have not seen him], and that believing, ye might
have life in his Name.'
"The appropriateness of the position and language of the comment in reference only to this one

45. particular incident is obvious; and the conclusion theory tumbles to the ground. With it," he adds
with characteristic impetuosity, "deservedly perishes the dangerous appendix theory
concerning Joh_21:1 25." After enumerating numerous theories with derogatory comment, he
adds, "But for the hypothesis that the Gospel originally ended with Joh_20:1 31., the theory (of its
being an appendix) would never have been heard of, and with the utter collapse of that
hypothesis, it is shattered to atoms! So perish, we may firmly believe, one after another, the
conceits of ' modern criticism.'" Of course, the two ideas stand and fall together. No words are
needed to vindicate one of these positions without the ether. It is unfortunate that, in paraphrasing
the clause on which the conclusion rests, Mr. M'Clellan should have begged the question at issue
by introducing a phrase which gives the apostolic comment a specific reference to the words of
Jesus as addressed to Thomas, and omitted the weighty reference to the whole of the proof
which demonstrates that "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." This able commentator often
forces on his reader the contradictory of his own conclusions.
 
LANGE, “[The last chapter is generally regarded as a mere Appendix. Dr. Lange views it as the
Epilogue which corresponds to the Prologue, (Joh_1:1 18), and presents, in typical outline,
the post'resurrection history
of Christ, His perpetual, spiritual presence in, and guidance of, the
Church; as the Prologue presents His history before the Incarnation, and the body of the Gospel,
Hisearthly history. Lange’s exegetical and doctrinal
commentary of this plain, unassuming, yet
most significant chapter, is exceedingly rich and ingenious, and leaves but little room for
additions. Dr. V. W. Krummacher, the prince of German pulpit orators, told me in Elberfeld, on
Easter Monday, 1844, after delivering a magnificent discourse on Joh_21:1 14, that he had
prepared no less than fifteen different sermons on this section, and had found it inexhaustible in
homiletical wealth. The other sections are equally rich. Ch. 20. is the Gospel for Easter Sunday.
Ch. 21 the Gospel for the Easter<Week, as irradiated by the Sun of the Resurrection. It is a
picture of Christian life, and the life of the Church, with its contrasts and changes,—festive joy
and hard work, poverty and abundance, failure and success, humility and loftiness, activity and
rest, losing and finding the Lord, longing for Him and rejoicing in His presence.
On the genuineness
of this chapter, I add the testimonies of an English and an American scholar.
Canon Westcott (in his excellent Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, Boston ed., p. 258,)
says: “This last chapter (21) of his Gospel is in every way a most remarkable testimony to the
influence of St. John’s person and writings. Differences of language, no less than the abruptness
of its introduction and its substance, seem to mark it clearly as an addition to the original
narrative; and the universal concurrence of all outward evidence, no less certainly establishes its
claim to a place in the canonical book. It is a ratification of the Gospel, and yet from the lips of him
who wrote it; it allows time for the circulation of a wide<spread error, and yet corrects the error by
the authoritative explanation of its origin. The testimony, though upon the extreme verge of the
Apostolic period, yet falls within it, and the Apostle, in the consciousness (as it seems) of
approaching death, confirms again his earlier record, and corrects the mistaken notion, which
might have cast doubt upon the words of the Lord.” Ezra Abbott, in his and Hackett’s ed. of
Smith’s Bibl. Dict.,
vol. II, p. 1430, note b., maintains, with the best German commentators, that
the 21st ch. contains almost all the peculiarities of John’s style, and that the points of difference
are insignificant, compared with the striking agreement. He adds: “On the supposition, however,
that the Gospel is not genuine, this Appendix presents a problem which seems to admit of no
reasonable solution. What motive could there have been for adding such a supplement to a
spurious work after the middle of the second century? Was it needful, fifty years or more after the
Apostle’s death, to correct a false report, that it was promised him that he should not die? Or what
dogmatic purpose could this addition serve? And how is its minuteness of detail, and its
extraordinary agreement in style with the rest of the Gospel to be explained? It may be said that it
was designed to give credit to the forged Gospel, by a pretended attestation. But was the whole
chapter needed for this? And what credit could a fictitious work of that period derive from
an anonymous
testimony? Had such been the object, moreover, how strange that the Apostle

46. John should not be named as the author! The only plausible explanation, then, of Joh_21:24 25,
seems to be, that they are an attestation of the trustworthiness of the Gospel, by those who first
put it into general circulation—companions and friends of the author, and well known to those to
whom it was communicated; and the only plausible account of the first 23 verses of the chapter
is, that they are a supplementary addition [?], which proceeded directly from the pen, or
substantially from the dictation of the author of the rest of the Gospel.” The Johannean origin of
John 21 is denied or doubted by Grotius, Clericus, Hammond, Semler, Paulus, Lücke, De Wette,
Credner, Bleek, Baur, Keim, Scholten, etc; defended by Wetstein, Lampe, Eichhorn, Kuinoel,
Hug, Guericke, Tholuck, Schleiermacher, Olshausen, Luthardt, Ebrard, Hengstenberg, Godet,
Alford, Westcott, Wordsworth, (who, in a long note, p. 362, maintains a view somewhat similar to
that of Dr. Lange). The latest hypothesis brought, out by Prof. Cassel, (1871), is that John wrote
the 21st chapter, and endorsed the rest, which was originally written by his brother James. The
first is true, the last is a worthless fancy.]
[The only argument worth mentioning against the Johannean origin of chap. 21, is derived from a
few rare and unimportant expressions, as ἔñ÷åóèáé óýí
(Joh_21:3) for the usual
Johanneanἀêïëïõèåῖí
; ðñùÀáò ãåíïìÝíçò (4) for ðñùÀ and ἐîáôÜæåéí (12); öÝñåéí (18)
for ἄãåéí
. But these peculiarties are natural and easily explained from the context, and are more
than counterbalanced by the number of Johannean words and phrases, as ìåôÜ
ôáῦôá
(Joh_21:1), ἡ èÜëáóóá ôῆò ÔéâåñéÜäïò (1), ὀøÜñéïí (9, 10, 13), ðáéäéá . (5), ìÝíôïé . (4),
the double ἀìÞí
(18).ÍáèáíáÞë , (2) for Bartholomew, the form Èùìᾶò ὁ ëåãüìåíïò
Äßäõìïò
(2), Óßìùí ÐÝôñïò (2, 3, 7, 11, 15), ὁ ìáèçôὴò ὅí ἠãÜðá ὁ Ἰçóïõ • ò (7), as well as by the
unanimous testimony of the manuscripts and ancient versions, which contain the whole chapter
as an integral part of the Gospel. The only<question is as to Joh_21:24 25, whether they are
likewise from John, or an attestation by the hand of his surviving pupils and friends. Lange
regards also these last two verses as Johannean with the exception of the phrase: “And we
know
that his testimony is true.” They conclude the Epilogue, and correspond to the conclusion of the
Prologue, Joh_1:18, and the conclusion of the main body of the Gospel, Joh_20:30; Joh_20:30.—P.
S.]
Joh_21:1. After these things
—[ Ìåôὰ ôáῦôá ],—I.e., which, in Jerusalem, had already secured
the confirmation of the disciples in the faith. [Several days must have elapsed since the last
meeting, (Joh_20:26), for the disciples had in the meantime, according to the Lord’s direction,
returned to Galilee. (Mat_28:7; Mat_28:10; Mat_28:16; 1Co_15:6) Afterwards they again proceeded
to Jerusalem, to witness the ascension from Mount Olivet, (Luk_24:50
ff.; Act_1:1 12), and to be
filled with the promised Spirit (Acts 2).—P. S.]
Jesus manifested Himself
[ ἐöáíÝñùóåíἑáõôüí ].—Is an indication of His higher manner of
appearing intended? De Wette finds in the expression the indication of a ghostly existence;—
Luthardt that of a moving in a sphere of the invisible; this, Meyer impugns. The ghostliness, of
course, cannot exclude His bodiliness, nor can His invisibility exclude His power of appearing.
Nevertheless, we believe that something is meant here, other than the higher manner of
appearing. In accordance with John’s method of using ðÜëéí
, the word seems indicative, not of
His third manifestation after the resurrection, but of a second new, higher manifestation of His
glory at the Lake of Gennesareth, in contradistinction to that first manifestation of His glory at the
same Lake, of which we have an account in chap. 6.
At the Lake of Tiberias
[ ἐðὶῆòèáëÜóóçò ôῆò ÔéâåñéÜäïò ]—The demonstrations of the Risen
One still connect themselves with the old life<order of the disciples, especially the disciples in the
wider sense. Agreeably to this order of life, from the Easter<feast [Passover] in Jerusalem they
returned to Galilee, preparing themselves shortly afterwards for attendance upon the Feast of
Pentecost. This old order of life, observed by the disciples, was, however, oh the point of being

47. dissolved, inasmuch as they brought their festal journeys into harmony with the new interest.
Accordingly, after the Paschal Feast, they remained yet a Sunday in Jerusalem, and returned
thither a long while before the Pentecostal Feast. But for the intervening time, Jesus had
appointed His principal meeting with the circle of disciples, in the broader sense of that term, in
Galilee, and His promise was fulfilled according to Matthew 28; comp. 1 Corinthians 15. That
meeting, however, was doubtless preceded by Jesus’ first manifestation in Galilee, at the lake,
seven disciples being present. We find those busied again with their domestic trade; this
circumstance points to the earliest period subsequent to their return home. They were,
temporarily, without further occupation and instruction; they must wait for the Lord. The direction
to tarry in Jerusalem (Luk_24:49) applies to the period following the ascension.
Now He manifested Himself on this wise
[ ἐöáíÝñùóåíäὲ ïὔôùò ],—In the following, stress is
laid, not particularly upon Christ’s issuing forth from invisibility, but upon the miraculous manner in
which He made Himself known to the Apostles, and communed with them.

LANGE, “HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See the Doct. Notes. Christ’s first meeting again with His disciples by the Sea of Galilee.—The
old life in the new light of the resurrection: 1. The old persons (Peter, etc.); 2. the old occupation
(going a fishing); 3. the old surroundings (the Sea of Galilee); 4. the old vicissitudes and the old
need (caught nothing); 5. the old connection (Christ); 6. the old miracles (the draught of fishes); 7.
the old feasts (the repast). Everything in a new light of life, peace and hope.—Christ at the sea of
Galilee, formerly and now: 1. The sea formerly the scene of His first miracles, acts and sufferings;
2. now the mirror of His glory.
The two Easter<feasts in Galilee. 1. The Apostles’ feast by the sea; 2. the Church’s feast on the
mountain (Matthew 28.).—Christ manifests Himself to the Apostles by the sea; for they must
plunge into the sea of nations; to the Church, in the wider sense, on the mountain, for it is to be
the firm city, stablished upon the mountain of the Lord.—The disciples, as sons of the
resurrection, in their true unanimity: 1. How harmonious in their differences (all gladly following
the foot of Peter, the glance of John). They all confess their need unanimously: “No;” but without
complaint, Joh_21:5. There is no braggart among them and none who is disheartened. They are
obedient in unison. Their faces are all set toward the Lord in one love; they are all filled and made
happy with the one thought of His presence. 2. How rich in life and manifold in their unanimity
(Peter, John: the disciples in the ship).—The Kisen One in the gradualness of His glorious
manifestation : 1. The strange form in the morning twilight on the shore; 2. the sympathizing
question; 3. the confident direction; 4. the mysterious preparation of a fire; 5. the condescending
community of goods (bring hither of the fish); 6. the glorious invitation; 7. the complete
manifestation in its familiarity and sublimity.—Christ considered in respect to the riches of His life
amongst His people: 1. Mysterious, and familiar; 2. Master and Servant; 3. Host and Guest; 4. a
heavenly Apparition and a festive Companion.—Transformation of the old form of life into the new
in the kingdom of the Kisen One: 1. The old calling becomes a new symbol of life; 2. the old home
a new vestibule of heaven; 3. the old need a new divine blessing; 4. the old labor a new religious

48. service; 5. the old partnership a new fellowship in Christ; 6. the old discipleship a new apostolate.
—The heavenly refreshment of the disciples, the preparation for a solemn conversation and
revelation.
Starke: Osiander: Handicrafts are well<pleasing to God; and godly craftsmen should assist one
another in love and harmony, Psa_128:1 2; Rom_16:1 2.—Cramer: A work goes on well and
speedily when we set about it with united hands and hearts. Concord nourishes men, discord
consumes them, Gal_5:15.—Temptation faileth not to be present in the assemblies of
believers,Sir_2:1.—It seemeth often unto godly Christians as if their diligence and labor were
utterly in vain, and yet such seasons are but meant by God for the trial of their faith, Isa_65:23.—
Osiander: God knoweth the right time.—Zeisius: Although Jesus is still so near to His people, His
presence is not always recognized by them, nor the secret grace heeded.—God’s children are
oft<times at a loss for food, but their Heavenly Father remedieth their case and nourisheth
them, Mat_6:26 27.—But He whose name is called Counsellor
(Isa_9:6), gave them good counsel
as to how they should do.—Behold how Jesus can by His blessing in an instant repay His people
for the painful toil that they have deemed lost.—Zeisius: When we faithfully wait on our calling,
the Lord careth for our preservation meanwhile; and when no more means are in our possession,
He can quickly provide them.—Hedinger: How friendly and gracious are the ways of the Lord!
even temporal blessings must speak of His love, Psa_25:10.—Zeisius: The wonder<doing hand of
the Lord knoweth neither measure nor limit, Psa_106:28.—Ibid.: Unto our bodies, after toil and
labor endured, the Lord doth grant needful refreshment; and after the brief toilsomeness of this
time, He will in heaven eternally regale our souls.—Hedinger: Open, dear soul! the Lord would
sup with thee, Rev_3:20,—Zeisius: So many appearances of the risen Jesus; so many seals of
our perfect redemption and reconciliation with God, Rom_4:24.
Gerlach: The time was still when they, the Holy Ghost not yet being poured out upon them, must
become sensible of the impotence of their own strength; Jesus still stood, like One partially
unknown to them, beside their own efforts.—Braune: “But how the Redeemer hath hallowed all
things into symbols of the universal activity incumbent upon us all in His kingdom! The prince and
his vicegerents, the mighty and armed warrior, the calculating merchant, the intelligent
husbandman, the careful housefather, I the tender mother, the faithful servant, the son,
acquainted with his father’s will, the hospitable ouseholder, the peaceful gardener,—everything
is
drawn into this holy circle of refreshing pictures” (Schleiermacher).—In every calling Christ and
His Spirit may be obtained, just in
that calling; men need not fly to woods, vales, cloisters. The
odor of sanctity can diffuse itself about every man’s profession as it did over the occupation of the
disciples at the sea of Gennesaret.—At that
draught [Luk_5:4 ff.] Peter said: “Lord, depart from
me, I am a sinful man;” he said this in the weakness of his faith and of his knowledge, and in the
confusion of his mind, as though the nearness of the Holy One brought danger to him. This
feeling he had surmounted; though conscious still of being a sinful man, he was more strongly

49. convinced that the proximity of Jesus is always and everywhere salutary.—Of what value was the
intimation of the calm John: “It is the Lord!” To note and point out the divine in life is a signal
service of love.—Yea, the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want
(Psa_23:1). Come, Lord Jesus, be
our Guest; bless what Thou hast bestowed!
Gossner: The right side is that of the elect. When the net is cast on that side, the fish enter into
the net of themselves. The blessing that God puts in the mouth of the preacher along with His
word, is really the source of all the fruit he produces.—It is the Lord! said the disciple whom
Jesus loved,—he knew His Master first. A friend knows his friend by his walk, his step; so John
knew the Lord by the fortunate draught of fishes. Ah, thought lie, the Lord hath played us this
loving trick; I know Him, that is His way.—Peter forgot and deserted the net with the multitude of
fishes—for all the trouble he had had with, it—so soon as he saw his Lord again and knew Him.—
Whoso cleaveth so to the Lord and feeleth himself to be so attracted by Him that he can leave all
for the Lord’s sake, he it is that loveth Him, Joh_21:7.—There is the table already spread. This
was to paint His tender Providence vividly before their eyes, and to strengthen them in the faith,
preparatory to their future calling, so that they might never feel afraid of lacking what was needful.
—The net of the Church breaketh not—though never so many great fishes be in it—when it is
drawn at the command of Jesus and by apostolic hands. But when men arbitrarily pull at, the net,
and one pulleth right and another left, it breaketh. And now, alas! what men usually call the net of
the Lord is sorely broken. But the Lord hath His net, the which is not broken. The Lord knoweth
His own.—Jesus here manifests Himself as the Host, the House<father of His little Church.
Heubner: Peter tarrieth not; he showeth his ardent love. Peter’s natural disposition now became
sanctified by love to Jesus. Thus shall all nature be sanctified through grace.
[Craven: From Augustine: Joh_21:3. The Apostles were not forbidden by their apostle<ship from
earning their livelihood by a lawful craft, provided they had no other means of livelihood.
Joh_21:11. In the first draught [Luk_5:6] the net was broken, to signify schisms; but here, to show
that in that perfect peace of the blessed there would be no schisms, the Evangelist
continues, And for all they were so great, yet was not the net broken.——From
Chrysostom: Joh_21:7. The recognition of Jesus brings out Peter and John in their different
tempers of mind; the one fervid,
the other sublime; the one ready, the other penetrating.——From
Gregory: Joh_21:3, The craft which was exercised without sin before conversion, was no sin after
it; wherefore after his conversion Peter returned to fishing; but Matthew sat not down again at the
receipt of custom.—They caught nothing; the fishing was made to be very unlucky, in order to
raise their astonishment at the miracle after.
Joh_21:4. The disciples, inasmuch as they were still upon the waves of this mortal life, were

50. laboring on the sea; but the Redeemer, having by His resurrection thrown off the corruption of the
flesh, stood upon the shore.——From Theophylact: Joh_21:3. In the night<time, before the
presence of the Sun, Christ, the Prophets took nothing; for though they endeavored to correct the
people, yet these often fell into idolatry.
[From Burkitt: Joh_21:1. Jerusalem now becomes a forsaken place, a people abandoned to
destruction: such places wherein Christ is most welcome to preach, shall be most honored with
His presence.
Joh_21:2 3. All human labors and endeavors are in vain, unless Christ, by His presence and
blessing, crown them with success.
Joh_21:4. Christ is not always discerned by us when He is present with us; it is a double
mercy to
enjoy His company, and to know indeed that it is He.
Joh_21:6. When Christ is about to do great things for His people, yet will He have them exert all
possible endeavors of their own; and the want of former success must not discourage from future
endeavors.
Joh_21:7. Cast himself into the sea; It is not a sea of water, no, nor seas of blood, that can keep a
zealous soul at a distance from Christ.
Joh_21:12 14. Christ is still bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; He has taken possession of
heaven in our nature, sitting there in our glorified humanity, clothed with that body which hung in
its blood upon the cross.
[From M. Henry: Joh_21:1 14. Christ has many ways of making Himself known to His people;
usually in His ordinances, but sometimes by His Spirit; He visits them when they are employed in
common business.,
Joh_21:2. It is good for the disciples of Christ to be much together; not only in solemn religious
assemblies, but in common conversation, and about common business; thus they both testify and
increase their affection to, and delight in each other, and edify one another both by discourse and
example.—Thomas; It is well, if losses by our neglects make us more careful afterward not to slip
opportunities.
Joh_21:3. It was commendable in them to go a'fishing; for they did it 1. To redeem time, and not
be idle; 2. That they might help to maintain themselves, and not be burthen<some to any,—They
caught nothing; Even good men may come short of desired success in their honest undertakings:

51. we may be in the way of our duty, and yet not prosper.
Joh_21:4. Jesus stood on the shore; Christ’s time of making Himself known to His people is when
they are most at a loss: When they think they have lost themselves, He will let them know that
they have not lost Him.—It is a comfort to us, when our passage is rough and stormy, that our
Master is at shore, and we are hastening to Him.—The disciples knew not that it was Jesus;
Christ is often nearer
us than we think lie is, and so we shall find afterward, to our comfort.
Joh_21:5. Christ takes cognizance of the temporal
wants of His people, and has promised them
not only grace
sufficient, but food convenient.—Christ looks into the cottages of the poor, and
asks, Children, have ye any meat?
—He has herein set us an example of compassionate
concern for our brethren; there are many poor householders disabled for labor, or disappointed in
it, that are reduced to straits, whom the rich should inquire after thus, Have ye any meat? For the
most necessitous
are commonly the least clamorous.
Joh_21:6. The right side; Divine Providence extends itself to things most minute and contingent.—
Those that are humble, diligent, and patient, though their labors may be crossed, shall
becrowned; they sometimes live to see their affairs take a happy turn after many struggles and
fruitless attempts.—There is nothing lost by observing Christ’s orders.—Those are likely to speed
well that follow the rule of the Word, the guidance of the Spirit, and the intimations of Providence;
for that is casting the net on the right side of the ship.—When we are most at a loss, Jehovah<
Jireh—the Lord will provide.—This miracle could not but put Peter in mind of a former
one, Luk_5:4, etc.; later favors are designed to bring to mind former favors.—An encouragement
to Christ’s ministers to continue their diligence in their work; one happy draught, at length, may be
sufficient to repay many years’ toil at the Gospel net.
Joh_21:7. They that have been with Jesus
will be willing to swim through a stormy sea, a sea of
blood, to come to Him.
Joh_21:7 13. God dispenses His gifts variously: some excel,
as Peter and John; others are
but ordinary
disciples;—yet both the eminent and the obscure shall sit down together with Christ
in glory; nay, and perhaps, the last shall be first;—of those that do excel, some, like John, are
eminently contemplative; others, like Peter, eminently active
and courageous; some are useful as
the Church’s eyes, others as the Church’s hands, and all for the good of the body.—If all the
disciples had done as Peter did, what had become of their fish and their nets? And yet if Peter
had done as they did, we had wanted this instance of holy zeal. Christ was well pleased with
both, and so must we be.—There are several ways of bringing Christ’s disciples to shore
to Him
from off the sea
of this world; some are I brought to Him by a violent death, as the martyrs,
who threw themselves into the sea, in their zeal for Christ; others are brought to Him by a natural

52. death,dragging the net, which is less terrible [but also less speedy]; but both meet at length on
the safe and quiet shore with Christ.
Joh_21:10. Christ would hereby teach us to use what we have; the benefits He bestows upon us
are not to be buried
and laid up, but to be used and laid out.—Ministers, who are fishers of men,
must bring all they catch to their Master.
Joh_21:11. The net
of the Gospel has enclosed multitudes, three thousand in one day, and yet is
not broken; it is still as mighty as ever to bring souls to God.
Joh_21:12. Groundless doubts must be stifled, and not started.
Joh_21:14. It is good to keep account of Christ’s gracious visits; for He keeps account of them,
and they will be remembered
against ns, if we walk unworthily of them. This is now the third; have
we made a due improvement of the first and second? See 2Co_12:14. This is the third, perhaps it
may be the last.
[From Scott: Joh_21:1 14. Christ often permits His (ministerial) servants to labor for a time without
visible success, to prove their faith and patience, to render them more observant of His directions,
or more simply dependent on His assistance; and that their usefulness, when vouchsafed, may
more evidently appear to be His work.——From A Plain Commentary (Oxford):Joh_21:2. Never
more will it be said that “Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when
Jesus came!”—“Wisdom” (that is Christ), is about to “build her House:” wherefore “she hath hewn
out her seven pillars.” Pro_9:1; comp. Gal_2:9.
Joh_21:3. Verily, the discovery that their Lord and their God could suffer the men He loved to
remain in such a low state and precarious condition, should teach Christians for evermore to
submit cheerfully to poverty, as well as to behold with a feeling akin to reverence, the brother of
low degree.—They caught nothing; The “ministers and stewards of His mysteries,” in particular,
are hereby taught that “except the Lord build the House, their labor is but lost that build it.”
Joh_21:4. When the morning was now come,—Jesus stood on the shore; It was a symbol of the
Eternal Morning, when Jesus (who is “the hope of them that remain in the broad sea!”Psa_65:5)
will at last appear: for the Church as yet waiteth, “until the day break and the shadows flee away.”
No longer in the ship with His disciples,—He is seen standing on the fixed immovable shore!
Thither “they shall go to Him, but thence He shall not return to them.”—Knew not that it was
Jesus; The eyes of all “were holden
that they should not know Him.” So enveloped was His risen
Body with something that was Divine, something which He brought from the grave,—that it
allowed not of human affection, but Divine Love to discern it. And it was done to accustom them

53. to walk by faith, and not by sight. For thus it was that our Saviour was recognized by St.
John now. The miracle
was to be the evidence that it was He.
EXPOSITORS BIBLE 1 14, “The removal of the doubts of Thomas restored the Eleven to
unity of faith, and fitted them to be witnesses of the Lord's resurrection. And the Gospel might
naturally have closed at this point, as indeed the last verses of the twentieth chapter suggest that
the writer himself felt that his task was done. But as throughout his Gospel he had followed the
plan of adducing such of Christ's miracles as seemed to throw a strong light on His spiritual
power, he could not well close without mentioning the last miracle of all, and which seemed to
have only a didactic purpose. Besides, there was another reason for John adding this chapter. He
was writing at the very close of the century. So long had he survived the unparalleled events he
narrates that an impression had gone abroad that he would never die. It was even rumoured that
our Lord had foretold that the beloved disciple should tarry on earth till He Himself should return.
John takes the opportunity of relating what the Lord had really said, as well as of recounting the
all<important event out of which the misreported conversation had arisen.
When the disciples had spent the Passover week at Jerusalem, they naturally returned to their
homes in Galilee. The house of the old fisherman Zebedee was probably their rendezvous. We
need not listen to their talk as they relate what had passed in Jerusalem, in order to see that they
are sensible of the peculiarity of their situation and are in a state of suspense.
They are back among the familiar scenes, the boats are lying on the beach, their old companions
are sitting about mending their nets as they themselves had been doing a year or two before
when summoned by Jesus to follow Him on the moment. But though old associations are thus
laying hold of them again, there is evidence that new influences are also at work; for with the
fishermen are found Nathanael and others who were there, not for the sake of old associations,
but of the new and common interest they had in Christ. The seven men have kept together; they
participate in an experience of which their fellow<townsmen know nothing; but they must live.
Hints have been thrown out that seven strong men must not depend on other arms than their own
for a livelihood. And as they stand together that evening and watch boat after boat push off, the
women wishing their husbands and sons good<speed, the men cheerily responding and busily
getting their tackle in trim, with a look of pity at the group of disciples, Peter can stand it no
longer, but makes for his own or some unoccupied boat with the words, "I go a<fishing." The rest
were only needing such an invitation. The whole charm and zest of the old life rushes back upon
them, each takes his own accustomed place in the boat, each hand finds itself once more at
home at the long<suspended task, and with an ease that surprises themselves they fall back into
the old routine.
And as we watch their six oars flashing in the setting sun, and Peter steering them to the familiar

54. fishing ground, we cannot but reflect in how precarious a position the whole future of the world is.
That boat carries the earthly hope of the Church; and as we weigh the feelings of the men that
are in it, what we see chiefly is, how easily the whole of Christianity might here have broken short
off, and never have been heard of, supposing it to have depended for its propagation solely on
the disciples. Here they were, not knowing what had become of Jesus, without any plan for
preserving His name among men, open to any impulse or influence, unable to resist the smell of
the fishing boats and the freshness of the evening breeze, and submitting themselves to be
guided by such influences as these, content apparently to fall back into their old ways and
obscure village life, as if the last three years were a dream, or were like a voyage to foreign parts,
which they might think of afterwards, but were not to repeat. All the facts they were to use for the
conversion of the world were already in their possession; the death of Christ and His resurrection
were not a fortnight old; but as yet they had no inward impulse to proclaim the truth; there was no
Holy Ghost powerfully impelling and possessing them; they were not endued with power from on
high. One thing only they seemed to be decided and agreed about<<that they must live; and
therefore they go a<fishing.
But apparently they were not destined to find even this so easy as they expected. There was One
watching that boat, following it through the night as they tried place after place, and He was
resolved that they should not be filled with false ideas about the satisfactoriness of their old
calling. All night they toiled, but caught nothing. Every old device was tried; the fancies of each
particular kind of fish were humoured, but in vain. Each time the net was drawn up, every hand
knew before it appeared that it was empty. Weary with the fruitless toil, and when the best part of
the night was gone, they made for a secluded part of the shore, not wishing to land from their first
attempt empty in presence of the other fishermen. But when about one hundred yards from the
shore a voice hails them with the words, "Children"<<or, as we would say, "Lads"<<"have you taken
any fish?" It has been supposed that our Lord asked this question in the character of a trader who
had been watching for the return of the boats that he might buy, or that it was with the natural
interest every one takes in the success of a person that is fishing, so that we can scarcely pass
without asking what take they have had. The question was asked for the purpose of arresting the
boat at a sufficient distance from the shore to make another cast of the net possible. It has this
effect; the rowers turned round to see who is calling them, and at the same time tell Him they
have no fish. The Stranger then says, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall
find"; and they do so, not thinking of a miracle, but supposing that before any man would give
them such express instructions he must have had some good reason for believing there were fish
there. But when they found that the net was at once absolutely loaded with fish, so that they could
not draw it into the boat, John looks again at the Stranger, and whispers to Peter, "It is the Lord."
This was no sooner heard by Peter than he snatched up and threw over him his upper garment,
and throwing himself into the water swam or waded ashore.

55. In every trifling act character betrays itself. It is John who is first to recognise Jesus; it is Peter
who casts himself into the sea, just as he had done once before on that same lake, and as he
had been first to enter the sepulchre on the morning of the Resurrection. John recognises the
Lord, not because he had better eyesight than the rest, nor because he had a better position in
the boat, nor because while the rest were busied with the net he was occupied with the figure on
the beach, but because his spirit had a quicker and profounder apprehension of spiritual things,
and because in this sudden turn of their fortune he recognised the same hand which had filled
their nets once before and had fed thousands with one or two little fishes.
The reason of Peter's impetuousness on this occasion may partly have been that their fishing
vessel was now as near the land as they could get it, and that he was unwilling to wait till they
should get the small boat unfastened. The rest, we read, came ashore, not in the large vessel in
which they had spent the night, but in the little boat they carried with them, the reason being
added, "for they were not far from land"<<that is to say, not far enough to use the larger vessel any
longer. Peter, therefore, ran no risk of drowning. But his action reveals the eagerness of love. No
sooner has he only heard from another that his Lord is near, than the fish for which he had been
watching and waiting all night are forgotten, and for him, the master of the vessel, the net and all
its contents might have sunk to the bottom of the lake. What this action of Peter suggested to the
Lord is apparent from the question which a few minutes later He put to him: "Lovest thou Me
more than these?"
Neither would Peter have sustained any serious loss even though his nets had been carried
away, for when he reaches the shore he finds that the Lord was to be their host, not their guest. A
fire is ready lit, fish laid on it and bread baking. He who could so fill their nets could also provide
for His own wants. But there was to be no needless multiplication of miracles; the fish already on
the fire was not to be multiplied in their hands when plenty were lying in the net. He directs them,
therefore, to bring of the fish they had caught. They go to the net, and mechanically, in their old
fashion, count the fish they had taken, one hundred and fifty and three; and John, with a fisher's
memory can tell you, sixty years after, the precise number. From these miraculously provided fish
they break their long fast.
The significance of this incident has perhaps been somewhat lost by looking at it too exclusively
as symbolical. No doubt it was so; but it carried in the first place a most important lesson in its
bare, literal facts. We have already noticed the precarious position in which the Church at this
time was. And it will be useful to us in many ways to endeavour to rid our mind of all fancies
about the beginning of the Christian Church, and look at the simple, unvarnished facts here
presented to our view. And the plain and significant circumstance which first invites our attention
is, that the nucleus of the Church, the men on whom the faith of Christ depended for its
propagation, were fishermen.

56. This was not merely the picturesque drapery assumed by men of ability so great and character so
commanding that all positions in life were alike to them. Let us recall to memory the group of men
we have seen standing at a corner in a fishing village or with whom we have spent a night at sea
fishing, and whose talk has been at the best
old stories of their craft or legends of the water. Such
men were the Apostles. They were men who were not at home in cities, who simply could not
understand the current philosophies, who did not so much as know the names of the great
contemporary writers of the Roman world, who took only so much interest in politics as every Jew
in those troublous times was forced to take<<men who were at home only on their own lake, in
their fishing boat, and who could quite contentedly, even after all they had recently gone through,
have returned to their old occupation for life. They were in point of fact now returning to their old
life<<returning to it partly because they had no impulse to publish what they knew, and partly
because, even though they had, they must live, and did not know how they should be supported
but by fishing.
And this is the reason of this miracle; this is the reason why our Lord so pointedly convinced them
that without Him they could not make a livelihood: that they might fish all the night through and
resort to every device their experience could contrive and yet could catch nothing, but that He
could give them sustenance as He pleased. If any one thinks that this is a secular, shallow way of
looking at the miracle, let him ask what it is that chiefly keeps men from serving God as they think
they should, what it is that induces men to live so much for the world and so little for God, what it
is that prevents them from following out what conscience whispers is the right course. Is it not
mainly the feeling that by doing God's will we ourselves are likely to be not so well off, not so
sufficiently provided for. Above all things, therefore, both we and the Apostles need to be
convinced that our Lord, who asks us to follow Him, is much better able to provide for us than we
ourselves are. They had the same transition to make as every man among ourselves has to
make; we and they alike have to pass from the natural feeling that we depend on our own energy
and skill for our support to the knowledge that we depend on God. We have to pass from the life
of nature and sense to the life of faith. We have to come to know and believe that the
fundamental thing is God, that it is He who can support us when nature fails, and not
that we
must betake ourselves to nature at many points where God fails<<that we live, not by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, and are much safer in doing His
bidding than in struggling anxiously to make a livelihood.
And if we carefully read our own experience, might we not see, as clearly as the Apostles that
morning saw, the utter futility of our own schemes for bettering ourselves in the world? Is it not
the simple fact that we also have toiled through every watch of the night, have borne fatigue and
deprivation, have abandoned the luxuries of life and given ourselves to endure hardness, have
tried contrivance after contrivance to win our cherished project, and all in vain? Our net is empty

57. and light at the rising sun as it was at the setting. Have we not again and again found that when
every boat round was being filled we drew nothing but disappointment? Have we not many times
come back empty<handed to our starting<place? But no matter how much we have thus lost or
missed every man will tell you it is much better so than if he had succeeded, if only his own ill<
success has induced him to trust Christ, if only it has taught him really what he used with
everybody else verbally to say,<<that in that Person dimly discerned through the light that begins
to glimmer round our disappointments there is all power in heaven and on earth<<power to give us
what we have been trying to win, power to give us greater happiness without it.
But this being so, it being the case that our Lord came this second time and called them away
from their occupations to follow Him, and showed them how amply He could support them, they
could not but remember how He had once before in very similar circumstances summoned them
to leave their occupation as fishermen and to become fishers of men. They could not but interpret
the present by the former miracle, and read in it a renewed summons to the work of catching
men, and a renewed assurance that in that work they should not draw empty nets. Most suitably,
then, does this miracle stand alone, the only one wrought after the Resurrection, and most
suitably does it stand last, giving the Apostles a symbol which should continually reanimate them
to their laborious work. Their work of preaching was well symbolised by sowing; they passed
rapidly through the field of the world, at every step scattering broadcast the words of everlasting
life, not examining minutely the hearts into which these words might fall, not knowing where they
might find prepared soil and where they might find inhospitable rock, but assured that after a time
whoso followed in their track should see the fruit of their words. Not less significant is the figure of
the net; they let down the net of their good tidings, not seeing what persons were really enclosed
in it, but trusting that He who had said, "Cast your net on the right side of the ship," knew what
souls it would fall over. By this miracle He gave the Apostles to understand that not only when
with them in the flesh could He give them success. Even now after His resurrection and when
they did not recognise Him on the shore He blessed their labour, that they might even when they
did not see Him believe in His nearness and in His power most effectually to give them success.
This is the miracle which has again and again restored the drooping faith and discouraged spirit
of all Christ's followers who endeavour to bring men under His influence, or in any way to spread
out this influence over a wider surface. Again and again their hope is disappointed and their
labour vain; the persons they wish to influence glide out from below the net, and it is drawn
empty; new opportunities are watched for, and new opportunities arrive and are used, but with the
same result; the patient doggedness of the fisherman long used to turns of ill<success is
reproduced in the persevering efforts of parental love or friendly anxiety for the good of others,
but often the utmost patience is at last worn out, the nets are piled away, and the gloom of
disappointment settles on the mind. Yet this apparently is the very hour which the Lord often
chooses to give the long<sought<for success; in the dawn, when already the fish might be

58. supposed to see the net and more vigilantly to elude it, our last and almost careless effort is
made, and we achieve a substantial, countable success<<a success not doubtful, but which we
could accurately detail to others, which makes a mark in the memory like the hundred and fifty
and three of these fishers, and which were we to relate to others they must acknowledge that the
whole weary night of toil is amply repaid. And it is then a man recognises who it is that has
directed his labour<<it is then he for the moment forgets even the success in the more gladdening
knowledge that such a success could only have been given by One, and that it is the Lord who
has been watching his disappointments, and at last turning them into triumph.
The Evangelist adds, "None of the disciples durst ask Him, Who art Thou? knowing that it was the
Lord"<<a remark which unquestionably implies that there was some ground for the question, Who
art Thou? They knew it was the Lord from the miracle He had wrought and from His manner of
speaking and acting; but yet there was in His appearance something strange, something which,
had it not also inspired them with awe, would have prompted the question, Who art Thou? The
question was always on their lips, as they found afterwards by comparing notes with one another,
but none of them durst put it. There was this time no certification of His identity further than the
aid He had given, no showing of His hands and feet. It was, that is to say, by faith now they must
know Him, not by bodily eyesight; if they wished to deny Him, there was room for doing so, room
for questioning who He was. This was in the most delicate correspondence with the whole
incident. The miracle was wrought as the foundation and encouraging symbol of their whole
vocation as fishers of men during His bodily absence; it was wrought in order to encourage them
to lean on One whom they could not see, whom they could at best dimly descry on another
element from themselves, and whom they could not recognise as their Lord apart from the
wonderful aid He gave them; and accordingly even when they come ashore there is something
mysterious and strange about His appearance, something that baffles eyesight, something that
would no longer have satisfied a Thomas, something therefore which is the fit preparation for a
state in which they were to live altogether by faith and not at all by sight. This is the state in which
we now live. He who believes will know that his Lord is near him; he who refuses to believe will
be able to deny His nearness. It is faith then that we need: we need to know our Lord, to
understand His purposes and His mode of fulfilling them, so that we may not need the evidence
of eyesight to say where He is working and where He is not. If we are to be His followers, if we
are to recognise that He has made a new life for us and all men, if we are to recognise that He
has begun and is now carrying forward a great cause in this world, and if we see that, let our lives
deny it as they may, there is nothing else worth living for than this cause, and if we are seeking to
help it, then let us confirm our faith by this miracle and believe that our Lord, who has all power in
heaven and on earth, is but beyond eyesight, has a perfectly distinct view of all we are doing and
knows when to give us the success we seek.
This, then, explains why it was that our Lord appeared only to His friends after His resurrection. It

59. might have been expected that on His rising from the dead He would have shown Himself as
openly as before He suffered, and would specially have shown Himself to those who had crucified
Him; but this was not the case. The Apostles themselves were struck with this circumstance, for
in one of his earliest discourses Peter remarks that He showed Himself "not to all the people, but
unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose
from the dead." And it is obvious from the incident before us and from the fact that when our Lord
showed Himself to five hundred disciples at once in Galilee, probably a day or two after this,
some even of them doubted<<it is obvious from this that no good or permanent effect could have
been produced by His appearing to all and sundry. It might have served as a momentary triumph,
but even this is doubtful; for plenty would have been found to explain away the miracle or to
maintain it was a deception, and that He who appeared was not the same as He who died. Or
even supposing the miracle had been admitted, why was this miracle to produce any more
profound spiritual effect in hearts unprepared than the former miracles had produced. It was not
by any such sudden process men could become Christians and faithful witnesses of Christ's
resurrection. "Men are not easily wrought upon to be faithful advocates of any cause." They
advocate causes to which they are by nature attached, or else they become alive to the merit of a
cause only by gradual conviction and by deeply impressed and often repeated instruction. To
such a process the Apostles were submitted; and even after this long instruction their fidelity to
Christ was tested by a trial which shook to the foundations their whole character, which threw out
one of their number for ever, and which revealed the weaknesses of others.
In other words, they needed to be able to certify Christ's spiritual identity as well as His physical
sameness. They were so to know Him and so to sympathise with His character that they might be
able after the Resurrection to recognise Him by the continuity of that character and the identity of
purpose He maintained. They were by daily intercourse with Him to be gradually led to
dependence upon Him, and to the strongest attachment to His person; so that when they became
witnesses to Him they might not only be able to say, "Jesus whom you crucified rose again," but
might be able to illustrate His character by their own, to represent the beauty of His holiness by
simply telling what they had seen Him do and heard Him say, and to give convincing evidence in
their own persons and lives that He whom they loved on earth lives and rules now in heaven.
And what we need now and always is, not men who can witness to the fact of resurrection, but
who can bear in upon our spirits the impression that there is a risen Lord and a risen life through
dependence on Him.

60. 2
Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus),
 1c31(1p7sty)Rsf1(1s.(sl17.7ppCsc3ps4)(4s)ts
Zebedee, and two other disciples were
together.
Here are seven, but where are the other four, and why are two just called to others?
These are here because they got the message that Peter was restless and wanted to
go fishing while they waited. If so, this does prove the importance of learning to
wait on the Lord. They went fishing and got nothing so that they would learn to
wait and not fish. Until they received the power of the Spirit they were to wait.
Sometimes Jesus expects us just to do nothing but wait. Here they did a lot of hard
work and had nothing to show for it.
Gill, “
and two other of his disciples; who are thought to be Andrew and Philip; 
which is very likely, since they were both of Bethsaida, 
Joh_1:44 a city in Galilee, and not
far from the sea of Tiberias. Andrew is particularly mentioned by Nonnus: so that here 
were seven of them in all; four of them, according to this account, being wanting; who 
must be James the less, the brother of our Lord, Judas called Lebbaeus, and surnamed 
Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite, or Zealot, and Matthew the publican.
BURKITT, “Observe here, that after Christ was crucified, the disciples returned for a time to
their trade and employment of fishing; though they were called to be fishers of men, yet churches
not being gathered and constituted at present, nor being able to maintain them, they labour with
their hands to supply their present necessities.
Afterwards, when at the feast of Pentecost they had received those visible gifts of the Holy Ghost,
which did furnish them for preaching the gospel to all nations, and they went forth to plant and
propagate the gospel, we may believe they then gave over the labour of their secular callings,
and applied themselves wholly to the work of the ministry. That may be done (Ecclesia 
constituenda) in a church which is constituting, or about to be constituted.
Observe farther, how Peter, with the rest, toil all night, and catch nothing; but no sooner is
Christ come among them, but they inclose a multitude of fishes.
Thereby teaching us, that all human labours and endeavours are in vain, unless Christ by his
presence and blessing crown them with success.
LANGE, “Joh_21:2. There were together [ ἧóáò ὁìïῦ ê . ô . ë .. The witnesses of the
Resurrection, the recipients of the Holy Ghost, returned to their humble work in Galilee, fishing

61. together, probably for the last time! So festive joys and hard work alternate in the life of the
Christian.—P. S.]—It is noteworthy that Thomas is here mentioned after Simon Peter, as the
second disciple. Further we find Nathanael, or Bartholomew, and the two sons of Zebedee (John
and James); together with these, two others of His disciples are enumerated without special
designation. Our first inference would be, that these were Andrew, the brother of Peter, and
Philip, the friend of Nathanael. From the circumstance that the disciples are not named, Meyer
thinks fit to infer that they were disciples in the broader sense; Joh_21:1
seems to contradict this.
John may have omitted the names of the two disciples for two reasons: 1. Because he would
otherwise have been obliged to mention the sons of Zebedee by name, also; 2. Because, it was
his desire, by speaking, at the close, of two
disciples, to induce his readers to make the
computation of the seven. Or is their anonymousness to serve the symbolical purpose of the
Epilogue? Or was he unwilling, by naming the two, to give prominence to the four remaining
ones, who had no part in this feast.? Something enigmatical still attaches to this anonymousness.
Contemplative natures, such as John’s, are undoubtedly dreamily forgetful in certain moments
and relations; it is, therefore, not necessary to infer the two nameless ones to have been disciples
in the wider sense. Here only does he mention the sons of Zebedee together.

Barnes, “
Joh 21:2 - 
There were together - Probably residing in the same place. While they were waiting
for the promise of the Holy Spirit, they still found it proper to be usefully employed. 
Their Master had been taken away by death, and the promised Spirit had not descended 
on them. In the interval - before the promised Spirit was poured upon them - they chose 
not to be idle, and therefore returned to their former employment. It is to be remarked, 
also, that they had no other means of support. While with Jesus, they were commonly 
supplied by the kindness of the people; but now, when the Saviour had died, they were 
cut off from this means of support, and returned to the honest labor of their early lives. 
Moreover, they had been directed by the Saviour to repair to a mountain in Galilee, 
where he would meet them, 
Mat_28:10. This was probably not far from Lake Galilee, so 
that, until he came to them, they would naturally be engaged in their old employment. 
Ministers of the gospel should be willing to labor, if necessary, for their own support, and
should not esteem such labor dishonorable. God has made employment indispensable to 
man, and if the field of labor is not open in one way, they should seek it in another. If at 
any time the people withhold the supply of their needs, they should be able and willing to
seek support in some other honest occupation.
F. W. Faber, “There is a greatness in unknown names; there is an immortality in
quiet duties, attainable by the meanest of human kind, and when the judge shall
reverse the tables many of these last shall be first.”

eb JuCsxI. Who they were to whom Christ now showed himself  (
Joh_21:2): 
not to all the twelve, but to seven of them only. Nathanael is mentioned as 
one of them, whom we have not met with since, ch. 1. But some think he was 
the same with Bartholomew, one of the twelve. The two not named are 
supposed to be Philip of Bethsaida and Andrew of Capernaum. Observe 
here, 1. It is good for the disciples of Christ to be much together; not only in 
solemn religious assemblies, but in common conversa tion, and about 
common business. Good Christians should by this mea ns both testify and 
increase their affection to, and delight in, each other, and edify one another 
both by discourse and example. 2. Christ chose to manifest himself to them 
when they were together; not only to countenance Christian society, but that

62. they might be joint witnesses of the same matter of fact, and so might 
corroborate one another's testimony. Here were seven together to attest 
this, on which some observe that the Roman law required seven witnesses to
a testament. 3. Thomas was one of them, and is named next to Peter, as if he 
now kept closer to the meetings of the apostles than ever. It is well if losses 
by our neglects make us more careful afterwards not to let opportunities 
slip.'
RWP, “There were together ( The saofoi). These seven (Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, 
the sons of Zebedee, and two others). We know that the sons of Zebedee were James and 
John (
Mat_4:21), mentioned by name nowhere in John’s Gospel, apparently because 
John is the author. We do not know who the “two others of his disciples” were, possibly 
Andrew and Philip. It seems to me to be crass criticism in spite of Harnack and Bernard 
to identify the incident here with that in Luk_5:1-11. There are a few points of similarity, 
but the differences are too great for such identification even with a hypothetical common
source.
BENSON, “
John 21:2. There were together — Namely, in one house; Simon Peter, and
Thomas, &c. — Doubtless they often met and conversed together about the great things which they
had seen and heard during the three years in which they had attended on Christ as his disciples,
and especially concerning the late events of which they had been eye<witnesses, namely, the death
and resurrection of their Master. And Christ chose to manifest himself to them when they were
assembled; not only to countenance Christian society, but that they might be joint witnesses of the
same matters of fact, and so might corroborate one another’s testimony. Here were seven together,
to attest what follows. One of these was Thomas, who is named next to Peter, as if he now kept
closer to the meetings of the apostles than ever, in consequence of the rebuke and advice he had
received from Christ. Another was Nathanael, whom we have not met with since we considered the
first chapter of this gospel. Some, however, think he was the same with Bartholomew, one of the
twelve. The two not named are supposed to be Philip of Bethsaida, and Andrew of Capernaum.

HAWKER, “
There were together, Simon Peter, and Thomas, called 
Didymus, and Nathanael, of Cana, in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and 
two other of his disciples.
If the Reader counts over the number here said to be together, he will find it to be seven. 
No doubt, all upon the lookout for the renewed visits of the Lord Jesus. And as those 
here spoken of, were now at the borders of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias,
see 
Joh_6:1 it is evident that they were come here from Jerusalem in obedience to 
Christ’s commands, and as the Lord had promised, to see him. Mat_28:10; Mat_28:16.
MACLAREN, “AN ELOQUENT CATALOGUE
This chapter, containing the infinitely significant and pathetic account of our Lord’s 
appearance to these disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, is evidently an appendix to the 
Gospel of John. The design of that Gospel is complete with the previous chapter, and 
there is a formal close, as of the whole book, at the end thereof. But whilst obviously an 
appendix, this chapter is as obviously the work of the same hand as wrote the Gospel. 
There are many minute points of identity between the style of it and of the rest of the 
work, so that there can be no difficulty or doubt as to whence it came. This enumeration 

63. of these seven disciples, regarded as being the work of John himself, seems to me to be 
significant, and to contain a good many lessons. And I desire to turn to these now.
I. First of all, the fact that they were together is significant.
How did they come to hold together? How had they not yielded to the temptation to seek 
safety by flight, which would have been the natural course after the death of their Leader 
on a charge of treason against the Roman power? The process of disintegration had 
begun, and we see it going on in the conduct of the disciples before the Resurrection. The
‘Shepherd was smitten,’ and, as a matter of course, ‘the sheep’ began to ‘scatter.’ And yet 
here we find them back in Galilee, in their old haunts, and not trying to escape by 
separation, which would have been the first step suggested to ordinary men in an 
ordinary state of things. But where everybody knew them, and they knew everybody, and
everybody knew them to be disciples of Jesus Christ, thither they go, and hold together 
as if they had still a living centre and a uniting bond. How did that come about? The fact 
that after Christ’s death there was a group of men united together simply and solely as 
disciples, and exhibiting their unity as disciples conspicuously, in the face of the men 
that knew them best, this forms a strange phenomenon that needs an explanation. And 
there is only one explanation of it, that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. That drew 
them together once more. You cannot build a Church on a dead Christ; and of all the 
proofs of the Resurrection, I take it that there is none that it is harder for an unbeliever 
to account for, in harmony with his hypothesis, than the simple fact that Christ’s 
disciples held together after He was dead, and presented a united front to the world.
So, then, the fact of the group is itself significant, and we may claim it as being a morsel 
of evidence for the historical veracity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
II. Then the composition of this group is significant.
Taken in comparison with the original nucleus of the Church, the calling of which we 
find recorded in the first chapter of this Gospel, it is to be noticed that of the five men 
who made the Primitive Church, there are three who reappear here by name-viz. Simon 
Peter, John and Nathanael, and Nathanael never appears anywhere else except in these 
two places. Then, note that there are two unnamed men here, ‘two other of His disciples’;
who, I think, in all probability are the two of the original five that we do not find named 
here-viz. ‘Philip and Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother’-both of them connected with 
Bethsaida, the place where probably this appearance of the risen Lord took place.
So, then, I think, the fair inference from the list before us is that we have here the 
original nucleus again, the first five, with a couple more, and the couple more are 
‘Thomas, who is called Didymus’-and we shall see the reason for his presence in a 
moment-and the brother of John, one of the first pair.
Thus, then, to the original little group that had gathered round Him at the first, and to 
whom He had been so often manifested in this very scene where they were standing now,
He is revealed again. There, along the beach, is the place where James and John and 
Simon and Andrew were called from their nets three short years ago. Across yonder, on 
the other side of the lake, is the bit of green grass where the thousands were fed. Behind 
it is the steep slope down which the devil-possessed herd rushed. There, over the 
shoulder of the hill, is the road that leads up to Cana of Galilee, which they had trod 
together on that never-to-be-forgotten first morning, and from which little village one of 
the group came. They who had companied with Him all the time of His too short 
fellowship, and had seen all His manifestations, were fittingly chosen to be the recipients
of this last appearance, which was to be full of instruction as to the work of the Church, 
its difficulties, its discouragements, its rewards, its final success, and His benediction of 

64. it until the very end of time. It was not for nothing that they who were gathered together 
were that first nucleus of the Church, who received again from their Master the charge to
be ‘fishers of men.’
And then, if we look at the list, having regard to the history of those that make it up, it 
seems to me that that also brings us some valuable considerations. Foremost stand, as 
receiving this great manifestation of Jesus Christ, the two greatest sinners of the whole 
band, ‘Simon Peter, and Thomas, which is called Didymus,’ the denier and the doubter. 
Singularly contrasted these two men were in much of their disposition; and yet alike in 
the fact that the Crucifixion had been too much for their faith. The one of them was 
impetuous, the other of them slow. The one was always ready to say more than he meant;
the other always ready to do more than he said. The one was naturally despondent, 
disposed to look ahead and to see the gloomiest side of everything-’Let us also go that we
may die with Him’-the other never looking an inch beyond his nose, and always yielding 
himself up to the impulse of the moment. And yet both of them were united in this, that 
the one, from a sudden wave of cowardice which swept him away from his deepest 
convictions and made him for an hour untrue to his warmest love, and the other, from 
giving way to his constitutional tendency to despondency, and to taking the blackest 
possible view of everything-they had both of them failed in their faith, the one turning 
out a denier and the other turning out a doubter. And yet here they are, foremost upon 
the list of those who saw the Risen Christ.
Well, there are two lessons there, and the one is this-let us Christian people learn with 
what open hearts and hands we should welcome a penitent when he comes back. The 
other is,-let us learn who they are to whom Jesus Christ deigns to manifest Himself-not 
immaculate monsters, but men that, having fallen, have learned humility and caution, 
and by penitence have risen to a securer standing, and have turned even their 
transgressions into steps in the ladder that lifts them to Christ. It was something that the
first to whom the risen Saviour appeared when He came victorious and calm from the 
grave, was the woman ‘out of whom He had cast seven devils,’ and the blessed truth 
which that teaches is the same as that which is to be drawn from this list of those whom 
He regarded, and whom we regard, as then constituting the true nucleus of His Church-a
list which is headed by the blackest denier and the most obstinate and captious sceptic in
the whole company. ‘There were together Simon Peter and Thomas, which is called 
Didymus,’ and the little group was glad to have them, and welcomed them, as it becomes 
us to welcome brethren who have fallen, and who come again saying, ‘I repent.’
Well, then, take the next: he was ‘Nathanael, of Cana in Galilee’; a guileless ‘Israelite 
indeed,’ so swift to believe, so ready with his confession, so childlike in his wonder, so 
ardent in his love and faith. The only thing that Christ is recorded as having said to him 
is this: ‘Because I said. . . believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these.’ A 
promise of growing clearness of vision and growing fullness of manifestation was made 
to this man, who never appears anywhere else in Scripture but in these two scenes, and 
so may stand to us as the type of the opposite kind of Christian experience from that 
stormy one of the doubter and the denier-viz. that of persistent, quiet, continuous 
growth, which is marked by faithful use of the present amount of illumination, and is 
rewarded by a continual increase of the same. If the keynote to the two former lives is, 
that sin confessed helps a man to climb, the keynote to this man’s is the other truth, that 
they are still more blessed who, with no interruptions, backslidings, inconsistencies, or 
denials, by patient continuousness in well-doing, widen the horizon of their Christian 
vision and purge their eyesight for daily larger knowledge. To these, as to the others, 
there is granted the vision of the risen Lord, and to them also is entrusted the care of His 
sheep and His lambs. We do not need to go away into the depths and the darkness in 

65. order to realise the warmth and the blessedness of the light. There is no necessity that 
any Christian man’s career should be broken by denials like Peter’s or by doubts like 
Thomas’s, but we may ‘grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.’ ‘So 
is the kingdom of heaven, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’
Then, still further, there were here ‘the two sons of Zebedee.’ These were the men of 
whom the Master said that they were ‘sons of thunder,’ who, by natural disposition, in so 
far as they resembled one another (which they seem to have done), were eager, energetic,
somewhat bigoted, ready with passionate rebukes, and not unwilling to invoke 
destructive vengeance, all for the love of Him. They were also touched with some human 
ambition which led them to desire a place at His right hand and His left, but the 
ambition, too, was touched with love towards Him, which half redeemed it. But by 
dwelling with Him one of them, at least, had become of all the group the likest his 
Master. And the old monastic painters taught a very deep truth when, in their pictures of 
the apostles, they made John’s almost a copy of the Master’s face. To him, too, there was 
granted in like manner a place amongst this blessed company, and it is surely a trace of 
his hand that his place should seem so humble. Any other but himself would certainly 
have put James and John in their natural place beside Peter. It must have been himself 
who slipped himself and his brother into so inconspicuous a position in the list, and 
further veiled his personality under the patronymic, ‘the sons of Zebedee.’
Last of all come ‘two other of His disciples,’ not worth naming. Probably, as I have said, 
they were the missing two out of the five of the first chapter; but possibly they were only 
‘disciples’ in the wider sense, and not of the Apostolic group at all. Nobody can tell. What
does it matter? The lesson to be gathered from their presence in this group is one that 
most of us may very well take to heart. There is a place for commonplace, 
undistinguished people, whose names are not worth repeating in any record; there is a 
place for us one-talented folk, in Christ’s Church, and we, too, have a share in the 
manifestation of His love. We do not need to be brilliant, we do not need to be clever, we 
do not need to be influential, we do not need to be energetic, we do not need to be 
anything but quiet, waiting souls, in order to have Christ showing Himself to us, as we 
toil wearily through the darkness of the night. Undistinguished disciples have a place in 
His heart, a sphere and a function in His Church, and a share in His revelation of 
Himself.
III. The last point that I touch is this, that the purpose of this group is 
significant.
What did they thus get together for? ‘Simon Peter saith, I go a fishing. They say, We also 
go with thee.’ So they went back again to their old trade, and they had not left the nets 
and the boats and the hired servants for ever, as they once thought they had.
What sent them back? Not doubt or despair; because they had seen Jesus Christ up in 
Jerusalem, and had come down to Galilee at His command on purpose to meet Him. 
‘There shall ye see Him, lo! I have told you,’ was ringing in their ears, and they went back
in full confidence of His appearance there. It is very like Peter that he should have been 
the one to suggest filling an hour of the waiting time with manual labour. The time would
be hanging heavily on his hands. John could have ‘sat still in the house,’ like Mary, the 
heart all the busier, because the hands lay quietly in the lap. But that was not Peter’s way,
and John was ready to keep him company. Peter thought that the best thing they could 
do, till Jesus chose to come, was to get back to their work, and he was sensible and right. 
The best preparation for Christ’s appearance, and the best attitude to be found in by 
Him, is doing our daily work, however secular and small it may be. A dirty, wet fishing 
boat, all slimy with scales, was a strange place in which to wait for the manifestation of a 

66. risen Saviour. But it was the right place, righter than if they had been wandering about 
amongst the fancied sanctities of the synagogues.
They went out to do their work; and to them was fulfilled the old saying, ‘I, being in the 
way, the Lord met me.’ Jesus Christ will come to you and me in the street if we carry the 
waiting heart there, and in the shop, and the factory, and the counting-house, and the 
kitchen, and the nursery, and the study, or wherever we may be. For all things are sacred 
when done with a hallowed heart, and He chooses to make Himself known to us amidst 
the dusty commonplaces of daily life.
He had said to them before the Crucifixion: ‘When I sent you forth without purse or 
scrip, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing.’ And then He said, as changing the 
conditions: ‘But now he that hath a purse or scrip, let him take it.’ As long as He was with
them they were absolved from these common tasks. Now that He had left them the 
obligation recurred. And the order of things for His servants in all time coming was 
therein declared to be: no shirking of daily tasks on the plea of wanting divine 
communications; keep at your work, and if it last all night, stick to it; and if there are no 
fish in the net, never mind; out with it again. And be sure that sooner or later you will see
Him standing on the beach, and hear His voice, and be blessed by His smile.
PULPIT, “
There were together. Not the whole company of the eleven apostles; five are
especially mentioned, and two are left unnamed. The five, of whom the Gospel knows much,
are Simon Peter, whose twofold name denotes that, notwithstanding his grievous failure, he
had not lost his faith, and still stood at the head of the company, the man of rock and the man of
impetuous energy.Thomas called Didymus , whose incredulity had vanished, and whose
devoted love had emerged from the depths of despondency to the loftiest faith, who had come to
feel and say that the risen Christ was both Lord and God. Thomas, who had shrunk from the
society of his fellow'apostles, was now closely united with them, more than he had ever
previously seemed to have been. Thomas is the apostle last mentioned by the evangelist.
Elsewhere he is associated with Philip of Bethsaida, and this town may have been his
home. Nathanael of Cana in Galilee is mentioned by way of recalling the two miracles
recorded by John as having taken place in this "Cana of Galilee" (After hwhr; Joh_4:16). The
former of the miracles followed immediately on the mention of the calling of Nathanael (Joh_1:45).
The reference to the little place in Galilee where the glory of Christ had been first of all seen and
had led to the faith of the disciples, calls attention to the place and province of this manifestation,
and to what was contained in the memory of one of the witnesses. And the (sons £) of 
Zebedee—a phrase used for James and John inMat_20:20; Mat_26:37; Mat_27:56. This is the
only time that Zebedee is mentioned in this Gospel; but the reason for his sons being thus
designated points unmistakably to the first call of these two men to discipleship by the side of this
very lake, after they had witnessed the draught of fishes, becoming from that time forward
"fishers of men". That they should here be mentioned after Thomas and after Nathanael
corresponds with the reticence and modesty of the evangelist. This is still more probable if
the two other disciples were /αθηταί in the broader sense. The simple fact that they are
mentioned after the five apostles has been thought by some to imply that, whosoever these were,
they were not of the number of the eleven. No one writing the story in the second century would,
in an enumeration like this, have placed the proto'martyr James and the intimate friend of Peter,
the great "light of Asia," the admitted author of the Apocalypse, and the spiritual father of
Polycarp and Papias, after Thomas and Nathanael. After his manner, he (the author) here
prepared for the implicit subsequent identification of the "disciple whom Jesus loved," and also
the author of the Gospel, with one of the sons of Zebedee. The supposition that Andrew and
Philip are meant by the "two other disciples" is not without verisimilitude, from their mention
in Afteh hwsh. If this were the case, both of them are practically discriminated from the "disciple
whom Jesus loved" by the obvious references to them elsewhere by name, while "John" never
thus signalizes himself. The mention of seven disciples reveals the love of the writer for the

67. number "seven," with its division into two groups of three and four. And it is remarkable that, if
Andrew and Philip are the unnamed ones, the seven would correspond with the first seven
apostles mentioned in Matthew's enumeration (uwg omasci). Matthew, James the son of
Alphaeus, Judas the brother of James, or Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot were not present.
This, of course, rests on the hypothesis that Nathanael and Bartholomew are identical (Joh_1:45,
note).

3
"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told
them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So
they went out and got into the boat, but that
night they caught nothing.
Here are God’s chosen men, and yet they catch nothing. When it comes to fishing
there are no perfect methods, for the best of men can be frustrated. In this case it
was a part of the providence of God so that they might be greatly impressed with
how God can bless fishing with an abundant haul. It is the prayer of every
fisherman to have such a day where he gets more than he could ever dream, and
that is what God gave to these chosen men. It is one thing to go fishing and quite
another to catch fish. Catching fish and fishing sound a lot alike, but they can be
two vastly different things. Their failure was essential to the purpose of Jesus.
CLARKE, “
Peter saith - I go a fishing - Previously to the crucifixion of our Lord, the
temporal necessities of himself and his disciples appear to have been supplied by the 
charity of individuals: 
Luk_8:3. As it is probable that the scandal of the cross had now 
shut up this source of support, the disciples, not fully knowing how they were to be 
employed, purposed to return to their former occupation of fishing, in order to gain a 
livelihood; and therefore the seven, mentioned Joh_21:2, embarked on the sea of 
Tiberias, otherwise called the sea of Galilee.
That night they caught nothing - God had so ordered it, that they might be the 
more struck with the miracle which he afterwards wrought.
GILL, “Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing,.... Which was his business 
before his conversion; and now having nothing to do, and his Lord and master having, as
yet, no service for him in the ministry of the word, until the Spirit was poured down in an
extraordinary manner, which was given to be expected, in the mean while he was 
inclined to, and resolved upon taking up his former employment; partly that he might 
not live an idle life, and partly to obtain a livelihood, which was now to be sought after in 

68. another manner, since the death of Christ; and these inclinations and resolutions of his 
he signifies to the rest of the disciples, who agreed with him: 
they say unto him, we also go with thee; that is, a fishing; for it seems to have been 
the business and employment of them all formerly: the place they went to was the sea of 
Tiberias, as appears from Joh_21:1 a place free for any to fish at. This is said to be one of 
the ten traditions which Joshua delivered to the children of Israel, when he divided the 
land among them (z): 
"that any man should be free to catch fish in the waters (or sea) of Tiberias; and he might
fish with an hook only; but he might not spread a net, or place a ship there, except the 
children of the tribe to whom that sea belonged in their division.'' 
But now these disciples, or the greater part of them at least, belonging to the tribe and 
division in which the sea was, had a right to carry a ship or boat thither, and make use of 
a net, as they did. Besides, there was another reason for fishing here, because there were 
no unclean fish; for the Jews say (a), that 
"in a place of running water no clean fish goes along with unclean fish, and lo, the sea of 
Tiberias is  brsb-Jurw sd-wrsbmlJ gsnehsAi  t cspey2Ahn1::s
4a25sp2 ysSoAya4a25sp2 ysSoAya4a25sp2 ysSoAya4a25sp2 ysSoAyaIsSAofsya2saoih2gsyop gsoAs.ty5spa2A2sya25sp2A2gspa2ya2As(e)2A eifgsoAs
32yahet6egsoAs4t72Atehstyh2CSIs
e 6s2 y2A26st yoseshat)stff26tey2C5e 6s2 y2A26st yoseshat)stff26tey2C5e 6s2 y2A26st yoseshat)stff26tey2C5e 6s2 y2A26st yoseshat)stff26tey2C5vspat.aspehs2tya2Aso 2soSsya2tAsop gsyaeys72Co c26syoshof2s
o 2soSsya2fs72SoA2sya2tAs.eCCvspat.asyaoicasya25sae6sC2Sygsae6sA2h2AL26sya2tAsAtcayse 6s.Cetfsi yov
h22sLuk_5:3soAspat.asya25satA26sSoAsya2tAs)A2h2 ys)iA)oh2Isya2spoA6stff26tey2C5sths oyst sya2s
EiCcey2skeyt gs oAst sya2sR5Ate.gsNAe7t.gsO2Aht.gse 6sFyato)t.sL2Ahto hgs oAst s32We:hse .t2 ys.o)5I
e 6syaeys tcaysya25s.eicays oyat ce 6syaeys tcaysya25s.eicays oyat ce 6syaeys tcaysya25s.eicays oyat ce 6syaeys tcaysya25s.eicays oyat c1s4a25sp2 ysoiyst sya2s2L2 t csoSsya2s6e5gse 6sStha26seCCs tcaygs
yaeys72t cses)Ao)2Asytf2sSoAshi.as7iht 2hhgse 6sya2sfohysCtG2C5syoshi..226st gs7iys.eicays osSthags
oAsL2A5sCtyyC2Ise 6shostysthshof2ytf2hsptyas_oh)2Csft thy2AhgspaoseA2sStha2AhsoSsf2 gsyaoicasya25s
yeG2s2L2A5so))oAyi ty5gse 6sya2sfohys)Ao)2Asf2yao6hsyoscet shoiChsyos(aAthygs52yshof2ytf2hs6os
 oyshi..226vspat.asfeG2hsyat chsCooGs6eAGse 6scCoof5st sya2tAse))A2a2 hto h1s
mb Ah CsxJohn 21:3<6. Simon Peter saith, I go a fishing — They were now waiting for Christ’s
promised appearance to them, and it was certainly commendable in Peter that he wished to redeem
the time and not be idle; but endeavour to make some provision for his own support, and for the
entertainment of his friends. They say, We also go with thee
— They were as willing as he to labour
for a maintenance, and not to eat the bread of idleness. They went forth, therefore, and entered into
a ship immediately
— A small vessel on the lake or sea of Tiberias; and that night — Though it was
the properest time for fishing, and they were diligent in throwing their nets; they caught nothing
—
The providence of God so ordering it that the subsequent miracle might be the more illustrious. But
when the morning was now come
— After they had been toiling all night to no

69. purpose; Jesus appeared and stood on the shore over against them; but the disciples — Who had
no expectation of seeing him there, and also being at some distance from him, and it not being yet
perfectly light; knew not that it was Jesus
— They observed a person upon the shore, but knew not
who he was. Then
— As they approached within call; Jesus saith, Children, have ye any meat? —
Have you taken fish enough to furnish out a meal? They answered him, No — We have been toiling
here this whole night in vain. And he said, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall
find
— Reader, whether we would cast the temporal net with success, and gain a maintenance for
ourselves, and those dependant upon us, or the spiritual net, so as to be successful fishers of men,
we have need of the direction of Jesus, and ought to apply to him for it; which if we do aright we
shall not do in vain; the direction we need shall certainly be granted us.They
— Willing to try, at
least, whether this stranger conjectured right, cast the net therefore as he had directed them; and
now
— To their great astonishment; they were not able to draw it — Into the ship again;for the
multitude of fishes
— Which they had enclosed in it. This was not only a demonstration of the power
of our Lord, but a kind supply for them and their families. It was, likewise, an emblem of the great
success which should attend them as fishers of men.

lheGiTdHII. How they were employed, 
Joh_21:3. Observe,
1. Their agreement to go a fishing. They knew not well what to do with themselves. For 
my part, says Peter, I will go a fishing; We will go with thee then, say they, for we will 
keep together. Though commonly two of a trade cannot agree, yet they could. Some think
they did amiss in returning to their boats and nets, which they had left; but then Christ 
would not have countenanced them in it with a visit. It was rather commendable in 
them; for they did it, (1.) To redeem time, and not be idle. They were not yet appointed to
preach the resurrection of Christ. Their commission was in the drawing, but not 
perfected. The hour for entering upon action was to come. It is probable that their 
Master had directed them to say nothing of his resurrection till after his ascension, nay, 
not till after the pouring out of the Spirit, and then they were to begin at Jerusalem. Now,
in the mean time, rather than do nothing, they would go a fishing; not for recreation, but 
for business. It is an instance of their humility. Though they were advanced to be sent of 
Christ, as he was of the Father, yet they did not take state upon them, but remembered 
the rock out of which they were hewn. It is an instance likewise of their industry, and 
bespeaks them good husbands of their time. While they were waiting, they would not be 
idling. Those who would give an account of their time with joy should contrive to fill up 
the vacancies of it, to gather up the fragments of it. (2.) That they might help to maintain 
themselves and not be burdensome to any. While their Master was with them those who 
ministered to him were kind to them; but now that the bridegroom was taken from 
them they must fast in those days, and therefore their own hands, as Paul's, must 
minister to their necessities and for this reason Christ asked them, Have you any meat? 
This teaches us with quietness to work and eat our own bread.
2. Their disappointment in their fishing. That night they caught nothing, though, it is 
probable, they toiled all night, as Luk_5:5. See the vanity of this world; the hand of the 
diligent often returns empty. Even good men may come short of desired success in their 
honest undertakings. We may be in the way of our duty, and yet not prosper. Providence 
so ordered it that all that night they should catch nothing, that the miraculous draught of
fishes in the morning might be the more wonderful and the more acceptable. In those 
disappointments which to us are very grievous God has often designs that are very 
gracious. Man has indeed a dominion over the fish of the sea, but they are not always at 
his beck; God only knows the paths of the sea, and commands that which passeth 
through them.

70. PULPIT, “Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing . The abruptness of the
language addressed to six ( /αθηταί ) disciples, who seemed to be living as in one family,
suggests a lengthened waiting, and some disappointment as to the effect upon their daffy life of
the great revelation. They are summoned by the most commanding spirit among them to resume
what was, for some of them at least, their customary calling. He would seek in humble fashion,
along the lines of ordinary duty to his family and himself, the supply of daily wants. According to
some writers, Peter felt a presentiment of the coming of his Lord under scenes identical with
those of his first call (
Luk_5:1-11). According to others, Peter exhibited some of the heart'
sickness of deferred hope. On either supposition we see a new illustration of, dud testimony to,
the character of the man who was so conspicuous an initiator. They say to him, We also 
come (or, go) with thee. They do not "follow" him, as they had been summoned once to follow
their Lord; but they are willing, even eager, to accompany the strong'hearted man, and ready to
take his lead. They share at once either in his presentiment or in the expression of his delayed
hope. They went forth; i.e. from the home which they had made for themselves on this well'
remembered spot—from Capernaum, which was most probably the early home of Peter, and a
spot to which he would naturally revert. And entered into the ship; £ the veritable vessel
that had often served them on that lake of storms. Though Peter and Andrew, James and John,
had left their boats and nets and hired servants, it is not unlikely that members of their two
families had retained them. And that night they took nothing. Let the unusual word be
noticed. Πιάζειν occurs three times in this brief narrative and six times in the Gospel, in the sense
of "laying hold," "taking possession of," but nowhere in the synoptists. It occurs, however,
in
Act_12:4; 2Co_11:32; Ec 23. 21; and, what is more remarkable, in the sense of "taking
animals" in
Rev_19:20 ( ἐπιάσθη τὸ θηρίον ); so the LXX. foræçÇàÈ (So Rev_2:15). The night
was then, as now, the most convenient time for fishing, and the fruitless effort must have
reminded them of the night described in
Luk_5:1-39. Some critics have supposed this failure to
be parabolic or symbolic of the comparatively barren results of the apostolic ministry to the Jews,
while what followed was prophetic of the great success which should accompany their appeal to
the Gentiles. But Peter's wonderful success on the Day of Pentecost and on subsequent
occasions in dealing with Jews, contradicts this interpretation. The only analogy which offers itself
to our minds is the limited success of all their endeavors until the apostles were veritably
endowed with power from on high.
degnuFJuTdgmXr9That night they catch nothing (v. 3), a graphic portrayal of
barrenness. They have done what they thought was the right thing but
experience utter failure. This prepares them to learn one of the central lessons of
discipleship--apart from Jesus they can do nothing (15:5). Jesus has taught this
lesson before, for "never in the Gospels do the disciples catch a fish without
Jesus' help" (Brown 1970:1071)! But they need the lesson repeated, as we often
do as well.
The turning point comes early in the morning, perhaps symbolizing the dawning
of spiritual light. Jesus is described again as simply standing there, without a
description of his arrival on the spot (v. 4; cf. 20:14, 19, 26). Also as earlier, they

71. are not able to recognize him at first. Although some scholars take this as
evidence that this chapter does not fit well after chapter 20, in fact this ignorance
fits with the theme running throughout these chapters that there was something
different about Jesus' body. John stresses in these descriptions both the
continuity and discontinuity of Jesus' body.
sinFm)F89
3.I am going to fish. That Peter gave his attention to fishing, ought not to be
regarded as inconsistent with his office. By breathing on him, Jesus had ordained him to be an
Apostle, as we saw a little before; but he abstained from the exercise of the apostleship for a
short time, till he should be clothed with new power. For he had not yet been enjoined to appear
in public for the discharge of his office of teaching, but had only been reminded of his future
calling, that he and the others might understand that they had not in vain been chosen from the
beginning. Meanwhile, they do what they were accustomed to do, and what belonged to men in
private life. It is true that Paul, in the midst of his employment as a preacher, gained the support
of his life by his own hands, but it was for a different reason; for his time was so arranged, that
the labors of his hands did not withdraw him from teaching. Peter and his companions, on the
other hand, give themselves up entirely to fishing, because they are not hindered from doing so
by any public employment.
And that night they caught nothing. God permitted them to toil to no purpose during the
whole night, in order to prove the truth of the miracle; for if they had caught any thing
(227) what
followed immediately afterwards would not have so clearly manifested the power of Christ, but
when, after having toiled ineffectually during the whole night, they are suddenly favored with a
large take of fishes, they have good reason for acknowledging the goodness of the Lord. In the
same manner, also, God often tries believers, that he may lead them the more highly to value his
blessing. If we were always prosperous, whenever we put our hand to labor, scarcely any man
would attribute to the blessing of God the success of his exertions, all would boast of their
industry, and would kiss their hands. But when they sometimes labor and torment themselves
without any advantage, if they happen afterwards to succeed better, they are constrained to
acknowledge something out of the ordinary course; and the consequence is, that they begin to
ascribe to the goodness of God the praise of their prosperity and success.
(227)
“S’ eussen, fait quelque prinse de poissons;” — “ they had had any take of fishes.”
GUZIK, “a.
I am going fishing: Was this a return to the old life or
prudence? Only the attitude of their hearts could tell. If they wanted to
give up on the business of serving Jesus, it was bad; if they were providing
for themselves and those near to them until Jesus told them what to do
next, it could be fine.

72. i. At the best, it shows they were uncertain. “The fishing
expedition plainly reveals the uncertainly of the disciples, an
uncertainty which contrasts sharply with their assured sense of
purpose from the day of Pentecost on.” (Morris
There is the bird’s song and the wind’s song, the song of the leafless tree,
But, oh, the call of the sea’s song, the imperious song of the sea.
Successful people do what they know best. Speech making is best when people talk
about what they know and love. There was a professor at Bethel who every year
gave the same test, which was to describe and trace the travels of Paul. Everybody
memorized it and was ready, but one year he switched and asked them to discuss
and criticize the Sermon the Mount. Most got up and left and when the grades
came out one actually past and when he was asked how, he wrote, “Who am I to
criticize the Master? But I would like to write about the travels of Paul. He used
what he knew and was successful.
Peter was so excited about fishing but in reality it was a flop. So often our fantasies
lived out prove to be nightmares rather than dreams come true. Starbuck said in a
GTh"dL9CblWNg.LNfLy;yoLhfL.bbkLmWygLaL.ylLNlLNgLWhgd as when I get it in my head.”
Peter led the others, and some think he led them astray because they should have
been waiting and not fishing. Peter was a natural leader and when he said I will go
fishing, others followed. Most feel that Peter and the others were justified in going
fishing. Ironside feels it was a decision of the flesh, and he writes, “It is so much
easier to go fishing than to give yourself to prayer. When the Spirit of God would
call to a season of waiting on the Lord, it is so much easier to get up and do
something. We would rather do almost anything than wait quietly on God.”
It could be that Peter needed the money, but more likely he was just restless. Jesus
did not rebuke them. Peter was always wanting to get busy and doing something.
On the Mt. of Transfiguration he wanted to get busy and build three tabernacles
rather than meditate on the wonder he had just seen.
The best fishing was often at night.
4

73. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore,
but the disciples did not realize that it was
Jesus.
It was sun up and they had worked all night for nothing. Jesus knew that He
needed to wait until dawn for the full impact of what He was doing.
Henry, “
1. He showed himself to them seasonably (
Joh_21:4): When the morning 
was now come, after a fruitless night's toil, Jesus stood on the shore. Christ's time of 
making himself known to his people is when they are most at a loss. When they think 
they have lost themselves, he will let them know that they have not lost him. Weeping 
may endure for a night; but joy comes, if Christ comes, in the morning. Christ appeared 
to them, not walking upon the water, because, being risen from the dead, he was not to 
be with them as he had been; but standing upon the shore, because now they were to 
make towards him. Some of the ancients put this significancy upon it, that Christ, having
finished his work, was got through a stormy sea, a sea of blood, to a safe and quiet shore, 
where he stood in triumph; but the disciples, having their work before them, were yet at 
sea, in toil and peril. It is a comfort to us, when our passage is rough and stormy, that our
Master is at shore, and we are hastening to him.
2. He showed himself to them gradually. The disciples, though they had been 
intimately acquainted with him, knew not, all at once, that it was Jesus. Little expecting 
to see him there, and not looking intently upon him, they took him for some common 
person waiting the arrival of their boat, to buy their fish. Note, Christ is often nearer to 
us than we think he is, and so we shall find afterwards, to our comfort.
3.He showed himself to them by an instance of his pity, 
Joh_21:5. He called to 
them, Children, 
paidia - “Lads, have you any meat? Have you caught any fish?” Here, (1.)
The compellation is very familiar; he speaks unto them as unto his sons, with the care 
and tenderness of a father: Children. Though he had now entered upon his exalted state, 
he spoke to his disciples with as much kindness and affection as ever. They were not 
children in age, but they were his children, the children which God had given him. (2.) 
The question is very kind: Have you any meat? He asks as a tender father concerning his
children whether they be provided with that which is fit for them, that if they be not, he 
may take care for their supply. Note, The Lord is for the body, 
1Co_6:13. Christ takes 
cognizance of the temporal wants of his people, and has promised them not only grace 
sufficient, but food convenient. Verily they shall be fed, Psa_27:3. Christ looks into the 
cottages of the poor, and asks, Children, have you any meat? thereby inviting them to 
open their case before him, and by the prayer of faith to make their requests known to 
him: and then let them be careful for nothing; for Christ takes care of them, takes care 
for them. Christ has herein set us an example of compassionate concern for our brethren.
There are many poor householders disabled for labour, or disappointed in it, that are 
reduced to straits, whom the rich should enquire after thus, Have you any meat? For the
most necessitous are commonly the least clamorous. To this question the disciples gave a
short answer, and, some think, with an air of discontent and peevishness. They said, No; 
not giving him any such friendly and respectful title as he had given them. So short do 

74. the best come in their returns of love to the Lord Jesus. Christ put the question to them, 
not because he did not know their wants, but because he would know them from them. 
Those that would have supplies from Christ must own themselves empty and needy.
GILL, “But when the morning was now come ,.... The day began to dawn, and light 
to appear, very early in the morning; for Christ visits his right early, and is a present help
to them in their time of trouble. 
Jesus stood on the shore: on firm ground, whilst his disciples were beating about in 
the waves, and toiling to no purpose. So Christ, risen from the dead, is glorified, is in 
heaven; but not unmindful of his people amidst all their afflictions in this world: 
but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus; though he was so near them that they
could hear what he said; but it not being broad daylight they could not distinctly discern 
him, or their eyes might be held that they could not know him. So Christ is sometimes 
near his people, and they know it not.
KRETZMANN 4-8, “
The dawn of the morning after a night of such toil may well have found the
disciples discouraged, and they turned more closely inshore. And there was Jesus standing on
the shore, although the men in the boat did not recognize Him. It was another revelation of His
spiritual body, which had the faculty of becoming invisible and changing its characteristics. The
old familiar form and appearance was often not there to guide the disciples after the resurrection,
as in the case of the appearance to Mary Magdalene and to the Emmaus pilgrims. Jesus did not
reveal His identity at once. He merely called to them, as any man might have addressed a
company of fishermen: Lads, have you any fish? that is: Have you had any luck in your work? Did
you catch any fish? The word used by the Lord indicates anything that was eaten in addition to
the regular meal of bread, the German Zukost. Since, in those countries, this was almost
invariably fish, the question is very simple in its meaning. Upon their answering in the negative,
the Lord bids them cast forth their net on the right side of the boat, for there they would find fish.
And the result was such an immense catch of fish that the combined efforts of the men did not
succeed in drawing the net into the boat. The number and the consequent weight of the fish were
too great for their strength. The first man among the disciples to draw the proper conclusion from
this obvious miracle was John. He told Peter: It is the Lord. This explanation immediately
appealed to Peter, and, with his usual impetuous ardor, he quickly threw about him his
fisherman's coat, or blouse, and plunged into the sea to swim to the shore. As an old
commentator has it: "John had the keener insight, Peter the greater ardor. " Peter had very likely
been rowing with probably only a loin<cloth on, and the small garment, or coat, could be girded on
most quickly over his naked body. The other disciples came more slowly than Peter, in the little
boat or skiff, with the net full of fishes in tow. This was done all the more easily, since they had
been a matter of only two hundred cubits, about one hundred yards, from the shore. All the
disciples present knew by this time that they had again witnessed a miracle, had, in fact, been
instruments of the Lord in performing this miracle, and the narrative pictures them as filled with
awe and relevance at this new manifestation of divine power on the part of Jesus.
BURKITT, “Observe here, 1. Christ was near, very near to his disciples, but they perceived it
not: Jesus stood on the shore, but they knew not that it was Jesus.
Learn, Christ is not always discerned by us when he is present with us; it is a double mercy to
enjoy his company, and to know indeed that it is he.
Observe, 2. Although they had laboured all the night in vain, yet at Christ's command they go to

75. work again, and with great success: They were not able to draw the net for the multitude of 
fishes.
When Christ is about to do great things for his people, yet will he have them exert all possible
endeavours of their own; and the want of former success must not discourage from future
endeavours.
Observe, 3. What a proof Christ here gives of his divinity and godhead: how were all the fish in
the sea at his pleasure, and obedient to his command! he knew where they swam, and brings
them from one part of the lake to the other, where the disciples had toiled all night, and 
caught nothing. Christ our Mediator is true God, and as such he had a sovereign power and
providence over all the creatures; the cattle on a thousand hills, and all the fish swimming in the
sea, are obedient to his power, and observant of his commands.
NISBET, “Perhaps of all scenes associated with the manifestations of the Risen Lord the scene
upon the lake shore is the most comforting and helpful. Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James and
John the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples unnamed, go forth with nightfall to fish upon
the lake. The morning breaks, and still there has been no success. They are weary and
disappointed, and it is just the moment when they are least looking for, least ‘ready’ for the
Presence of Christ. Then He comes to them in the grey, breaking dawn; but they do not know
Him till His tender regard for their need has first drawn from Him words and actions full of power
and graciousness and self<revelation. He enters into their life at just that moment that He may
thus assure them of His Presence in it at all moments, ‘even unto the end of the age.’ Let us mark
each step in that Royal entry of the Risen Lord into the lives and work of His servants.
I. He was watching them all the while.—Think of it, not as a beautiful picture of what once
happened on the Galilæan lake, but as equally true for to<day and for our modern life.
II. He was standing on the eternal shore.—Not now in the ship, asleep, for utter human
weariness. Not now even ‘walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship.’ Past all shock of
storm, all power of change, all peril of death; my point of rest, my goal of hope, the Eternally<
glorified One, ‘from henceforth expecting,’ able from that lofty vantage<ground to direct the work
of His servants; to watch their varying fortunes; to send, if need be, to their help.
III. From thence He proves the hearts of His servants.—He will see whether they will own their
need. ‘Children, have ye any meat?’
IV. He comes to us in our failure.—It was direction we needed so much. He alone could see the
true drift of our work, and so He alone could direct it. In order to take a proper estimate of life in
its forces, its possibilities, its aims, you must see it from eternity. You must stand and look down
upon it as a completed whole. You must view it in the light of God. He alone can do that. ‘Cast the
net on the right side of the ship.’ ‘They cast, therefore, and now they were not able to draw for the
multitude of the fishes.’ Realising the entry of Godhead and Eternity and Highest Wisdom into our
work, that work itself receives a new joyousness, a new direction, a new power. The blessing is
sure because something higher even yet—the Presence—is sure.
V. He calls His disciples to His feet.—‘Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.’ They go up
into the ship and draw the net to land, ‘full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for
all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.’ The work is sure, the results are tested and
proven, brought thus to land at His feet, even though all the deep is not emptied.
Rev. T. A. Gurney.

76. Illustration
‘I recall a scene some years ago in my former parish. It is the deathbed of a young, splendid
fisherman. The last years of his life had been embittered by special causes, and these had
intensified the spiritual reserve of a reserved nature. No word would he hear about God whilst in
health. Now he had just taken his last farewell of the sea he loved so well, turning from one last
hungry gaze over the bright still waters with passionate sobs, as one wishes farewell to life’s
dearest love before going forth to fight with death. We spoke together of those tired fishermen,
the grey dawn of disappointment the question flung across the waters, the figure of One they
loved self<revealed upon the shore. How they had parried with the question rather than admit the
depth of need! How the dimly<revealed Lord had loved them all the while! His heart drank it all in;
I can never forget it. It was Christ standing there once more on another shore tenderly drawing
another weary fisherman to Himself.’
PULPIT, “When the day was now breaking, £ Jesus stood onf3 the beach. If the εἰς be
the true reading, it would imply that he stood forth, as having come from some
unperceived region. If the ἐπὶremain, the idea is that the morning light, as it was
breaking over them through the curtain of dense mist which hung before sunrise on the
eastern hills, discovered Jesus standing upon the beach. There is obvious reference, in
the manner of his approach, to that "standing" in the midst of them, with which they had
become familiar (see Joh_20:14, Joh_20:19, Joh_20:26). Howbeit( 6έντοι suggests
something unusual, Joh_4:27; Joh_12:42) the disciples knew £ not that it was Jesus. He
is not walking on the waters as of old, but standing on the solid ground. Just as Mary of
Magdala, and as the disciples on the way to Emmaus, and as even the disciples
themselves on the Easter night, were in doubt, at first, who and what this manifestation
might mean, so now the chosen seven fail to understand that which was before their very
eyes. The morning mist and shadows adding to the obscurity produced by some hundred
yards of distance, together with wearied and toilsome effort and a sleepless night, may
suggest some explanation of the marvel; but the mystery is baffling. Two or three
remarks may be made.
(1) These various appearances seem at first to confuse their perceptions by reason of the
ordinary human characteristics that accompanied them. Mary for a moment mistook him
for the owner or worker in the garden; the "two disciples" imagined that he was "a
stranger in Jerusalem;" and these disciples think him, for the moment, to have been a
bmot1p)tARJoJopY1pm JpVt3JlbiRJOps Jiop—oJbE——.bimion concerning the reappearance of
their risen Lord would probably have involved some bmotA(JptARpt)Jlbmoi3iA(p
fulguration of his power; but the true "spiritual body" does, when it pleases, take on
forms far more familiar.

77. (2) The slowness of the process by which the apostles became finally convinced, against
ge:-d2Vd:?5S-A:42wIS24:I4:c(h5IS2P-:L4y2gewg2e:2ewS risen into a new form of living, and
into new conditions of existence.
MACLAREN, “
THE BEACH AND THE SEA
The incident recorded in this appendix to John’s Gospel is separated from the other 
appearances of our risen Lord in respect of place, time, and purpose. They all occurred in
and about Jerusalem; this took place in Galilee. The bulk of them happened on the day of
the Resurrection, one of them a week after. This, of course, to allow time for the journey, 
must have been at a considerably later date. Their object was, mainly, to establish the 
reality of the Resurrection, the identity of Christ’s physical body, and to confirm the faith
of the disciples therein. Here, these purposes retreat into the background; the object of 
this incident is to reveal the permanent relations between the risen Lord and His 
struggling Church.
The narrative is rich in details which might profitably occupy us, but the whole may be 
gathered up in two general points of view in considering the revelation which we have 
here in the participation of Christ in His servants’ work, and also the revelation which we
have in the preparation by Christ of a meal for His toiling servants. We take this whole 
narrative thus regarded as our subject on this Easter morning.
I. First we have here a revelation of the permanent relation of Jesus Christ 
to His Church and to the individuals who compose it, in this, that the risen 
Lord on the shore shares in the toil of His servants on the restless sea.
The little group of whom we read in this narrative reminds us of the other group of the 
first disciples in the first chapter of this Gospel. Four out of the five persons named in 
our text appear there: Simon Peter, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of 
Zebedee, James and John. And a very natural inference is that the ‘two others’ unnamed 
here are the two others of that chapter, viz. Andrew and Philip. If so, we have at the end, 
the original little group gathered together again; with the addition of the doubting 
Thomas.
Be that as it may, there they are on the shore of the sea, and Peter characteristically takes
the lead and suggests a course that they all accept: ‘I go a fishing.’ ‘We also go with thee.’
Now we must not read that as if it meant: ‘It is all over! Our hopes are vain! We dreamed 
that we were going to be princes in the Messiah’s Kingdom, we have woke up to find that 
we are only fishermen. Let us go back to our nets and our boats!’ No! all these men had 
seen the risen Lord, and had received from His breath the gift of the Holy Spirit. They 
had all gone from Jerusalem to Galilee, in obedience to His command, and were now 
waiting for His promised appearance. Very noble and beautiful is the calm patience with 
which they fill the time of expectation with doing common and long-abandoned tasks. 
They go back to the nets and the boats long since forsaken at the Master’s bidding. That 
is not like fanatics. That is not like people who would be liable to the excesses of 
excitement that would lead to the ‘hallucination,’ which is the modern explanation of the 
resurrection faith, on the part of the disciples.
And it is a precious lesson for us, dear brethren! that whatever may be our memories, 
and whatever may be our hopes, the very wisest thing we can do is to stick to the 
common drudgery, and even to go back to abandoned tasks. It stills the pulses. ‘Study to 
be quiet; and to do our own business’ is the best remedy for all excitement, whether it be 

78. of sorrow or of hope. And not seldom to us, if we will learn and practise that lesson, as to 
these poor men in the tossing fisherman’s boat, the accustomed and daily duties will be 
the channel through which the presence of the Master will be manifested to us.
So they go, and there follow the incidents which I need not repeat, because we all know 
them well enough. Only I wish to mark the distinct allusion throughout the whole 
narrative to the earlier story of the first miraculous draught of fishes which was 
connected with their call to the Apostleship, and was there by Christ declared to have a 
symbolical meaning. The correspondences and the contrasts are obvious. The scene is 
the same; the same green mountains look down upon the same blue waters. It was the 
same people that were concerned. They were, probably enough, in the same fishing-boat.
In both there had been a night of fruitless toil; in both there was the command to let 
down the net once more; in both obedience was followed by instantaneous and large 
success.
So much for the likenesses; the contrasts are these. In the one case the Master is in the 
boat with them, in the other He is on the shore; in the one the net is breaking; in the 
other, ‘though there were so many, yet did it not break.’ In the one Peter, smitten by a 
sense of his own sinfulness, says, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ In the 
other, Peter, with a deeper knowledge of his own sinfulness, but also with the sweet 
knowledge of forgiveness, casts himself into the sea, and flounders through the shallows 
to reach the Lord. The one is followed by the call to higher duty and to the abandonment 
of possessions; the other is followed by rest and the mysterious meal on the shore.
That is to say, whilst both of the stories point the lesson of service to the Master, the one 
of them exhibits the principles of service to Him whilst He was still with them, and the 
other exhibits the principles of service to Him when He is removed from struggling and 
toiling on the billows to the calm of the peaceful shore in the morning light.
So we may take that night of toil as full of meaning. Think of them as the darkness fell, 
and the solemn bulk of the girdling hills lay blacker upon the waters, and the Syrian sky 
was mirrored with all its stars sparkling in the still lake. All the night long cast after cast 
was made, and time after time the net was drawn in and nothing in it but tangle and 
mud. And when the first streak of the morning breaks pale over the Eastern hills they are
still so absorbed in their tasks that they do not recognise the voice that hails them from 
the nearer shore: ‘Lads, have ye any meat?’ And they answer it with a half surly and 
wholly disappointed monosyllabic ‘No!’ It is an emblem for us all; weary and wet, 
tugging at the oar in the dark, and often seeming to fail. What then? If the last cast has 
brought nothing, try another. Out with the nets once more! Never mind the darkness, 
and the cold, and the wetting spray, and the weariness. You cannot expect to be as 
comfortable in a fishing-boat as in your drawing-room. You cannot expect that your nets 
will be always full. Failure and disappointment mingle in the most successful lives. 
Christian work has often to be done with no results at all apparent to the doer, but be 
sure of this, that they who learn and practise the homely, wholesome virtue of persistent 
adherence to the task that God sets them, will catch some gleams of a Presence most real 
and most blessed, and before they die will know that ‘their labour has not been in vain in 
the Lord.’ ‘They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.’
And so, finally, about this first part of my subject, there stands out before us here the 
blessed picture of the Lord Himself, the Risen Lord, with the halo of death and 
resurrection round about Him; there, on the firm beach, in the increasing light of the 
morning, interested in, caring about, directing and crowning with His own blessing, the 
obedient work of His servants.

79. The simple prose fact of the story, in its plain meaning, is more precious than any 
‘spiritualising’ of it. Take the fact. Jesus Christ, fresh from the grave, who had been down
into those dark regions of mystery where the dead sleep and wait, and had come back 
into this world, and was on the eve of ascending to the Father-this Christ, the possessor 
of such experience, takes an interest in seven poor men’s fishing, and cares to know 
whether their ragged old net is full or is empty. There never was a more sublime and 
wonderful binding together of the loftiest and the lowliest than in that question in the 
mouth of the Risen Lord. If men had been going to dream about what would be fitting 
language for a risen Saviour, if we had to do here with a legend, and not with a piece of 
plain, prosaic fact, do you think that the imagination would ever have entered the mind 
of the legend-maker to put such a question as that into such lips at such a time? ‘Lads, 
have ye any meat?’
It teaches us that anything that interests us is not without interest to Christ. Anything 
that is big enough to occupy our thoughts and our efforts is large enough to be taken into
His. All our ignoble toils, and all our petty anxieties, touch a chord that vibrates in that 
deep and tender heart. Though other sympathy may be unable to come down to the 
minutenesses of our little lives, and to wind itself into the narrow room in which our 
histories are prisoned, Christ’s sympathy can steal into the narrowest cranny. The risen 
Lord is interested in our poor fishing and our disappointments.
And not only that, here is a promise for us, a prophecy for us, of certain guidance and 
direction, if only we will come to Him and acknowledge our dependence upon Him. The 
question that was put to them, ‘Lads, have ye any meat?’ was meant to evoke the answer, 
‘No!’ The consciousness of my failure is the pre-requisite to my appeal to Him to prosper 
my work. And just as before He would, on the other margin of that same shore, multiply 
the loaves and the fishes, He put to them the question, ‘How many have ye?’ that they 
might know clearly the inadequacy of their own resources for the hungry crowd, so here, 
in order to prepare their hearts for the reception of His guidance and His blessing, He 
provides that they be brought to catalogue and confess their failures. So He does with us 
all, beats the self-confidence out of us, blessed be His name! and makes us know 
ourselves to be empty in order that He may pour Himself into us, and flood us with the 
joy of His presence.
Then comes the guidance given. We may be sure that it is given to us all to-day, if we wait
upon Him and ask Him. ‘Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.’ His 
command is followed by swift, unanswering, unquestioning obedience, which in its turn 
is immediately succeeded by the large blessing which the Master then gave on the 
instant, which He gives still, though often, in equal love and unquestioned wisdom, it 
comes long after faith has discerned His presence and obedience has bowed to His 
command.
It may be that we shall not see the results of our toil till the morning dawns and the great 
net is drawn to land by angel hands. But we may be sure that while we are toiling on the 
tossing sea, He watches from the shore, is interested in all our weary efforts, will guide us
if we own to Him our weakness, and will give us to see at last issues greater than we had 
dared to hope from our poor service. The dying martyr looked up and saw Him ‘standing 
at the right hand of God,’ in the attitude of interested watchfulness and ready help. This 
Easter morning bids us lift our eyes to a risen Lord who ‘has not left us to serve alone,’ 
nor gone up on high, like some careless general to a safe height, while his forsaken 
soldiers have to stand the shock of onset without him. From this height He bends down 
and ‘covers our heads in the day of battle.’ ‘He was received up,’ says the Evangelist, ‘and 
sat on the right hand of God, and they went forth and preached everywhere.’ Strange 

80. contrast between His throned rest and their wandering toils for Him! But the contrast 
gives place to a deeper identity of work and condition, as the Gospel goes on to say, ‘The 
Lord also working with them and confirming the word with signs following.’
Though we be on the tossing sea and He on the quiet shore, between us there is a true 
union and communion, His heart is with us, if our hearts be with Him, and from Him 
will pass over all strength, grace, and blessing to us, if only we know His presence, and 
owning our weakness, obey His command and expect His blessing.
II. Look at the other half of this incident before us. 
I pass over the episode of the recognition of Jesus by John, and of Peter struggling to His
feet, interesting as it is, in order to fix upon the central thought of the second part of the 
narrative, viz. the risen Lord on the shore, in the increasing light of the morning, 
‘preparing a table’ for His toiling servants. That ‘fire of coals’ and the simple refreshment
that was being dressed upon it had been prepared there by Christ’s own hand. We are not
told that there was anything miraculous about it. He had gathered the charcoal; He had 
procured the fish; He had dressed it and prepared it. They are bidden to ‘bring of the fish
they had caught’; He accepts their service, and adds the result of their toil, as it would 
seem, to the provision which His own hand has prepared. He summons them to a meal, 
not the midday repast, for it was still early morning. They seat themselves, smitten by a 
great awe. The meal goes on in silence. No word is spoken on either side. Their hearts 
know Him. He waits on them, making Himself their Servant as well as their Host. He 
‘taketh bread and giveth them and fish likewise,’ as He had done in the miracles by the 
same shore and on that sad night in the upper room that seemed so far away now, and in 
the roadside inn at Emmaus, when something in His manner or action disclosed Him to 
the wondering two at the table.
Now what does all that teach us? Two things; and first-neglecting for a moment the 
difference between shore and sea-here we have the fact of Christ’s providing, even by 
doing menial offices, for His servants.
These seven men were wet and weary, cold and hungry. The first thing they wanted when
they came out of the fishing-boat was their breakfast. If they had been at home, their 
wives and children would have got it ready for them. Jesus had a great deal to say to 
them that day, a great deal to teach them, much to do for them, and for the whole world, 
by the words that followed; but the first thing that He thinks about is to feed them. And 
so, cherishing no overstrained contempt for material necessities and temporal mercies, 
let us remember that it is His hand that feeds us still, and let us be glad to think that this 
Christ, risen from the dead and with His heart full of the large blessings that He was 
going to bestow, yet paused to consider: ‘They are coming on shore after a night’s hard 
toil, they will be faint and weary; let Me feed their bodies before I begin to deal with their
hearts and spirits.’
And He will take care of you, brother! and of us all. The ‘bread will be given’ us, at any 
rate, and ‘the water made sure.’ It was a modest meal that He with His infinite resources 
thought enough for toiling fishermen. ‘One fish,’ as the original shows us, ‘one loaf of 
bread.’ No more! He could as easily have spread a sumptuous table for them. There is no 
covenant for superfluities, necessaries will be given. Let us bring down our wishes to His 
gifts and promises, and recognise the fact that ‘he who needs least is the nearest the 
gods,’ and he that needs least is surest of getting from Christ what he needs.
But then, besides that, the supply of all other deeper and loftier necessities is here 
guaranteed. The symbolism of our text divides, necessarily, the two things which in fact 
are not divided. It is not all toiling on the restless sea here, any more than it is all rest 

81. and fruition yonder; but all that your spirit needs, for wisdom, patience, heroism, 
righteousness, growth, Christ will give you in your work; and that is better than giving it 
to you after your work, and the very work which is blessed by Him, and furthered and 
prospered by Him, the very work itself will come to be moat and nourishment. ‘Out of 
the eater will come forth meat,’ and the slain ‘lions’ of past struggles and sorrows, the 
next time we come to them, will be ‘full of honey.’
Finally, there is a great symbolical prophecy here if we emphasise the distinction 
between the night and the morning, between the shore and the sea. We can scarcely fail 
to catch this meaning in the incident which sets forth the old blessed assurance that the 
risen Lord is preparing a feast on the shore while His servants are toiling on the darkling 
sea.
All the details, such as the solid shore in contrast with the changeful sea, the increasing 
morning in contrast with the toilsome night, the feast prepared, have been from of old 
consecrated to shadow forth the differences between earth and heaven. It would be 
blindness not to see here a prophecy of the glad hour when Christ shall welcome to their 
stable home, amid the brightness of unsetting day, the souls that have served Him 
amidst the fluctuations and storms of life, and seen Him in its darkness, and shall satisfy 
all their desires with the ‘bread of heaven.’
Our poor work which He deigns to accept forms part of the feast which is spread at the 
end of our toil, when ‘there shall be no more sea.’ He adds the results of our toil to the 
feast which He has prepared. The consequences of what we have done here on earth 
make no small part of the blessedness of heaven.
‘Their works and alms and all their good endeavour Stayed not behind, nor in the grave 
were trod.’
The souls which a Paul or a John has won for the Master, in their vocation as ‘fishers of 
men,’ are their ‘hope and joy and crown of rejoicing, in the presence of our Lord Jesus.’ 
The great benediction which the Spirit bade the Apocalyptic seer write over ‘the dead 
which die in the Lord,’ is anticipated in both its parts by this mysterious meal on the 
beach. ‘They rest from their labours’ inasmuch as they find the food prepared for them, 
and sit down to partake; ‘Their works do follow them’ inasmuch as they ‘bring of the fish 
which they have caught.’
Finally, Christ Himself waits on them, therein fulfilling in symbol what He has told us in 
great words that dimly shadow wonders unintelligible until experienced: ‘Verily I say 
unto you, He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth,
and serve them.’
So here is a vision to cheer us all. Life must be full of toil and of failure. We are on the 
midnight sea, and have to tug, weary and wet, at a heavy oar, and to haul an often empty 
net. But we do not labour alone. He comes to us across the storm, and is with us in the 
night, a most real, because unseen Presence. If we accept the guidance of His directing 
word, His indwelling Spirit, and His all-sufficient example, and seek to ascertain His will 
in outward Providences, we shall not be left to waste our strength in blunders, nor shall 
our labour be in vain. In the morning light we shall see Him standing serene on the 
steadfast shore. The ‘Pilot of the Galilean lake’ will guide our frail boat through the wild 
surf that marks the breaking of the sea of life on the shore of eternity; and when the sun 
rises over the Eastern hills we shall land on the solid beach, bringing our ‘few small 
fishes’ with us, which He will accept. And there we shall rest, nor need to ask who He is 
that serves us, for we shall know that ‘It is the Lord!’

82. 5
He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you
1(Lst.43;’s’ )C’sc3pLs1(42pyp:ks
The English says lads. It is not the usual term of Jesus for His men, but He is being
very informal here. John called Christians little children, and it is possible he got
the term from Jesus. He used the unusual greeting for they did not know Him.
They responded not out of obedience to Him as Lord, but as a stranger who
possibly could see fish from his angle.
N3Ls:.:s3ps14,s23p(s3ps17yp1:Ls,(p2;ss )cs177sF5p4cions are for information, but
to get the attention in the mind of the person asked prepared to learn. Here is was
designed to get their confession of failure before he met their need. Knowing your
own failures makes grace all the better, for you are more conscious of how little you
can do on your own. Jesus makes us conscious of our own emptiness before He fills
us. It is notable that never in the Gospel do the disciples caught a fish without the
help of Jesus.

Clarke, “
Joh 21:5 - 
Children - 
Παιδια, a term of familiarity and affectionate kindness: it is the vocative 
case plural of παιδιον, which is the diminutive of παις, and literally signifies little 
children, or beloved children. How the margin has made sirs out of it I cannot conceive.
Any meat - Προσφαγιον from προς, besides, and φαγω, I eat; any thing that is eaten 
with bread, or such like solid substances, to make the deglutition the more easy: here it 
evidently means any kind of fish; and our Lord seems to have appeared at first in the 
character of a person who wished to purchase a part of what they had caught: see the 
note on Joh_6:9.
GILL, “Then Jesus saith unto them, children,.... And still they knew him not, 
though he used this endearing and familiar appellation, and which they had been wont to

83. hear from him; and he had called them by a little before his departure from them, 
Joh_13:33 and which he uses here as expressive of his tender affection for them, their 
relation to him, and that he might be known by them: 
have ye any meat? that is, as the Syriac renders it, 8‘uwusd!wgsne 5yat csyos2eynvsf2e t cs
Sthasyaeysya25sae6s.eicayvse 6spa2ya2Asya25sae6scoyseshiSSt.t2 ys0ie yty5syosfeG2sesf2eCsoSsSoAs
atfse 6sya2f1s
4a25se hp2A26satfs o4a25se hp2A26satfs o4a25se hp2A26satfs o4a25se hp2A26satfs ovsya25sae6scoys oyat cseyseCCvsoAseysC2ehyspaeysya25sae6spehsSeAsSAofs72t cs
2 oicasyosfeG2ses7A2eGSehysoSvsSoAshosesf2eCs2eAC5st sesfoA t csfe5s72sfohys)Ao)2AC5s.eCC26gs
yaoicastysthseSy2ApeA6hs.eCC26s6t t c1s(aAthy:hs.atC6A2 gsyAi2s72Ct2L2AhgseA2shof2ytf2hsptyaoiys
h)tAtyieCsSoo6vsya2A2sthseCpe5hst 6226s2 oicast s(aAthygse 6sa2saehse sa2eAysyosctL2styvs7iys2tya2As
yaAoicas)A2LetCt cst t0ity5sya25sS226so shof2yat cs2Ch2gsoAs6os oyscosyosatfsSoAsSoo6gsoAscos
2Ch2pa2A2vs7iysa2sptCCs oyshiSS2Asya2fsyoshyeAL2vsSoAsehsa2saehsfe62s)AoLthto hsSoAsya2fst sya2s
ft thyA5soSsya2spoA6se 6soA6t e .2hvse 6sa2satfh2CSsthsya2s7A2e6soSsCtS2vstSsya25s6os oysehGsatfsSoAs
Soo6gsa2sptCCsehGsya2fspa2ya2Asya25saeL2se 5vsptCCsGt 6C5st Lty2sya2fsyosya2s)AoLthto hsa2satfh2CSs
feG2hvsptCCs7t6sya2fsp2C.of2gse 6s7C2hhsya2fsyosya2m.
YFM9JgsK3. He showed himself to them by an instance of his pity, Joh_21:5. He called to
them, Children, 
paidia - “Lads, have you any meat? Have you caught any fish?” Here, (1.)
The compellation is very familiar; he speaks unto them as unto his sons, with the care 
and tenderness of a father: Children. Though he had now entered upon his exalted state, 
he spoke to his disciples with as much kindness and affection as ever. They were not 
children in age, but they were his children, the children which God had given him. (2.) 
The question is very kind: Have you any meat? He asks as a tender father concerning his
children whether they be provided with that which is fit for them, that if they be not, he 
may take care for their supply. Note, The Lord is for the body, 
1Co_6:13. Christ takes 
cognizance of the temporal wants of his people, and has promised them not only grace 
sufficient, but food convenient. Verily they shall be fed, Psa_27:3. Christ looks into the 
cottages of the poor, and asks, Children, have you any meat? thereby inviting them to 
open their case before him, and by the prayer of faith to make their requests known to 
him: and then let them be careful for nothing; for Christ takes care of them, takes care 
for them. Christ has herein set us an example of compassionate concern for our brethren.
There are many poor householders disabled for labour, or disappointed in it, that are 
reduced to straits, whom the rich should enquire after thus, Have you any meat? For the
most necessitous are commonly the least clamorous. To this question the disciples gave a
short answer, and, some think, with an air of discontent and peevishness. They said, No; 
not giving him any such friendly and respectful title as he had given them. So short do 
the best come in their returns of love to the Lord Jesus. Christ put the question to them, 
not because he did not know their wants, but because he would know them from them. 
Those that would have supplies from Christ must own themselves empty and needy.

84. LANGE, “Joh_21:5. Children. — Ðáéäßá does not stand for the
Johannean ôåêíßá
 (see Joh_13:33), not even in the sense of 1Jn_2:13. Jesus, wishing in His
character of the Unknown One to address the fishermen first as a stranger, speaks to them in the
universal, familiar language of seafaring men, with the dignity, we may conjecture, of a superior:
Young men! Boys! 2Ma_8:20
; Nonnus, Euthym. Zigabenus; see Leben Jesu  2., p. 1712; Tholuck.
‘Have ye any relish? or, have ye anything to eat? [ ìÞ ôé ðñïóöÜãéïí ἔ÷åôå ].—Properly
speaking, anything to eat with bread, ðñïóöÜãéïí
 , [but especially fish,  like the Attic ὄøïí ], namely,
with their morning<bread, or breakfast.
 By the sea, fish were their usual ðñïóöÜãéïí with their
bread. According to Tholuck, [ they regard the questioner as some one wishing to purchase fish
for his own breakfast. The j same is the opinion of Meyer; Jesus, on the other hand, takes for
granted, as His last words I show us, that they have caught nothing, and intimates that if the
contrary were the case He would not need to interpose. It is manifest, however, that the question
is primarily intended i merely as an expression of human interest, and; for the introduction of what
follows.
 
beShG’fGMbSiTdHJesus takes the initiative and calls to them: Friends,
haven't you any fish?
(v. 5). The question is put in a form that expects a negative
answer. This may be the common way of asking a hunter or fisherman whether
they have had success (Brown 1970:1070), but in this case the one asking
already knows the answer. The word translated
friends (paidiai) is more literally
"children" or even "little children." Many follow J. H. Moulton's suggestion
(1908:170 n. 1), based on modern Greek, that this is an expression similar to the
British "lads." While this usage would fit here, neither Liddell, Scott and Jones
(1940), nor Bauer, Gingrich and Danker (1979) nor Oepke (1967b:638) site
evidence for such a use in classical or Hellenistic Greek. In 1 John the word is
used "as an affectionate address of the spiritual father to those committed to him"
(Oepke 1967b:638; see 1 Jn 2:14, 18 and some manuscripts of 2:12; 3:7). This
usage, unique to John, is probably the sense here in John 21 also (Oepke
1967b:638). Thus, this greeting was unusual and so would have sounded
strange to the disciples, all the more so because they did not know who was
calling them.

85. The disciples admit they have failed at fishing (v. 5), and Jesus tells them, Throw
your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some
(v. 6). They could
hear this as the idle suggestion of a bystander. But he does not say, "Try over
there and you might find some." He doesn't offer a suggestion; he gives a
promise that in fact they will find fish where he directs them to cast. When they
obey they cannot even get the net into the boat because there are so many fish
enclosed in it (v. 6). Such abundance echoes the enormous provision of wine at
the wedding in Cana (2:1-11) and of bread and fish at the feeding of the five
thousand (6:1-13). Most commentators see these fish as symbolic of the
missionary work of the disciples, similar to Jesus' original call, "Come, follow me .
. . and I will make you fishers of men" (Mt 4:19 par. Mk 1:17; not given by John).
Such symbolism may be included, but the primary point seems to be Jesus'
lordship and the need to be obedient to him for any labor to be fruitful.
Earlier, Mary recognized Jesus when he called her name, and the disciples
recognized him through his wounds. Now he is recognized through the
abundance that comes through obedience to his word. It is the Beloved Disciple
who is able to discern the identity of the stranger on the shore (v. 7). It is typical
of the Beloved Disciple that he was not mentioned explicitly in the list of those
present (v. 2) and also that he is the one able to recognize the Lord. If Peter had
been the one to recognize Jesus, one suspects he would have thrown himself
into the sea straight away. But when the Beloved Disciple receives this insight he
bears witness to it. He speaks specifically to Peter, thus continuing the motif
throughout the resurrection narratives of the close relationship between these
two disciples.
Peter trusts the witness of the Beloved Disciple, and so he
wrapped his outer
garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water
(v. 7).
This translation probably gives the wrong impression, since it suggests Peter was
working with his undergarment on and added his outer garment before swimming
to shore. This would be a good way to drown or at least slow oneself down.

86. Perhaps, instead, he tied up the garment he was wearing so it would not hinder
his swimming (Brown 1970:1072). The text, however, says that he was naked
(
en gar gymnos, paraphrased in the NIV), and this seems to have been typical
for such work (Nun 1997:20-21). Most likely, then, he had been working naked
and had put on a loincloth before swimming to shore (Nun 1997:23, 37). The
other disciples follow in the boat, towing the catch (v. 8).
Peter's departure from the boat is mentioned, but his arrival on the shore is not.
Some scholars think this omission is a sign that two stories have been joined
together (cf. Schnackenburg 1982:345-47), but the story is coherent as it stands.
The landing is told from the point of view of the Beloved Disciple and the other
five disciples. There is no description of Peter talking with Jesus. The impression
is thus given that his attempt to get to Jesus first did not do him much good.
What the disciples notice is a charcoal fire with bread and fish already prepared
(v. 9). The Lord has breakfast ready for them, another sign of his grace and
provision, like the catch they have just taken. There is no indication of where
Jesus got the bread and fish; the appearance of the food is as mysterious as his
own.
PULPIT, “
Jesus therefore saith unto them. They failed to recognize his first appearance,
so he permits them to hear the voice which had often poured such music into their
ears. Children; not τεκνία , the phrase used in Joh_13:33, but παιδία , "young people," "lads"—
a term of less intimate familiarity, though the apostle himself used it
in 1Jn_2:13, 1Jn_2:18 (in 1Jn_2:1 and 1Jn_2:12 τρεκνία is used, apparently in interchange with
it). The /ή τι suggests a negative answer. Προσφάγιον is that which is eaten with bread, and is
commonly ὄψον or ὀψάριον , something roasted for the purpose of eating with bread. Since fish
was very frequently used for the purpose, the word was often used for "fish" itself
(LXX., Num_11:22; Joh_6:1'71.9, 11. Other equivalent words are found in Attic
Greek, προσφάγη/α , προσόψη/α ). Children (lads, young men yonder), you have nothing,
I suppose, to eat? They answered him, No . In all this scene the risen Lord showed
himself interested and co'operating with them in their daily toil, as engaged in the same work with
them. Their listless manner showed that they had toiled in vain, and, perhaps with tone or gesture
of unwillingness to confess their failure, they replied in the negative. Then he said £ to them, 
Cast the net on the right side of the ship; the side opposite to that on which they were
dragging it along. Moreover, the "right hand," the "right eye," the "right ear," the "right side," are
proverbially the more useful, fruitful, or honorable. The imagery is preserved throughout
Scripture. And ye shall find. Therefore they cast it. And in order to do this they would
probably have had to haul a considerable portion of it into the boat for the necessary transference

87. from left to right. They at once obeyed the summons, remembering what they had previously
found to have been their experience (Luk_5:1'39.), and no longer were they able, or had
they strength, to draw it into the boat. Ἐλκύσαι , is here quite a different process from
the σύροντες of 1Jn_2:8, which describes the hauling, tugging, of the net to shore. The difficulty
arose from (or, because of) the multitude of the fishes. The miracle here is a simple
indication of the higher knowledge which the Lord possessed. This huge shoal may, humanly
speaking, have been perceived in its approach; so that the event is more impressive in its
analogical force than in its supernatural machinery. It suggests the surprising results that would
accompany their labor when they should under the Lord's own injunction and inspiration, become
veritable fishers of men. The parabolic teaching of this miracle is unusually obvious.

HAWKER 5I8, “
Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? 
they answered him, No. (6) And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right 
side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were 
not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. (7) Therefore that disciple 
whom Jesus loved, saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter 
heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was 
naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. (8) And the other disciples came in
a little ship, (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred 
cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.
It is rather surprizing, that when Jesus called to them by so tender a name, and which 
was the very same words, little children, as he had used before, (see 
Joh_13:33) that they
had not immediately discovered who it was. But this was reserved for the miracle which 
he added, and which produced the effect. I pray the Reader to notice, from all these 
tender incidents of the Lord Jesus, how near his heart his people are. He saith now as 
much as then, Children, have ye any meat? Cast on the right side, and ye shall find. If we 
are backward to seek our spiritual sustenance from him, Jesus will be found of them that
seek him not. And how often doth Jesus make himself known by his gracious acts, as 
here to John, when outward revelations do not always effect it. Is not the Lord known by 
his providence, and by his grace, in numberless instances where we least expected him?
6
He said, "Throw your net on the right side of
the boat and you will find some." When they
did, they were unable to haul the net in
because of the large number of fish.

88. Was this miracle or providence? There is no way to know for sure. Either way it
would be a powerful reminder of the fact that they were to serve Christ as fishers of
men. They were promised they would be fruitful and that their labor would not be
in vain. The last miracle of Jesus supplied the need of the disciples for food, but also
for assurance that they would be fruitful in fishing for men. Fear of failure is what
keeps many from trying. Jesus could have made His disciples the largest and most
effective industry in the world. They could have had wealth beyond their wildest
dreams, but Jesus called them out of it into fishing for men. Jesus can turn out
failure into success.
Dear Lord, take up the tangled strands,
Where we have wrought in vain,
That by the skill of they dear hands,
Some beauty may remain.

ToCcdsNh!L
Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.’ There is a right
and a left in all our endeavours; and some people have an unfortunate way of doing everything in
a left<handed sort of fashion; and so, too often, with the best intentions, they defeat their own
object, and destroy their usefulness in the Lord’s cause.’
Let three requisites be mentioned for prosecuting the sacred duty of service for God—humility,
tact, and love. A few words must suffice on each of these gifts.
I. Humility.—We have all, no doubt, at one time or another, encountered the busy, bustling,
doctrinaire reformer, who impresses all with whom he comes in contact with his own sense of his
immeasurable superiority to those he is striving to reclaim, who lets you know how far he is
stooping in order to reach the outcast, and how very self<sacrificing and heroic it is of him to
undertake and persevere in so disagreeable a task. It is not thus that we should go to those
between whom and ourselves whatever disparity there may be is due to God’s strong grace. We
must approach them feeling how unworthy we are of the hallowed privilege of being in any
degree helpful to their imperilled souls; conscious of the debt we owe to Him Who has drawn us
to Himself.
II. Tact. How often in God’s work have we to deplore in the human agent a lack of prudential
wisdom. ‘The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.’
Forethought, consideration of others’ prejudices and difficulties, the happy gift of putting people at
their ease, of not spoiling a wholesome message by its setting or its cutting, of not causing
another whom we wish to benefit to feel gauche and awkward, these are very real helps in
Christian work with individuals.

89. III. Love. Here is the all<powerful requisite. A loving spirit is what we chiefly need in dealing with
souls. This transfigures the routine of Church work; and whatever methods are not fully
compatible with this spirit must be rejected. Souls are not to be coerced into acceptance of the
truth, dragooned into discipleship. The bruised reed has to be strengthened, not broken; the
smoking flax not extinguished, but fanned to a flame. Love will know how to do this. She needs
no hard and fast lines to indicate the right path. All this will come naturally to her.
Bishop Alfred Pearson.
Illustration
‘Amongst Mohammedans, it is required of every man who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca,
that he should consider himself pledged to do something directly to spread his faith. The visit to
the Kaaba binds him to missionary effort. We may well ask, Ought the pilgrimage to Calvary to be
less potent?’
CALVIN, “6.Cast the net on the right side of the ship. Christ does not command with authority
and power as Master and Lord, but gives advice like one of the people; and the disciples, being at
a loss what to do, readily obey him, though they did not know who he was. If, before the
first casting of the net, any thing of this sort had been said to them, they would not have so
quickly obeyed. I mention this, that no one may wonder that they were so submissive, for they
had already been worn out by long and useless toil. Yet it was no small proof of patience and
perseverance, that, though they had labored unsuccessfully during the whole night, they continue
their toil after the return of daylight. And, indeed, if we wish to allow an opportunity for the
blessing of God to descend on us, we ought constantly to expect it; for nothing can be more
unreasonable than to withdraw the hand immediately from labor, if it do not give promise of
success.
That Simon Peter Was Naked, is a proof that the disciples had labored in earnest; and yet they
do not hesitate to cast the net again to make another trial, that they may not neglect any
opportunity. Their obedience to the command of Christ cannot be ascribed to faith; for they hear
him speak as a person who was unknown to them. Now, if we dislike our calling, because the
labor which we undertake appears to be unproductive, yet, when the Lord exhorts us to
steadiness and perseverance, we ought to take courage; in the end we shall obtain a happy
result, but it will be at the proper time.
And now they were not able to draw it
(228) Christ here exhibited two proofs of his Divine power.
The first consisted in their taking so large a draught of fishes; and the second was, when, by his
concealed power, he preserved the net whole, which otherwise must unavoidably have been
broken in pieces. Other circumstances are mentioned, namely, that the disciples find burning
coals on the shore, that fishes are laid on them, and that bread is also prepared. As to the
number of the fishes, we ought not to look for any deep mystery in it. Augustine enters into
ingenious reasonings about the statement of the number, and says that it denotes the Law and

90. the Gospel; but if we examine the matter carefully, we shall find that this is childish trifling.
(228)
In the Latin original of the Commentaries, the illustration of this clause comes before that of
the 7
th verse; but I have consulted the convenience of the reader, by following the French
version, which, in this respect, may be supposed to give us the latest thoughts of the Author., and
in which this clause is restored to its natural order. — Ed.

BARNES, “
On the right side - Why the right side is mentioned is not known. Grotius 
supposes that it was the side nearest the shore, where there was less probability of taking
fish. It does not appear that they yet recognized the Lord Jesus, but from some cause 
they had sufficient confidence in him to make another trial. Perhaps they judged that he 
was one skilled in that employment, and knew where there was the greatest probability 
of success.
CLARKE, “And ye shall find - The Ethiopic, three copies of the Itala, and St. Cyril, 
add, They said therefore unto him, we have labored all the night and caught nothing, 
nevertheless at thy command we will let down the net. This is borrowed from 
Luk_5:5.
For the multitude of fishes - This was intended as an emblem of the immense 
number of souls which should be converted to God by their ministry; according to the 
promise of Christ, Mat_4:19.
GILL, “And he said unto them,.... Willing to make himself known by a miracle, since 
they knew him not by his person, nor voice: 
cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find; that is, a large 
multitude of fish, as they did. The ship was an emblem of the church in its present 
afflicted state; the right side of it points to the elect, and where they are to be found in 
this world; the casting of the net signifies the preaching of the Gospel; the promise of 
finding fish, the assurance Christ gives of the success of his word, which he owns and 
blesses for the conversion of elect sinners: 
they cast therefore; the net, willing to try what success they might have at the instance
of this person, whom they knew not. The Ethiopic version reads the passage thus, "and 
they said unto him, we have laboured all night, and have found nothing, but at thy word 
we will let down"; which seems to be taken out of Luk_5:5. However, they obeyed his 
orders and directions, as the faithful ministers of the Gospel do, and should, and, 
succeeded. 
And now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. The Syriac 
adds, "which it held"; being in number, as in Joh_21:11 an hundred and fifty, and three 
great fishes; which was an emblem and presage of that large number of souls both 
among the Jews and Gentiles, which they should be instrumental in bringing to Christ, 
through the preaching of the Gospel.

91. HENRY, “4. He showed himself to them by an instance of his power; and this perfected 
the discovery (Joh_21:6): he ordered them to cast the net on the right side of the ship, 
the contrary side to what they had been casting it on; and then they, who were going 
home empty-handed, were enriched with a great draught of fishes. Here we have, (1.) 
The orders Christ gave them, and the promise annexed to those orders: Cast the net 
there in such a place, and you shall find. He from whom nothing is hid, no, not the 
inhabitants under the waters (Job_26:5), knew on what side of the ship the shoal of 
fishes was, and to that side he directs them. Note, Divine providence extends itself to 
things most minute and contingent; and they are happy that know how to take hints 
thence in the conduct of their affairs, and acknowledge it in all their ways. (2.) Their 
obedience of these orders, and the good success of it. As yet they knew not that it was 
Jesus; however, they were willing to be advised by any body, and did not bid this 
supposed stranger mind his own business and not meddle with theirs, but took his 
counsel; in being thus observant of strangers, they were obedient to their Master 
unawares. And it sped wonderfully well; now they had a draught that paid them for all 
their pains. Note, Those that are humble, diligent, and patient (though their labours may 
be crossed) shall be crowned; they sometimes live to see their affairs take a happy turn, 
after many struggles and fruitless attempts. There is nothing lost by observing Christ's 
orders. Those are likely to speed well that follow the rule of the word, the guidances of 
the Spirit, and the intimations of Providence; for this is casting the net on the right side 
of the ship. Now the draught of fishes may be considered, [1.] As a miracle in itself: and 
so it was designed to prove that Jesus Christ was raised in power, though sown in 
weakness, and that all things were put under his feet, the fishes of the sea not excepted. 
Christ manifests himself to his people by doing that for them which none else can do, 
and things which they looked not for. [2.] As a mercy to them; for the seasonable and 
abundant supply of their necessities. When their ingenuity and industry failed them, the 
power of Christ came in opportunely for their relief; for he would take care that those 
who had left all for him should not want any good thing. When we are most at a loss, 
Jehovah - jireh. [3.] As the memorial of a former mercy, with which Christ had formerly 
recompensed Peter for the loan of his boat, Luk_5:4, etc. This miracle nearly resembled 
that, and could not but put Peter in mind of it, which helped him to improve this; for 
both that and this affected him much, as meeting him in his own element, in his own 
employment. Latter favours are designed to bring to mind former favours, that eaten 
bread may not be forgotten. [4.] As a mystery, and very significant of that work to which 
Christ was now with an enlarged commission sending them forth. The prophets had been
fishing for souls, and caught nothing, or very little; but the apostles, who let down the net
at Christ's word, had wonderful success. Many were the children of the desolate, 
Gal_4:27. They themselves, in pursuance of their former mission, when they were first 
made fishers of men, had had small success in comparison with what they should now 
have. When, soon after this, three thousand were converted in one day, then the net was 
cast on the right side of the ship. It is an encouragement to Christ's ministers to continue
their diligence in their work. One happy draught, at length, may be sufficient to repay 
many years of toil at the gospel net.
7

92. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to
Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon
Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he
wrapped his outer garment around him (for
he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
Barnes, “
Joh 21:7 - 
Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved - John, 
Joh_13:23.
It is the Lord - He was convinced, perhaps, by the apparent miracle, and by looking 
more attentively on the person of one who had been the means of such unexpected and 
remarkable success.
His fisher’s coat - His upper or outer garment or tunic, in distinction from the inner 
garment or tunic which was worn next the skin. In the case of Peter it may have been 
made of coarse materials such as fishermen commonly wore, or such as Peter usually 
wore when he was engaged in this employment. Such garments are common with men of
this occupation. This outer garment he probably had laid aside.
He was naked - He was undressed, with nothing on but the undergarment or tunic. 
The word does not require us to suppose a greater degree of nakedness than this. See the 
Mar_14:51 note; also 1Sa_19:24 note.
Did cast himself into the sea - With characteristic ardor, desirous of meeting again his 
Lord, and showing his affection for him.
Clarke, “Joh 21:7 - 
His fisher’s coat - Or, his upper coat. Επενδυτην, from επι, upon, and ενδυω, I clothe;
something analagous to what we term a great coat or surtout.
He was naked - He was only in his vest. ΓυRνος, naked, is often used to signify the 
absence of this upper garment only. In 1Sa_19:24, when Saul had put off his SRατια, 
upper garments, he is said to have been γυRνος, naked; and David, when girded only with
a linen ephod, is said to have been uncovered, in 2Sa_6:14, 2Sa_6:20. To which may be 
added what we read in the Sept. Job_22:6, Thou hast taken away the covering of the 
naked; BRU;BQ;qs?NRq’q, the plaid or blanket in which they wrapped themselves, and 
besides which they had none other. In this sense it is that Virgil says, Geor. i. 299: Nudus
ara, sere nudus, i.e. strip off your upper garments, and work till you sweat. See more 
examples in Bp. Pearce.
Cast himself into the sea - It is likely that they were in very shallow water; and, as 
they were only two hundred cubits from the land, (about one hundred and thirty-two 
English yards), it is possible that Peter only stepped into the water that he might assist 

93. them to draw the boat to land, which was now heavily laden. It is not likely that he went 
into the water in order to swim ashore; had he intended this, it is not to be supposed that
he would have put his great coat on, which must have been an essential hinderance to 
him in getting to shore.
GILL, “saith unto Peter, it is the Lord; which two disciples were very intimate with 
each other, and communicated their thoughts freely to one another. John knew that it 
was the Lord, either by some special revelation, or from the multitude of fishes which 
were taken, and which showed a divine hand and power to be concerned. So faithful 
ministers of the Gospel know when Christ is with them, by his power attending their 
ministrations to the conversion of souls. The Cambridge copy of Beza's reads, "our Lord";
as do the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; and it is reasonable to think, John 
speaking to a fellow disciple, who had equal interest in him with himself, might so say. 
Now when Simon heard that it was the Lord; faith came by hearing, he was 
immediately convinced, and thoroughly satisfied, having received the hint upon a 
reflection on the surprising capture of the fishes, that it must be the Lord: 
he girt his fisher's coat unto him. The Greek word επενδυτης, here used, is 
manifestly the sT!UmVWsof the Hebrews; and which, the Jewish writers say (b), was a strait 
garment, which a man put on next his flesh to dry up the sweat; and a very proper one 
for Peter, who had been toiling all night, and very fit for him to swim in; and, by what 
follows, appears to be put on him next his flesh: for he was naked; for to suppose him 
entirely naked, whilst fishing, being only in company with men, and those parts of nature
having a covering, which always require one, was not at all indecent and unbecoming: 
and did cast himself into the sea; the Syriac adds, "that he might come to Christ"; 
and the Persic, "and he came to Christ"; showing his great love and eagerness to be with 
him; and, as fearless of danger, risks all to be with Christ; his love being such, that many 
waters could not quench, nor floods drown. 
LANGE, “
Simon Peter then hearing that it was the Lord.—Again the characteristic picture of
the two disciples, as in Joh_20:4
 ff. Each disciple is in advance of the other; John with the swift
drawing of love, the eagle<glance of recognition, Peter with the spirited, decided act.—For he 
was naked
 [ ἧí ãὰñ ãõìíüò ].—This assertion does not operate to the exclusion of the loin<cloth,
or a fisherman’s shirt, even. Reverence, however, commands him to put on the upper
garment, ἐðåíäýôçò
 ( î◌ְ ò◌ִéì ), fisher’s frock; this was without sleeves; it extended to the knees
and was worn over the ÷éôþí
 . He girded the garment on account of his swimming, for it was in
this manner he reached the land; Grotius and others make him walk upon the water as aforetime.
CALVIN, “7.Therefore the disciple whom Jesus loved saith to Peter. The Evangelist shows, by
his example, that it is our duty to raise our hearts to God, whenever we succeed in any thing
beyond our expectation; because we ought instantly to remember that this act of kindness has
flowed from the favor of Him who is the Author of every blessing. That holy recognition of the
grace of God, which dwelt in the heart of John, led him also to the knowledge of Christ; for he
does not perceive Christ with his eyes, but, being convinced that the great multitude of fishes has
been brought to him by the hand of God, he concludes that it was Christ who had guided his
hands. But, as John goes before Peter in faith, so Peter afterwards excels him in zeal, when,
disregarding personal danger, he throws himself into the lake. The rest follow in the ship. True, all
come to Christ at length, but Peter is actuated by a peculiar zeal in comparison of the others.
Whether he crossed over to the shore by walking or by swimming, is uncertain; but let us rest

94. satisfied with knowing that the act of leaving the ship and going on shore was not the result of
folly and rashness, but that he advanced beyond the others in proportion to his zeal.
BENSON, “John 21:7<8. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved — Seeing such astonishing
success after their preceding fruitless toil and disappointment; saith unto Peter, It is the Lord
—
Who has, on this occasion, renewed that miracle which he wrought in thy ship some years ago,
when he first called us to attend him.Now when Peter heard, and saw, that it was the Lord, he girt
his fisher’s coat unto him — Or upper garment, as
επενδυτης properly signifies, reverencing the
presence of the Lord. For he was naked
— Or rather, was stripped of it; for the word γυνος, here
used, does not always, like the English word naked,signify having no clothes on, or being totally
uncovered, but not having all the clothes usually worn. In this sense the word seems to be
used
Acts 19:16, and in several passages of the Old Testament. And did cast himself into the
sea
— To swim to him immediately. The love of Christ draws men through fire and water. And the
other disciples
— Making the best of their way; came in a little ship — That is, in their small fishing
vessel; dragging the net with fishes
— Which doubtless considerably impeded their progress.
BURKITT, “Observe here, 1. Christ was near, very near to his disciples, but they perceived it
not: Jesus stood on the shore, but they knew not that it was Jesus.
Learn, Christ is not always discerned by us when he is present with us; it is a double mercy to
enjoy his company, and to know indeed that it is he.
Observe, 2. Although they had laboured all the night in vain, yet at Christ's command they go to
work again, and with great success: They were not able to draw the net for the multitude of 
fishes.
When Christ is about to do great things for his people, yet will he have them exert all possible
endeavours of their own; and the want of former success must not discourage from future
endeavours.
Observe, 3. What a proof Christ here gives of his divinity and godhead: how were all the fish in
the sea at his pleasure, and obedient to his command! he knew where they swam, and brings
them from one part of the lake to the other, where the disciples had toiled all night, and 
caught nothing. Christ our Mediator is true God, and as such he had a sovereign power and
providence over all the creatures; the cattle on a thousand hills, and all the fish swimming in the
sea, are obedient to his power, and observant of his commands.

Henry, “
4. He showed himself to them by an instance of his power; and this perfected 
the discovery (
Joh_21:6): he ordered them to cast the net on the right side of the ship, 
the contrary side to what they had been casting it on; and then they, who were going 
home empty-handed, were enriched with a great draught of fishes. Here we have, (1.) 
The orders Christ gave them, and the promise annexed to those orders: Cast the net 
there in such a place, and you shall find. He from whom nothing is hid, no, not the 
inhabitants under the waters (Job_26:5), knew on what side of the ship the shoal of 
fishes was, and to that side he directs them. Note, Divine providence extends itself to 
things most minute and contingent; and they are happy that know how to take hints 
thence in the conduct of their affairs, and acknowledge it in all their ways. (2.) Their 
obedience of these orders, and the good success of it. As yet they knew not that it was 
Jesus; however, they were willing to be advised by any body, and did not bid this 
supposed stranger mind his own business and not meddle with theirs, but took his 

95. counsel; in being thus observant of strangers, they were obedient to their Master 
unawares. And it sped wonderfully well; now they had a draught that paid them for all 
their pains. Note, Those that are humble, diligent, and patient (though their labours may 
be crossed) shall be crowned; they sometimes live to see their affairs take a happy turn, 
after many struggles and fruitless attempts. There is nothing lost by observing Christ's 
orders. Those are likely to speed well that follow the rule of the word, the guidances of 
the Spirit, and the intimations of Providence; for this is casting the net on the right side 
of the ship. Now the draught of fishes may be considered, [1.] As a miracle in itself: and 
so it was designed to prove that Jesus Christ was raised in power, though sown in 
weakness, and that all things were put under his feet, the fishes of the sea not excepted. 
Christ manifests himself to his people by doing that for them which none else can do, 
and things which they looked not for. [2.] As a mercy to them; for the seasonable and 
abundant supply of their necessities. When their ingenuity and industry failed them, the 
power of Christ came in opportunely for their relief; for he would take care that those 
who had left all for him should not want any good thing. When we are most at a loss, 
Jehovah - jireh. [3.] As the memorial of a former mercy, with which Christ had formerly 
recompensed Peter for the loan of his boat, Luk_5:4, etc. This miracle nearly resembled 
that, and could not but put Peter in mind of it, which helped him to improve this; for 
both that and this affected him much, as meeting him in his own element, in his own 
employment. Latter favours are designed to bring to mind former favours, that eaten 
bread may not be forgotten. [4.] As a mystery, and very significant of that work to which 
Christ was now with an enlarged commission sending them forth. The prophets had been
fishing for souls, and caught nothing, or very little; but the apostles, who let down the net
at Christ's word, had wonderful success. Many were the children of the desolate, 
Gal_4:27. They themselves, in pursuance of their former mission, when they were first 
made fishers of men, had had small success in comparison with what they should now 
have. When, soon after this, three thousand were converted in one day, then the net was 
cast on the right side of the ship. It is an encouragement to Christ's ministers to continue
their diligence in their work. One happy draught, at length, may be sufficient to repay 
many years of toil at the gospel net.
PULPIT, “Therefore, as a distinct consequence of the vivid reminiscence of the past;
with sudden intuition given to him by the event, and a fresh realization of the identity of
the risen Lord with the Master Jesus, that disciple therefore whom Jesus loved—who
must have been either one of the sons of Zebedee or one of the two unnamed disciples.
The latter supposition is inapposite from the intimacy between Peter and John, which the
synoptic narrative, and references in the Acts and Galatians it., have recorded; that
disciple and no other, the one so often referred to, one of the seven, saith unto Peter, It is
the Lord. Had he not again and again done wondrous things of power, wisdom, and love
on this very spot, in these very waters? So John comes intuitively and with true insight to
the sacred truth and reality, and his conduct is again contrasted wonderfully with the
energetic and impulsive Peter (Joh_20:5, Joh_20:6). The same relative characteristics of
the two apostles have been preserved throughout the fivefold narrative. Such a contrast
so delicately and persistently sustained lends certainty to the objective
reality. Accordingly Simon Peter, when he heard, It is the Lord—for the words flashed
conviction into him—hurried at once to put his new idea to practical proof. The word of
John satisfied him, and, not seeing for himself what John saw with mental eye, he
accepted the joyful news, and was the first to spring into the sea, and, with his usual
energy, to cast himself at his Master's feet. He girt his coat about him (for he was 

96. naked). The word γυνός does not mean perfectly nude. A man who had simply
the χιτών or tunic upon him was practically thus regarded. The word γυ6νός occurs
in Isa_20:2;1Sa_19:24; Job_24:10 in the same sense. The proper name for the tunic, or
garment next the skin, was ὑποδύτης , and that which was put over the tunic
was ἐπενδύτης and ἐπένδυ6α (Meyer and Wettstein, in loc.). The Talmud has Aramaized
the word, calling it àúãâó ) (ependetha), and used it for the workman's frock or blouse,
often without sleeves, and fastened with a girdle. Dr. Salmond truly says that this
reference to an act which to ordinary men would have suggested a different arrangement
h.2Sd:44y2d:P:wk42ge:2:H:cL-gI:44)2D:Iv4g:I(:dv245vgests that Peter simply girded his
upper garment for the purpose of swimming more easily; but, as Luthardt observes, with
this ἐπενδύτης already upon him, he would not have been "naked" And he cast himself 
into the sea, intending, whatever might be the fate of the laden net, to be the first to greet
and worship the Lord. Of the reception he met with John says nothing: he knew nothing.
The Lord had some special instruction for him a little later. It is not in harmony with the
words, as Gerhard supposed, that Peter walked triumphantly upon the waters. ]ot a hint
of it occurs. The hundred yards were rapidly covered, either by swimming or wading to
the shore meanwhile.
MACLAREN, “
‘IT IS THE LORD!’
It seems a very strange thing that these disciples had not, at an earlier period of this 
incident, discovered the presence of Christ, inasmuch as the whole was so manifestly a 
repetition of that former event by which the commencement of their ministry had been 
signalised, when He called them to become ‘fishers of men.’ We are apt to suppose that 
when once again they embarked on the lake, and went back to their old trade, it must 
have been with many a thought of Him busy at their hearts. Yonder-perhaps we fancy 
them thinking-is the very point where we saw Him coming out of the shadows of the 
mountains, that night when He walked on the water; yonder is the little patch of grass 
where He made them all sit down whilst we bore the bread to them: there is the very spot
where we were mending our nets when He came up to us and called us to Himself; and 
now it is all over. We have loved and lost Him; He has been with us, and has left us. ‘We 
trusted that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel,’ and the Cross has ended it
all! So, we are apt to think, they must have spoken; but there does not seem to have been 
about them any such sentimental remembrance. John takes pains in this narrative, I 
think, to show them to us as plain, rough men, busy about their night’s work, and 
thinking a great deal more of their want of success in fishing, than about the old 
associations which we are apt to put into their minds. Then through the darkness He 
comes, as they had seen Him come once before, when they know Him not; and He 
speaks to them as He had spoken before, and they do not detect His voice yet; and He 
repeats the old miracle, and their eyes are all holden, excepting the eyes of him who 
loved, and he first says, ‘It is the Lord!’ Now, besides all the other features of this 
incident by which it becomes the revelation of the Lord’s presence with His Church, and 
the exhibition of the work of the Church during all the course of the world’s history, it 
contains valuable lessons on other points, such as these which I shall try to bring before 
you.
Now and always, as in that morning twilight on the Galilean lake, Christ comes to men. 
Everywhere He is present, everywhere revealing Himself. Now, as then, our eyes are 
‘holden’ by our own fault, so that we recognise not the merciful Presence which is all 
around us. Now, as then, it is they who are nearest to Christ by love who see Him first. 

97. Now, as then, they who are nearest to Him by love, are so because He loves them, and 
because they know and believe the love which He has to them. I find, then, in this part of 
the story three thoughts,-First, they only see aright who see Christ in everything. 
Secondly, they only see Christ who love Him. Lastly, they only love Him who know that 
He loves them,
I. First then, they only see aright who see Christ in everything.
This word of John’s, ‘It is the Lord!’-ought to be the conviction with the light of which we
go out to the examination of all events, and to the consideration of all the circumstances 
of our daily life. We believe that unto Christ is given ‘all power in heaven and upon 
earth.’ We believe that to Him belongs creative power-that ‘without Him was not 
anything made which was made.’ We believe that from Him came all life at first. In Him 
life was, as in its deep source. He is the Fountain of life. We believe that as no being 
comes into existence without His creative power, so none continues to exist without His 
sustaining energy. We believe that He allots to all men their natural characters and their 
circumstances. We believe that the history of the world is but the history of His 
influence, and that the centre of the whole universe is the cross of Calvary. In the light of 
such convictions, I take it, every man that calls himself a Christian ought to go out to 
meet life and to study all events. Let me try, then, to put before you, very briefly, one or 
two of the provinces in which we are to take this conviction as the keynote to all our 
knowledge.
No man will understand the world aright, to begin with, who cannot say about all 
creation, ‘It is the Lord!’ Nature is but the veil of the invisible and ascended Lord: and if 
we would pierce to the deepest foundations of all being, we cannot stop until we get 
down to the living power of Christ our Saviour and the Creator of the world, by whom all 
things were made, and whose will pouring out into this great universe, is the sustaining 
principle and the true force which keeps it from nothingness and from quick decay.
Why, what did Christ work all His miracles upon earth for? Not solely to give us a 
testimony that the Father had sent Him; not solely to make us listen to His words as a 
Teacher sent from God; not solely as proof of His Messiahship,-but besides all these 
purposes there was surely this other, that for once He would unveil to us the true Author 
of all things, and the true Foundation of all being. Christ’s miracles interrupted the order
of the world, because they made visible to men for once the true and constant Orderer of 
the order. They interrupted the order in so far as they struck out the intervening links by 
which the creative and sustaining word of God acts in nature, and suspended each event 
directly from the firm staple of His will. They revealed the eternal Orderer of that order 
in that they showed the Incarnate Word wielding the forces of nature, which He has done
from of old and still does. We are then to take all these signs and wonders that He 
wrought, as a perennial revelation of the real state of things with regard to this natural 
world, and to see in them all, signs and tokens that into every corner and far-off region of
the universe His loving hand reaches, and His sustaining power goes forth. Into what 
province of nature did He not go? He claimed to be the Lord of life by the side of the 
boy’s bier at the gate of Nain, in the chamber of the daughter of Jairus, by the grave of 
Lazarus. He asserted for Himself authority over all the powers and functions of our 
bodily life, when He gave eyes to the blind, hearing to the deaf, feet to the lame. He 
showed that He was Lord over the fowl of the air, the beasts of the earth, the fish of the 
sea. And He asserted His dominion over inanimate nature, when the fig-tree, cursed by 
Him, withered away to its roots, and the winds and waves sunk into silence at His gentle 
voice. He let us get a glimpse into the dark regions of His rule over the unseen, when 
‘with authority He commanded the unclean spirits, and they came out.’ And all these 

98. things He did, in order that we, walking in this fair world, encompassed by the glories of 
this wonderful universe, should be delivered from the temptation of thinking that it is 
separated from Him, or independent of His creative and sustaining power; and in order 
that we should feel that the continuance of all which surrounds us, the glories of heaven 
and the loveliness of earth, are as truly owing to the constant intervention of His present 
will, and the interposition beneath them of His sustaining hand, as when first, by the 
‘Word of God’ who ‘was with God and who was God,’ speaking forth His fiat, there came 
light and beauty out of darkness and chaos.
O Christian men! we shall never understand the Christian thought about God’s universe, 
until we are able to say, Preservation is a continual creation; and beneath all the ordinary
workings of Nature, as we faithlessly call it, and the apparently dead play of secondary 
causes, there are welling forth, and energising, the living love and the blessed power of 
Christ, the Maker, and Monarch, and Sustainer of all. ‘It is the Lord!’ is the highest 
teaching of all science. The mystery of the universe, and the meaning of God’s world, are 
shrouded in hopeless obscurity, until we learn to feel that all laws suppose a Lawgiver, 
and that all working involves a divine energy; and that beneath all which appears there 
lies for ever rising up through it and giving it its life and power, the one true living Being,
the Father in heaven, the Son by whom He works, and the Holy Ghost the Spirit. 
Darkness lies on Nature, except to those who in
‘the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean, and the living air,
And the blue sky,’
see that Form which these disciples saw in the morning twilight. Let ‘It is the Lord!’ be 
the word on our lips as we gaze on them all, and nature will then be indeed to us the 
open secret, the secret of the Lord which ‘He will show to them that fear Him.’
Then again, the same conviction is the only one that is adequate either to explain or to 
make tolerable the circumstances of our earthly condition. To most men-ah! to all of us 
in our faithless times-the events that befall ourselves, seem to be one of two things 
equally horrible, the play of a blind Chance, or the work of an iron Fate. I know not 
which of these two ghastly thoughts about the circumstances of life is the more 
depressing, ruining all our energy, depriving us of all our joy, and dragging us down with 
its weight. But brethren, and friends, there are but these three ways for it-either our life 
is the subject of a mere chaotic chance; or else it is put into the mill of an iron destiny, 
which goes grinding on and crushing with its remorseless wheels, regardless of what it 
grinds up; or else, through it all, in it all, beneath it and above it all, there is the Will 
which is Love, and the Love which is Christ! Which of these thoughts is the one that 
commends itself to your own hearts and consciences, and which is the one under which 
you would fain live if you could? I understand not how a man can front the awful 
possibilities of a future on earth, knowing all the points at which he is vulnerable, and all 
the ways by which disaster may come down upon him, and retain his sanity, unless he 
believes that all is ruled, not merely by a God far above him, who may be as 
unsympathising as He is omnipotent, but by his Elder Brother, the Son of God, who 
showed His heart by all His dealings with us here below, and who loves as tenderly, and 
sympathises as closely with us as ever He did when on earth He gathered the weary and 
the sick around Him. Is it not a thing, men and women, worth having, to have this for the
settled conviction of your hearts, that Christ is moving all the pulses of your life, and that
nothing falls out without the intervention of His presence and the power of His will 
working through it? Do you not think such a belief would nerve you for difficulty, would 

99. lift you buoyantly over trials and depressions, and would set you upon a vantage ground 
high above all the petty annoyances of life? Tell me, is there any other place where a man
can plant his foot and say, ‘Now I am on a rock and I care not what comes’? The riddle of 
Providence is solved, and the discipline of Providence is being accomplished when we 
have grasped this conviction-All events do serve me, for all circumstances come from His
will and pleasure, which is love; and everywhere I go-be it in the darkness of disaster or 
in the sunshine of prosperity-I shall see standing before me that familiar and beloved 
Shape, and shall be able to say, ‘It is the Lord!’ Friends and brethren, that is the faith to 
live by, that is the faith to die by; and without it life is a mockery and a misery.
Once more this same conviction, ‘It is the Lord! should guide us in all our thoughts about
the history and destinies of mankind and of Christ’s Church. The Cross is the centre of 
the world’s history, the incarnation and the crucifixion of our Lord are the pivot round 
which all the events of the ages revolve. ‘The testimony of Jesus was the spirit of 
prophecy,’ and the growing power of Jesus is the spirit of history, and in every book that 
calls itself the history of a nation, unless there be written, whether literally or in spirit, 
this for its motto, ‘It is the Lord!’ all will be shallow and incomplete.
‘They that went before and they that came after,’ when He entered into the holy city in 
His brief moment of acceptance and pomp, surrounded Him with hosannas and jubilant 
gladness. It is a deep and true symbol of the whole history of the world. All the 
generations that went before Him, though they knew it not, were preparing the way of 
the Lord, and heralding the advent of Him who was ‘the desire of all nations’ and ‘the 
light of men’; and all the generations that come after, though they know it not, are 
swelling the pomp of His triumph and hastening the time of His crowning and dominion.
‘It is the Lord!’ is the secret of all national existence. It is the secret of all the events of the
world. The tangled web of human history is only then intelligible when that is taken as its
clue, ‘From Him are all things, and to Him are all things.’ The ocean from which the 
stream of history flows, and that into which it empties itself, are one. He began it, He 
sustains it. ‘The help that is done upon earth He doeth it Himself,’ and when all is 
finished, it will be found that all things have indeed come from Christ, been sustained 
and directed by Christ, and have tended to the glory and exaltation of that Redeemer, 
who is King of kings and Lord of lords, Maker of the worlds, and before whose throne are
for ever gathered for service, whether they know it or not, the forces of the Gentiles, the 
riches of the nations, the events of history, the fates and destinies of every man.
I need not dwell upon the way in which such a conviction as this, my friends, living and 
working in our hearts, would change for us the whole aspect of life, and make everything 
bright and beautiful, blessed and calm, strengthening us for all which we might have to 
do, nerving us for duty, and sustaining us against every trial, leading us on, triumphant 
and glad, through regions all sparkling with tokens of His presence and signs of His love,
unto His throne at last, to lay down our praises and our crowns before Him. Only let me 
leave with you this one word of earnest entreaty, that you will lay to heart the solemn 
alternative-either see Christ in everything, and be blessed; or miss Him, and be 
miserable. Oh! it is a waste, weary world, unless it is filled with signs of His presence. It 
is a dreary seventy years, brother, of pilgrimage and strife, unless, as you travel along the
road, you see the marks that He who went before you has left by the wayside for your 
guidance and your sustenance. If you want your days to be true, noble, holy, happy, 
manly, and Godlike, believe us, it is only when they all have flowing through them this 
conviction, ‘It is the Lord!’ that they all become so.
II. Then, secondly, only they who love, see Christ.

100. John, the Apostle of Love, knew Him first. In religious matters, love is the foundation of 
knowledge. There is no way of knowing a Person except love. The knowledge of God and 
the knowledge of Christ are not to be won by the exercise of the understanding. A man 
cannot argue his way into knowing Christ. No skill in drawing inferences will avail him 
there. The treasures of wisdom-earthly wisdom-are all powerless in that region. Man’s 
understanding and natural capacity- let it keep itself within its own limits and region, 
and it is strong and good; but in the region of acquaintance with God and Christ, the 
wisdom of this world is foolishness, and man’s understanding is not the organ by which 
he can know Christ. Oh no! there is a better way than that: ‘He that loveth not knoweth 
not God, for God is love.’ As it is, in feebler measure, with regard to our personal 
acquaintance with one another, where it is not so much the power of the understanding, 
or the quickness of the perception, or the talent and genius of a man, that make the 
foundation of his knowledge of his friend, as the force of his sympathy and the depth of 
his affection; so-with the necessary modification arising from the transference from 
earthly acquaintances to the great Friend and Lover of our souls in heaven-so is it with 
regard to our knowledge of Christ. Love will trace Him everywhere, as dear friends can 
detect each other in little marks which are meaningless to others. Love’s quick eye 
pierces through disguises impenetrable to a colder scrutiny. Love has in it a longing for 
His presence which makes us eager and quick to mark the lightest sign that He for whom
it longs is near, as the footstep of some dear one is heard by the sharp ear of affection 
long before any sound breaks the silence to those around. Love leads to likeness to the 
Lord, and that likeness makes the clearer vision of the Lord possible. Love to Him strips 
from our eyes the film that self and sin, sense and custom, have drawn over them. It is 
these which hide Him from us. It is because men are so indifferent to, so forgetful of, 
their best Friend that they fail to behold Him, ‘It is the Lord!’ is written large and plain 
on all things, but like the great letters on a map, they are so obvious and fill so wide a 
space, that they are not seen. They who love Him know Him, and they who know Him 
love Him. The true eye-salve for our blinded eyes is applied when we have turned with 
our hearts to Christ. The simple might of faithful love opens them to behold a more 
glorious vision than the mountain ‘full of chariots of fire,’ which once flamed before the 
prophet’s servant of old-even the august and ever-present form of the Lord of life, the 
Lord of history, the Lord of providence. When they who love Jesus turn to see ‘the Voice 
that speaks with them,’ they ever behold the Son of Man in His glory; and where others 
see but the dim beach and a mysterious stranger, it is to their lips that the glad cry first 
comes, ‘It is the Lord!’
And is it not a blessed thing, brethren! that thus this high and glorious prerogative of 
recognising the marks of Christ’s presence everywhere, of going through life gladdened 
by the assurance of His nearness, does not depend on what belongs to few men only, but 
on what may belong to all? When we say that ‘not many wise men after the flesh, not 
many mighty, not many noble, are called’-when we say that love is the means of 
knowledge-we are but in other words saying that the way is open to all, and that no 
characteristics belonging to classes, no powers that must obviously always belong to but 
a handful, are necessary for the full apprehension of the power and blessedness of 
Christ’s Gospel. The freeness and the fullness of that divine message, the glorious truth 
that it is for all men, and is offered to all, are couched in that grand principle, Love that 
thou mayest know; love, and thou art filled with the fullness of God, Not for the handful, 
not for the elite of the world; not for the few, but for the many; not for the wise, but for 
all; not for classes, but for humanity-for all that are weak, and sinful, and needy, and 
foolish, and darkened He comes, who only needs that the heart that looks should love, 
and then it shall behold!

101. But if that were the whole that I have to say, I should have said but little to the purpose. 
It very little avails to tell men to love. We cannot love to order, or because we think it 
duty. There is but one way of loving, and that is to see the lovely. The disciple who loved 
Jesus was ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ Generalise that, and it teaches us this, that
III. They love who know that Christ loves them. 
His divine and eternal mercy is the foundation of the whole. Our love, brethren, can 
never be any thing else than our echo to His voice of tenderness than the reflected light 
upon our hearts of the full glory of His affection. No man loveth God except the man who
has first learned that God loves him. ‘We love Him, because He first loved us.’ And when 
we say, ‘Love Christ,’ if we could not go on to say, ‘Nay, rather let Christ’s love come 
down upon you’-we had said worse than nothing. The fountain that rises in my heart can 
only spring up heavenward, because the water of it has flowed down into my heart from 
the higher level. All love must descend first, before it can ascend. We have, then, no 
Gospel to preach, if we have only this to preach, ‘Love, and thou art saved.’ But we have a
Gospel that is worth the preaching, when we can come to men who have no love in their 
hearts, and say, ‘Brethren! listen to this-you have to bring nothing, you are called upon to
originate no affection; you have nothing to do but simply to receive the everlasting love 
of God in Christ His Son, which was without us, which began before us, which flows forth
independent of us, which is unchecked by all our sins, which triumphs over all our 
transgressions, and which will make us-loveless, selfish, hardened, sinful men-soft, and 
tender, and full of divine affection, by the communication of its own self.
Oh, then, look to Christ, that you may love Him! Think, brethren, of that full, and free, 
and boundless mercy which, from eternity, has been pouring itself out in floods of grace 
and loving-kindness over all creatures. Think of that everlasting love which presided at 
the foundation of the earth, and has sustained it ever since. Think of that Saviour who 
has died for us, and lives for us. Think of Christ, the heart of God, and the fullness of the 
Father’s mercy; and do not think of yourselves at all. Do not ask yourselves, to begin 
with, the question, Do I love Him or do I not? You will never love by that means. If a man
is cold, let him go to the fire and warm himself. If he is dark, let him stand in the 
sunshine, and he will be light. If his heart is all clogged and clotted with sin and 
selfishness, let him get under the influence of the love of Christ, and look away from 
himself and his own feelings, towards that Saviour whose love shed abroad is the sole 
means of kindling ours. You have to go down deeper than your feelings, your affections, 
your desires, your character. There you will find no resting-place, no consolation, no 
power. Dig down to the living Rock, Christ and His infinite love to you, and let it be the 
strong foundation, built into which you and your love may become living stones, a holy 
temple, partaking of the firmness and nature of that on which it rests. They that love do 
so because they know that Christ loves them; and they that love see Him everywhere; 
and they that see Him everywhere are blessed for evermore. And let no man here torture 
himself, or limit the fullness of this message that we preach, by questionings whether 
Christ loves Him or not. Are you a man? are you sinful? have you broken God’s law? do 
you need a Saviour? Then put away all these questions, and believe that Christ’s personal
love is streaming out for the whole world, and that there is a share for you if you like to 
take it and be blessed!
There is one last thought arising from the whole subject before us, that may be worth 
mention before I close. Did you ever notice how this whole incident might be turned, by a
symbolical application, to the hour of death, and the vision which may meet us when we 
come thither? It admits of the application, and perhaps was intended to receive the 
application, of such a symbolic reference. The morning is dawning, the grey of night 

102. going away, the lake is still; and yonder, standing on the shore, in the uncertain light, 
there is one dim Figure, and one disciple catches a sight of Him, and another casts 
himself into the water, and they find ‘a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread,’ 
and Christ gathers them around His table, and they all know that ‘It is the Lord!’ It is 
what the death of the Christian man, who has gone through life recognising Christ 
everywhere, may well become:-the morning breaking, and the finished work, and the 
Figure standing on the quiet beach, so that the last plunge into the cold flood that yet 
separates us, will not be taken with trembling reluctance; but, drawn to Him by the love 
beaming out of His face, and upheld by the power of His beckoning presence, we shall 
struggle through the latest wave that parts us, and scarcely feel its chill, nor know that we
have crossed it; till falling blessed at His feet, we see, by the nearer and clearer vision of 
His face, that this is indeed heaven. And looking back upon ‘the sea that brought us 
thither,’ we shall behold its waters flashing in the light of that everlasting morning, and 
hear them breaking in music upon the eternal shore. And then, brethren, when all the 
weary night-watchers on the stormy ocean of life are gathered together around Him who 
watched with them from His throne on the bordering mountains of eternity, where the 
day shines for ever-then He will seat them at His table in His kingdom, and none will 
need to ask, ‘Who art Thou?’ or ‘Where am I?’ for all shall know that ‘It is the Lord!’ and 
the full, perfect, unchangeable vision of His blessed face will be heaven!
8
The other disciples followed in the boat,
towing the net full of fish, for they were not far
from shore, about a hundred yards. [
30]
Clarke, “
Joh 21:8 - 
Dragging the net - It is probable that this was that species of fishing in which the net
was stretched from the shore out into the sea; the persons who were in the boat, and who
shot the net, fetched a compass, and bringing in a hawser, which was attached to the 
other end of the net, those who were on shore helped them to drag it in. As the net was 
sunk with weights to the bottom, and the top floated on the water by corks, or pieces of 
light wood, all the fish that happened to come within the compass of the net were of 
course dragged to shore. The sovereign power of Christ had in this case miraculously 
collected the fish to that part where he ordered the disciples to cast the net.
GILL, “Joh 21:8 - And the other disciples came in a little ship,.... The same 
that they were fishing in, in which they came to Christ as soon as they could, not 
choosing to expose themselves, as Peter did; nor was it proper that they should leave the 

103. ship, and, as it was, might have hands few enough to bring ship and net, so full of fish, 
safe to shore; and the rather, they did not think fit to do as he did, 
for they were not far from land, but, as it were, two hundred cubits; which 
was about an hundred yards: 
dragging the net with fishes: towing the net full of fishes all along in the water, till 
they came to land; an emblem of laborious Gospel ministers, who being once embarked 
in the work of the ministry, continue in it to the end, notwithstanding all toil, labour, and
difficulties that attend them; and will at last bring the souls with them they have been 
made useful to, with great satisfaction and joy, to their dear Lord and master.
Henry, “IV. How the disciples received this discovery which Christ made of himself,
Joh_21:7, Joh_21:8, where we find,
1. That John was the most intelligent and quick-sighted disciple. He whom Jesus loved
was the first that said, It is the Lord; for those whom Christ loves he will in a special 
manner manifest himself to: his secret is with his favourites. John had adhered more 
closely to his Master in his sufferings than any of them: and therefore he has a clearer 
eye and a more discerning judgment than any of them, in recompence for his constancy. 
When John was himself aware that it was the Lord, he communicated his knowledge to 
those with him; for this dispensation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal. 
Those that know Christ themselves should endeavor to bring others acquainted with 
him; we need not engross him, there is enough in him for us all. John tells Peter 
particularly his thoughts, that it was the Lord, knowing he would be glad to see him 
above any of them. Though Peter had denied his Master, yet, having repented, and being 
taken into the communion of the disciples again, they were as free and familiar with him 
as ever.
2. That Peter was the most zealous and warm-hearted disciple; for as soon as he heard 
it was the Lord (for which he took John's word) the ship could not hold him, nor could he
stay till the bringing of it to shore, but into the sea he throws himself presently, that he 
might come first to Christ. (1.) He showed his respect to Christ by girding his fisher's 
coat about him that he might appear before his Master in the best clothes he had, and to 
rudely rush into his presence, stripped as he was to his waistcoat and drawers, because 
the work he was about was toilsome, and he was resolved to take pains in it. Perhaps the 
fisher's coat was made of leather, or oil-cloth, and would keep out wet; and he girt it to 
him that he might make the best of his way through the water to Christ, as he used to do 
after his nets, when he was intent upon his fishing. (2.) He showed the strength of his 
affection to Christ, and his earnest desire to be with him, by casting himself into the sea; 
and either wading or swimming to shore, to come to him. When he walked upon the 
water to Christ (Mat_14:28, Mat_14:29), it was said, He came down out of the ship 
deliberately; but here it is said, He cast himself into the sea with precipitation; sink or 
swim, he would show his good-will and aim to be with Jesus. “If Christ suffer me,” thinks
he, “to drown, and come short of him, it is but what I deserve for denying him.” Peter 
had had much forgiven, and made it appear he loved much by his willingness to run 
hazards, and undergo hardships, to come to him. Those that have been with Jesus will be
willing to swim through a stormy sea, a sea of blood, to come to him. And it is a laudable 
contention amongst Christ's disciples to strive who shall be first with him.

104. 3. That the rest of the disciples were careful and honest hearted. Though they were not 
in such a transport of zeal as to throw themselves into the sea, like Peter, yet they 
hastened in the boat to the shore, and made the best of their way (Joh_21:8): The other 
disciples, and John with them, who had first discovered that it was Christ, came slowly, 
yet they came to Christ. Now here we may observe, (1.) How variously God dispenses his 
gifts. Some excel, as Peter and John; are very eminent in gifts and graces, and are 
thereby distinguished from their brethren; others are but ordinary disciples, that mind 
their duty, and are faithful to him, but do nothing to make themselves remarkable; and 
yet both the one and the other, the eminent and the obscure, shall sit down together with
Christ in glory; nay, and perhaps the last shall be first. Of those that do excel, some, like 
John, are eminently contemplative, have great gifts of knowledge, and serve the church 
with them; others, like Peter, are eminently active and courageous, are strong, and do 
exploits, and are thus very serviceable to their generation. Some are useful as the 
church's eyes, others as the church's hands, and all for the good of the body. (2.) What a 
great deal of difference there may be between some good people and others in the way of 
their honouring Christ, and yet both accepted of him. Some serve Christ more in acts of 
devotion, and extraordinary expressions of a religious zeal; and they do well, to the Lord 
they do it. Peter ought not to be censured for casting himself into the sea, but 
commended for his zeal and the strength of his affection; and so must those be who, in 
love to Christ, quit the world, with Mary, to sit at his feet. But others serve Christ more in
the affairs of the world. They continue in that ship, drag the net, and bring the fish to 
shore, as the other disciples here; and such ought not to be censured as worldly, for they, 
in their place, are as truly serving Christ as the other, even in serving tables. If all the 
disciples had done as Peter did, what had become of their fish and their nets? And yet if 
Peter had done as they did we had wanted this instance of holy zeal. Christ was well 
pleased with both, and so must we be. (3.) That there are several ways of bringing 
Christ's disciples to shore to him from off the sea of this world. Some are brought to him 
by a violent death, as the martyrs, who threw themselves into the sea, in their zeal for 
Christ; others are brought to him by a natural death, dragging the net, which is less 
terrible; but both meet at length on the safe and quiet shore with Christ.
V. What entertainment the Lord Jesus gave them when they came ashore.
1. He had provision ready for them. When they came to land, wet and cold, weary and 
hungry, they found a good fire there to warm them and dry them, and fish and bread, 
competent provision for a good meal. (1.) We need not be curious in enquiring whence 
this fire, and fish, and bread, came, any more than whence the meat came which the 
ravens brought to Elijah. He that could multiply the loaves and fishes that were could 
make new ones if he pleased, or turn stones into bread, or send his angels to fetch it, 
where he knew it was to be had. It is uncertain whether this provision was made ready in 
the open air, or in some fisher's cabin or hut upon the shore; but here was nothing stately
or delicate. We should be content with mean things, for Christ was. (2.) We may be 
comforted in this instance of Christ's care of his disciples; he has wherewith to supply all 
our wants, and knows what things we have need of. He kindly provided for those 
fishermen, when they came weary from their work; for verily those shall be fed who 
trust in the Lord and do good. It is encouraging to Christ's ministers, whom he hath 
made fishers of men, that they may depend upon him who employs them to provide for 
them; and if they should miss of encouragement in this world, should be reduced as Paul 
was to hunger, and thirst, and fastings often, let them content themselves with what 
they have here; they have better things in reserve, and shall eat and drink with Christ at 
his table in his kingdom, Luk_22:30. Awhile ago, the disciples had entertained Christ 
with a broiled fish (Luk_24:42), and now, as a friend, he returned their kindness, and 

105. entertained them with one; nay, in the draught of fishes, he repaid them more than a 
hundred fold.
PULPIT, “But the other disciples came in the little boat. Either what was first described
as τὸ πλοῖον is now more minutely described as πλοιάριον , "the (same) little boat," or
else they had transferred themselves from the more MJy;baJc82fclfmv4cy,MN8ua8ulp8
smaller craft which was tethered to the larger one. The reason why the other disciples
came in the boat is given in the parenthesis: (for they were not far from the land, but as 
it were two hundred cubits off); i.e. about three hundred feet, half a stadium, a hundred
yards. Ἀπὸ to denote distance from, is used in this Gospel (see note, Joh_11:18) and the
Revelation (Rev_14:20). The disciples came in the boat over this distance, dragging the 
net (full) of fishes. The net was not broken, though filled. They did not further attempt to
lift it; they hauled it to the shore as it was. Strauss, who tries to show that we have a
glorifying myth framed out of an amalgam of the narratives of the first miraculous
draught and that of Peter walking on the water, is singularly unfortunate; for there is
less of the supernatural in the story than in either of the two narratives to which he
refers.
KRETZMANN 9-14, “
While the disciples came to land, in one way or the other, the lord had
kindled afire and provided both bread and fish for breakfast. Note the narration of details peculiar
to an eye<witness. Note also that the providence of Jesus is well able to take care of all the
needs of His disciples, whether they be small or great. Upon the order of Jesus that they should
bring of the fish which they had caught and had now towed to the shore, Simon Peter went
aboard the skiff, and, single<handed, drew the net up on the beach. His love for the Master and
the excitement of the occasion gave him almost superhuman strength. Many a labor of love in
the interest of Christ and the Church has seemed impossible from the standpoint of human
reckoning, but has proved a comparatively easy matter when undertaken in the fear of the Lord
and with the firm conviction that it was the Lord's will. Two items are emphasized by the
evangelist at this point: the fact that the net contained a total of one hundred and fifty<three
fishes, not small ones, but large and heavy; and that the net, in spite of the great weight, did not
tear. All these details come together to make a picture of Christ's almighty power which cannot
be gainsaid by the enemies. This miracle teaches the believers of all times that the Lord can and
will take care of their physical needs; He will provide their daily bread for them. Theirs is but to
work in their calling with all faithfulness and not to give way to idleness on the one hand, and to
foolish anxiety on the other. The Lord, having now provided the meal, invited the disciples to
breakfast. And the disciples were glad to come, although with some restraint. Whereas before
His Passion they had been on a friendly basis with their Master, a new dignity and aloofness
forced their awed respect. They all knew that it was the Lord, and did not dare ask questions.
Jesus now came forward and assumed the role of host, distributing both bread and fish to them.
Almost every action of the Lord reminded the disciples of some incident in the Lord's ministry,
and made them raise their hearts in thankful prayer for the blessing of His presence. Incidentally,
this third appearance to a larger body of disciples reminded them of the great calling which they
were now soon to enter upon. The Lord did not get out of touch with His messengers; He did not
permit their thoughts to get away entirely from the real life<work which was awaiting them.
9

106. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning
coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
λγδωπδ'υ9
John 21:9<14. As soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals — The
effect of Christ’s wonder<working power; and fish laid thereon, and bread
— Which also he had
prepared by a miracle, that they might see how easily he could make provision for them, when they
were destitute of the ordinary means of supply. We need not be curious in inquiring whence this
fire, fish, and bread came, any more than whence the meat came which the ravens brought Elijah.
He that could multiply the loaves and fishes that were, could make new ones if he pleased, or turn
stones into bread, fish, or flesh. We may take comfort from this instance of Christ’s care of his
disciples; persuaded he has wherewith to supply all our wants, and knows what things we have
need of. It is especially encouraging to Christ’s ministers, whom he hath made fishers of men, to
learn, by such an instance, that they may depend upon him who employs them to provide for them
what he sees to be needful. Jesus saith, Bring of the fish ye have now caught
— Christ gave this
order either because the fish already broiling on the fire was not sufficient for the company, or
rather, perhaps, to show them the reality and greatness of the miracle, by making them attend to
the number and largeness of the fish which they had caught, and to the circumstance of the net’s
not being broken. Simon Peter went up, and
— With the help of his brethren; drew the net to
land
— As Peter in the former instance had showed a more zealous affection to his Master’s
person than any of them, so in this he showed a more ready obedience to his Master’s
commands. Full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty and three
— These were many more than they
needed for their present supply; but they might sell them, and the money would serve to bear their
expenses on their journey back to Jerusalem, whither they were shortly to return, and to support
them while they waited there. And for all there were so many
— And great fishes too; yet was not
the net broken
— So that they witnessed miracle upon miracle wrought for them. Jesus saith,
Come and dine
— Or, come and eat; for the word αριστησατε, here used, signifies sometimes to
take meat in the morning, which is the meaning of it here. Dr. Doddridge reads, Come and refresh
yourselves; and Bishop Pearce, Come and breakfast.
“The ancients used regularly but two meals in
a day; we use three. As of our three, dinner and supper have been regarded as the two principal, it
has obtained, not only with us, but all over Europe, to call the first meal of the ancients by the first of
these two, which is dinner; and the second by the latter, which is supper. It is the order which has
fixed the names of these meals, and not the precise time of the day at which they were eaten,
which is commonly variable.” — Campbell. None of the disciples durst
— Or
rather, presumed, or ventured to ask him, Who art thou?
— For, as the last<mentioned divine justly
observes, “the verb
ετολα, which our translators render durst, does not always, in the use of
Greek authors, sacred or profane, express the boldness or courage implied in the English verb to
dare, by which it is commonly rendered. When joined with a negative, as in this place, it often
expresses merely a disinclination, arising from modesty, delicacy, respect, or an averseness to be
troublesome in putting unnecessary questions. And it may here be properly

107. translated presumed, or ventured; an interpretation confirmed by the words immediately following.
The sense then will be, They knew him to be the Lord, and therefore did not presume to ask him a
needless question. To say they durst not ask him, tends to convey the notion that our Lord’s
manner of conversing with his disciples was harsh and forbidding, than which nothing can be more
contrary to truth. It is not said by the evangelist here, that Jesus now ate with them; but his invitation
to them in this verse implies it. Besides, Peter testifies, (Acts 10:41,) that his apostles did eat and
drink with him after he rose from the dead; meaning to tell Cornelius that that was one of the many
infallible proofs by which heshowed himself alive after his passion. It is reasonable, therefore, to
think that he ate with his apostles on this occasion. Thus Jesus proved to his disciples anew the
reality of his resurrection, not only by eating with them, but by working a miracle like that which, at
the beginning of his ministry, made such an impression upon them as disposed them to be his
constant followers. This is the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples, &c. — The
evangelist does not say that it was the third time Jesus appeared, but the third time that he
appeared to his disciples; that is, to his apostles in a body; for in reality it was his seventh
appearance. Besides, John himself has taken notice of three appearances before this.

PULPIT, “
So when they were come to land (literally, with Revised version, got out of the
boat upon the land; à reads ἀνέβησαν instead of ἀπέβησαν ), they see a fire of coals there.
The word ἀνθρακίαoccurs only in
Joh_18:18 and in this place. It is derived from ἄνθραξ , a "coal
of fire," or burning charcoal. Observe the form κει/ένην (of
Joh_2:6), which implies that the
burning brazier was placed there for a purpose. And fish laid thereon, and a 
loaf. £ ( Ὀψάριον and ὀψάρια , used both in the singular and the plural for the roast relish eaten
with bread, and, by reason of the customary food of the people, is often used for "fish" or
"fishes.") Our Lord was regarding the whole of this proceeding from the standing of one who
would meet their hunger, and was conscious of power to feed the world in its utmost need. So
the provision which was thus made in advance for the need of the disciples becomes symbolic of
Christ's power to meet all the wants of the dying world. Numerous speculations have been
hazarded about the method employed by our Lord to prepare this meal. The early Fathers,
Chrysostom, Theophylact, with Grotius, have appealed to Christ's creative power. Luthardt thinks
of the ministry of angels. Some have suggested that Peter prepared the hasty repast during the
interval that elapsed between his landing on the shore and the approach of the boat. Our Lord,
who knew how to arrange for the last supper with his disciples, and who had all the resources of
Providence, and hosts of disciples along the shore, would, with superlative ease, and without
revealing himself to strangers, have made this simple meal; and, with his knowledge of the ease,
would have still delighted to act towards his beloved ones as at once their Host and their
Minister. He simply prepared for his own what he has been doing ever since.

LANGE, “
1. Brought forth out of nothing: Chrysostom, Theophylact, Grotius, Calov and others.
2. Prepared by the ministry of angels: Nice<phorus, Luthardt, etc.
3. Jesus either conveyed the meal thither Himself, or procured others to place it there: Meyer.
Against this view, Tholuck: “Peter cannot have conveyed it thither, but neither can Jesus have
procured it by means of others, if we must regard the perception of the Risen One not as an
external, common, sensuous perception, but as conditioned by the inner sense” (?). Lücke: “A
lack of clearness invests the miracle with an air of wild adventure.” But had not Jesus friends
every where along the lake? Could He not appear to them, and, in a mysterious manner, arrange
something similar to the making ready of the she<ass in Bethphage and of the furnished room in
Jerusalem? To this day Christ often, through the medium of wonderful providences, cares thus
for the maintenance of His people by operating influentially upon foreboding souls. Here,

108. therefore, as the Master and Father of the house, He has provided a breakfast for them (and that
not merely in a vision). Comp. Luk_24:30.

COKE, “
John 21:9<12. As soon—as they were come to land,— When the disciples came
ashore, they found a fire burning, which Jesus had miraculously prepared, and fish laid thereon,
and bread. But neither being sufficient for the company, or perhaps to shew them the reality of the
miracle, by making them attend to the number and size of the fishes they had caught, and to the
net's not being broken, Jesus ordered them to bring some of their own. It will not be judged, I hope,
too minute to observe, after some writers of the first credit, that it appears from the best natural
historians, that 153 (John 21:11.) is the exact number of the different species of fishes; and it is
inferred from this passage, that persons of all nations and conditions should enter into the Christian
church.

10
Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you
have just caught."
GILL, “Joh 21:10 - Jesus saith unto them,.... The disciples: 
bring of the fish which ye have now caught: for they might have caught some 
before, though so few and small, as scarcely to be reckoned any; nor were they bid to 
bring all they had taken, only some of them, to add to these Christ had prepared for them
on land; they being both indeed of a miraculous production, and the effects of his divine 
power. Christ's view in ordering to bring some of them, and put to those that lay upon 
the coals, was partly that they might have enough to make a meal of for them all; and 
also, that they might have a more perfect knowledge of the miracle wrought, by seeing 
the number and largeness of the fishes, and by bringing the net full of them to shore 
unbroken; and may be an emblem of the bringing of souls to Christ by the ministry of the
word, thereby adding to those that are already gathered.
CALVIN, “
10.Bring some of the fishes which you have now caught. Though the net was filled in
a moment, without any great labor on their part yet the taking of them is not ascribed by Christ to
the disciples, thus, we call the bread which we daily eat, OUR bread, and yet, by asking that it
may be given to us, we acknowledge that it proceeds from the blessing of God, (Mat_6:11.)
INTERVARSITY, “The first one to speak is Jesus, and he tells them to bring
some of the fish they have caught (v. 10). For the second time in this story Jesus
gives them a command. Although Jesus addresses all the disciples (
enenkate,

109. bring, plural), it is Peter who brings the catch ashore, apparently by himself (v.
11). Peter's zeal to come to Jesus is now matched by his zeal to obey him.
A great many suggestions have been made over the years for the significance of
the number 153 (cf. Beasley-Murray 1987:401-4), some suggestions more
edifying than others. The emphasis in the story, however, is simply on how many
fish there were and the fact that the net did not break. On the simplest level,
these details speak of the abundance that the gracious God provides and how he
also enables the abundance to be received. If more specific symbolism is
present, perhaps the fish represent a large influx of converts from various nations
and the unbroken net represents the unity of the church (for example, Brown
1970:1097).
At the feeding of the five thousand they had brought the bread and fish to Jesus,
and he multiplied them (6:9-11). In this scene he already has food and invites
them to add to it from their catch. Peter hauls up the fish, but there is no
description of what is done with them. Rather, Jesus speaks yet another
command--an invitation to have breakfast (v. 12). Throughout this encounter with
Jesus the disciples have not said anything. The scene is one of great awe, with
none of them daring to ask him,
Who are you? (v. 12). There was something
different about him, yet they were able to recognize him. The Lord Jesus is the
focus of this story.
BURKITT, “
Observe here, 1. What was Christ's end in commanding his disciples to bring forth
the fish which they had now taken: namely, that the sight of their number and bigness, together
with the sight of the net remaining unbroken, might confirm them in the belief of its being a real
miracle. Christ had fed their bellies before, his business now is to feed their minds with the
contemplation of the greatness and reality of the miracle. All Christ's miracles were obvious to
sense, and would bear the examination of the senses; not like the lying wonders of the church of
Rome, which are commonly wrought in the dark to cozen the vulgar, and are mere cheats and
impostures.
Observe, 2. That this full draught of fishes, which Peter and the rest of his disciples now had,
might probably presage that great and wonderful success which he and they were afterwards to
have in fishing for men.

110. Here we have an hundred fifty and three great fishes caught at one draught: but Act_2:41 we find
three thousand souls converted by St. Peter at one sermon.
O the marvellous success of the gospel at the first preaching and planting of it! Three thousand
then proselyted by one sermon. Now we have cause to fear that there are three thousand
sermons preached, and scarce one soul savingly converted. Lord! who hath believed our 
report?
11
Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the
net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but
even with so many the net was not torn.
Jfb, “
the design of the whole scene will, we think, be clear. The multitude and the 
size of the fishes they caught symbolically foreshadowed the vast success of their now 
fast approaching ministry, and this only as a beginning of successive draughts, through 
the agency of a Christian ministry, till, “as the waters cover the sea, the earth should be 
full of the knowledge of the Lord.” And whereas, at the first miraculous draught, the net 
“was breaking” through the weight of what it contained - expressive of the difficulty with
which, after they had ‘caught men,’ they would be able to retain, or keep them from 
escaping back into the world - while here, “for all they were so many, yet was not the net 
broken,” are we not reminded of such sayings as these (
Joh_10:28): “I give unto My 
sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My 
hand” [Luthardt]? But it is not through the agency of a Christian ministry that all true 
disciples are gathered. Jesus Himself, by unseen methods, gathers some, who afterwards 
are recognized by the constituted fishers of men, and mingle with the fruit of their 
labors. And are not these symbolized by that portion of our Galilean repast which the 
fishers found, in some unseen way, made ready to their hand?
LANGE, “
Joh_21:11. An hundred and fifty and three  [ ἑêáôὸí ðåíôÞêïíôá ôñéῶí ].—The
Evangelist’s primary intention in reporting the number of the whole mass of great fishes was,
manifestly, to render prominent the miraculousness of the fact that the net was nevertheless
untorn. The trait that the number (153), as a number, is not symbolical, speaks very decidedly in
favor of the historic truthfulness of the narrative in opposition to the assumption of its being a
tradition (Strauss), or the work of an apocryphal narrator. The attempt has indeed been made to
construe the number materially as a symbolical one. Ammonius: The number 100=the Gentiles,
50=the Jews, 3=the Trinity.Jerome and Köstlin: Oppian counted 153 species offish, ergo the
universality of species=the universality of the nations entering the net of the Gospel. “Which
statement, as far as Oppian is concerned rests upon a mistake.” Recently, some one has even,
conceived it to be his duty to work out the name: of Simon [son of] Jonas, by means of numerical

111. allegory (Theol. Jahrb. 1854, p. 135). We do not consider the number  as symbolical, but
the numbering
 does appear to us in that light. The elect, who form the main element of the
Church, are’ great and numbered
 fishes. And great and numerous as the elect of the congregated
mass may be, they are not the ones who break the net Of the Church. It is the maxim of all the
elect: first Christ, then the Church. John is moreover always fond of stating numbers; for instance,
the 200 cubits,Joh_21:8; Joh_6:10, etc.
 
GUZIK  
i. 153 is the sum of numbers 1 to 17. Some (like
Augustine) say that it is a number representing the number of
commandments (10) added to the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit.

ii. 153 is the added numerical value of the Greek words “Peter”
and “fish.”

iii. Some ancient writers (such as Jerome) held that there were 153
different types of fish in the world; this represents a “full harvest”
of all of the world.

iv. Some (like Cyril of Alexandria) say that 100 stands for the
Gentiles, 50 for Israel and 3 for the Trinity.

v. The truth is that all we know for certain is that 153 stands for
the number of fish that they caught! We must always be careful of
manufacturing “hidden meanings” in the Word of God.
Barnes, “
Joh 21:11 - 
An hundred and fifty and three - The number is mentioned because it seems to have 
been a very unusual draught, and it was particularly gratifying and striking to them after 
they had spent the whole night and had caught nothing. This convinced them that it was 
no other than the same Saviour who had so often worked wonders before them that was 
now with them.
Gill, “Joh 21:11 - Simon Peter went up,.... Either to the sea, that being higher than 
the land, or to the ship which lay by the shore: he went aboard it, and 

112. drew the net to land full of great fishes; not alone, but others of the disciples with 
him; though he only is mentioned, being the leading person in this affair; an emblem of 
the whole number of God's elect being brought safe to shore, to Christ, and to heaven, 
through various tribulations and afflictions in the world, fitly signified by the waves of 
the sea. What mystery there may be in the number, I know not. The conjecture of 
Grotius, that it is a figure of the proselytes in the days of David and Solomon, seems to be
without foundation; since they were not only so many thousands, but six hundred over. 
And as little to be regarded is the thought of others, that the larger number, one 
hundred, regards the converted among the Gentiles, and the lesser those among the 
Jews; much better is the observation of others, that it may design a collection, out of all 
sorts of people, to Christ, and his church. 
And for all there were so many; in number, and these so large and big, and the 
weight of them so great. The Syriac reads rWXYlJrgmurאנהב , "with all this weight", or 
"burden", and so the Persic; but the Arabic, "with such a number"; both ideas of number 
and weight are to be preserved, to make what follows the more observable: 
yet was not the net broken; which must be ascribed to the divine power of Christ; 
and is an emblem of the power of God attending the Gospel to the regeneration, 
conversion, and salvation of his people, and of the great usefulness of it, however mean 
and despicable it may be in the eyes of men, and of its permanence and duration, until all
the elect of God are gathered in by it.
PULPIT, “
Then Simon Peter went up . £ Here again Simon is first in action, as John is the
more rapid and real in his mental processes. The other disciples may have aided him, following
his lead; but the singular verbs are used on both occasions ( ἀνέβη and εἴλκυσε ). In like manner,
though the twelve apostles took part in the transactions of Pentecost, Peter opened his mouth to
speak. On other occasions, while John spake by the eloquent glances of his eye, and the rest of
the disciples joined their leader in testimony and prayer, Peter's voice was that which conveyed
the mighty exultation of their common heart (Act_3:12, etc.; Act_4:8, etc.; Act_8:20, etc.; 10:34'
11:30; Act_15:7'11). The word ἀνέβη , "went up," must be explained by the fact that ἀναβαινεῖν is
used of embarking in a vessel, though in each case there is some difference in the manuscripts,
with reference to the text, as there is also here. If the vessel was drawn up on the shore, with the
net attached to it, the form of expression is explicable. Peter went up into the boat for the lines of
the net, and, having secured it, he drew the net to the land, £ full of great fishes, a 
hundred and fifty and three. Various efforts have been made from early times to give
some symbolic meaning to this enumeration. Canon Westcott has detailed several of these
strange guesses. Cyril of Alexandria set the example, and was followed by Ammonius the
presbyter, who both in different ways regarded the 3 as representative of the Trinity, the 100 + 50
representing, in different proportions, the success of the apostolic ministry among Gentiles and
Jews. Augustine observes that 10 is the number of the Law, and 7 the number of the Spirit, 10 +
7 = 17; and the numbers from 1 + 2 + 3 + 17 = 153; so that the number represents all who are
brought to God under every dispensation of grace. Gregory the Great reaches the value 17 in the
same fashion as Augustine, but, says he, it is only by faith in the Trinity that either Jew or Gentile
ever reaches the fullness of salvation; 17 is therefore multiplied by 3 = 3 x 17, which produces 51,
which is the number of true rest; multiplied again by 3, which completes the glory of the
perfected, it is 153. Hengstenberg, following Grotius, supposes a reference to the 153,600
Canaanitish proselytes who were received into the kingdom in Solomon's day (2Ch_2:17)! though
the odd 600 certainly confuse the reckoning. Jerome refers to the opinion of a learned naturalist
of the second century, Oppian, who is said to have ascertained that there were 153 different
kinds of fish in the seas, and that the apostles took of every kind, revealing the ultimate success
of the fishers of souls with every kind of man—an allegory based on false science and insecure

113. data, and involving a stupendous miracle, if it be meant for an historical fact. Several of the
modern Tübingen school, in various but unsatisfactory ways, see in the number one made up by
the letters composing the name of Simeon (71) bar (22) Jonah (31) Kephas (29); and here even
Keim follows suit. Thoma finds the number in the mystic ΙΧΘΥΣ , "Jesus Christ the Son of God,
Savior." Reuss discourages mystical or occult meaning. The remark of Baumgarten'Crusius, that
the number is simply an index of the authenticity of the narrative, and of the fact that the fishes
were counted on the occasion, is eminently sensible (so Godet and Meyer). The fact that it is not
a round number adds to the probability of this statement, and enters a caveat against allegorical
interpretation. And for all they were so many, the net was not rent. This is obviously a point of
contrast with the first miraculous draught of fishes, when the nets brake and the boats began to
sink. This does form a probable allegory of the success with which the final ingathering of souls
shall be effected.
 
HENRY, “2. He called for some of that which they had caught, and they produced it, 
Joh_21:10, Joh_21:11. Observe here,
(1.) The command Christ gave them to bring their draught of fish to shore: “Bring of 
the fish hither, which you have now caught, and let us have some of them;” not as if he 
needed it; and could not make up a dinner for them without it; but, [1.] He would have 
them eat the labour of their hands, Psa_128:2. What is got by God's blessing on our own 
industry and honest labour, if withal God give us power to eat of it, and enjoy good in 
our labour, hath a peculiar sweetness in it. It is said of the slothful man that he roasteth 
not that which he took in hunting; he cannot find in his heart to dress what he has been 
at the pains to take, Pro_12:27. But Christ would hereby teach us to use what we have. 
[2.] He would have them taste the gifts of his miraculous bounty, that they might be 
witnesses both of his power and of his goodness. The benefits Christ bestows upon us are
not to be buried and laid up, but to be used and laid out. [3.] He would give a specimen 
of the spiritual entertainment he has for all believers, which, in this respect, is most free 
and familiar - that he sups with them, and they with him; their graces are pleasing to 
him, and his comforts are so to them; what he works in them he accepts from them. [4.] 
Ministers, who are fishers of men, must bring all they catch to their Master, for on him 
their success depends.
(2.) Their obedience to this command, Joh_21:11. It was said (Joh_21:6), They were 
not able to draw the net to shore, for the multitude of fishes; that is, they found it 
difficult, it was more than they could well do; but he that bade them bring it to shore 
made it easy. Thus the fishers of men, when they have enclosed souls in the gospel net, 
cannot bring them to shore, cannot carry on and complete the good work begun, without 
the continued influence of the divine grace. If he that helped us to catch them, when 
without his help we should have caught nothing, do not help us to keep them, and draw 
them to land, by building them up in their most holy faith, we shall lose them at last, 
1Co_3:7. Observe, [1.] Who it was that was most active in landing the fishes: it was Peter,
who, as in the former instance (Joh_21:7), had shown a more zealous affection to his 
Master's person than any of them, so in this he showed a more ready obedience to his 
Master's command; but all that are faithful are not alike forward. [2.] The number of the 
fishes that were caught. They had the curiosity to count them, and perhaps it was in 
order to the making of a dividend; they were in all a hundred and fifty three, and all 
great fishes. These were many more than they needed for their present supply, but they 
might sell them, and the money would serve to bear their charges back to Jerusalem, 
whither they were shortly to return. [3.] A further instance of Christ's care of them, to 
increase both the miracle and the mercy: For all there were so many, and great fishes 
too, yet was not the net broken; so that they lost none of their fish, nor damaged their 
net. It was said (Luk_5:6), Their net broke. Perhaps this was a borrowed net, for they 
had long since left their own; and, if so, Christ would teach us to take care of what we 

114. have borrowed, as much as if it were our own. It was well that their net did not break, for 
they had not now the leisure they had formerly had to mend their nets. The net of the 
gospel has enclosed multitudes, three thousand in one day, and yet is not broken; it is 
still as mighty as ever to bring souls to God.
3. He invited them to dinner. Observing them to keep their distance and that they 
were afraid to ask him, Who art thou? because they knew it was their Lord, he called to 
them very familiarly, Come, and dine.
(1.) See here how free Christ was with his disciples; he treated them as friends; he did 
not say, Come, and wait, Come, and attend me, but Come, and dine; not, Go dine by 
yourselves, as servants are appointed to do, but Come, and dine with me. This kind 
invitation may be alluded to, to illustrate, [1.] The call Christ gives his disciples into 
communion with him in grace here. All things are now ready; Come, and dine. Christ is 
a feast; come, dine upon him; his flesh is meat indeed, his blood drink indeed. Christ is a 
friend; come, dine with him, he will bid you welcome, Son_5:1. [2.] The call he will give 
into the fruition of him in glory hereafter: Come, ye blessed of my Father; come, and sit 
down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. Christ has wherewithal to dine all his 
friends and followers; there is room and provision enough for them all.
(2.) See how reverent the disciples were before Christ. They were somewhat shy of 
using the freedom he invited them to, and, by his courting them to their meat, it should 
seem that they stood pausing. Being to eat with a ruler, such a ruler, they consider 
diligently what is before them. None of them durst ask him, Who art thou? Either, [1.] 
Because they would not be so bold with him. Though perhaps he appeared now in 
something of a disguise at first, as to the two disciples when their eyes were holden that 
they should not know him, yet they had very good reason to think it was he, and could be
no other. Or, [2.] Because they would not so far betray their own folly. When he had 
given them this instance of his power and goodness, they must be stupid indeed if they 
questioned whether it was he or no. When God, in his providence, has given us sensible 
proofs of his care for our bodies, and has given us, in his grace, manifest proofs of his 
good-will to our souls, and good work upon them, we should be ashamed of our 
distrusts, and not dare to question that which he has left us no room to question. 
Groundless doubts must be stifled, and not started.
12
Jesus said to them, "Come and have
v1:IP_Ic4jDde6;:d6_d47:dp2c32r0:cdpI1:pdIcPd
him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the
Lord.

115. GILL, “Joh 21:12 - Jesus saith unto them, come and dine,.... One would think it
should rather have been said, come and take a breakfast than a dinner, since it was so 
early in the morning: but Grotius has observed, out of Homer, that αριστον, is used for 
food taken in a morning; so that it may signify here, not what we properly call dining, but
eating a morning's meal; and may be an emblem of that spiritual refreshment believers 
enjoy with Christ in his house and ordinances now, and of those everlasting pleasures 
they will partake with him in the resurrection morn: and it is to be observed, that he does
not say go and dine, but come and dine; that is, along with himself: he does not send his 
disciples elsewhere for food, but invites them to come to him, to hear his word, which is 
food for faith, to wait in his house, where plenty of provision is made, and to attend on 
his ordinances, and in all to feed upon himself, and to feed with him; to all which they 
are heartily welcome. 
And none of the disciples durst ask him, who art thou? knowing that it was the 
Lord: to ask such a question was altogether unnecessary, and would have been 
impertinent, and they might justly have been upbraided and rebuked for it: it would have
looked like insolence, or unbelief, or both, and that greatly aggravated, when it was so 
clear a case that it was the Lord; who might be known by his voice and person, especially 
when they came near to him, and also by the miracles which he wrought: so at the last 
day, when every eye shall see him coming in the clouds of heaven, none will ask who he 
is; all will know him.
BURKITT, “
A two<fold reason may be assigned why Christ did at this time invite and call his
disciples to dine with him: the first and more principal reason was, to evidence to them the reality
of his resurrection, and to assure them of the truth of his manhood, that they might not think it
was an apparition only. By the miracle in catching the fishes, he proved himself to be God; by his
present eating of the fish, he evidenced himself to be man, and consequently teaches us that our
exalted High Priest continues our kinsman in heaven. He is still bone of our bone, and flesh of our
flesh; he has taken possession of heaven in our nature, sitting there in our glorified humaninty
united to the glorious Deity, clothed with that body which hung in its blood and gore upon the
cross, but now shining brighter than ten thousand suns. The second and less principal reason
why Christ called his disciples to dine with him, was this, to show his tender care over the bodies
of his dear disciples, as being the tabernacles of his own Spirit, the temples of the Holy Ghost;
therefore Christ encourages, though not to the pampering, yet to the refreshing of them:Jesus 
said unto them, Come and dine. And he would not confer with them till they had dined; as the
next verse shows.
NISBET, “Picture the disciples grouped round the glowing embers of a created fire with fish laid
thereon and bread, the guests of the Lord of Creation. All the elements had combined to produce
that mysterious repast—earth, air, and sea.
I. The words ‘Come and dine,’ show us the reality of our Lord’s risen Body.—St. Thomas,
by putting his finger into the very wound<prints, was satisfied that it was the same Body; but these
wonderful revelations of Himself, that mysterious Presence—diffused like the odour of ointment
poured forth and discovered at the same moment in divers places—made deep impressions. Was
the Body a real Body? Touch and sight had been satisfied. There remained this one act to prove
the reality of His Spiritual Body. The invitation ‘Come and dine’ dispelled all further doubts on this
point, and testified to the reality of His Spiritual Presence. He ate with them—not eating as an old
English saint has it—‘as the earth drinks in moisture from want, but as the sun imbibes the same
from power,’ eating because He willed to do so, to strengthen and confirm them in the faith, not
from any necessities of His Risen Body.

116. II. The words ‘Come and dine’ show us the reality and sameness of our Lord’s love.—He
had watched their long fruitless night of toil, and He knew their wants. He who had compassion
on the multitudes on those same mountain slopes has now compassion on them. The same
loving voice that uttered ‘Give ye them to eat,’ now says ‘Come and dine.’ Death had wrought no
change in the love of Jesus; what He was before, He is still.
III. ‘Come and dine,’ the words are still spoken, the ear of faith hears the invitation, the eye of
faith still sees Him providing our daily bread, the heart fanned by the breath of the Spirit is filled
with Thanksgiving to the true Lord of the Feast. But what cowards we are at times! We feel all
this, but we are ashamed of our feelings. For instance, we say our ‘grace before meat’ at home,
but do we remember to do this at the hotel, or luncheon<room, or where others are neglectful. Are
you afraid of the opinion of the world? Heaven is not easily won, but it is worth the struggle. Do
not be discouraged because of the way, look forward to seeing Jesus standing on the morning of
the Resurrection inviting you to the Feast prepared by Himself: ‘Blessed are those servants whom
the Lord when He cometh shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself and
make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them.’
—
Rev. J. L. Spencer.
Illustration
‘The Greek word rendered “dine,” does not necessarily mean a midday meal. Parkhurst shows,
on the contrary, from Xenophon, that it may mean a morning repast. As things are in England
now, the translation is a peculiarly unfortunate one. Two or three centuries ago, when people
dined at eleven o’clock, the unfitness of it would not have been so remarkable. The meaning
evidently is, “Come and partake of a morning meal.” ’
CALVIN, “12.And not one of his disciples dared to ask him. It may be inquired, What hindered
them? Was it shame arising from reverence, or was it any thing else? But if Christ saw that they
were in a state of uncertainty, he ought to remove their doubt, as he had done on many other
occasions. I reply, there was no other reason for shame, but because they were not sufficiently
certain that he was the Christ; for it is not usual with us to inquire about matters that are doubtful
and obscure. The Evangelist, therefore, means that the disciples did not ask Christ, because they
were afraid of doing him wrong; so plain and manifest were the signs by which he had made
himself known to them.
PULPIT, “Jesus saith to them, Come and break your fast   
. A Word is used
which does not denote the principal meal of the day (not δειπνέω , but ἀριστάω ,
from ἄριστον ), but a slight refreshment that was taken in early morning, or at least
before noon, and answers to our breakfast at the dawning of the day. £ He calls them to
the repast. He becomes once more their Host and their Minister. Even still,
metaphorically, he washes their feet. He attends to their requirements. He feeds them
from this strangely bestowed supply. He joins them in their hunger for souls. He inspires

117. their methods. He shares in their victory, after painful fruitless toil. Now      £   not one    —
i.e.    not even Thomas— of the disciples durst inquire of him—   put to him the
interrogatory— Who art thou    ? knowing    , each one of them that it was the 
Lord . The use of ἐξετάσαι instead of ἑρωτήσαι , John's own word, is not to be wondered
at, as he does not think of a simple inquiry, but of such an examination as would furnish
them with facts. These they possessed. A feeling of awe and reverence possessed them.
They were of one mind about the marvelous revelation of himself to them. Some strange
emotion sealed their lips. He had not manifested himself to the world, but to his disciples,
and to them by "the interpretations they were putting upon their own experience"
(Westcott). They knew it was the Lord. They looked into that other world. They were lost
in silent amaze, and received the revelation once more of their risen Master and Lord.
13
Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to
them, and did the same with the fish.
Barnes, “
Joh 21:13 - 
Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread ... - It is not said that Jesus himself ate 
with them, but he gave them food. The design of this interview seems to have been to 
convince them that he had truly risen from the dead. Hence, he performed a miracle 
before they suspected that it was he, that there might be no room to say that they had 
ascribed to him the power of the miracle through friendship and collusion with him. The 
miracle was such as to satisfy them of its truth, and was, in accordance with all his works,
not for mere display, but for utility. He remained with them, was with them at their 
meal, conversed with them, and thus convinced them that he was the same Friend who 
had died.
GILL, “Joh 21:13 - Jesus then cometh and taketh bread,.... After they had taken 
the fish out of the net, and all was prepared for the meal, and the disciples were set down
to eat, Christ came and took his place as the master of the feast, and head of the family; 
and taking up the bread, as was his usual method, he asked a blessing over it, and gave 
thanks for it. Beza's ancient copy, and one of Stephens's read, "and having given thanks 
he gave", &c. which is agreeably to his usual practice at meals. 

118. And giveth them, and fish likewise; he distributed both bread and fish to his 
disciples. So, in a spiritual sense, he provides plentifully for his people; gives them to eat 
of the hidden manna, and tree of life, and leads to fountains of living waters; encourages 
them to eat and drink freely, what is of his own preparing, and at his own expense 
provided for them.
COKE, “John 21:13. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread,— It is not said that Jesus now ate
with them; but his invitation to them, John 21:12 implies it; besides St. Peter testifies, Acts
10:41 that his apostles did eat and drink with him after he arose from the dead; meaning to tell
Cornelius, that that was one of the many infallible proofs by which he shewed himself alive after his
passion. It is reasonable, therefore, to think that he did eat with his apostles on this occasion, thus
proving anew to his disciples the reality of his resurrection, as well as by working a miracle like that
which, at the beginning of his ministry, had made such an impression upon them, as disposed them
to be his constant followers.

INTERVARSITY, After inviting them to come and eat, he himself comes to the
fire. He
took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish (v. 13).
This description echoes his action at the feeding of the five thousand (6:11) and
provides the climax of this story. It answers their unasked questions--he is
recognized in this breaking of the bread (cf. Lk 24:30-31). The master who
commands them also serves them, continuing a theme found during the ministry
(for example, 13:5, 13).
John concludes the story by saying,
This was now the third time Jesus appeared
to his disciples after he was raised from the dead
(v. 14). Scholars see this note,
like a similar note earlier (4:54), as evidence of poorly aligned sources, since this
is in fact the fourth appearance recounted by John. But this conclusion misses
the point because John is counting appearances to the
disciples as a group,
which would not include Jesus' appearance to Mary Magdalene. Jesus now
appears to another partial gathering of the group, an appearance that reveals the
same key characteristics as were manifested throughout the ministry, namely his
lordship, his servanthood, his character as gracious giver of abundance and his
love. He has met his disciples at a point of failure and revealed himself as the
awesome Lord of creation who cares for them.The fact that he provides a meal
indicates that "lordship includes fellowship" (Osborne 1984:179). Such fellowship
with Jesus at a meal reminds one of the many times he shared such fellowship

119. during his ministry, especially at the Last Supper and also the theme of the new
community he has now established (see comments on 9:1--10:42 and 19:25-27).
This association, as well as the tie in with the feeding of the five thousand, brings
echoes of the Eucharist (cf. Brown 1970:1098-1100). This meal itself is not a
Eucharist, but it embodies a central aspect of what Eucharist itself is about--
communion with the risen Lord in the midst of his people.
John's note in verse 14 indicates that the focus of the story to this point is on
Jesus and his appearance. It also signals a transition. This story has focused on
Jesus' love and lordship, but Peter and the Beloved Disciple have also been
featured. Now we will see Jesus' love and lordship in action in their lives
specifically.Jesus Forms Peter as a Leader and as a Disciple (21:15-23) Jesus'
inviting his disciples to share a meal signals his love and fellowship with them.
But he has unfinished business with Peter, the one who denied him in a special
way. After breakfast Jesus speaks to Peter. Throughout this story Peter has been
referred to as Simon Peter (vv. 2-3, 7b, 11) or simply as Peter (v. 7a), the name
Jesus had given him (1:42; cf. Mk 3:16 par. Lk 6:14). But now Jesus calls him by
his former name,
Simon son of John (v. 15), "as if he were no longer (or not yet!)
a disciple" (Michaels 1989:359).
In the first part of this chapter Jesus began with a question that revealed the
disciples' poverty (v. 5), and then he gave a series of commands (vv. 6, 10, 12).
So also now he questions Peter and then gives a command, and he does so
three times. His question is extremely searching, indeed, it is the ultimate
question in life:
do you truly love me more than these? (v. 15). What does these
refer to? If it is the net and boat, then this question gets at the central point of
discipleship and reveals a person's heart. What do we love the most? Have we
abandoned all to follow Jesus? Every time we are faced with a temptation this
question is raised. Every time we become preoccupied with even the good things
God gives us this question is raised.

120. But, while all of this is true, it is probably not the specific point here. By these
Jesus probably means "these other disciples." According to the other Gospels,
Peter had boasted that though all the others fall away, he would not (Mt 26:33
par. Mk 14:29; cf. Lk 22:33; Jn 13:37). John does not record this boast, but
Peter's actions in swimming to shore and hauling up the net by himself reveal the
same attitude. Jesus' question, therefore, goes even deeper than the issue of
false attachments. He gets at the root of all sin, namely, pride.
PULPIT, “Jesus cometh, £ and taketh the bread, and giveth them, and the fish 
likewise. It would seem that the specific bread and fish already referred to (
Joh_21:9)
was the material of at least the first part of this sacramental meal ]o benediction or
prayer is mentioned. If this may not be presupposed, his presence made the feast, and
was the blessing. Meyer says, however, that ἄρτον andὀψάριον , as in earlier verses, are
simply generic. On either supposition, it is clear from
Joh_21:15 that more fish were
prepared and used by the seven disciples than the solitary loaf andὀψάριον which were
first seen upon the fire. The Lord gave them symbolically the entire gift of his love by that
which he came forward at this moment to supply.
LA]GE, “
Joh_21:13. Jesus Cometh therefore [ ἔñ÷åôáé Éçóïῦò ].—As the disciples have
been standing on this side of the coal fire, and have been called to approach by the Lord
(
äåῦôå , Joh_21:12), so the Lord has stood on the other side,—probably with that expression of
reserve suitable t o the unknown person in whose character He wished first to meet them,—and
now He advances nearer and more familiarly to them.
And taketh the bread
[ êáὶ ëáìâÜíåë ôὸí ἄñôïí ]—Why is the customary thanksgiving not
mentioned? 1. Jesus wished to omit ôὰ ἀíèñþðéíá
(Euthymius). 2. Luthardt; The table<
communion of Jesus with His people is a silent one in this æon. 3. Meyer: The Evangelist is not
describing a regular repast, such as is spoken of, Luk_24:30, but a breakfast, that was partaken
of standing. As it appears, it is also, however, the intention of Christ not to make Himself
positively known as yet by the expression of the prayer of thanksgiving. And probably there is a
symbolical reason for this. Peter who has denied Him, declaring that he knew Him not, must be
made to recognize Him again, as the Anonymous One, by His conduct. At all events, the reserve
of Jesus seems designed, by means of a continually increasing solemnity, to prepare the minds
of the disciples for the ensuing act. Yet the manifestation has a purpose which touches the
disciples in general; hence there follows a sort of conclusion, in order to the distinction of the
general disciples meal from the conference with Peter, and that concerning Peter and John.

HENRY, “4. He carved for them, as the master of the feast, 
Joh_21:13. Observing 
them to be still shy and timorous, he comes, and takes bread himself, and gives 
them, some to each of them, and fish likewise. No doubt he craved a blessing and 
gave thanks (as Luk_24:30), but, it being his known and constant practice, it did 

121. not need to be mentioned. (1.) The entertainment here was but ordinary; it was 
only a fish-dinner, and coarsely dressed; here was nothing pompous, nothing 
curious; plentiful indeed, but plain and homely. Hunger is the best sauce. Christ, 
though he entered upon his exalted state, showed himself alive by eating, not 
showed himself a prince by feasting. Those that could not content themselves 
with bread and fish, unless they had sauce and wine, would scarcely have found 
in their hearts to dine with Christ himself here. (2.) Christ himself began. 
Though, perhaps, having a glorified body, he needed not eat, yet he would show 
that he had a true body, which was capable of eating. The apostles produced this 
as one proof of his resurrection, that they had eaten and drank with him, 
Act_10:41. (3.) He gave the meat about to all his guests. He not only provided it 
for them, and invited them to it, but he himself divided it among them, and put it 
into their hands. Thus to him we owe the application, as well as the purchase, of 
the benefits of redemption. He gives us power to eat of them.
14
This was now the third time Jesus appeared to
his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Clarke, “Joh 21:14 - 
This is now the third time - That is, this was the third time he appeared unto the 
apostles, when all or most of them were together. He appeared to ten of them, 
Joh_20:19; again to eleven of them, Joh_20:26; and at this time to seven of them, 
Joh_21:2. But, when the other evangelists are collated, we shall find that this was the 
seventh time in which he had manifested himself after he arose from the dead.
1st. He appeared to Mary of Magdala, Mar_16:9; Joh_20:15, Joh_20:16.
2ndly, To the holy women who came from the tomb. Mat_28:9.
3dly, To the two disciples who went to Emmaus, Luk_24:13, etc.
4thly, To St. Peter alone, Luk_24:34.
5thly, To the ten, in the absence of Thomas, Joh_20:19.
6thly, Eight days after to the eleven, Thomas being present; Joh_20:26.
7thly, To the seven, mentioned in Joh_21:2; which was between the eighth and fortieth
day after his resurrection. Besides these seven appearances, he showed himself,
8thly, To the disciples on a certain mountain in Galilee, Mat_28:16.
If the appearance mentioned by St. Paul, 1Co_15:6, to upwards of 500 brethren at once
- if this be not the same with his appearance on a mountain in Galilee, it must be 
considered the ninth. According to the same apostle, he was seen of James, 1Co_15:7, 

122. which may have been the tenth appearance. And, after this, to all the apostles, when, at 
Bethany, he ascended to heaven in their presence. See Mar_16:19, Mar_16:20; 
Luk_24:50-53; Act_1:3-12; 1Co_15:7. This appears to have been the eleventh time in 
which he distinctly manifested himself after his resurrection. But there might have been 
many other manifestations, which the evangelists have not thought proper to enumerate,
as not being connected with any thing of singular weight or importance.
GILL, “Joh 21:14 - This is now the third time,.... Or day of Christ's appearance to 
his disciples: he appeared to them first on the same day he rose, and then a second time 
eight days after, or that day a week later, and now at the sea of Tiberias; for within this 
compass of time he had made more appearances than three, though to particular 
persons, and not to such a number of the disciples as at these three times: 
that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the 
dead: and thus, as by the mouth of two or three witnesses, everything is established; so 
by these three principal appearances of Christ to his disciples, his resurrection from the 
dead was
HENRY, “The evangelist leaves them at dinner, and makes this remark 
(
Joh_21:14): This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself alive to his 
disciples, or the greater part of them. This is the third day; so some. On the day 
he rose he appeared five times; the second day was that day seven-night; and this
was the third. Or this was his third appearance to any considerable number of his
disciples together; though he had appeared to Mary, to the women, to the two 
disciples, and to Cephas, yet he had but twice before this appeared to any 
company of them together. This is taken notice of, [1.] For confirming the truth 
of his resurrection; the vision was doubled, was trebled, for the thing was certain.
Those who believed not the first sign would be brought to believe the voice of the 
latter signs. [2.] As an instance of Christ's continued kindness to his disciples; 
once, and again, and a third time, he visited them. It is good to keep account of 
Christ's gracious visits; for he keeps account of them, and they will be 
remembered against us if we walk unworthily of them, as they were against 
Solomon, when he was reminded that the Lord God of Israel had appeared unto 
him twice. This is now the third; have we made a due improvement of the first 
and second? See 2Co_12:14. This is the third, perhaps it may be the last.
f-g0d Csx
14.The third time. The number three refers to the distance of time. Christ had
already appeared to his disciples more than seven times, but all that had been transacted in one
day is included in one manifestation. The Evangelist, therefore, means that Christ had been seen
by the disciples at intervals, in order to confirm their belief of his resurrection.

COKE, “
John 21:14. This is now the third time— The evangelist does not say that this was the
third time that Jesus appeared, but the third time that he appeared to his disciples; that is, to his
apostles in a body; for, in reality, it was his seventh appearance. Besides, St. John himself has
taken notice of three appearances before this. Grotius explains it of the third day of his appearance;
for he had first appeared to several on the day of his resurrection; then on a second day,—after
eight days, he came to his disciples, when Thomas was present; and now again, for the third day,
he shewed himself at the sea of Tiberias.

123. PULPIT, “This is now—or, as Meyer puts it, this time already is—the third time that 
Jesus was manifested (passive, not active, as in Joh_21:1) to the £ disciples, after that
he was risen from the dead; or, when he had been raised from the dead. The implication is
that there had up to this time been no other manifestation to groups of his disciples than those
which John bad related. Therefore those other occurrences mentioned by Luke, Matthew, and
Paul must be supposed to lie still in the future. That there were other manifestations is not
obscurely hinted by the word ἤδη . The appearances to the women, to Cephas and James, are
not of the class so carefully described by John. The εἶτα τοῖς δώδεκα of 1Co_15:5, etc., might be
regarded as this third manifestation to the disciples (Luthardt). Godet agrees that the two
appearances in Luke (Emmaus and Peter) are not reckoned by John, any more than that made
to Mary Magdalene. The statement, "to the disciples," is clearly the explanation. Paul mentions
the appearance
(1) to Simon Peter;
(2) then to the twelve (Joh_20:19, Joh_20:26);
(3) to the five hundred, at the head of whom may have been the eleven of Mat_28:16'20;
(4) James;
(5) the twelve (the ascension not described by John).
Since Luke and Paul (Godet) omitted the narrative before us, John is here repairing the
omissions of tradition. It seems quite as reasonable to place this third revelation to a group of
apostles as the third of Paul's enumerations. John is explicit in recording appearances to the
special, combined, and chosen witnesses, while he not only implies, but mentions, other
manifestations. Paul recites the special manifestations of various kinds, and gives most important
details dropped by other traditions. The apocryphal ' Gospel according to the Hebrews,' as
related by Jerome ('Cat. Script. Eccl. "Jacobus"'), quotes the passage which refers to the
interview between James and the risen Lord. Gregory of Tours ('Hist. Francorum,' 1.21) refers to
the tradition as though he had taken it from some analogous but not identical source. If the
previous manifestations of the risen Lord were made to love, to thought, to earnest though
trembling inquiry, to spiritual vision only, so here we find that, amid the ordinary duties of life and
the activities and disappointments of daily service, the Lord manifests himself. The eye of love
and the heart of rock are made ready for special assurances of the Master's presence and power
to help and guide disciples throughout that mysterious future in which they are to feel and realize
his words, "Lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
LANGE, “Joh_21:14. This third time now Jesus manifested himself [ Ôïῦôï ἤäç ôñßôïí
ἐöáíåñþèç Ἰçó . ôïῖò ìáèçôáῖò ἐãåñèåὶò ἐê íåêñῶí ].—With these words John ranks the present
manifestation of Jesus—as a more general one, allotted to the circle of disciples (incomplete
though that was in numbers)—with the two manifestations recorded in chap. 20. Luthardt very
properly remarks: “The appearings therein reported by John are by Paul summed up in åἶôá ôïῖò
äὠäåêá , 1Co_15:5;’.’ and only the well<known fear of harmonizing induces Meyer to maintain
the existence of a difference which he decides in John’s favor. Manifestly, Paul has no interest in
citing repeatedly those appearances of Jesus of which, the same persons were repeatedly
spectators, intending, as he does, not to count the appearings of the Risen One, but to mention
the witnesses as witnesses.
[Alford’s remarks on this section are in the line of Lange’s thoughts, and worthy of attention:
“Without agreeing with all the allegorical interpretations of the Fathers, I cannot but see much

124. depth and richness of meaning in this whole narrative. The Lord appears to His disciples busied
about their occupation for their daily bread; speaks and acts in a manner wonderfully similar to
His words and actions on a former memorable occasion, when we know that by their toiling long
and taking nothing, but at His word enclosing a multitude of fishes, was set forth what should
befall them as fishers of men. Can we miss that application at this far more important epoch of
their apostolic mission? Besides, He graciously provides for their present wants, and invites them
to be His guests: why but to show them that in their work hereafter they should never want but
He would provide? And as connected with the parable, Mat_13:47 ff., has the net enclosing a
great multitude and yet not broken, no meaning? Has the ‘taking the bread and giving to them
and the fish likewise,’ no meaning, which so closely binds together the miraculous feeding, and
the institution of the Lord’s Supper with their future meetings in His name and round His Table?
Any one who recognizes the teaching character of the acts of the Lord, can hardly cast all such
applications from him;—and those who do not, have yet the first rudiments of the Gospels to
learn.”—P. S.]
15
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to
Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly
love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he
said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said,
"Feed my lambs."
T-idAh , “when they had dined, Jesus saith — Silence appears to have reigned 
during the meal; unbroken on His part, that by their mute observation of Him they 
might have their assurance of His identity the more confirmed; and on theirs, from 
reverential shrinking to speak till He did.
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? — referring lovingly to 
those sad words of Peter, shortly before denying his Lord, “Though all men shall be 
offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended” (
Mat_26:33), and intending by 
this allusion to bring the whole scene vividly before his mind and put him to shame.
Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee — He adds not, “more than these,” but 
prefixes a touching appeal to the Savior's own omniscience for the truth of his 
protestation, which makes it a totally different kind of speech from his former.
He saith unto him, Feed my lambs — It is surely wrong to view this term as a 
mere diminutive of affection, and as meaning the same thing as “the sheep” [Webster 
and Wilkinson]. It is much more according to usage to understand by the “lambs,” 

125. young and tender disciples, whether in age or Christian standing (Isa_40:11; 1Jo_2:12, 
1Jo_2:13), and by the “sheep” the more mature. Shall we say (with many) that Peter was 
here reinstated in office? Not exactly, since he was not actually excluded from it. But 
after such conduct as his, the deep wound which the honor of Christ had received, the 
stain brought on his office, the damage done to his high standing among his brethren, 
and even his own comfort, in prospect of the great work before him, required some such 
renewal of his call and re-establishment of his position as this.
GILL, “Joh 21:15 - So when they had dined,.... The Persic version adds, 
Jesus turned his face to Simon Peter; he did not interrupt them whilst they were 
eating; but when they had comfortably refreshed themselves, he looked at Peter, and 
singled him out from the rest, and directed his discourse to him; and saith unto Simon 
Peter, 
Simon, son of Jonas; not John, as the Vulgate Latin, and Nonnus, and some copies 
read; for this answers not to the Hebrew word Jochanan, but Jonah, the same name with
the prophet. Some have observed, that Christ spoke to him particularly by his original 
name, and not by that which he himself had given him, with a view to his strong faith, as 
Cephas, or Peter; but it should be known that Christ calls him by this name of Simon bar 
Jonah, when he made the most ample profession of his faith in him, and was pronounced
blessed by him, Mat_16:16
lovest thou me more than these? meaning, not than the fishes he had caught, nor 
the net and boat, or any worldly enjoyment, nor than he loved the disciples; but the 
question is, whether he loved Christ more than the rest of the disciples loved him: the 
reason of which was, because he had some time ago declared, though all the disciples 
were offended at Christ, and should deny him, he would not; and had just now thrown 
himself into the sea to come to him first, as if he loved him more than they did: which 
question is put, not out of ignorance, or as if Christ knew not whether he loved him or 
not, and what was the degree of his affection to him; but because the exercise of this 
grace, and the expressions of it, are very grateful to him; and that Peter also might have 
an opportunity of expressing it before others, who had so publicly denied him: 
he saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee: not in word and 
tongue, but in deed and in truth; in sincerity, and without dissimulation, fervently and 
superlatively; for the truth of which he appeals to Christ himself; for he was so conscious 
to himself of the reality of his love, and the sincerity of his affection, that he chooses to 
make Christ himself judge of it, rather than say any more of it himself; though he 
modestly declines saying that he loved him more than the rest of the disciples did, having
had an experience of his vanity and self-confidence. He was sure he loved Christ heartily;
but whether he loved him more than the rest did, he chose not to say: 
he saith unto him, feed my lambs; the younger and more tender part of the flock, 
weak believers, Christ's little children, newborn babes, the day of small things, which are 
not to be despised, the bruised reed that is not to be broken, and the smoking flax that is 
not to be quenched; but who are to be nourished, comforted, and strengthened, by 
feeding them with the milk of the Gospel, and by administering to them the ordinances 
and breasts of consolation. These Christ has an interest in, and therefore calls them "my 
lambs", being given him by the Father, and purchased by his blood, and for whom he has

126. a tender concern and affection; and nothing he looks upon as a firmer and clearer proof 
and evidence of love to him, than to feed these lambs of his, and take care of them.
Clarke, “Simon lovest thou me - Peter had thrice denied his Lord, and now Christ 
gives him an opportunity in some measure to repair his fault by a triple confession.
More than these? - This was a kind of reproach to Peter: he had professed a more 
affectionate attachment to Christ than the rest; he had been more forward in making 
professions of friendship and love than any of the others; and no one (Judas excepted) 
had treated his Lord so basely. As he had before intimated that his attachment to his 
Master was more than that of the rest, our Lord now puts the question to him, Dost thou 
love me more than these? To which Peter made the most modest reply - Thou knowest I 
love thee, but no longer dwells on the strength of his love, nor compares himself with 
even the meanest of his brethren. He had before cast the very unkind reflection on his 
brethren, Though all be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended, 
Mat_26:33. But he had now learned, by dreadful experience, that he who trusteth his 
own heart is a fool; and that a man’s sufficiency for good is of the Lord alone.
The words, more than these, Bishop Pearce thinks refer to the provisions they were 
eating, or to their secular employments; for says he, “It does not seem probable that 
Jesus should put a question to Peter which he could not possibly answer; because he 
could only know his own degree of love for Jesus, not that of the other disciples.” But it 
appears to me that our Lord refers to the profession made by Peter, which I have quoted 
above.
It is remarkable that in these three questions our Lord uses the verb αγαπαω, which 
signifies to love affectionately, ardently, supremely, perfectly - see the note on 
Mat_21:37; and that Peter always replies, using the verb φιλεω, which signifies to love, to
like, to regard, to feel friendship for another. As if our Lord had said, “Peter, dost thou 
love me ardently and supremely?” To which he answers, “Lord, I feel an affection for thee
- I do esteem thee - but dare, at present, say no more.”
There is another remarkable change of terms in this place. In Joh_21:15, Joh_21:17, 
our Lord uses the verb βοσκδω, to feed, and in Joh_21:16 he uses the word ποιRαινω, 
which signifies to tend a flock, not only to feed, but to take care of, guide, govern, defend,
etc., by which he seems to intimate that it is not sufficient merely to offer the bread of life
to the congregation of the Lord, but he must take care that the sheep be properly 
collected, attended to, regulated, guided, etc.; and it appears that Peter perfectly 
comprehended our Lord’s meaning, and saw that it was a direction given not only to him,
and to the rest of the disciples, but to all their successors in the Christian ministry; for 
himself says, 1Jo_5:2 : Feed the flock of God (j';RBqBOMsO'sj';Rq;'qsO'Ns^M'N) which is 
among you, taking the oversight (επισκοπουντες, acting as superintendents and 
guardians), not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. 
Every spiritual shepherd of Christ has a flock, composed of Lambs - young converts, and 
Sheep - experienced Christians, to feed, guide, regulate, and govern. To be properly 
qualified for this, his wisdom and holiness should always exceed those of his flock. Who 
is sufficient for these things? The man who lives in God, and God in him.
To the answer of Christ, in Joh_21:16, the later Syriac adds, If thou lovest me and 
esteemest me, feed my sheep.

127. BURKITT, “A two<fold reason may be assigned why Christ did at this time invite and call his
disciples to dine with him: the first and more principal reason was, to evidence to them the reality
of his resurrection, and to assure them of the truth of his manhood, that they might not think it
was an apparition only. By the miracle in catching the fishes, he proved himself to be God; by his
present eating of the fish, he evidenced himself to be man, and consequently teaches us that our
exalted High Priest continues our kinsman in heaven. He is still bone of our bone, and flesh of our
flesh; he has taken possession of heaven in our nature, sitting there in our glorified humaninty
united to the glorious Deity, clothed with that body which hung in its blood and gore upon the
cross, but now shining brighter than ten thousand suns. The second and less principal reason
why Christ called his disciples to dine with him, was this, to show his tender care over the bodies
of his dear disciples, as being the tabernacles of his own Spirit, the temples of the Holy Ghost;
therefore Christ encourages, though not to the pampering, yet to the refreshing of them:Jesus 
said unto them, Come and dine. And he would not confer with them till they had dined; as the
next verse shows
BARCLAY 15<19, “It was certainly someone who knew the fishermen of the Sea of Galilee who
wrote this story. Night<time was the best for fishing. W. M. Thomson in The Land and the Book
describes night fishing: "There are certain kinds of fishing always carried on at night. It is a
beautiful sight. With blazing torch, the boat glides over the flashing sea, and the men stand
gazing keenly into it until their prey is sighted, when, quick as lightning, they fling their net or fly
their spear; and often you see the tired fishermen come sullenly into harbour in the morning,
having toiled all night in vain."
The catch here is not described as a miracle, and it is not meant to be taken as one. The description
is of something which still frequently happens on the lake. Remember that the boat was only about
a hundred yards from land. H. V. Morton describes how he saw two men fishing on the shores of
the lake. One had waded out from the shore and was casting a bell net into the water. "But time
after time the net came up empty. It was a beautiful sight to see him casting. Each time the neatly
folded net belled out in the air and fell so precisely on the water that the small lead weights hit the
lake at the same moment making a thin circular splash. While he was waiting for another cast,
Abdul shouted to him from the bank to fling to the left, which he instantly did. This time he was
successful.... Then he drew up the net and we could see the fish struggling in it.... 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.
It may be that it was because it was the grey dark that they did not recognize Jesus. But the eyes of
the disciple whom Jesus loved were sharp. He knew it was the Lord; and when Peter realized who it
was he leaped into the water. He was not actually naked. He was girt with a loin cloth as the fisher
always was when he plied his trade. Now it was the Jewish law that to offer greeting was a religious
act, and to carry out a religious act a man must be clothed; so Peter, before he set out to come to
Jesus, put on his fisherman's tunic, for he wished to be the first to greet his Lord.
THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION ( John 21:1<14 continued)
Now we come to the first great reason why this strange chapter was added to the already finished
gospel. It was to demonstrate once and for all the reality of the Resurrection. There were many who
said that the appearances of the Risen Christ were nothing more than visions which the disciples
had. Many would admit the reality of the visions but insist that they were still only visions. Some
would go further and say that they were not visions but hallucinations. The gospels go far out of
their way to insist that the Risen Christ was not a vision, not an hallucination, not even a spirit, but a
real person. They insist that the tomb was empty and that the Risen Christ had a real body which
still bore the marks of the nails and the spear thrust in his side.
But this story goes a step further. A vision or a spirit would not be likely to point out a shoal of fish to
a party of fishermen. A vision or a spirit would not be likely to kindle a charcoal fire on the seashore.
A vision or a spirit would not be likely to cook a meal and to share it out. And yet, as this story has it,
the Risen Christ did all these things. When John tells how Jesus came back to his disciples when

128. the doors were shut, he says: "He showed them his hands and his side" (John 20:20). Ignatius,
when writing to the Church at Smyrna, relates an even more definite tradition about that. He says: "I
know and believe that he was in the flesh even after the resurrection, and when he came to Peter
and his company, he said to them: 'Take, handle me, and see that I am not a bodiless demon.' And
straightway they touched him, and they believed, for they were firmly convinced of his flesh and
blood.... And after his resurrection he ate and drank with them as one in the flesh."
The first and simplest aim of this story is to make quite clear the reality of the resurrection. The
Risen Lord was not a vision, nor the figment of someone's excited imagination, nor the appearance
of a spirit or a ghost; it was Jesus who had conquered death and come back.
THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE CHURCH ( John 21:1<14 continued)
There is a second great truth symbolized here. In the Fourth Gospel everything is meaningful, and it
is therefore hardly possible that John gives the definite number one hundred and fifty<three for the
fishes without meaning something by it. It has indeed been suggested that the fishes were counted
simply because the catch had to be shared out between the various partners and the crew of the
boat, and that the number was recorded simply because it was so exceptionally large. But when we
remember John's way of putting hidden meanings in his gospel for those who have eyes to see, we
must think that there is more to it than that.
Many ingenious suggestions have been made.
(i) Cyril of Alexandria said that the number 153 is made up of three things. First, there is 100; and
that represents "the fullness of the Gentiles." 100, he says, is the fullest number. The shepherd's full
flock is 100 (Matthew 18:12). The seed's full fertility is 100<fold. So the 100 stands for the fullness of
the Gentiles who will be gathered in to Christ. Second, there is the 50; and the 50 stands for the
remnant of Israel who will be gathered in. Third, there is the 3; and the 3 stands for the Trinity to
whose glory all things are done.
(ii) Augustine has another ingenious explanation. he says that 10 is the number of the Law, for there
are ten commandments; 7 is the number of grace, for the gifts of the Spirit are sevenfold.
"Thou the anointing Spirit art,
Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart."
Now 7+10 makes 17; and 153 is the sum of all the figures, 1+2+3+4..., up to 17. Thus 153 stands
for all those who either by Law or by grace have been moved to come to Jesus Christ.
(iii) The simplest of the explanations is that given by Jerome. He said that in the sea there are 153
different kinds of fishes; and that the catch is one which includes every kind of fish; and that
therefore the number symbolizes the fact that some day all men of all nations will be gathered
together to Jesus Christ.
We may note a further point. This great catch of fishes was gathered into the net, and the net held
them all and was not broken. The net stands for the Church; and there is room in the Church for all
men of all nations. Even if they all come in, she is big enough to hold them all.
Here John is telling us in his own vivid yet subtle way of the universality of the Church. There is no
kind of exclusiveness in her, no kind of colour bar or selectiveness. The embrace of the Church is
as universal as the love of God in Jesus Christ. It will lead us on to the next great reason why this
chapter was added to the gospel if we note that it was Peter who drew the net to land (John 21:11).

Barnes, “Joh 21:15 - 
Lovest thou me more than these? - There is a slight ambiguity here in the 
original, as there is in our translation. The word these may be in the neuter gender, and 
refer to these things his boat, his fishing utensils, and his employments; or it may be in 
the masculine, and refer to the apostles. In the former sense it would mean, “Lovest thou 

129. me more than thou lovest these objects? Art thou now willing, from love to me, to 
forsake all these, and go and preach my gospel to the nations of the earth?” In the other 
sense, which is probably the true sense, it would mean, “Lovest thou me more than these 
other apostles love me?” In this question Jesus refers to the profession of superior 
attachment to him which Peter had made before his death Mat_26:33; “Though all men 
shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” Compare Joh_13:37. 
Jesus here slightly reproves him for that confident assertion, reminds him of his sad and 
painful denial, and now puts this direct and pointed question to him to know what was 
the present state of his feelings. After all that Peter had had to humble him, the Saviour 
inquired of him what had been the effect on his mind, and whether it had tended to 
prepare him for the arduous toils in which he was about to engage. This question we 
should all put to ourselves. It is a matter of much importance that we should ourselves 
know what is the effect of the dealings of divine Providence on our hearts, and what is 
our present state of feeling toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thou knowest that I love thee - Peter now made no pretensions to love superior to
his brethren. His sad denial had convinced him of the folly of that claim; but still he 
could appeal to the Searcher of the heart, and say that he knew that he loved him. Here is
the expression of a humbled soul - soul made sensible of its weakness and need of 
strength, yet with evidence of true attachment to the Saviour. It is not the most confident
pretensions that constitute the highest proof of love to Christ; and the happiest and best 
state of feeling is when we can with humility, yet with confidence, look to the Lord Jesus 
and say, “Thou knowest that I love thee.”
Feed my lambs - The word here rendered “feed” means the care afforded by 
furnishing nutriment for the flock. In the next verse there is a change in the Greek, and 
the word rendered feed denotes rather the care, guidance, and protection which a 
shepherd extends to his flock. By the use of both these words, it is supposed that our 
Saviour intended that a shepherd was both to offer the proper food for his flock and to 
govern it; or, as we express it, to exercise the office of a pastor. The expression is taken 
from the office of a shepherd, with which the office of a minister of the gospel is 
frequently compared. It means, as a good shepherd provides for the wants of his flock, so
the pastor in the church is to furnish food for the soul, or so to exhibit truth that the faith
of believers may be strengthened and their hope confirmed.
My lambs - The church is often compared to a flock. See John 10:1-16. Here the 
expression my lambs undoubtedly refers to the tender and the young in the Christian 
church; to those who are young in years and in Christian experience. The Lord Jesus 
saw, what has been confirmed in the experience of the church, that the success of the 
gospel among men depended on the care which the ministry would extend to those in 
early life. It is in obedience to this command that Sunday schools have been established, 
and no means of fulfilling this command of the Saviour have been found so effectual as to
extend patronage to those schools. It is not merely, therefore, the privilege, it is the 
solemn duty of ministers of the gospel to countenance and patronize those schools.
BENSON, “John 21:15. When they had dined — On the kind provision wherewith Jesus had
supplied them, and, it is likely, had been edified with such discourse as Jesus had generally used
when eating with them; Jesus said to Simon Peter — Who, by his late denial of him, had given him
great reason to call in question the sincerity of his love; Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? — He
speaks to him by name, the more to affect him, as he did (Luke 22:31) when he warned him of a
great approaching trial. He doth not call him Cephas, or Peter, a name signifying strength or
stability, for he had lost the credit of that; but gives him his original name, Simon, adding,
however, son of Jonas, as he had called him when he pronounced him blessed, Matthew 16:17.
And the question he asked him is, of all others, one of the most important, and on which we should

130. frequently and especially ask ourselves: for, on the one hand, if any man love not the Lord Jesus he
is anathema, that is, exposed to the wrath and curse of God, 1 Corinthians 16:22; whereas the
grace and blessing of God is the portion of all those who love him in sincerity, Ephesians 6:24.
Observe, reader, the question is not, Dost thou know me? Dost thou believe in me? Dost thou
admire, honour, or fear me? but, Dost thou love me? Give me but proof of that, as if Jesus had said,
and I will acknowledge that thy repentance is sincere; that thy backslidings are healed, and that
thou art recovered from thy fall. Peter had professed himself a penitent, had wept bitterly for his sin,
had returned to the society of the disciples, and had taken great interest in the death and
resurrection of Christ; deeply mourning for the former, and greatly rejoicing at being assured of the
latter: but still this is not sufficient: the question is, Lovest thou me? Nay, further, Lovest thou me
more than these? — More than thou lovest these persons, James or John, thy intimate friends, or
Andrew, thy own brother and companion? Those do not love Christ aright, who do not love him
better than the best friend they have in the world, and make it appear so whenever there is a
comparison or competition between these objects of their love. Or, more than thou lovest these
things, these boats and nets, and the other implements of fishing, by which thou earnest a
livelihood: that is, more than thou lovest thy occupation and the gains of it. So Dr. Whitby. And the
question, thus interpreted, “is neither so cold nor so foreign,” says Dr. Campbell, “as some have
represented it. This was probably the last time that Peter exercised his profession as a fisherman.
Jesus was about to employ him as an apostle; but as he disdained all forced obedience, and would
accept no service that did not spring from choice, and originate in love, he put this question to give
Peter an opportunity of professing openly his love, (which his late transgression had rendered
questionable,) and consequently his preference of the work in which Jesus was to employ him, with
whatever difficulties and perils it might be accompanied, to any worldly occupation, however
gainful.” The sense, however, in which the words are more commonly taken is, Lovest thou me
more than these men [thy fellow<disciples] love me? Thus interpreted, the question must be
considered as having a reference to the declaration formerly made by Peter, (Matthew 26:33,) when
he seemed to arrogate a superiority to the rest, in zeal for his Master and steadiness in his
service; Though all men should be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. This
gives a peculiar propriety to Peter’s reply here. “Convinced, at length, that his Master knew his heart
better than he himself; conscious, at the same time, of the affection which he bore him, he dares
make the declaration, [as to the sincerity of his love,] appealing to the infallible Judge, before whom
he stood, as the voucher of his truth. But as to his fellow<disciples, he is now taught not to assume
any thing. He dares not utter a single word which would lead to a comparison with those to whom
he knew his woful defection had made him appear so much inferior.” He only says, Yea, Lord, thou
knowest that I love thee — “And his silence on this part of the question speaks strongly the shame
he had on recollecting his former presumption, in boasting superior zeal and firmness, and shows,
that the lesson of humility and self<knowledge he had so lately received, had not been lost.”
He saith unto him, Feed my lambs — Manifest thy love to me in a way which will be peculiarly
acceptable; administer spiritual food to my people, even to the weakest and feeblest of my flock;
give milk to babes, explain the first principles of my doctrine to those who, having but lately believed
in me, are not yet thoroughly instructed in the truths, or established in the grace of the gospel. It
may be worth observing here, that the original word
αρνια, being the diminutive of αρνα,
signifies the least of my lambs; and if, says Dr. Doddridge, “we interpret it as an intimation of the
care which Peter, as a minister of Christ, was to take of little children, it seems perfectly congruous
to the wisdom and tenderness of the great Shepherd of the sheep, to give so particular an injunction
concerning it.”
Henry, “Joh 21:15-17
We have here Christ's discourse with Peter after dinner, so much of it as relates to 
himself, in which,
I. He examines his love to him, and gives him a charge concerning his flock, 
Joh_21:15-17. Observe,

131. 1. When Christ entered into this discourse with Peter. - It was after they had dined: 
they had all eaten, and were filled, and, it is probable, were entertained with such 
edifying discourse as our Lord Jesus used to make his table-talk. Christ foresaw that 
what he had to say to Peter would give him some uneasiness, and therefore would not 
say it till they had dined, because he would not spoil his dinner. Peter was conscious to 
himself that he had incurred his Master's displeasure, and could expect no other than to 
be upbraided with his treachery and ingratitude. “Was this thy kindness to thy friend? 
Did not I tell thee what a coward thou wouldest prove?” Nay, he might justly expect to be
struck out of the roll of the disciples, and to be expelled the sacred college. Twice, if not 
thrice, he had seen his Master since his resurrection, and he said not a word to him of it. 
We may suppose Peter full of doubts upon what terms he stood with his Master; 
sometimes hoping the best, because he had received favour from him in common with 
the rest; yet not without some fears, lest the chiding would come at last that would pay 
for all. But now, at length, his Master put him out of his pain, said what he had to say to 
him, and confirmed him in his place as an apostle. He did not tell him of his fault hastily,
but deferred it for some time; did not tell him of it unseasonably, to disturb the company 
at dinner, but when they had dined together, in token of reconciliation, then discoursed 
he with him about it, not as with a criminal, but as with a friend. Peter had reproached 
himself for it, and therefore Christ did not reproach him for it, nor tell him of it directly, 
but only by a tacit intimation; and, being satisfied in his sincerity, the offence was not 
only forgiven, but forgotten; and Christ let him know that he was as dear to him as ever. 
Herein he has given us an encouraging instance of his tenderness towards penitents, and 
has taught us, in like manner, to restore such as are fallen with a spirit of meekness.
2. What was the discourse itself. Here was the same question three times asked, the 
same answer three times returned, and the same reply three times given, with very little 
variation, and yet no vain repetition. The same thing was repeated by our Saviour, in 
speaking it, the more to affect Peter, and the other disciples that were present; it is 
repeated by the evangelist, in writing it, the more to affect us, and all that read it.
(1.) Three times Christ asks Peter whether he loves him or no. The first time the 
question is, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Observe,
[1.] How he calls him: Simon, son of Jonas. He speaks to him by name, the more to 
affect him, as Luk_22:31. Simon, Simon. He does not call him Cephas, nor Peter, the 
name he had given him (for he had lost the credit of his strength and stability, which 
those names signified), but his original name, Simon. Yet he gives him no hard language,
does not call him out of his name, though he deserved it; but as he had called him when 
he pronounced him blessed, Simon Bar-jona, Mat_16:17. He calls him son of Jonas (or 
John or Johanan), to remind him of his extraction, how mean it was, and unworthy the 
honour to which he was advanced.
[2.] How he catechises him: Lovest thou me more than these?
First, Lovest thou me? If we would try whether we are Christ's disciples indeed, this 
must be the enquiry, Do we love him? But there was a special reason why Christ put in 
now to Peter. 1. His fall had given occasion to doubt of his love: “Peter, I have cause to 
suspect thy love; for if thou hadst loved me thou wouldst not have been ashamed and 
afraid to own me in my sufferings. How canst thou say thou lovest me, when thy heart 
was not with me?” Note, We must not reckon it an affront to have our sincerity 
questioned, when we ourselves have done that which makes it questionable; after a 
shaking fall, we must take heed of settling too soon, lest we settle upon a wrong bottom. 
The question is affecting; he does not ask, “Dost thou fear me? Dost thou honour me? 
Dost thou admire me?” but, “Dost thou love me? Give but proof of this, and the affront 
shall be passed by, and no more said of it.” Peter had professed himself a penitent, 

132. witness his tears, and his return to the society of the disciples; he was now upon his 
probation as a penitent; but the question is not, “Simon, how much hast thou wept? how 
often hast thou fasted, and afflicted thy soul?” but, Dost thou love me? It is this that will 
make the other expressions of repentance acceptable. The great thing Christ eyes in 
penitents is their eyeing him in their repentance. Much is forgiven her, not because she 
wept much, but because she loved much. 2. His function would give occasion for the 
exercise of his love. Before Christ would commit his sheep to his care, he asked him, 
Lovest thou me? Christ has such a tender regard to his flock that he will not trust it with 
any but those that love him, and therefore will love all that are his for his sake. Those 
that do not truly love Christ will never truly love the souls of men, or will naturally care 
for their state as they should; nor will that minister love his work that does not love his 
Master. Nothing but the love of Christ will constrain ministers to go cheerfully through 
the difficulties and discouragements they meet with in their work, 2Co_5:13, 2Co_5:14. 
But this love will make their work easy, and them in good earnest in it.
Secondly, Lovest thou me more than these? 
6T8_sed1st1_e. 1. “Lovest thou me more 
than thou lovest these, more than thou lovest these persons?” Dost thou love me more 
than thou dost James or John, thy intimate friends, or Andrew, thy own brother and 
companion: Those do not love Christ aright that do not love him better than the best 
friend they have in the world, and make it to appear whenever they stand in comparison 
or in competition. Or, “more than thou lovest these things, these boats and nets - more 
than all the pleasure of fishing, which some make a recreation of - more than the gain of 
fishing, which others make a calling of.” Those only love Christ indeed that love him 
better than all the delights of sense and all the profits of this world. “Lovest thou me 
more than thou lovest these occupations thou art now employed in? If so, leave them, to 
employ thyself wholly in feeding my flock.” So Dr. Whitby. 2. “Lovest thou me more than
these love me, more than any of the rest of the disciples love me?” And then the question 
is intended to upbraid him with his vain-glorious boast, Though all men should deny 
thee, yet will not I. “Art thou still of the same mind?” Or, to intimate to him that he had 
now more reason to love him than any of them had, for more had been forgiven to him 
than to any of them, as much as his sin in denying Christ was greater than theirs in 
forsaking him. Tell me therefore which of them will love him most? 
Luk_7:42. Note, We 
should all study to excel in our love to Christ. It is no breach of the peace to strive which 
shall love Christ best; nor any breach of good manners to go before others in this love.
Thirdly, The second and third time that Christ put this question, 1. He left out the 
comparison more than these, because Peter, in his answer, modestly left it out, not 
willing to compare himself with his brethren, much less to prefer himself before them. 
Though we cannot say, We love Christ more than others do, yet we shall be accepted if 
we can say, We love him indeed. 2. In the last he altered the word, as it is in the original. 
In the first two enquiries, the original word is 
z4l6lado8 - Dost thou retain a kindness 
for me? In answer to which Peter uses another word, more emphatic, 
N _T_da8 - I love 
thee dearly. In putting the question the last time, Christ uses that word: And dost thou 
indeed love me dearly?
(2.) Three times Peter returns the same answer to Christ: Yea, Lord, thou knowest 
that I love thee. Observe, [1.] Peter does not pretend to love Christ more than the rest of 
the disciples did. He is now ashamed of that rash word of his, Though all men deny thee,
yet will not I; and he had reason to be ashamed of it. Note, Though we must aim to be 
better than others, yet we must, in lowliness of mind, esteem others better than 
ourselves; for we know more evil of ourselves than we do of any of our brethren. [2.] Yet 
he professes again and again that he loves Christ: “Yea, Lord, surely I love thee; I were 

133. unworthy to live if I did not.” He had a high esteem and value for him, a grateful sense of 
his kindness, and was entirely devoted to his honour and interest; his desire was towards
him, as one he was undone without; and his delight in him, as one he should be 
unspeakably happy in. This amounts to a profession of repentance for his sin, for it 
grieves us to have affronted one we love; and to a promise of adherence to him for the 
future Lord, I love thee, and will never leave thee. Christ prayed that his faith might not
fail (Luk_22:32), and, because his faith did not fail, his love did not; for faith will work 
by love. Peter had forfeited his claim of relation to Christ. He was now to be re-admitted, 
upon his repentance. Christ puts his trial upon this issue: Dost thou love me? And Peter 
joins issue upon it: Lord, I love thee. Note, Those who can truly say, through grace, that 
they love Jesus Christ, may take the comfort of their interest in him, notwithstanding 
their daily infirmities. [3.] He appeals to Christ himself for the proof of it: Thou knowest 
that I love thee; and the third time yet more emphatically: Thou knowest all things, thou
knowest that I love thee. He does not vouch his fellow-disciples to witness for him - they 
might be deceived in him; nor does he think his own word might be taken - the credit of 
that was destroyed already; but he calls Christ himself to witness, First, Peter was sure 
that Christ knew all things, and particularly that he knew the heart, and was a discerner 
of the thoughts and intents of it, Joh_16:30. Secondly, Peter was satisfied of this, that 
Christ, who knew all things, knew the sincerity of his love to him, and would be ready to 
attest it in his favour. It is a terror to a hypocrite to think that Christ knows all things; for
the divine omniscience will be a witness against him. But it is a comfort to a sincere 
Christian that he has that to appeal to: My witness is in heaven, my record is on high. 
Christ knows us better than we know ourselves. Though we know not our own 
uprightness, he knows it. [4.] He was grieved when Christ asked him the third time, 
Lovest thou me? Joh_21:17. First, Because it put him in mind of his threefold denial of 
Christ, and was plainly designed to do so; and when he thought thereon he wept. Every 
remembrance of past sins, even pardoned sins, renews the sorrow of a true penitent. 
Thou shalt be ashamed, when I am pacified towards thee. Secondly, Because it put him 
in fear lest his Master foresaw some further miscarriage of his, which would be as great a 
contradiction to this profession of love to him as the former was. “Surely,” thinks Peter, 
“my Master would not thus put me upon the rack if he did not see some cause for it. 
What would become of me if I should be again tempted?” Godly sorrow works 
carefulness and fear, 2Co_7:11.
(3.) Three times Christ committed the care of his flock to Peter: Feed my lambs; feed 
my sheep; feed my sheep. [1.] Those whom Christ committed to Peter's care were his 
lambs and his sheep. The church of Christ is his flock, which he hath purchased with his 
own blood (Act_20:28), and he is the chief shepherd of it. In this flock some are lambs, 
young and tender and weak, others are sheep, grown to some strength and maturity. The 
Shepherd here takes care of both, and of the lambs first, for upon all occasions he 
showed a particular tenderness for them. He gathers the lambs in his arms, and carries 
them in his bosom. Isa_40:11. [2.] The charge he gives him concerning them is to feed 
them. The word used in Joh_21:15, Joh_21:17, is boske, which strictly signifies to give 
them food; but the word used in Joh_21:16 is poimaine, which signifies more largely to 
do all the offices of a shepherd to them: “Feed the lambs with that which is proper for 
them, and the sheep likewise with food convenient. The lost sheep of the house of Israel, 
seek and feed them, and the other sheep also which are not of this fold.” Note, It is the 
duty of all Christ's ministers to feed his lambs and sheep. Feed them, that is, teach them; 
for the doctrine of the gospel is spiritual food. Feed them, that is, “Lead them to the 
green pastures, presiding in their religious assemblies, and ministering all the 
ordinances to them. Feed them by personal application to their respective state and case;

134. not only lay meat before them, but feed those with it that are wilful and will not, or weak 
and cannot feed themselves.” When Christ ascended on high, he gave pastors, left his 
flock with those that loved him, and would take care of them for his sake. [3.] But why 
did he give this charge particularly to Peter? Ask the advocates for the pope's supremacy,
and they will tell you that Christ hereby designed to give to Peter, and therefore to his 
successors, and therefore to the bishops of Rome, an absolute dominion and headship 
over the whole Christian church as if a charge to serve the sheep gave a power to lord it 
over all the shepherds; whereas, it is plain, Peter himself never claimed such a power, 
nor did the other disciples ever own it in him. This charge given to Peter to preach the 
gospel is by a strange artifice made to support the usurpation of his pretended 
successors, that fleece the sheep, and, instead of feeding them, feed upon them. But the 
particular application to Peter here was designed, First, To restore him to his 
apostleship, now that he repented of his abjuration of it, and to renew his commission, 
both for his own satisfaction, and for the satisfaction of his brethren. A commission given
to one convicted of a crime is supposed to amount to a pardon; no doubt, this 
commission given to Peter was an evidence that Christ was reconciled to him else he 
would never have reposed such a confidence in him. Of some that have deceived us we 
say, “Though we forgive them, we will never trust them;” but Christ, when he forgave 
Peter, trusted him with the most valuable treasure he had on earth. Secondly, It was 
designed to quicken him to a diligent discharge of his office as an apostle. Peter was a 
man of a bold and zealous spirit, always forward to speak and act, and, lest he should be 
tempted to take upon him the directing of the shepherds, he is charged to feed the sheep,
as he himself charges all the presbyters to do, and not to lord it over God's heritage, 
1Pe_5:2, 1Pe_5:3. If he will be doing, let him do this, and pretend no further. Thirdly, 
What Christ said to him he said to all his disciples; he charged them all, not only to be 
fishers of men (though that was said to Peter, Luk_5:10), by the conversion of sinners, 
but feeders of the flock, by the edification of saints.
NISBET, “‘
Lovest thou Me?’ How does this sound, as regards the thought, the purpose, that lies
behind it?
I. What does it say about the Speaker?
 Perhaps it carries with it at first, in our apprehension of
it, the air of a demand—a claim, the levy of a due, the summons for an unpaid debt. Here is One
Who knows (for He knows all things, and this assuredly is a fact present to His mind) that the son
of Jonas is under immeasurable obligations to Him, and ought
 to love Him. Most certainly Jesus,
for Simon, has done and borne incalculably much within the last few wonderful weeks; Simon is
infinitely and for ever the better for the Cross and Passion. And behind all the atoning death, and
the sin<covering merit, and the robe of righteousness, and the resultant pardon and peace for this
very guilty man—behind it, and above it, there lies all that is implied by the fact that Christ has not
only saved Peter, but first made him. He can claim the man’s whole being in the double name of
Rescuer and of Creator. Yes, all this is the very truth; truth for me, and for you, as much
altogether as for that Galilæan penitent of old. But I do not think that we read aright the thought
and accent of the Lord in His question, Do you love Me? if we read into it this notion—the
exaction of a right, the reminder of a debt.
II. Jesus Christ knew well that human love can never be asked for, face to face, except as
just the free response to love; the return, the repercussion, of a tenderness that has first gone
freely out as the unselfish gift of the asker’s heart. Just this is the beauty, the glory, the magnetic
virtue, once it is apprehended, of the Lord Jesus Christ’s inquiry of us, Do you love Me? It is the
very touch which lifts the veil from the heart, not of Peter, but of Jesus. In the very act of asking
about Peter’s love for Him, He discloses His love for Peter; a love which is something infinitely
different from mere compassion, or mere benevolence, or mere condescension. For it is a love

135. which goes out towards Peter so powerfully, so longingly, with such contact and embrace, that it
cannot rest
 without the responsive gaze and clasp of Peter’s love to Jesus. The Lord is not just
stooping to say, It is your privilege to love Me. He covets
 His sinful disciple’s love; He wants it; it
is important to Him; it is much to Him; because He loves the man with such mighty love Himself.
Jesus Christ cannot ask if Peter loves Him, and cannot ask, as He does to<day, if we
 love Him,
without betraying how much, how really, how strongly, He loves us.
III. O human soul, listen to the inquiry of Jesus Christ, and give yourself time to understand
what it means about Himself.
(a) Are you acquainted with grief, perhaps such grief—so long and deep—as has seemed at last
rather to benumb the heart than pierce it, yet leaving the consciousness of loss, of solitude, of
change, only too complete? Nevertheless, One stands beside you Who is acquainted with grief
Himself, in depths which He has sounded alone. The woe is over for Him, but not the
experience. Souffrir passe; avoir souffert demeure éternellement. He understands you, as sorrow
understands sorrow. But He also loves you; and He is avaricious of your love. Let Him have it,
Him the eternal Truth and Beauty, but also the Brother and the Friend. And when your love has
met and satisfied His, believe me, there shall take place a miracle at the point of contact; ‘your
sorrow shall be turned into joy.’
(b) Human, heart, distracted, bewildered, preoccupied with we know not what
—dissatisfied,
perhaps, apart from Christ, perhaps, far sadder still, satisfied for the time apart from Him—to<day
let no word be spoken by me of the vast truths which concern duty, law, and judgment to come. It
shall be enough this hour to say once more, Listen to the asking Christ. Behold the Son of God;
behold the Man of men! You are profoundly important to Him. He wants, He covets you. He will
‘proudly wear’ your love; He is asking whether it is for Him. Let your heart meet His; and for you,
too, the contact shall work miracles.
Bishop H. C. G. Moule.
PULPIT, “When therefore they had breakfasted, Jesus saith to  
Simon Peter. His full name and Christ'given appellation is in the mind of the
evangelist; but he, with marked emphasis, shows that our Lord went back to his
relations with Simon before the latter's first introduction to him (see Joh_1:42,
etc.), and recalls the attitude Christ had taken to Simon on more than one
memorable occasion (Mat_16:17; Luk_22:31). On two of these occasions the
simple humanity of the apostle was the basis on which the Lord proceeded to
confer upon him the high official designation. The grace of God, in the first
instance, selected Simon of Jonah to be a rock. In the second, "not flesh and
blood," but the Father's grace, revealed the mystery of the Divine Sonship to him,
and won the name of Peter. In the third, the utter weakness of Simon's own flesh
reveals the power of the prayer of Jesus for him, so that he might ultimately
convert his brethren; and now "Simon" is reinstated after his fall into his apostolic
office. Simon, son of Jona—or, John £ (see Joh_1:42, note)—lovest thou 
me more than these? i.e. more than these other disciples love me? Thou
hast seen more of my compassion, farther into my heart, deeper into my Person,
my position, and my work, than they have done; thou hast dared again and again
to ask for higher service and more conspicuous distinction. Thou hast made
louder protestations than any of these of thine unworthiness to serve me, and in

136. the deep consciousness of humiliation thou hast been more emphatic than any
of them in refusing grace which thou thoughtest it might dishonor me to give.
Thou didst indeed say, "Though all men should be offended at me or should
deny me," thou wouldst never be offended and never deny me. "Dost thou love
me more than they do?" There is no positive reference to the denial and fall of
Peter; but the implication and suggestion cannot be hidden, though
Hengstenberg and others fail to appreciate it. The circumstance that Peter was
"grieved" because the Lord put this question to him a third time makes the
reference very little less than explicit. The real significance of the narrative is the
reinstitution of Peter in the position of importance he had filled throughout, and
an indication of the nature and quality of that service. In Simon's reply, Yea, 
Lord; thou knowest that I love thee, three things are very noticeable.
(1) Peter says nothing of the superiority of his affection for his Lord over that of
his colleagues. Had they not in outward act been more faithful than he? He could
not arrogate any sweeter, dearer, more abounding affection than he was willing
to believe that they felt for their Master. It is scarcely worth while to notice the
miserable translation that some few commentators have suggested: "Lovest thou
me more than (thou lovest) these fishing'smacks and this thriving business on
the lake?" Observe
(2) Peter's admission that the Lord knew his inmost heart, concedes, therefore,
that the question was merely intended to test his faithfulness, and force him to a
more salutary and binding acknowledgment. Notice
(3) Peter's change of phraseology. The word used for "love" by the Lord
is ἀγαπάω , but that which is used in response by the apostle is φιλῶ , the love
of natural emotion, and even tender, intimate, personal affection. The Latin
language, by rendering φιλῶ by amo rather than diligo, expresses the subtle
shades of meaning between φιλεῖν and ἀγαπᾶν . There is, however, no English
word but "love" for them both. The admirable remarks of Archbishop Trench
('Synonyms of New Testament,' § 12.) find special illustration in these verses.
Many passages occur in which amo and φιλέω seem to mean more and have
deeper intensity than diligo and ἀγαπάω . Amari is the affection which a friend
may desire from a friend, even more than diligi; but the latter denotes choice,
mental conviction, and self'recognition of the fact. Antony, in his funeral oration
over Caesar (Dion Cassius, 41.48, quoted by Trench), says, Ἐφιλάσατε αὐτὸν
ὡς πατέρα καὶ ἠγαπήσατε ὡς εὐεργέτην . Thus in the New Testament we are
continually told of the ἀγαπᾶν τὸν Θεόν , but never of the φιλεῖν τὸν Θεόν . God is
himself said to ἀγαπᾶν and φιλεῖν τὸν υἱόν . When, therefore, the Lord here asks
Simon, Ἀγαπᾶς ," Dost thou esteem me worthy of thy love?" Simon, with a burst
of personal affection, says, yet with a certain humility, "I love thee"—meaning,
"Such love as I can lavish upon thee, such as I may dare in my humility to offer
thee, O my Master, Brother, Friend!" This being the case, Jesus saith, Feed 
my lambs. Love to Christ is the first, high, main condition of faithful service.
The chief of the apostles will have this as his prime, chief, and most laudable

137. service. Each of the terms of the commission, in its threefold repetition,
resembles the other; and Meyer says the whole duty of the pastor of souls and
earthly shepherd of the flock is involved in each of the three expressions. Our
Lord commences, however, with providing true food, seasonable nourishment,
for the "lambs" of the flock. The tender emotion involved in the term cannot be
excluded, but it is a comprehensive and suggestive one, and embraces the
young converts, the first believers, those who with impetuosity and gladness
receive the Word; the little children who will literally crowd into the Church
become the highest and sacredest care of the chiefest apostles and most
honored of pastors. The first, the main thing they need, is the milk of the Word,
and the sweetest pastures. This consideration of the next generation, and
gracious care for the children and the childlike of every successive age, is one of
the sacred signs of Divine revelation. Our Lord is represented in the synopties as
"suffering the little children" to "come to" him, as "blessing them," and rejoicing in
their hosannas. St. John preserves and glorifies the whole conception by
recording this commission of the risen Lord to the greatest of the apostles. If the
babes and sucklings had "held their peace, the stones would have cried out," is
the pathetic approval of the rejected Lord. "Feed my lambs" is the gracious,
unexpected summons of the triumphant Christ and Lord of all.
KRETZMANN 15-17, “When the disciples had finished their breakfast as guests of the Master,
Jesus showed that He had a special reason for appearing at this time. He addressed Himself to
Peter, probably taking this disciple aside from the rest. The Lord had appeared to Peter alone on
Easter Day, Luk_24:34, and had undoubtedly at that time reinstated him in his position as His
disciple. But here the Lord purposely speaks to Peter in the view of, if not in the presence of, six
disciples that had been present on the evening before His death. In a most solemn and
impressive manner Jesus asks Peter three times as to his love for Him. He puts the first question
in such a way as to make a comparison between the love of Peter and that of the rest. Peter had
professed and protested a more affectionate regard for Christ than the other
disciples, Mat_26:33, but had learned, to his great sorrow, how foolish it is to trust in one's own
strength. Three times had he denied his Lord after that saying. It was not the object of Christ to
work repentance at this time, for Peter's grief had been deep and genuine, and he had been
received into grace before this. Nevertheless, the lesson which the Lord administered was
necessary, in order to keep Peter in the humility which is demanded above any of the servant of
the Lord. The use of his old name, Simon, and the addition of the explanation, "son of Jonas,"
made the question all the more searching: Lovest thou Me? Was Peter now ready to love His
Lord and Savior with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his mind? The threefold answer of
Peter is significant of the change that had taken place in him since that night of the denial. At that
time it had been his own self, his own person, that had been brought into the foreground. But now
the first person is relegated to the background, while Peter appeals to the knowledge of Christ.
When the question of the Lord came for the third time, Peter was deeply grieved. He felt the
justness of the Lord's position; he knew that he had given cause for doubt. And the very
tenderness of the reproof made the grief of Peter all the more poignant and his protestations of
love all the more fervid. He finally appeals to the Lord's omniscience. He that knows all things,
that searches hearts and minds, could and would read the feeling of his heart aright and know
that the love he bore his Savior was genuine, based upon the faith in the redemption of the God<
man. This is a mark of true faith, when Christians not only confess before men that they love their
Lord, but when they challenge the omniscient God Himself to search their hearts in this respect.
The love of the Christians may often be weak and in strong need of support, but it must be
genuine just the same. The Lord recognized and rewarded the sincerity of Peter's love and faith.
Three times He gives him the significant command to feed, to be a pastor to, His sheep, His
lambs. The sheep of Jesus, as He Himself explains Joh_10:1<42, are those whom the Father has

138. given Him, the believers. And the lambs are the little ones in the kingdom of God, especially the
children, Mat_18:1<35; Mar_10:1<52. Thus Peter received a special call and was reinstated in his
office and ministry. Peter was to be one of those that have charge of the flock of Christ, that
perform the work of pastors and shepherds. For to feed the sheep, as Luther says, is nothing but
proclaiming to them the Word of God, that is, true faith. The commission of the Lord is in power
even today. All true preachers of the Gospel, in this respect, have the same ministry as the
apostles. The prime requisite for a person that has charge of a flock of Jesus is genuine and
fervid love toward Christ, the great Shepherd of all. This love will then find its expression in true
pastoral work, both public and private, the application of the wonderful message of salvation
wherever this message can be proclaimed.
GUZIK, “a. Jesus met with Peter individually on the day of His
resurrection, (Luke 24:34) but a public restoration was also needed.

b.
Do you love Me more than these: Jesus strangely asks Peter to
compare his love for Him with that of the other disciples.

i. It is possible that “these” refers to the fish and a fisherman’s life.
Jesus could be asking Peter if he is willing to give up fishing again
to follow Him. But Peter had claimed a superior love (Matthew
26:33). Does he still have this proud estimation of his devotion?

c. Do you love Me more than these . . . You know that I love You:
Jesus asks about agape love (all giving, uncaused, unselfish love) and
Peter answers with phileo love (reciprocal, friendly affection). Some
translations have Peter answering “I am your friend.”

i. Some commentators see no distinctions between the two
different ancient Greek terms, but most say that Peter is now more
reserved in his proclamation of devotion.

d. Feed My lambs . . . Tend My sheep: For Peter to follow through with
that love for Jesus, he must give himself to the service of God’s people.

139. 2. (17) Jesus asks Peter a third time: Do you love Me?

He said to him the third time, “Simon,
son of Jonah, 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 all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him,
“Feed My sheep.

a.
Do you love Me . . . Lord, You know all things: This time, Jesus asks
if Peter does in fact have a friendly devotion (phileo) to Jesus. Peter leaves
the question with Jesus’ omniscience.

b. Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time: What really
grieved Peter was the three time repetition, because it was a plain
reminder of his previous three time denial.

i. Jesus restores us by causing us to face squarely our point of
failure, then challenging us to set our eyes on the work ahead.

ii. Jesus doesn’t ask “are you sorry?” nor “will you promise never
to do that again?” “Jesus Christ asks each one of us, not for
obedience primarily, not for repentance, not for vows, not for
conduct, but for a heart; and that being given, all the rest will
follow.” (Maclaren)

c. Jesus allowed Peter a three fold public affirmation of love to replace a
three fold denial, and gave him a three fold challenge to feed My sheep.
INTERVARSITY, “Peter replies,
Yes, Lord, . . . you know that I love you (v. 15).
He does not claim to love Jesus more than the others do, which suggests he has
benefited from having reflected on his shameful denials of the Lord. This

140. response is typical of true discipleship, for it is humble and focuses on the Lord's
own knowledge. According to the NIV it is also a humble response in that Peter
does not claim to
truly love Jesus, but only to love him. Behind this translation
there are two verbs for love,
truly love (agapao) and love (phileo). In the past it
was common to find a great distinction between these two words, but in recent
years the idea that they are close synonyms has come to prevail (for example,
Carson 1991:676-77). The older idea that
agapao is divine love and phileo a
lower, human love does indeed go too far. For both verbs are used of the love of
the Father for the Son (3:35; 5:20), and
agapao can be used of false love, for
example, the love of this world (2 Tim 4:10). So a simple distinction between the
verbs is not justified, but this does not mean there is no distinction at all. For in
this passage there is a pattern, with Jesus asking Peter twice whether he loves
him
(agapao) and each time Peter responding that, yes, he does love him
(phileo). Then the third time Jesus switches to using Peter's word. Such a pattern
suggests there is a distinction here (McKay 1985; H. C. G. Moule 1898:176), and
since
agapao is used more often in John for God's love than is phileo, "it was
likely that
agapao would be chosen for the higher meaning" (McKay 1985:322).
The present context itself supports this view, for otherwise Peter would be
claiming "the higher meaning" from the outset, which would not fit with his more
chastened perspective. So the NIV seems justified in distinguishing these two
terms in the present context.
Peter was not boastful when Jesus gave him the opportunity to be (v. 15), but by
the third time Jesus asks whether he loves him, Peter is
hurt, that is, deeply
grieved (
elypethe, v. 17). Jesus' asking three times recalls the three denials, and
Peter's pride is cut to the quick. Here we see the Great Physician performing
painful but necessary surgery. The light is shining in the darkness of Peter's
heart, bringing life. For this is what John of the Ladder (c. A.D. 570-649) refers to
as "joy-producing sorrow" (
The Ladder of Divine Ascent, chap. 7), the repentance
that enables one to experience the Lord's love and salvation. Without such

141. brokenness we are full of self and unable to hear and receive the guidance of the
Chief Shepherd.
In response to this searing third question, Peter says,
Lord, you know all things;
you know that I love you
(v. 17). Two different words for "know" are used here,
although these are not distinguished in the NIV. But as with the two words for
"love," these words are in a pattern. Each time Peter has responded
you know
(
sy oidas, vv. 15-17), but now he adds you know [sy ginoskeis] that I love you.
The pattern here suggests that there is a distinction between
oida and ginosko,
with the latter perhaps meaning "you must be able to see" (McKay 1981:304).
This shift of vocabulary, along with the reference to
all things, reflects a view of
the Lord that is more exalted and suggests that Peter's humility is deeper. "Do
you see how he has become better and more sober, no longer self-willed or
contradicting?" (Chrysostom
In John 88.1). Peter is dying to self and finding his
confidence only in the Lord. It is the Lord who knows (cf. 1:42, 47-48; 2:25).
Despite the appearances, Peter does love Jesus.
After each profession of love Jesus gives a similar command, using different
words. First he is to
feed [boske] lambs (arnia, v. 15); then he is to shepherd
[poimaine] sheep
(probata, v. 16). The third command includes a word from both
of the previous commands (v. 17,
boske/probata), thereby tying the three
commands together. While attempts have been made to find significant
differences in these words, none are convincing (Brown 1970:1104-6; McKay
1985:332). Rather, this pattern suggests we have a comprehensive image of
shepherding, a very familiar figure of speech for leadership over God's people.
God himself was known as the shepherd of Israel (Gen 49:24; Ps 80:1; Is 40:11),
and under him the leaders of his people were known as shepherds (2 Sam 5:2;
Jer 23:4; Ezek 34). This motif continues in the New Testament (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet
2:25; 5:1-4). Jesus himself is the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:1-18), and now he
commissions Peter to care for the flock that belongs to Jesus, for they are
my

142. lambs . . . my sheep. The community has already been established, and now
Peter is given authority, though of a particular kind.
The key qualification for this task, as this chapter indicates, is a love for Jesus
that is characterized by humility, dependence and obedience. Peter already had
a devotion to Jesus, but he was still full of self will and was thrusting himself to
the front. Such a proud attitude of heart would spell disaster for the community,
as had already been evident in Israel's history right up to the opponents who had
just had Jesus crucified and as has sadly been just as evident in the history of
the church. But Peter himself learned his lesson, as is clear from his first letter.
When he addresses the elders of the communities he does so as a "fellow elder"
and encourages them to "be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care,
serving as overseers . . . not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being
examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive
the crown of glory that will never fade away" (1 Pet 5:1-4). Here is authority
exercised in humility and conscious of the Chief Shepherd. Such are marks of a
true shepherd.
Jesus had predicted Peter's denials after Peter had said he was willing to die with
him (13:37-38). Jesus told him, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but
you will follow later" (13:36). Here now is the call to follow. After Peter professes
his obedient love, Jesus spells out the cost of that love. He contrasts Peter's
youth, his life up to this point, with what is coming. He has been able to go
wherever he wanted, but when he is old, Jesus tells him,
you will stretch out your
hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to
go
(v. 18). Here is an explicit contrast between Peter's life of self will and his
coming under the will of another. He has just submitted to Jesus and his will, and
now Jesus says such submission is going to include being taken where he does
not want to go.

143. John says this obscure saying is an indication of the kind of death by which Peter
would glorify God
(v. 19). The translation of the NIV (v. 18) could be a picture of
death from natural causes after increasing senility. But according to tradition,
Peter was crucified head down during the Neronian persecution in the midsixties
A.D. (Eusebius
Ecclesiastical History 2.25.5; 3.1.2-3). So John, late in the first
century, knows that Peter's hands were stretched out and tied to a cross. The
word
dress (zonnymi) is a play on words. It is used for getting dressed, but it
specifically means to gird, that is, fasten a belt or rope around one's clothes.
While this word is not used for the binding of prisoners (cf. 18:12, 24; Acts 21:11-
13), this could be the significance of this image. More likely, however, it refers
here to the binding of a person's arms to the crossbeam as they are led to
crucifixion (Beasley-Murray 1987:408-9).
The Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep, and this shepherd will have
to do likewise, though his death will not, of course, take away the sins of the
world. He has submitted his will to God, and his death, like Jesus' death, will be
in accordance with God's will and thereby glorify him (Moloney 1998:556).
Furthermore, in the death of Jesus the glory of God is revealed since God is love
and love is the laying down of one's life (1 Jn 4:8; 3:16). So now Jesus predicts
that Peter also will glorify God by his death (v. 19).
Having spelled out his will for Peter, Jesus calls him to follow him (v. 19). Peter
had answered such a call at the outset of the ministry, but now he understands
much more about who Jesus is and what following him entails. He has also
received a commission from the Lord for leadership in the community. So this is
a call to recommit himself. Just as this Gospel shows that faith must be exercised
in the face of each new revelation, so one's commitment to Jesus must be
renewed as one learns more of Christ and his call.
Jesus has been teaching Peter many lessons in this encounter on the beach, but
in what follows it is clear that Peter has more to learn. Peter has had his attention

144. fixed on Jesus ever since the Beloved Disciple told him the person on the beach
was Jesus, but now he takes his eyes off Jesus and looks at the Beloved
Disciple, who is following (v. 20). Apparently Jesus and Peter have had this
conversation while walking along the beach. The NIV says the Beloved Disciple
was following them, but the word them is not in the text. The NIV thus obscures
the connection, for right after Jesus commands Peter to follow him we hear of
one who is following. The Beloved Disciple is identified as the one who leaned
against Jesus and asked who would betray him (v. 20; 13:25). This note recalls
that first explicit reference to the Beloved Disciple in the Gospel and the setting in
which Jesus demonstrated his love and servanthood, key characteristics about
which he has just been speaking to Peter. It also recalls the insight Jesus
granted to the Beloved Disciple. Peter now tries to assume this same role and
asks for insight regarding his friend (v. 21).
In response Jesus speaks strong words to Peter. Peter's old habit of lapsing into
error right after experiencing truth is still present (cf. Mt 16:16, 22-23 par. Mk
8:29, 33). He is sure of the Lord's knowledge (cf. v. 17), but he has not learned
what submission to his will entails (vv. 18-19). Jesus repeats his call:
If I want
him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me
(v. 22).
Jesus is indeed Lord, and his will shall be accomplished in the Beloved Disciple's
life, but that is none of Peter's business. Peter can trust Jesus with the life of his
friend.
Jesus' statement about the Beloved Disciple, like that about Peter (v. 18), is
rather obscure. It includes a clear reference to Jesus' personal return, but what
does it mean for the Beloved Disciple
to remain (menein)? The NIV interprets it
to mean
remain alive, and certainly this is how the later disciples, the brothers (v.
23), took it. But since it is the word used for indwelling Christ, as in the image of
the vine and the branches (15:4-7), a spiritual sense could be involved. John
distinguishes carefully between what Jesus actually said and how it was
interpreted (v. 23). Such lack of attention to the precise words of God has been a

145. source of difficulty ever since the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:16-17; 3:1-5, 13). This
misunderstanding highlights the need for the instruction of the Paraclete (14:26).
It is usually assumed that this correction (v. 23) implies that the Beloved Disciple
has in fact died or is very near death. Such may be the case, but the text does
not say as much. The Beloved Disciple could still be in the prime of life, and here
he is simply trying to squelch an error he knows to be floating around among the
disciples. Jesus' will is the crucial factor, whatever
remain might mean.
A number of scholars think there is a rivalry between the Beloved Disciple and
Peter, but this final chapter shows them to be friends of one another and to both
have special roles in the community. Peter will be a shepherd, and the Beloved
Disciple is able to discern the Lord and receive insight into his life and thought.
Accordingly, the conclusion will focus on the Beloved Disciple as witness.
AWAKEN FROM UNCERTAINTYAWAKEN FROM UNCERTAINTYAWAKEN FROM UNCERTAINTYAWAKEN FROM UNCERTAINTY
God's Dealings with PeterGod's Dealings with PeterGod's Dealings with PeterGod's Dealings with Peter
By Steve Zeisler
In recent weeks we have been studying what might be called a series of "close
encounters of the divine kind." These encounters are occasions when God
personally and powerfully invested himself in the life of a person of the Old or
New Testament in such a way that they were changed eternally. This message
and the following two weeks will focus on the events in history that accomplished
God's greatest self-disclosure: the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We will
focus on three people, Peter, Thomas, and Mary, all of whom were present at the
crucifixion and saw the risen Lord.
In our discussion of Peter this week and Thomas the following week, we will see
that these two men were similar in the respect that they both lived with serious
doubts. Thomas doubted the facts. He was of such a nature that he required

146. proof in his own experience, not just the testimony of others, that the rumors of a
risen Christ were true.
Peter's doubts, however, were not about the facts, but about himself. Peter had
become uncertain about himself. It was precisely because he knew of his
weakness and capacity to fail that he wondered if what Jesus said about him
could be true. We will see that Jesus' post-resurrection appearance in John 21
was designed especially to deal with Peter's inward struggles with uncertainty.
PETER'S BACKGROUND
I want to set the scene for this encounter before we actually read John 21. The
first point to note is that Peter the apostle had as much reason to be confident of
the words of Christ as any human being who ever lived. At the beginning of
Jesus' public ministry Peter was a follower of John the Baptist, the last of the
prophets, who identified the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the
world. Further, it was Peter who was quickly drawn into an inner circle of three
disciples, with James and John, to whom Jesus gave most of his time and
attention. Peter was one of those three who was allowed to go to the Mount of
Transfiguration and see Jesus glorified. When Jesus asked who men understood
him to be, it was Peter who answered on the behalf of others, "You are the
Christ, the son of the living God." It was Peter whose name was changed from
Simon to Petros, the rock. Peter was one of the two apostles who went to the
tomb after the resurrection, saw it empty, and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt
that Jesus had risen just as he said.
Peter had every possible advantage. After his resurrection, Jesus breathed the
Spirit on his disciples when he met with them in the Upper Room in Jerusalem.
He continued by saying that they would have a ministry of discipleship with
authority to declare the forgiveness of sins of others. Peter had seen the Lord
pass through the walls of the room where the disciples met with him. He had
seen Thomas worship Christ when his doubts were removed.
John 21 falls within an interim period between the preceding events and the
coming of the Spirit on Pentecost. In the 40 days in which the followers of Jesus
were told to wait for the birth of the church to take place, they went back to

147. Galilee to wait. It is at this interim period of waiting that we can imagine Peter's
own uncertainties about himself. He never doubted that Christ was raised or his
position as Savior to the world. His concern had to do with whether the Lord
could actually use him, an ordinary fisherman who had failed to stand with Jesus
in his hour of trial. Peter's uncertainties concerned the nature of his own
inadequacies and his own place in the plan of God.
I submit that there are many of us who feel the same way. We know of our
inadequacies and often doubt that God can use people like us. We do not doubt
the Lord's greatness, but we are also acquainted with our own unworthiness. We,
like Peter, fear that our failures have somehow disqualified us.
ROOTS, FAILURE, AND COMPARISON
I want to address three issues as we consider Peter's self-discovery in John 21.
One has to do with his roots. Peter grew up in a fisherman's home and was
himself skilled at his trade. Much of his training and identity revolved around
being an effective workman at the craft he had learned. As a result of it, he had
standing in the community. When we are in the midst of self-doubt it is easy to
gravitate towards the things in which we feel competent and give us a niche. At
this point, Peter desired that comfortable familiarity.
The second issue is Peter's failure. Jesus dealt very directly with the terrible night
of failure when Peter denied him three times. We will see how the Lord took
Peter directly back to the time when he most publicly and painfully fell flat on his
face.
The third which Peter needed help with was his desire to compare himself with
other people. When we struggle with our own value, we can compare ourselves
to other people in the areas of our past or our destiny. That will raise itself as an
issue for Peter as well.
We will direct our study in John 21 to Peter's roots, his failure, and his tendency
to compare. Beginning in verse 1:
Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. It
happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didvmus), Nathanael from happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didvmus), Nathanael from happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didvmus), Nathanael from happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didvmus), Nathanael from

148. Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'mCana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'mCana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'mCana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'm
going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So
they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize
that it was Jesus.that it was Jesus.that it was Jesus.that it was Jesus.
He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you caught any fish?"He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you caught any fish?"He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you caught any fish?"He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you caught any fish?"
"No," they answered."No," they answered."No," they answered."No," they answered.
He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some."
When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number
of fish.of fish.of fish.of fish.
Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as
Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment
around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.
The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were
not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of
burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."
Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish,
153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and
have breakfast" None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew have breakfast" None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew have breakfast" None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew have breakfast" None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew
it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them, and did the it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them, and did the it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them, and did the it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them, and did the
same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples
after he was raised from the dead.after he was raised from the dead.after he was raised from the dead.after he was raised from the dead.
FAMILIARITY AND ACCOMPLISHMENT
Let us consider the role fishing played in Peter's life. The disciples were told to
wait for Pentecost when power would come upon them. Back in Galilee, Peter
said, "I'm going fishing." The other six disciples that were with him also went
along. Part of the apostle's desire to go fishing might have been the desire for
activity and companionship while he was waiting for promised plan to unfold. In

149. addition, it might have been borne out of an economic need to provide for his
family. However, another motive was its familiarity to him. At this period of time,
when Peter's recent failure loomed large in his thinking, I believe he wanted to do
something to remind him of his natural talent, effectiveness, and past success.
So Peter and his friends set off to fish.
Although there is nothing morally wrong with Peter's choice, it posed a
temptation. We need to be careful that we do not try to answer the longings for
wellbeing and the need for self-worth by merely doing what we are humanly good
at.
Our family saw a film last week called "Field of Dreams" that makes a similar
point that I would like to stress here. It centers on the rift that had developed
between a father and son and the heartbreak that ensued. Their love of baseball
was the common denominator which brought them together to resolve their
conflict. The movie is effective drama (not theology) because for many in our
culture baseball--America's pastime--is an important part of growing up. On the
surface, baseball has impacted my own experience in family life. When my father
took me to Wrigley Field in Chicago as a young boy, I remember how much I
enjoyed being with him in that setting. My wife grew up next door to Bill Rigney,
who managed the Giants at that time. As a result, she went to dozens of games
a year with his daughter, and is still an avid fan. My own children have played
baseball and we all enjoy rooting for the Giants and A's.
Good memories and warm fellowship can gather around activities like baseball
and fishing. Yet the problem with relying on familiarity is that it cannot meet the
needs of the heart. It cannot take away guilt and shame, and it does not help us
answer the question of failure and inadequacy with which we all struggle. At
some level, I think that was what Peter was hoping would happen when he went
fishing. The Lord, however, did not allow him to catch any fish.
This is the second time that Jesus taught Peter a lesson about fishing. In Luke 5,
a similar scene took place at the beginning of Peter's walk with Christ. In both
instances Christ displayed his Lordship over creation, and indicated to the

150. fishermen that his presence was required to make life work even in the ordinary
and routine things.
In John 21, Jesus moved from the imagery of fishing to the imagery of
shepherding sheep, taking care of people. In our own experience, we need to be
certain that our identity is not determined by how we make our living. Rather, the
purpose of our position in the workplace is to serve the Lord as his
representative. Our well being must not be ultimately derived from our
accomplishments in engineering, sales, or production with our hands. That will
not sustain us. When Peter's heart confused him, I think he had to learn that
fishing would not meet his inner longing for adequacy by itself.
REMAKING FAILURE
Continuing in John 21:15:
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John,
do you truly love me more than these?"do you truly love me more than these?"do you truly love me more than these?"do you truly love me more than these?"
The question might be translated, "Do you love me more than these six men
around us?" That was important for Jesus to ask. Before the crucifixion Peter had
spoken in his usual bravado about how his love and commitment to Christ was
greater than that of his brothers. Matthew 26:35 says:
"Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me." [This is"Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me." [This is"Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me." [This is"Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me." [This is
immediately before the crucifixion] For it is written, 'The sheep of the flock will be immediately before the crucifixion] For it is written, 'The sheep of the flock will be immediately before the crucifixion] For it is written, 'The sheep of the flock will be immediately before the crucifixion] For it is written, 'The sheep of the flock will be
scattered.' But after I have risen I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Peter replied,scattered.' But after I have risen I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Peter replied,scattered.' But after I have risen I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Peter replied,scattered.' But after I have risen I will go ahead of you into Galilee." Peter replied,
"Even if all will fall away on account of you, I never will.""Even if all will fall away on account of you, I never will.""Even if all will fall away on account of you, I never will.""Even if all will fall away on account of you, I never will."
The night the Lord was betrayed, Peter had said in effect, "I love you more than
these, Jesus." Jesus turned to him and said, "I promise you tonight, Peter, that
before the cock crows you will have denied me three times." In the gospel
accounts Peter vehemently denied the Lord when accused by a little girl around
a fire in the high priest's courtyard. While others joined the chorus of accusation,
he began to stomp and swear, 'No, I don't know him. I have nothing to do with
him. I am no friend of his." Peter would live with his denial forever. The Scriptures
will remain, and the account of Peter's denial will never fade. For all of his claims

151. of allegiance to Christ, he lacked courage in the face of the prevailing Roman
and Jewish threat.
Just as Peter denied Christ three times, we will hear the risen Jesus question
Peter three times about his love for the Lord. In doing so, Jesus overturned
Peter's history. The question began, "Do you love me more than these?"
Reminded of his statements before, Peter did not rank himself with anyone else,
but humbly replied.
"Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus
said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."
The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "do you love .me?"Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "do you love .me?"Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "do you love .me?"Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "do you love .me?"
He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you
dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will
stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where youstretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where youstretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where youstretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you
do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter
would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.
(This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had
said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord,
what about him?"what about him?"what about him?"what about him?"
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?
You must follow me."You must follow me."You must follow me."You must follow me."
"YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU"

152. There are details here on which we should comment. First of all, in asking Peter
about his love the first two times, Jesus used the Greek word "
agape." Peter,
however, answered in a different word, "
phileo." Both words are translated into
English as "love," yet they are different words in Greek. Thus, the New
International Version says, "Do you truly love me?" in an attempt to translate
agape.
The third time, Jesus finally used Peter's own word,
phileo. Each time Peter
answered, 'Yes, Lord, you know that I
phileo (love) you." There are a number of
possibilities here. I think that Peter was accepting humility in a way that he had
never accepted it before. His answer was more humble than the question asked.
He did not respond, "I love you more than these," as he had before. He did not
even use the stronger term agape to answer.
The second thing to note is that Peter did not try to prove his love. He did not
say, "I love you," and qualify it with a string of adjectives about how much he
loved him. He rested his case on Christ's knowledge of him. He essentially said
"Lord, I don't know if I can even answer fully about myself, but you know me and
know in my heart of hearts that I love you. I'm counting on the fact that you can
see what is inside of me. Despite what I have done, you know that I love you."
Peter's statement revealed his confidence of God's intimate knowledge of him
rather than in his own self-confidence.
Another valuable point to make about this interview is that it does not concern
performance. Jesus did not ask Peter how he had rectified his failure. He did not
ask him about his preaching or his organizational leadership. The key to this
reestablished and life-giving relationship with God had everything to do with
Peter's love and commitment to God. Obedience and service would emanate
from there. Thus, at the foundation was Jesus' question, "Do you love me?" Peter
was able to affirm, "You know all things, you know that I love you."
We are certain that Jesus accepted Peter's assertion of love because the Lord
gave him a responsibility. Based on Peter's repeated answer, the Lord said in
effect, "I want you to take care of my little ones, my lambs. I want you to care for

153. the people that matter to me. You are not basically a catcher of fish, Peter.
Rather, you are to be a shepherd of God's people."
Thus, the Lord accepted Peter's answers by giving him a mission. It is important
for us to see that, since too many of our contemporaries think about getting well
from tragedy and personal failure in terms of psychoanalysis. They wade around
in their past, attend to themselves, and ruminate in the details of it all. Jesus
does not deal with Peter like that. He said, "Peter, do you love me? Then you
have my permission to live a life of service. Instead of having to live in a past that
you cannot change, I give you freedom to do good to others." There is nothing
more healing than a life given in service to Christ.
PETER'S COURAGE
The last point to make about this interview is Jesus' revelation that Peter would
suffer. Jesus is a bit enigmatic, but I am sure that the apostle understood the
revelation that he would die a violent death. Tradition teaches that Peter was
convicted as a felon in the cause of Christianity, and died by crucifixion in Rome.
However, he announced himself unworthy of dying in the same manner as
Christ, and asked to be crucified upside down, a more painful execution.
Do you see what the Lord was doing for Peter? Thinking back to the night of
Jesus' trial, the word "coward" bombarded his mind. He felt himself worthless as
a result of his failure to pledge loyalty to Jesus in the face of a little girl's
accusations. The Lord said, "You are not a coward, Peter. The day is coming
when you will bravely face a death that is honorable to you and glorifying to me."
This entire discussion was the Lord's way of taking Peter's tragic night and giving
him a second chance, of reshaping it in an entirely different way. Peter was
allowed to declare "I love you" three times instead of denying Jesus three times.
Instead of a life time known as a coward the Lord predicted a lifetime of courage
and service for him, setting Peter on his feet to minister to people again.
Peter's uncertainty about himself could not be remedied by his competence as a
fisherman. Neither did his weakness on the night of Jesus' trial define who he
was. The Lord gave him a chance to recover his past so that he did not have to

154. live with the identity as a coward. He could carry with him the memory of Jesus'
acceptance, his statement of love.
The last point is Peter's question about John ("the disciple whom Jesus loved"). I
think one of Peter's problems was his tendency to measure himself against other
people. We are prone to that as well. Don't we find it easy when we have self-
doubt to measure ourselves in relationship to other people? We can make a
string of comparisons: Are we doing better than they? Has our Christian
assignment been fulfilled more effectively than their's?
The Lord rebuked Peter's way of thinking by saying that it was none of his
business, he would do with his servant John as he pleased. Peter was not
allowed input on John's destiny. Twice the Lord said in the simplest of phrases,
'You follow me." That was the disciple's responsibility.
There's no advantage to comparisons, finding our identity in our roots, or
embracing our failure. We need to let Jesus reshape our failures into a new
identity based in who he says we are, his servants. Peter's uncertainty about
himself and his struggle to believe that the future would be as Jesus predicted
was complex. But the Lord's answer was simple: I have a ministry for you, Peter.
I have forgiveness and remaking for you. What you need to do is follow me.
The same simple answer can be found in Christ's proclamation to us. We must
not look for competency in our roots, survey our failure, or compare ourselves to
others. Rather, we must allow him minister to us and respond by following him.
GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, “
So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon
Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou
knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again a second time,
Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Tend my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest
thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he
said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him,
Feed my sheep.—Joh_21:15-17.
Who that takes any delight at all in the Bible does not take delight in the twenty<first chapter of St.
John? Who has not felt the benignant spell of that narrative, in its indescribable simplicity and
depth, its gracious beauty and its soul<penetrating power? Willingly we follow the last Apostle as
he recounts to us, in his uttermost age, with the photographic precision of an old man’s
recollection of his prime, that wonderful memory. He leads us as if into the very landscape of the

155. Syrian lake. We embark with him in the boat, as if we heard the rattle of the oars, and the lap of
the ripples on the sides. We “ply the watery task” with him and his comrades, as if we saw the
vernal stars reflected under our eyes in the dusky mirror of the deep. Their weariness and
disappointment, as the night wanes and they have taken nothing, are as if our own. And then
comes up the morning over the dark hills of Moab, and there stands a Figure on the solitary
beach, and there are callings to and fro between beach and boat; and the nets are full and heavy
on a sudden, and the disciple plunges into the water, to swim and wade to his master’s feet. The
whole group soon gathers round the fire of coals; the fast is broken; and then there is a colloquy
about love, and labour, and martyrdom, and following. We have seen it, heard it, shared it all.
It was my happiness a few years ago to set eyes upon the Lake of Galilee, gazing with strange
emotions upon the waters and the mountain<shores from the garden of the Scottish Mission
Hospital (scene of a noble work for God) at Tiberias, and afterwards from a boat, built probably
on lines unaltered for two thousand years, and worked by fishermen, clad probably in the very
fashion of the Apostles. Wonderful was the charm of the thought that this was indeed the scene
of the Gospels; the eyes of the Son of Man knew just those outlines of cliff, and field, and shore,
and that snowy dome of Hermon looking on from the northern horizon. His feet trod this shell<
wrought strand, aye, and the waves too into which those smooth waters can be tossed so soon.
Somewhere yonder, on the further side (for surely it was on that more solitary margin), this last
scene of St. John’s narrative was enacted; there
was kindled the ruddy fire, there the water
flashed into silver as Simon Peter wrestled his way through. Along that shore, whose line lies so
distinct between lake and hills, he followed the steps of Jesus, and turned to see John following
too. It was a moving thing to look thus with waking eyes on the region as it is. Yet, such is the
power, the artless magic, of the narrative of the Apostle, that I know not whether the actual gain
to realization was very great. The Gospel had created so visible a landscape that the eyes had
less to add to the picture than I had hoped.
1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, The Secret of the
Presence, 144.]
1. The occasion.—The time is morning; morning so full of memories, so full of hope and high
resolve. The mists are clearing from the lake and shore: the darkness is passing away, stirred by
the fresh breeze of dawn. There are together those whose names are so often found associated;
Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the two sons of
Zebedee. They are on the sea of Tiberias, fishing just as before Christ called them to be fishers of
men. The fruitless night<toil, and their success when in obedience to Christ they cast their net on
the right side of the ship, were fitted to remind them of His former miracle, and of their former call.
John marks, as significant of a difference between this and the former miracle, that for all the
fishes were so many, yet did not the net break—a hopeful difference, promising that their new
mission should be better than the old. Called anew to draw men to Christ, they shall be better
preachers than they were; they shall not “catch men” for the Kingdom, they shall be enabled to

156. bring them all in and retain them in the Kingdom. The months that have gone by, seemingly so
fruitless—months during which they made so many blunders, months which appeared to come to
so entire a close in the death of their Master—have not gone by for nothing. Their past
experience, their blunders and anxieties and sorrows, all will be seen to have fitted them for their
new work, when again the Lord shall bid them to it. This, at least, we shall see to be true of St.
Peter; three times reminded of his weakness, three times made to feel the pains of penitence, he
is each time bidden to tend the flock. He will be better able to tend the flock because of what he
has learnt of his feebleness and folly.
The narrative seems to me full of subtle suggestions. It illustrates our Christian life, which is ever
new, yet ever old; full of strange events, the meaning of which becomes, as we muse upon them,
familiar and intelligible. Every daybreak shows us the old world under new aspects; the objects
which loom so strangely in the obscurity, we see, as we gaze on them, to be quite familiar. In the
dim morning light, the disciples knew not that it was Jesus who stood on the shore; perhaps some
mysterious change had passed upon Him in the grave, the risen Saviour not appearing quite like
the Master whom they had followed; but the miracle revealed that it was He. It was a new call
with which He presently bade them, but it was the fulfilment of His first bidding, “Follow me.” It
was a new miracle He wrought, a new experience through which they were passing now; but how
thoroughly was it the same as what had gone before! It is this constant freshness and changeless
identity of life, this novelty of circumstance having in it the old meaning of love and grace, the new
duty which is but a repetition of the old call, which makes us rejoice in the one purpose we
perceive ever enlarging and fulfilling itself. It is as we recognize, “I am the same, and God is the
same amid all changes,” that we rest amid ceaseless variation, and learn the lessons to which,
day by day, God is opening our ears.
1 [Note: A. Mackennal, Christ’s Healing Touch,
174.]
2. The language.—The passage is marked in the original by a variety of language which does
not appear in the English translation. There are two different Greek words for each of the English
words “love,” “know,” and “feed,” and three Greek words for “sheep” or “lambs.” And there is
significance in other words besides these. Take them separately—
(1) “Simon, Son of John.” The Master’s use of the old name “Simon,” instead of the new name,
“Peter,” was suggestive of much. It was not to imply that he had forfeited all right to the new
name; but it was a gentle reminder to him of the weakness which had led to his denial; and it
would recall to him the Master’s words before
his fall, when He purposely abstained from giving
him the name that implied firmness and strength, but used instead the old name, “Simon,” which
bore to “Peter” the same relation as “Jacob
” (the “supplanter”) bore to “Israel ” (the “prince of
God”)—“Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat,
but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Very lovingly had Jesus already assured the

157. penitent disciple of His forgiveness. One of the first messages He sent as the Risen One was a
message specially to Peter. One of the first private interviews He gave to any disciple was given
to Peter; and from that interview he must have come away knowing himself to be a fully pardoned
man. Still, the use of the old name here again must have gone to Peter’s heart, making him think,
with new shame and sorrow, of his old self<confidence and pride.
(2) “Lovest thou me?” The distinctions between the two Greek verbs used are various and
delicate; but they may all be traced to the radical difference between them. It is not a difference in
the warmth, but in the character, of affection. The one signifies the love based upon appreciation
of another; the other simple personal attachment. The one word would express the love that
would give itself up for another; the second word that which gives itself up to another. The one
would be a confident, the other a confiding love. In this narrative the one might be represented if,
in English, we said, “I am thy friend”; the other, if we said, “Thou art my friend.” It is the former of
these words that Christ here uses: “Simon, son of Jonas, esteemest thou me more, art thou more
my friend, than thy fellow disciples?” This was just what Peter had professed, “Though all men
shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” “I am ready to go with thee, both
into prison, and to death.” “Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.”
We can now understand Peter’s reply. Once he would have said, “I know that I am Thy friend.”
Once he did assert his knowledge of himself against Christ’s knowledge of him; he was sure he
was to be trusted. But he has lost his self<confidence. He cannot compare himself with others
now. He will not even assert himself to be a friend, ready to devote himself for Christ’s sake; he
will not profess esteem for Jesus. He chooses the humbler, trustful word: “Yea, Lord, thou
knowest that I love thee.”
Again, Christ asks him, “If not more than these, yet art thou my friend at all? Is there any of the
active devoted love in thee? any of the passion that will assert itself on my behalf?” And still the
same humble, clinging answer comes from Peter. Even this he will not affirm. How can he profess
what he is ready for? How can he be confident who has so painfully learnt that there is nothing for
him but meekly and gratefully to trust in Jesus? “Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.”
Now, Christ takes Peter’s own word: He will not wound him by reminding him of his past boastful
professions; let it be as Peter would have it, the trusting affection of the disciple. “Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me?” “Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou
me?” Surely Jesus cannot doubt that. He must know that the disciple clings to his Lord. Christ
must know that He is all in all to Peter. He saith unto Him, “Lord, thou knowest all things; Thou
seest my heart, Thou knowest what sort of a man I was and am, how vain my self<confidence;
Thou knowest me to be weak, rash, changeful; but Thou knowest, too, that under all my boasting,
all my mistakes, there was love for Thee, and that it remains. Lord, Thou knowest that I cannot

158. make professions, that I am heart<sick of professions, but Thou knowest that this is true; thou
knowest that I love Thee.”
And this confession Christ accepts; this confession He ever will accept. Distinguish between the
profession of love to Christ and the confession of it. In profession the person most prominent in
our thoughts is “I, who make it”; in confession, “He, whose name I am confessing.” The
confession of love to Christ is the sweetest language that can fall from human lips; it shows that
the life has found its rest and meaning. Christ is known, and He will keep faithful to all eternity; He
will solace in all tribulation, and succour in all difficulty; He will guide with His counsel, and
afterwards receive to glory, every meek soul that utters it. The profession of love to Christ is
painful to hear. It is full of danger; it is boastful, self<confident. He who makes it will have, by
many a sore trial, through many a bitter experience of failure, to come to a humbler mind. It is not
in what we are to Christ, but in what Christ is to us, that our rest and security lie.
Observe the period of Peter’s life when this confession is made. It is not his earliest confession;
he has been brought to it through painful self<knowledge; it is the utterance of a tried maturity. It is
a custom among many Christians to demand this as a pass<word to Christian fellowship; to refuse
the recognition of discipleship to all who cannot utter it. I cannot think that this is wise. To set
young converts on an estimate of their feeling towards the Saviour, instead of encouraging them
to trust in Him, is full of peril. Christian discipleship sometimes begins with love to Christ; and
singularly blessed are they with whom it does. But in other ways souls are drawn to Christ: the
weary go to Him for rest, the guilty for pardon, the helpless for succour; the dissatisfied, who long
for a better life, seek the life that is in Christ. Such will say, “I trust in Christ,” “I have found Christ,”
“I am following Christ”; but the words, perhaps, halt on their lips, “I love Christ.” It is not for us to
insist on their utterance. They are not for our ears, but for His. And He knows how, from the
trusting, the obedient, and the earnest, to draw at length the full confession, “Lord, thou knowest
all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”
1 [Note: A. Mackennal, Christ’s Healing Touch,
178.]
(3) “Feed my lambs.” There is variation in Christ’s thrice repeated charge—” Feed my lambs,”
“Shepherd my sheep,” “Feed my little sheep.” All were to be cared for, and all modes of
watchfulness and help were to be displayed. Fold as well as feed them; guide and guard and heal
them; keep them from straying, strengthen the feeble, bind up the bruised, bring again that which
is driven away, seek that which is lost.
3. Three questions, three answers, and three commands.
—In this story St. Peter has been
already three times the foremost. To him the Lord speaks, now not for the first time singling him
out.

159. (1) The first question is, “Lovest thou me more than these?” These words refer to an earlier time,
the time when He had said to the disciples, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night,”
and St. Peter had replied, “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be
offended.” Yet he had fled with the rest. And when he came back to the house where his Lord
was being tried, he three times denied Him. Was this like loving Him more than the rest? Yet,
again, his recent act might be looked at as a sign of his character, his leaping from the ship into
the sea, and dragging the net alone. These words therefore did not convey a real reproach, but a
lesson: the love might be the greatest, yet also the least to be trusted. There was a good
beginning, but it had not ripened into its proper nature. St. Peter had learnt something by those
humbling days. He answers “Yea”; he could do that unflinchingly; but he dares not claim to be
above his brethren; he drops, in answering, all allusion to them. Christ simply replies, “Feed my
lambs.” He craved no personal cleaving to Himself, as man cleaves to man. He spoke only as the
shepherd of the sheep, whose whole care was for the sheep for whom He had died. Such also
must be the care of those who love Him. Henceforth St. Peter must show his love by his anxiety
to sustain the life of other men; that was to be the test of his love.
(2) A second time Christ repeats the question; but now He needs not to recall the old boast; He
leaves out the words, “more than these.” He would ask, putting aside all comparison with others,
“Canst thou say that thou lovest me?” The answer is the same as before—a full acknowledgment
that He is Lord, a firm persuasion that his Lord knows him. Again Christ replies, slightly altering
the expression, “Tend my sheep.” Not only the lambs, the weak and ignorant, had to be fed, but
even the strong and wise ones, the full<grown sheep, had to be ruled and guided. Mere pity for
the helpless lambs was not enough. St. Peter must not think that there were any to whom he
owed no duty.
(3) Once more Christ renews the question. Three times St. Peter had denied Him, and three
times his love is to be proved. St. Peter’s impatience breaks out. He thought it enough that Christ
should try him once or at most twice. “He was grieved”; he exclaimed at the seeming
needlessness of the question: “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee”—
Thou canst find out whether I love Thee or not. This is but a small thing, a part of the Lord’s all<
embracing knowledge. But Christ will not let go the former command; He repeats, “Feed my
sheep”; all alike need support as well as guidance.
The reiteration in the interrogation did not express doubt as to the veracity of the answer, nor
dissatisfaction with its terms; but it did express, and was meant to suggest to St. Peter and to the
others, that the threefold denial needed to be obliterated by the threefold confession; and that
every black mark that had been scored deep on the page by that denial needed to be covered
over with the gilding or bright colouring of the triple acknowledgment. And so thrice having said, “I
know him not!” Jesus, with a gracious violence, forced him to say thrice, “Thou knowest that I love

160. thee.”1 [Note: A. Maclaren, After the Resurrection, 78.]
How pleasant to me thy deep<blue wave,
O Sea of Galilee!
For the glorious One who came to save
Hath often stood by thee.
Fair are the lakes in the land I love,
Where pine and heather grow:
But thou hast loveliness far above
What Nature can bestow.
It is not that the wild gazelle
Comes down to drink thy tide:
But He that was pierced to save from hell
Oft wander’d by thy side.
It is not that the fig<tree grows,
And palms, in thy soft air,
But that Sharon’s fair and bleeding Rose
Once spread its fragrance there.

161. Graceful around thee the mountains meet,
Thou calm, reposing sea;
But ah, far more! the beautiful feet
Of Jesus walk’d o’er thee.
And was it beside this very sea
The new<risen Saviour said
Three times to Simon, “Lovest thou Me?
My lambs and sheep then feed”?
O Saviour! gone to God’s right hand!
Yet the same Saviour still,
Graved on Thy heart is this lovely strand,
And every fragrant hill.
Oh, give me, Lord, by this sacred wave,
Threefold Thy love divine,
That I may feed, till I find my grave,

162. Thy flock—both Thine and mine!1 [Note: R. M. M‘Cheyne.]
4. Thus Jesus thrice addressed the same question to St. Peter with apparently slight and yet
significant variations. To that question he always received the same answer, only again with
apparently slight modifications. And with equally slight changes the replies were followed up by
seemingly the same injunctions. Yet, trifling as the variations appear to be—the questions slightly
differing, the answers slightly differing, the counsels also slightly differing—there is a touching
spiritual story in them, full of evangelical meaning and of deep spiritual interest.
The truths contained in the text are these—
I. Love is the Inspiration of Service.
II. Service is the Fulfilment of Love.
I
Love as the Inspiration of Service
Love, love to Christ, which is the one sure spring of love to men, is the foundation of service. It is
the first condition of the Divine charge, and the second, and the third. It is the spirit of the new
Covenant which burns not to consume but to purify. In the prospect of work for others or for
ourselves we can always hear the one question in the stillness of our souls, “Lovest thou me?”
Love may not, can not, be attained in its fulness at once; but the Person of Christ, if indeed we
see Him as He is presented to us in the Gospels, will kindle that direct affection out of which it
comes. If our hearts were less dull we could not study the changing scenes of His unchanging
love, or attempt to describe them to others, without answering the silent appeal which they make
to us in St. Peter’s words: Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; yes, and still more those who are
Thine and not mine, those who fall under my influence in the various relations of life, for Thy
sake.
1. Love is first and fundamental.—How significant and beautiful it is that the only thing that Jesus
Christ cares to ask about is the man’s love! We might have expected: “Simon, son of Jonas, are
you sorry for what you did? Simon, son of Jonas, will you promise never to do the like any more?”
No. These things will come if the other thing is there: “Lovest thou me?” Jesus Christ desires from
each of us, not obedience primarily, not repentance, not vows, not conduct, but a heart; and that
being given, all the rest will follow. This is the distinguishing characteristic of Christian morality,
that Jesus seeks first for the surrender of the affections, and believes, and is warranted in the
belief, that if these are surrendered, all else will follow; and love being given, loyalty and service
and repentance and hatred of self<will and of self<seeking will follow in her train.

163. No other religion presents anything which resembles this invitation to give God the heart. Give me
thy observances, says the God of Pharisaism. Give me thy personality, says the God of Hegel.
Give me thy reason, says the God of Kant. It remains for the God of Jesus Christ to say, Give Me
thine heart. He makes it the essence and the glory of His doctrine. With Him to give the heart to
God is not merely an obligation of piety; it is its root, its beginning, its middle, its end.
1 [Note:
Adolphe Monod.]
“
Lovest thou me?” It is a question that goes down very deep; for it goes down to the eternal
springs of all life. It is God’s and Nature’s great secret; and man’s only hope. Love is life, hatred is
death. Love, in its essence, is attraction, combination, sympathy, blending. It is so even in what
we call the unconscious world of matter. God’s immense laboratory, the Universe, so far as we
know it, is the ceaseless arena of love<attractions and blendings. There is never an atom that is
content alone; never a molecule that is at rest in its isolation; never a crystal that is not flashed
into form by aspiration; never a leaf or bud or blade of grass that does not reach out after its
beloved; never a throb that is not responded to throughout all space. Gravitation itself is like the
ceaseless infinite breathing of an all<pervading Lover—attracting all things to itself. Throughout
the Universe, so far as we can penetrate, every atom is crying to every other, “Lovest thou me?”
Science calls it “affinity.” We might just as well call it “love.”
Everywhere, too, Nature—the great patient Mother—stands waiting for the lover’s appeal. It is
true that we can capture many of her treasures without affection; but never her joys and
benedictions so. She is very wonderful in her teachings, and very gracious in her consolations to
her lovers; but there must
be love if there is to be communion. You will only be miserable in her
solitudes if you are without love. Night and day she whispers to the wanderer, “Lovest thou me?”
Emerson was right. We get her stare—not her music—because we love her not. You accuse
Nature of cruelty; you say,
Nature has miscarried wholly
Into failure, into folly.
Alas! thine is the bankruptcy
Blessed Nature so to see.
These young atheists

164. Who invade our hills
Love not the flower they pluck, and know it
And all their botany is Latin names.
The old men studied magic in the flowers,
And human fortunes in astronomy,
And an omnipotence in chemistry,
Preferring things to names, for these were men,
Were unitarians of the united world,
And, wheresoever their clear eye<beams fell,
They caught the footsteps of the Same. Our eyes
Are armed, but we are strangers to the stars,
And strangers to the mystic beast and bird,
And strangers to the plant and to the mine.
The injured elements say, “Not in us”;
And night and day, ocean and continent,
Fire, plant and mineral say, “Not in us”;
And haughtily return us stare for stare.

165. For we invade them impiously for gain,
We devastate them unreligiously,
And coldly ask their pottage, not their love.
Therefore they shove us from them; yield to us
Only what to our griping toil is due;
But the sweet affluence of love and song,
The rich results of the divine consents
Of man and earth, of world beloved and lover,
The nectar and ambrosia, are withheld;
And, in the midst of spoils and slaves, we thieves
And pirates of the universe, shut out
Daily to a more thin and outward rind,
Turn pale and starve.
We praise the “strong men,” the empire<makers, the remorseless soldiers, the commercial
pioneers; and, indeed, they have their mission, and some of them deserve their meed of praise;
but these are not the great instruments of nature and of God. The poets, the artists, the moralists,
the idealists, the Buddhas, the Christs, the lovers, are the saviours of the world.
“Lovest thou me?” is the question which determines every stage of evolution. From beast to man,
and from the beast<man to the angel<man—all is a question of love. Until love comes, no high
manhood comes, and, by so much as love lingers, the beast lingers. “Lovest thou me?” is the
preliminary question which is the secret of that Divine Shekinah, that symbol of the Divine
Presence—the Home. “Lovest thou me?” whispers about all the subsidences of family feuds, and
tribal isolations, and clannish spite, and class pride, and national greed. It is the mightiest factor in
true nation<making; it is the life and soul of sane and sober patriotism; it is the advance<guard, the
evangel, of the great ideal—the Brotherhood of Man. In fine, it is that which determines all the

166. upward evolutionary stages of the race.1 [Note: J. P. Hopps, Sermons of Life and Love,
7.]
In simple and homely ways see how true it is that love is life and joy and progress. It is nothing to
accumulate treasure, and to surround yourself with splendid defences against the intrusions of
the careworn world, if you have a loveless and careworn heart. There is profound truth in Hood’s
quaintly humorous but pathetically serious lines concerning
Love that sweetens sugarless tea,
And makes contentment and joy agree
With the coarsest boarding and bedding;
Love that no golden ties can attach,
But nestles under the humblest thatch,
And will fly away from an Emperor’s match,
To dance at a Penny Wedding.
2 [Note: Ibid. 12.]
It is amazing to find how Christ simplifies religion and morality and reduces them to their
elemental terms. He deliberately stakes everything on this single qualification. “Lovest thou me?”
is His sole test for discipleship. It seems as if nothing else seriously mattered in His judgment,
compared with this one master passion of the soul. “Lovest thou me?”—will there be any other
question for us to answer at the last assize?
1 [Note: T. H. Darlow, The Upward Calling,
322.]
What is the beginning? Love. What the course? Love still.
What is the goal? The goal is Love on the happy hill.
Is there nothing then but Love, search we sky or earth?
There is nothing out of Love hath perpetual worth:
All things flag but only Love, all things fail or flee;

167. There is nothing left but Love worthy you and me.2 [Note: C. G. Rossetti.]
Let me take this as my Master’s question to myself; and see how deep it goes, not only into my
feelings, but into my life. For it is not,” Believest thou Me?” or “Understandest thou Me?” or
“Confessest thou Me?” or “Obeyest thou Me?” or even, “Servest thou Me?” It goes closer home. It
is, “Lovest
thou Me?”; and all these other things may be where love is not. Again, He does not
ask, “Lovest thou My word?” or “Lovest thou My work?” or “Lovest thou My brethren?” He asks,
“Lovest thou Me?” And yet again, He does not ask, “Art thou in the company of those that love
Me?” He will not let me shelter myself by losing myself in a crowd who all profess to love Him. He
brings me out into the light, to stand alone, and asks, “Lovest thou
Me?”3 [Note: G. H. Knight,
The Master’s Questions to His Disciples, 355.]
2. Love is a personal affection.—From our own experience we know that love, as the best and
utmost expression of our own personality, can find a worthy object only in another personality. No
person can really love a thing. In easy<going speech a man talks of loving his family or his
country. But it is never strictly true. What he really loves is each individual person belonging to his
family or nation. There is no more difficulty in loving six than in loving two. But he can by no
possibility love even one, unless that one be, like himself, a living person,—or at least potentially
such, as is the new<born babe,—capable first of appreciating and then of reciprocating the self
which, as with outstretched hands, a person offers when he loves. Nothing else, nothing less than
this, is meant by Christ’s doctrine of the love of God. Its true significance and expression are for
ever found in what St. Paul said concerning Christ Himself—“Who loved me and gave himself up
for me.” That Divine love should be thus truly focused, without mistake and without difficulty, in
each individual human being, is the distinctive, wonderful, awful assertion of the Christian gospel
alone of all the religions upon earth.
3. Love is reciprocal.—Jesus was not thinking only of Simon Peter when He asked him, “Lovest
thou me?” He was as truly thinking of Himself, and He was revealing to His denying and yet true
servant the longing his Lord and Master had for his love. Indeed, this yearning for a return of
affection is of the essence of all true love. We cannot love any one very dearly without desiring
that our love should find an answering response in the heart thus loved, and it is because Jesus
loves His own disciples so deeply that He seeks for their love as the one sweet requital for His
own to them. It is this longing of the loving heart for love that explains, in part at all events, the
first great commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” The love of God for man goes forth to seek
the answering love of man for God; and the sin and guilt of a cold and loveless heart are never
fully and rightly felt until we realize that want of love to God is not only an injury to ourselves, but
is an injury done to God.

168. Love that is centred in a personality can be satisfied with nothing less and nothing else than the
reciprocating love of that person. On our own little human scale this is at once the glory and the
tragedy of life. Its default is even more dreadful than death, as numberless poor pitiful suicides
have testified. The old word is as true and tender, as fierce and insatiable as ever, “If a man
would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned.” If, as we sit in
peace and comfort at the sweetest feast, or the liveliest entertainment, or the most solemn
service, a voice that we could not doubt whispered in our ear that the one we loved most felt
towards us no love in return, then the poet would be bitterly, crushingly true who wrote—
The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one,
Yet the light of a whole world dies
With the setting sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one,
But the light of a whole life dies
If love be done.
1 [Note: F. Ballard, Does it Matter what a Man Believes? 76.]
4. Love is unselfish.—“Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” I do not doubt your love. I did not
doubt it even in the moment of your sad fall, but it was not that supreme affection to which I was
entitled. You loved Me, but you really loved yourself better, and put your own desires before My
will. Events, however, have been teaching you, experience has been leading you to truer views of
Me and of yourself; tell Me now do you love Me? Is your love prepared now to sacrifice everything
for Me, and in the event of others coming into a competition with Me, are you willing to give Me
the preference, to yield to Me the first place in your heart? That is the only love Jesus can regard
with complacence.
A German mystic in the fifteenth century, John of Goch, thus stated the relation between love and
self. “What wings are to a bird, love is to us. They seem to add weight to the body: in reality,
however, they elevate it into the air. In like manner the yoke of love, when imposed upon our

169. sensuous nature, not only does not weigh it down, but lifts the spirit with the senses to heavenly
things. Take from them their wings, and you take from birds the power of flying. Even so,
separate love from the will, and the will is made incapable of every act that transcends nature.”
Nevertheless how rarely we reckon those Christians to be in the front rank of the Church who are
distinguished by nothing else except their immense power of affection. We still reserve the chief
seats in our synagogues for the eloquent speakers, the munificent givers, the superior spiritual
personages, who may fall far below others in simple, unwearying, self<forgetful
tenderness.
2 [Note: T. H. Darlow, The Upward Calling, 320.]
II
Service as the Fulfilment of Love
The presence or absence in us of the love of Christ is not only an index to our present state, but a
prophecy of all that is to be. The love of Christ was that which enabled and impelled the Apostles
to live great and energetic lives. It was this simple affection which made a life of aggression and
reformation possible to them. This gave them the right ideas and the sufficient impulse. And it is
this affection which is open to us all and which equally now as at first impels to all good. Let the
love of Christ possess any soul and that soul cannot avoid being a blessing to the world around.
Christ scarcely needed to say to Peter, “Feed My sheep; be helpful to those for whom I died,”
because in time Peter must have seen that this was his calling. Love gives us sympathy and
intelligence. Our conscience is enlightened by sympathy with the persons we love; through their
desires, which we wish to gratify, we see higher aims than our own, aims which gradually become
our own. And wherever the love of Christ exists, there sooner or later will the purposes of Christ
be understood, His aims be accepted, His fervent desire and energetic endeavour for the highest
spiritual condition of the race become energetic in us and carry us forward to all good.
1. Service is the natural outlet of love.—The right conduct of the life is a consequence and fruit of
the Incarnation. Incarnation is a name for nothing at all unless it be the name not only of the
historic event but also of a personal experience, the entry of the Divine into the human energies
of the man who declares that he believes rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Accordingly to say that a man has the love of Christ is to say, in humaner and more concrete
speech, that the Incarnation has been actualized in particular life, that Christ is born in him, that
the power of the life from heaven has been poured into this channel.
For him who would take on him the office of a pastor, the question is suggested, Why do you
undertake the office? Is it from love of Christ, and from a sense of the obligation to show your
gratitude for what He has done for you, in the way which He has commanded—namely, by
services to His sheep? If any are actuated by lower motives they have reason to fear that they lie
under the woe which, through the mouth of Ezekiel, God denounced against the shepherds who
feed themselves and not the flock; who allow the flock to wander through the mountains, and on

170. every high hill, and to be scattered on the face of the earth, while none searcheth or looketh after
them.
1 [Note: G. Salmon, Cathedral and University Sermons, 55.]
2. Service is love’s evidence.—In giving St. Peter the charge, “Feed my lambs; feed my sheep,”
Christ was guarding him against a danger to which he was at this moment liable, the danger of
sinking down into an indulgence of sentiment, of dwelling upon the words, “Thou knowest that I
love thee,” and forfeiting in this sweet humiliation his calling as an Apostle, and its prize. There is
a subtle charm in self<humiliation, an ensnaring luxury of penitence. We feel it in a self<assertive
world. From the blare of trumpets, from the strife for mastery, from the restlessness of ambition,
and the constant temptation to self<seeking, how blessed to retire to self<abasement before the
Lord; how sweetly then from lowly lips falls the confession, “Thou knowest that I love thee.” To
cherish this life alone is very dangerous. Hence comes the pride that apes humility; hence self<
pleasing under the garb of lowliness. Worse than the hypocrisy which disfigures its countenance
that it may appear unto men to fast is the subtle insincerity that disfigures itself that it may appear
unto itself to fast. Christ sends St. Peter from confessing, as He sent Mary from adoring Him, to
do His work. The world is the true sphere for lowliness; loving labour among others is the school
of self<humiliation; love of Christ is perfected in the activities of a human sympathy.
What Christ wants from me is a practical expression of my theoretical love, an expression in act,
as well as on the lip; and though it may be a hard, it will always be a blessed, answer, if I can give
it, “Lord, thou seest
all things, Thou seest that I love Thee.” And others ought to see it too. My
love to Christ ought to be a visible love. Let me ask myself, therefore, what proofs of my love to
Christ I am giving in my daily life. From my demeanour and conversation in my home would any
one gather that I love my Lord and Saviour with an ardent love? If I never talk about Him as
worthy of love, how can others believe that I regard Him so? If I never boldly take His part, when
His laws are despised, or His authority is contemned; if I see, and do not rebuke, the sins that
dishonour and grieve Him, how can I make good my profession of loyal love to Himself? If I never
think of Him or speak of Him as a dear friend, who is gone away for a time, but is soon to come
again; if my heart never thrills with joy in the hope of His “glorious appearing,” so that I am setting
everything in order to meet His eye, how can I prove my possession of that love to which
separation is a sorrow? Do I make my love to Him as plain and incontrovertible as He makes His
love to me? I have never to ask Him, “Lovest Thou me?” If I did, He would answer in a moment,
by pointing to the proof
He gave of that, and say, “Behold my hands and my feet.” He bears in His
glorifled body the “print of the nails,” proofs of His wonderful love to me. But what a contrast
between that love and mine! His so strong, and mine so weak; His so changeless, and mine so
fickle; His so active, and mine so indolent; His so open, and mine so secret; His soardent, and
mine so cold!
1 [Note: G. H. Knight, The Master’s Questions to His Disciples, 357.]
3. While service is for all, it is also for each.—Let us recall the variety of words used—“lambs,”

171. “sheep.” Under Divine Providence we have each a work to do for God, each a station and duties
in the Divine society; some, sheep to feed, some, lambs to tend. The sheep must be fed
individually—milk for the lambs and strong food for the sheep. One of the great intellectual
pleasures of the ministry is preaching the same Gospel in many different ways; the boys’ brigade
wants it put in one way, the men’s lecture in another, and the mothers’ meeting in another.
(1) The Lambs.—No other book recognizes the place of children so fully or so kindly as the Bible.
The great books of the world are somewhat deficient in this. Their writers have had no time, found
no occasion to dwell on children, and, perhaps, sometimes have been afraid to do so. The Bible
does deal with children because of the infinite love of God, and His knowledge of human destiny.
Our Lord Jesus Christ set the child in the midst of the stormy disputers, and made him the type of
entrance into the Kingdom of heaven. How can any deeper interest gather around their life and
their claim than that which is poured upon them by the words of the Risen Christ, “Feed my
lambs”?
The Rev. Harry Venn has recorded this experience,—“The great danger is from surfeiting children
with religious doctrines or over much talk. Doctrines they are too young to understand; and too
frequent talking wearies them. Many parents err in expecting that the religion of a child should be
the same as their own. I did not give mine formal instruction till they were eight years old, and
then chiefly set before them the striking facts in the Old Testament, or the miracles in the New. I
also laboured much to set before them the goodness
of our God in things which they could
understand, such as the comforts which we enjoyed together. Watching providential occurrences,
I made use of them to give a body and substance to spiritual truth. One method used to affect
them much—carrying them to see an afflicted child of God rejoicing in tribulation, and speaking of
His love. To this day they tell of one and another whom they saw happy, though poor and in
pain.”
1 [Note: Memoir and Correspondence of Henry Venn, 429.]
It is a beautiful tradition of the Jewish Rabbis that when Moses was a shepherd under Jethro in
the land of Midian, a little lamb went frisking from the flock and strayed into the wilderness.
Moses, full of the spirit which loveth all things—both man, and bird, and beast—and faithful in
little deeds as well as in great, pursued the lamb over rocks and through briars, and after long
hours of weary search recovered it; and when he had recovered it he laid it in his bosom, saying,
“Little lamb, thou knowest not what is good for thee; trust me, thy shepherd, who will guide thee
aright.” And when God saw his tenderness, and the straying lamb, He said, “Thou shalt be a
shepherd to My people Israel.”
2 [Note: Dean Farrar.]
(2) The Sheep.—“Feed my sheep” comes next; feed the middle<aged, the strong, the vigorous;
they also need to be directed in their Christian course, and to be guided to some field of earnest
service for Christ, therefore shepherdize them. Do not try to govern these, but feed them. They

172. may have far more prudence, and they certainly have more experience, than you have, and
therefore do not rule them, but remind them of the deep things of God, and deal out to them an
abundance of consoling truth. There is that good old man, he is a father in Christ; he knew the
Lord fifty years before you were born; he has some peculiarities, and in them you must let him
take his own course, but still feed him. His taste will appreciate solid meat, he knows a field of
tender grass when he gets into it; feed him, then, for his infirmities require it.
Not to priests only is this said, but to every one of us also, who are also entrusted with a little
flock. For do not despise it because it is a little flock. For “My Father,” He saith, “hath pleasure in
them.” Each of us hath a sheep; let him lead that to the proper pastures.
3 [Note: St.
Chrysostom.]
We find the best interpretation of the three commands given by our Lord to St. Peter, by tracing
their fulfilment in the Apostle’s life. In the early chapters of the Acts we find St. Peter standing
forth as the spokesman and leader of the Church; yet the doctrinal content of his sermons is
extremely simple, just such as we should teach to little children: St. Peter was feeding the lambs.
Then another Apostle comes to the front; the Church needs a more developed doctrine, for the
lambs have grown into sheep and now require the “strong meat” of the Word; St. Paul feeds the
sheep, St. Peter aids the work by tending the sheep. In the First Epistle of St. Peter we find him
again the leading exponent of Christian doctrine: it is now a fully developed doctrine, a great
advance upon the simple teaching of his early days; now, under the guidance of God, he
is feeding the sheep.
1 [Note: H. O. Cavalier.]
CALVIN, “
15.When, therefore, they had dined. The Evangelist now relates in what manner
Peter was restored to that rank of honor from which he had fallen. That treacherous denial, which
has been formerly described, had, undoubtedly, rendered him unworthy of the apostleship; for
how could he be capable of instructing others in the faith, who had basely revolted from it? He
had been made an Apostle, but it was along with Judas, and from the time when he had
abandoned his post,
(230) he had likewise been deprived of the honor of apostle<ship. Now,
therefore, the liberty, as well as the authority, of teaching is restored to him, both of which he had
lost through his own fault. And that the disgrace of his apostacy might not stand in his way, Christ
blots out and destroys the remembrance of it. Such a restoration was necessary, both for Peter
and for his hearers; for Peter, that he might the more boldly execute his office, being assured of
the calling with which Christ had again invested him; for his hearers, that the stain which attached
to his person might not be the occasion of despising the Gospel. To us also, in the present day, it
is of very great importance, that Peter comes forth to us as a new man, from whom the disgrace
that might have lessened his authority has been removed.
Simon (son)of John
(231) lovest thou me? By these words Christ means that no man can

173. faithfully serve the Church, and employ himself in feeding the flock, if he do not look higher than
to men. First, the office of feeding
(232) is in itself laborious and troublesome; since nothing is
more difficult than to keep men under the yoke of God, among whom there are many who are
weak, others who are wanton and unsteady, others who are dull and sluggish, and others who
are slow and unteachable. Satan now brings forward as many causes of offense as he can, that
he may destroy or weaken the courage of a good pastor.
(233) In addition to this, we must take
into account the ingratitude of many and other causes of disgust. No man, therefore, will steadily
persevere in the discharge of this office, unless the love of Christ shall reign in his heart, in such a
manner that, forgetful of himself and devoting himself entirely to Christ, he overcomes every
obstacle. Thus Paul declares this to have been the state of his own feelings, when he says,
The love of Christ constraineth us, judging thus, that if one died for all,
then all must have been dead,
(2Co_5:14.)
For, though he means that love with which Christ hath loved us, and of which he hath given us a
proof by his death, yet he connects with us that mutual love which springs from the conviction of
having received so great a blessing. Ungodly and false teachers, on the other hand, are pointed
out by him in another passage by this mark, that they do not love the Lord Jesus,(1Co_16:22.)
Those who are called to govern the Church ought, therefore, to remember that, if they are
desirous to discharge their office properly and faithfully, they must begin with the love of Christ.
Meanwhile, Christ openly testifies how highly he values our salvation, when he employs such
earnest and striking language in recommending it to Pastors, and when he declares that, if the
salvation of their flock be the object of their earnest solicitude, he will reckon it a proof of the ardor
of their love to himself. And, indeed, nothing could have been spoken that was better fitted for
encouraging the ministers of the Gospel, than to inform them that no service can be more
agreeable to Christ than that which is bestowed on feeding his flock. All believers ought to draw
from it no ordinary consolation, when they are taught that they are so dear and so precious in the
sight of the Son of God, that he substitutes them, as it were, in his own room. But the same
doctrine ought greatly to alarm false teachers, who corrupt and overturn the government of the
Church; for Christ, who declares that he is insulted by them, will inflict on them dreadful
punishment.
Feed my lambs. The word feed is metaphorically applied by Scripture to any kind of government;
but as the present subject is the spiritual government of the Church, it is of importance to observe
what are the parts of which the office of pastor or shepherd consists. No idle rank is here

174. described to us, nor does Christ bestow on a mortal man any government to be exercised by him
in a confused manner according to his own pleasure. In expounding the Tenth Chapter, we have
seen that Christ is the only Pastor or Shepherd of the Church.
(234) We have seen also why he
takes this name to himself. If, is, because he feeds, that is, he governs his sheep, because he is
the only true food of the soul. But because he employs the agency of men in preaching doctrine,
he conveys to them also his own name, or, at least, shares it with them. Those men, therefore,
are reckoned to be Pastors in the sight of God, who govern the Church by the ministry of the
word under Christ, who is their Head. Hence we may easily infer what is the burden which Christ
lays on Peter, and on what condition he appoints him to govern his flock.
This enables us plainly to refute the wicked adherents of the Church of Rome, who torture this
passage to support the tyranny of their Popery. “ Peter” they tell us, “ preference to others, it is
said, Feed my sheep
” We have already explained the reason why it was said to him rather than
to the others; namely, that being free from every disgraceful stain, he might boldly preach the
Gospel; and the reason why Christ thrice appoints him to be a pastor is, that the three denials, by
which Peter had brought on himself everlasting shame, may be set aside, and thus may form no
barrier to his apostleship, as has been judiciously observed by Chrysostom, Augustine, and Cyril,
and most of the other Commentators. Besides, nothing was given to Peter by these words, that is
not also given to all the ministers of the Gospel.
In vain, therefore, do the Papists maintain that he holds the highest rank, because he alone is
specially addressed; and, granting that some special honor was conferred on him, how, I ask, will
they prove from this that he has been elevated to the primacy? Though he were the chief among
the apostles, does it thence follow that he was the universal bishop of the whole world? To this it
must be added, that all that Peter received does not belong to the Pope any more than to
Mahomet; for on what ground does he claim to be Peter’ heir, and what man of sound
understanding will admit that Christ here bestows on him any hereditary right? Yet he wishes to
be reckoned Peter’ successor: I wish he were so. None of us hinders him from loving Christ, and
from taking care to feed his flock; but to take no concern about loving Christ, and to throw aside
the office of feeding, and then to boast of being Peter’ successor, is excessively foolish and
absurd. Now, as Christ, in assigning to Peter the duty of teaching, did not intend to erect a throne
for an idol or for a murderer of souls, that by means of it he might miserably oppress the Church,
so he stated in a few words, what kind of government of the Church he approves. This removes
the mask from all the mitred bishops, who, satisfied with a mere theatrical display and an empty
title, claim for themselves the authority of bishops.
(230)
“Depuis qu’ avoit este lache et desloyal;” — “ he acted the part of a coward and a traitor.”

175. (231) “Simon (fils) de Jona;” — “ (son) of Jonas.”
(232)
“La charge du Pasteur;“ — “ office of Pastor or Shepherd.”
(233)
“De tons bons pastcurs;“ — “ all good pastors.”
JOHN MACDUFF 15 17, “The Feast we considered in the preceding chapter is 
followed by a solemn and touching interview between the Lord and one of the 
Apostle-guests.
We can almost surmise, before the name is mentioned, which of the apostles it was. 
They had all been guilty of unkind desertion, when their sympathy would have been 
greatly valued; but one, who had been pre-eminent in professions of ardor, zeal, and 
devotedness, had proved, in the hour of trial, the first to fail. Peter's downfall had, 
indeed, been humiliating. We would not have wondered, if, covered with confusion at
the thought of his recent treachery, and refusing ever again to meet the glance of his 
injured Master's eye, he had fled back in terror to Galilee, and hid himself, for very 
shame, in one of its most secluded hamlets.
But what will not the consciousness of devoted love brave and overcome? Never 
more convinced than now of attachment to that Lord he had deeply wounded, he is 
the first of all the seven to throw himself at His feet and implore His forgiveness. It 
would have been strange, too, had it been otherwise. A special message had been sent
to him by Mary Magdalene, which might well have brought burning tears to the eyes 
of one of sterner mold than he. "Go," said the angel-guardian at the sepulcher, "go 
your way, tell his disciples, AND PETER."
We may imagine the interview between this messenger of reconciliation and the 
trembling Apostle on the Resurrection morning. When Mary rehearsed to him the 
angel's words, would he not, at first, listen to them as idle tales—as a message too 
good to be true? 'What!' may he not have said to her, 'have you not mistaken the 
name? John or Andrew, James or Matthew, it may have been, but I am the last, 

176. surely, who would have been singled out with this special remembrance of a love I so 
basely requited.' Yet it was all true. A new testimony that God's "thoughts are not as 
man's thoughts, and God's ways are not as man's ways!"
"AND PETER!" How these two little words would linger like undying music in his 
soul. How they would follow him every step in his way back to his native Galilee, 
haunt his sleeping and waking hours, and prove like a bright gleam in his lonely 
watches on the midnight sea!—And now, when He who dictated them is standing 
before him in peerless majesty in the morning light, can we wonder that, unable to 
repress the outburst of his grateful feelings, he is seen plunging into the water, 
cleaving the waves with his brawny arms that he might be the first to reach the shore!
The Feast, we found, was partaken of in solemn silence—but when concluded, the 
Risen Lord is the first to speak, and Peter's name is the first on His lips.
We have already explained the significant symbolism of the miraculous Catch of fish, 
and of the Banquet which followed—how the Fishermen-apostles were addressed 
figuratively through the trade with which from youth they had been familiar—their 
nets being taken as typical of the Gospel Church, and the fish enclosed, of the living 
souls they were to capture. Our Lord now, however, changes the metaphor. He 
passes to one with which these Villagers of Bethsaida, amid the abounding green 
slopes and pasture-lands which bordered their lake, must have been equally familiar.
Perhaps where they now were, a flock of sheep might have been seen browsing on 
one of the adjoining mountains: they may, at the moment, have attracted the eye of 
the true "Shepherd of Israel," as they emerged at that early hour from their nightly 
fold.
Be this as it may, the old figure which David loved so, well, when he sang of the 
Shepherd-love of God, is now taken by the Good Shepherd to instruct His own 
Disciple. The figure of the net spoke emphatically of the magnitude of the ministerial 
work—the vast and glorious ingathering of the family of God, which was to take place
previous to the Heavenly Feast. Now He proceeds to unfold the principle or motive 
by which that work could alone be successfully prosecuted, and the method of 
attaining the great final recompense.

177. How does our Lord address the erring, but penitent, Apostle—"Simon, Son of John." 
Simon! He had surnamed him after his noble confession at the coasts of Caesarea 
Philippi, Peter, "the Rock." But the Rock that should have manfully braved the storm 
had become the brittle reed, shattered by the first blast of temptation. His conduct 
had belied his loud protestations, and forfeited the nobler title. His Lord, therefore, 
goes back to the simple name of his old fisherman life—that which He employed on 
another occasion when the same disciple was tottering to a fall, "Simon! Simon! 
Satan has desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat." Or again, when he 
was found slumbering at his post, instead of being, as he should, the wakeful 
attendant and guardian of the Great Sufferer—"SIMON, why are YOU sleeping?"
And while there is a thrice-repeated name, there is also a thrice-repeated question, 
"Do you love Me?"
There can be no doubt as to the Lord's intention in the thrice-repeated question. He 
wished, by reminding of the threefold denial, to convey to His servant a gentle 
threefold rebuke. He could not have done so more impressively; while in the addition
He makes to the first query, "Do you love Me more than these?" there is an equally 
manifest reference to that occasion when, in a self-sufficient boastful comparison of 
his own moral heroism with that of his fellow-disciples, Peter had said, "Though all 
should be offended because of You this night, yet will not I."
Simon heard the first two questions unmoved; but when for the third time it was 
uttered—implying, as it did, a secret mistrust as to his sincerity, and reminding with 
such marked significance of his threefold sin—the questioned apostle "was grieved." 
He began to suspect there must be some good reason for these implied doubts. He 
knew that the loving heart which so interrogated would not unnecessarily wound 
him; that his gracious Lord would not utter a needlessly unkind word or question. 
Could it be that He, who knew all things, might see foreshadowed some future denial,
which led Him to receive these ardent protests with such significant caution? Could it
be that his heart, which had so deceived him in the past, was to prove a traitor-heart 
again, and that he would have to renew his bitter weeping over the humiliations of a 
still sadder fall?

178. It was, however, the very grief his Lord desired. He wished to humble him, to 
annihilate his self-confidence and self-sufficiency. He would teach him that the very 
love he was tempted to boast of was not an innate, self-generated principle, but, like 
all his other gifts, divinely imparted and nurtured. He would lead him in future to be 
ever drawing supplies, not from his own frames and feelings, which were fitful as the 
changing sand, or apt to fail as the summer brook, but from the exhaustless 
fountainhead, God Himself!
That our Lord's reiterated appeal had the intended effect we cannot doubt. It read a 
lesson the Apostle never forgot until his dying hour. We may regard this interview, 
indeed, as a crisis in Peter's history—the date of a new development in his inner life. 
The proud self-sufficient Disciple becomes from this day onwards a little child. He 
comes forth from the furnace into which his Lord had cast him, purified as gold—
humbled, but really exalted. We see in his very reply to the present threefold 
question the germ of this new grace of future poverty of spirit. His answer in former 
times would probably have been, "I know that I love You." But Jesus has taught him 
a different estimate of himself. He appeals from his own truant, untrustworthy heart,
to that of the great Heart-searcher, "Lord, You know all things; you know that I love 
You."
His Lord had asked him as to the relative intensity of his love, whether it was now 
according to his former boasting estimate of it—"more than these." The humbled 
Apostle takes no note of the comparison. His silence is its own interpreter. There was
once a time when he would have been arrogant enough to say, "Yes, Lord; none can 
love you as I do." But the memories of the past, and the rebukes of the present, have 
seated him in the dust. He can only make the confident appeal to Him who knew the 
heart, as to the sincerity of present resolutions, and the depth of present attachment. 
"I am done," he seems to say, "judging others—I have done judging myself. I once 
imagined I was bold enough to walk with undaunted step the raging water; but faith 
failed, and I began to sink. I once drew my sword, with what I thought a hero-heart, 
against an armed band; the next hour I was a coward trembling with guilty fear. I 
once said I was ready to go to prison and to death, and that though all should deny 
and grow faithless, I would never be one of them. Yet, I was the first to be ashamed of
that Lord to whom I had sworn unswerving allegiance, and my sin was blackened 
with aggravations I shudder to recall. Now, I dare boast no more. I can say nothing as
to the dependence to be placed on my devotedness. Fitful in the past, it may be fitful 
still, but at present, Lord, it is with no false lips that I declare, with Your scrutinizing 
glance upon me, YOU know that I love You."

179. Jesus forthwith proceeds to reinstate him in the Apostolic office, which, by his 
unworthy conduct, he had for the time forfeited. Anew he affixes the seal on his 
previous high commission, "Feed My lambs"—"Feed my sheep."
His Lord had listened to his protestations of love. He accepts them; and in token of 
acceptance He tells His disciple to go and act a Shepherd's role to His purchased 
flock. His words are equivalent to saying, "Simon, if you indeed love Me, make proof 
of the reality of your love, not by your words but by your acts. Prove by newly 
baptized zeal and unremitting labor that I have not unworthily confided in your 
resolute assertions."
And in this, Jesus would proclaim to His Church in every future age, that the grand 
qualification for the feeding of the Sheep is the love of the Great Shepherd in the 
heart of the under Shepherds. Nothing can be done acceptably but what proceeds 
from this paramount Christian motive—LOVE TO CHRIST. Peter could not fail, 
surely, at this moment peculiarly to feel its constraining influence. He was standing 
within the shadow of the Cross and the Tomb—that blended memory of love and 
anguish was fresh on his soul—the hand that had just broken the bread still bore 
upon it the print of the nails. Formerly he loved his Lord as a Heavenly Friend—now 
he loves Him as a gracious Savior. Formerly he could say with Paul, "Who LOVED 
me"—now he can add, "Who GAVE HIMSELF for me!"
It is the same paramount gospel claim which is, or ought to be, all-powerful, as an 
incentive for duty and action with ourselves. We have all the old claims of God's love 
remaining in undiminished and unaltered power—God our Creator; God our 
Preserver; God our Bountiful Benefactor; but to these is superadded the culminating 
claim of all—God our REDEEMER! If you wish to learn the secret of obedience—of 
active service or passive suffering—come and seat yourselves at Calvary's Cross—
listen to the thrilling words—the pathetic appeal coming from these dying lips: "All 
this I have done for YOU—What do you do for ME?" Or, as this has been translated 
by one who knew well the sovereign power of that love—"you are not your own, you 
are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits, 
which are His." Depend upon it, nothing will nerve the soul for high, and holy, and 
pure, and self-sacrificing deeds, but this great principle—"The love of Christ 
constrains me!" Sinai, with its thunders, says, "You SHALL love God." But Calvary 
says, "We love Him, because He first loved us!"

180. How does OUR LOVE stand to that Great and Gracious Redeemer? Were He to 
prompt the question at this hour, "Do you love Me?"—could we reply in honest 
earnestness, "Yes, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You."
Perhaps some who read these pages may be Backsliders. Like Peter, you may have 
forsaken your first love. You may have become as bruised reeds and smoking flax. 
You may think that return is hopeless to that Savior, whose grace you have despised, 
and whose loving heart you have so grievously wounded. Look for your 
encouragement to Peter's gracious reception by his Lord on these shores of Tiberias. 
Had he obeyed, perhaps, his own first impulses, he would have fled frightened from 
that Presence, and fearing a withering glance he felt he dared not face. Ah! if ever 
there was one who might have been spurned away, it was that poor despicable 
waverer in Pilate's judgment hall, who, with oaths and curses, denied the Lord who 
bought him. But Jesus sent a special message of love to him, as He does to us. And 
what was the Penitent's resolve? It was to cast himself imploringly at his Master's 
feet, and seek that loving mercy he had never yet sought in vain! As the loving child 
cannot close his eyes in sleep, until he has received his father's forgiveness; so this 
erring Apostle feels that joy must be a stranger in his heart, until he receives from his
Lord's own lips the cheering assurance that the past is all pardoned—that his 
crimson and scarlet sins are buried in the depths of forgetfulness!
And Jesus not only receives him, but even in rebuking him, what tenderness, what 
unutterable gentleness is mingled with that rebuke! We quite expect, after so black a 
catalogue of guilt, a reprimand of corresponding severity. When the words are first 
uttered "Simon, son of John"—we expect to hear the enumeration of his former sins
—his arrogance—his presumption—the oaths and curses and cowardly desertion. But
we see "the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." He 
knew well that that wounded spirit did not require to be needlessly lacerated. There 
is no direct reference, therefore, to the past—no catalogue of former sins dragged 
afresh to the light of day. Like the Shepherd in the parable of the lost wanderer, in 
silent love "He lays him on His shoulders rejoicing," saying, "Rejoice with me, for I 
have found the sheep which was lost!"

181. Reader! are you overwhelmed at the thought of some past sins—some deep dark 
blots disturbing your peace, and darkening your spiritual prospects—deterring you 
from the mercy-seat—leading you to restrain prayer before God? Delay no longer! 
Flee to that same unchanging Lord of love. He is waiting now to be as gracious as He 
was to the penitent Apostle at Gennesaret. He is as willing now as then to say, "I will 
be merciful to your unrighteousness; your sins and your iniquities will I remember 
no more."
And learn once more from this subject, that it is by GRACE you stand. Why was Peter
not a Judas? Why do we not find him, like his brother apostle, a vessel (once 
freighted with noble resolves) lying a wreck on the desert shore? It was grace which 
made all the difference. Grace called him—grace restrained him—grace rescued him. 
He was a commentary on the words, "kept by the power of God." Jesus Himself tells, 
that at one time there was truly but a step between Peter and death. There was but 
one link that prevented the chain of his spiritual life from snapping, but it was the 
golden link of His own ever-living intercession—"Satan has desired to have you, BUT 
I have prayed for you that your faith fail not!"
It is the same with us. We can boast of no grace that we have. We are dependent 
every hour on the upholding arm of a gracious Savior. That arm removed, and we 
sink like lead in the waters. Distrust yourselves. Feel that your own strength is utter 
weakness. Let your cry be, "More grace! more grace!"—ever traveling between your 
own emptiness and Christ's infinite fullness.
And with His grace sustaining you, seek to have His love constraining you. Seek to 
have more and more a realizing sense of the paramount claims of that amazing 
mercy! Seat yourselves often under Calvary, and gaze on Him who spared not His 
own life's blood, that He might rescue you from the waves of destruction, and spread 
for you a Feast on the Heavenly shore. Oh! with such a miracle of stupendous 
condescension in view, can we wonder that He should ask, regarding all else that 
may be competing with His paramount claims—wealth, friends, home, children—"Do
you love Me MORE THAN THESE?" Give Him henceforth the throne of your best 
affections, and be able to say in the spirit of the old martyr, "If I had a thousand 
hearts, I could love Him with them all. If I had a thousand lives, I would lay them 
down for His sake!"
EXPOSITORS BIBLE, “XXV. RESTORATION OF PETER.

182. "So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou
Me more than these? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto
him, Feed My lambs. He saith to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?
He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Tend My sheep.
He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me? Peter was grieved because
He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all
things; Thou knowest that I love Thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep."<< Joh_21:15 17.
To the interpretation of this dialogue between the Lord and Peter we must bring a remembrance
of the immediately preceding incident. The evening before had found several of those who had
followed Jesus standing among the boats that lay by the sea of Galilee. Boat after boat put out
from shore; and as the familiar sights and smells and sounds awakened slumbering instincts and
stirred old associations, Peter with characteristic restlessness and independence turned away to
where his own old boat lay, saying, "I go a<fishing." The rest only needed the example. And as we
watch each man taking his old place at the oar or getting ready the nets, we recognise how slight
a hold the Apostolic call had taken of these men, and how ready they were to fall back to their old
life. They lack sufficient inward impulse to go and proclaim Christ to men; they have no plans; the
one inevitable thing is that they must earn a livelihood. And had they that night succeeded as of
old in their fishing, the charm of the old life might have been too strong for them. But, like many
other men, their failure in accomplishing their own purpose prepared them to discern and to fulfil
the Divine purpose, and from catching fish worth so much a pound they became the most
influential factors in this world's history. For the Lord had need of them, and again called them to
labour for Him, showing them how easily He could maintain them in life and how full their nets
would be when cast under His direction.
When the Lord made Himself known by His miraculous action while yet the disciples were too far
off to see His features, Peter on the moment forgot the fish he had toiled for all night, and though
master of the vessel left the net to sink or go to pieces for all he cared, and sprang into the water
to greet his Lord. Jesus Himself was the first to see the significance of the act. This vehemence of
welcome was most grateful to Him. It witnessed to an affection which was at this crisis the most
valuable element in the world. And that it was shown not by solemn protestations made in public
or as part of a religious service, but in so apparently secular and trivial an incident, makes it all
the more valuable. Jesus hailed with the deepest satisfaction Peter's impetuous abandonment of
his fishing gear and impatient springing to greet Him, because as plainly as possible it showed
that after all Christ was incomparably more to him than the old life. And therefore when the first
excitement had cooled down Jesus gives Peter an opportunity of putting this in words by asking
him, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?" Am I to interpret this action of yours
as really meaning what it seems to mean<<that I am more to you than boat, nets, old ways, old
associations? Your letting go the net at the critical moment, and so risking the loss of all, seemed

183. to say that you love Me more than your sole means of gaining a livelihood. Well, is it so? Am I to
draw this conclusion? Am I to understand that with a mind made up you do love Me more than
these things? If so, the way is again clear for Me to commit to your care what I love and prize
upon earth<<to say again, "Feed My sheep."
Thus mildly does the Lord rebuke Peter by suggesting that in his recent conduct there were
appearances which must prevent these present expressions of his love from being accepted as
perfectly genuine and trustworthy. Thus gracefully does He give Peter opportunity to renew the
profession of attachment he had so shamefully denied by three times over swearing that he not
only did not love Jesus, but knew nothing whatever about the man. And if Peter at first resented
the severity of the scrutiny, he must afterwards have perceived that no greater kindness could
have been done him than thus to press him to clear and resolved confession. Peter had probably
sometimes compared himself to Judas, and thought that the difference between his denial and
Judas' betrayal was slight. But the Lord distinguished. He saw that Peter's sin was
unpremeditated, a sin of surprise, while his heart was essentially sound.
We also must distinguish between the forgetfulness of Christ, to which we are carried by the
blinding and confusing throng of this world's ways and fashions and temptations, and a betrayal
of Christ that has in it something deliberate. We admit that we have acted as if
we had no desire
to serve Christ and to bring our whole life within His kingdom; but it is one thing to deny Christ
through thoughtlessness, through inadvertence, through sudden passion or insidious,
unperceived temptation<<another thing consciously and habitually to betake ourselves to ways
which He condemns, and to let the whole form, appearance, and meaning of our life plainly
declare that our regard for Him is very slight when compared with our regard for success in our
calling or anything that nearly touches our personal interests. Jesus lets Peter breakfast first, He
lets him settle, before He puts His question, because it matters little what we say or do in a
moment of excitement. The question is, what is our deliberate choice and preference<<not what is
our judgment, for of that there can be little question; but when we are self<possessed and cool,
when the whole man within us is in equilibrium, not violently pulled one way or other, when we
feel, as sometimes we do, that we are seeing ourselves as we actually are, do we then recognise
that Christ is more to us than any gain, success, or pleasure the world can offer?
There are many who when the alternative is laid before them in cold blood choose without
hesitation to abide with Christ at all costs. Were we at this moment as conscious as Peter was
when this question fell from the lips of the living Person before him, whose eyes were looking for
his reply, that we now must give our answer, many of us, God helping us, would say with Peter,
"Thou knowest that I love Thee." We could not say that our old associations are easily broken,
that it costs us nothing to hang up the nets with which so skilfully we have gathered in the world's
substance to us, or to take a last look of the boat which has so faithfully and merrily carried us

184. over many a threatening wave and made our hearts glad within us. But our hearts are not set on
these things; they do not command us as Thou dost; and we can abandon whatever hinders us
from following and serving Thee. Happy the man who with Peter feels that the question is an
easily answered one, who can say, "I may often have blundered, I may often have shown myself
greedy of gain and glory, but Thou knowest that I love Thee."
In this restoration of Peter our Lord, then, tests not the conduct, but the heart. He recognises that
while the conduct is the legitimate and normal test of a man's feeling, yet there are times at which
it is fair and useful to examine the heart itself apart from present manifestations of its condition;
and that the solace which a poor soul gets after great sin, in refusing to attempt to show the
consistency of his conduct with love to Christ, and in clinging simply to the consciousness that
with all his sin there is most certainly a surviving love to Christ, is a solace sanctioned by Christ,
and which He would have it enjoy. This is encouraging, because a Christian is often conscious
that, if he is to be judged solely by his conduct, he must be condemned. He is conscious of
blemishes in his life that seem quite to contradict the idea that he is animated by a regard for
Christ. He knows that men who see his infirmities and outbreaks may be justified in supposing
him a self<deceived or pretentious hypocrite, and yet in his own soul he is conscious of love to
Christ. He can as little doubt this as he can doubt that he has shamefully denied this in his
conduct. He would rather be judged by omniscience than by a judgment that can scrutinise only
his outward conduct. He appeals in his own heart from those who know in part to Him who knows
all things. He knows perfectly well that if men are to be expected to believe that he is a Christian
he must prove this by his conduct; nay, he understands that love must find for itself a constant
and consistent expression in conduct; but it remains an indubitable satisfaction to be conscious
that, despite all his conduct has said to the contrary, he does in his soul love the Lord.
The determination of Christ to clear away all misunderstanding and all doubtfulness about the
relation His professed followers hold to Him is strikingly exhibited in His subjecting Peter to a
second and third interrogation. He invites Peter to search deeply into his spirit and to ascertain
the very truth. It is the most momentous of all questions; and our Lord positively refuses to take a
superficial, careless, matter<of<course answer. He will thus question, and thrice question, and
probe to the quick all His followers. He seeks to scatter all doubt about our relation to Him, and to
make our living connection with Him clear to our own consciousness, and to place our whole life
on this solid basis of a clear, mutual understanding between Him and us. Our happiness depends
upon our meeting His question with care and sincerity. Only the highest degree of human
friendship will permit this persistent questioning, this beating of us back and back on our own
feelings, deeper and deeper into the very heart of our affections, as if still it were doubtful whether
we had not given an answer out of mere politeness or profession or sentiment. The highest
degree of human friendship demands certainty, a basis on which it can build, a love it can entirely
trust. Christ had made good His right thus to question His followers and to require a love that was

185. sure of itself, because on His part He was conscious of such a love and had given proof that His
affection was no mere sentimental, unfruitful compassion, but a commanding, consuming,
irrepressible, unconquerable love<<a love that left Him no choice, but compelled Him to devote
Himself to men and do them all the good in His power.
Peter's self<knowledge is aided by the form the question now takes. He is no longer asked to
compare the hold Christ has upon him with his interest in other things; but he is asked simply and
absolutely whether love is the right name for that which connects him with his Lord. "Lovest thou
Me?" Separating yourself and Me from all others, looking straight and simply at Me only, is "love"
the right name for that which connects us? Is it love, and not mere impulse? Is it love, and not
sentiment or fancy? Is it love, and not sense of duty or of what is becoming? Is it love, and not
mere mistake? For no mistake is more disastrous than that which takes something else for love.
Now, to apprehend the significance of this question is to apprehend what Christianity is. Our Lord
was on the point of leaving the world; and He left its future, the future of the sheep He loved so
well and had spent His all upon, in the keeping of Peter and the rest, and the one security He
demanded of them was the confession of love for Himself. He did not draw up a creed or a series
of articles binding them to this and that duty, to special methods of governing the Church or to
special truths they were to teach it; He did not summon them into the house of Peter or of
Zebedee, and bid them affix their signatures or marks to such a document. He rested the whole
future of the work He had begun at such cost on their love for Him. This security alone He took
from them. This was the sufficient guarantee of their fidelity and of their wisdom. It is not great
mental ability that is wanted for the furtherance of Christ's aims in the world. It is love of what is
best, devotion to goodness. No question is made about their knowledge; they are not asked what
views they have about the death of Christ; they are not required to analyse their feelings and say
whence their love has sprung<<whether from a due sense of their indebtedness to Him for
delivering them from sin and its consequence, or from the grace and beauty of His character, or
from His tender and patient consideration of them. There is no omission of anything vital owing to
His being hurried in these morning hours. Three times over the question comes, and the third is
as the first, a question solely and exclusively as to their love. Three times over the question
comes, and three times over, when love is unhesitatingly confessed, comes the Apostolic
commission, "Feed My sheep." Love is enough<<enough not only to save the Apostles
themselves, but enough to save the world.
The significance of this cannot be exaggerated. What is Christianity? It is God's way of getting
hold of us, of attaching us to what is good, of making us holy, perfect men. And the method He
uses is the presentation of goodness in a personal form. He makes goodness supremely
attractive by exhibiting to us its reality and its beauty and its permanent and multiplying power in
Jesus Christ. Absolutely simple and absolutely natural is God's method. The building up of

186. systems of theology, the elaborate organisation of churches, the various, expensive, and
complicated methods of men, how artificial do they seem when set alongside of the simplicity and
naturalness of God's method! Men are to be made perfect. Show them, then, that human
perfection is perfect love for them, and can they fail to love it and themselves become perfect?
That is all. The mission of Christ and the salvation of men through Him are as natural and as
simple as the mother's caress of her child. Christ came to earth because He loved men and could
not help coming. Being on earth, He expresses what is in Him<<His love, His goodness. By His
loving all men and satisfying all their needs, men came to feel that this was the Perfect One, and
humbly gave themselves to Him. As simply as love works in all human affairs and relationships,
so simply does it work here.
And God's method is as effectual as it is simple. Men do learn to love Christ. And this love
secures everything. As a bond between two persons, nothing but love is to be depended upon.
Love alone carries us out of ourselves and makes other interests than our own dear to us.
But Christ requires us to love Him and invites us to consider whether we do now love Him,
because this love is an index to all that is in us of a moral kind. There is so much implied in our
love of Him, and so much inextricably intertwined with it, that its presence or absence speaks
volumes regarding our whole inward condition. It is quite true that nothing is more difficult to
understand than the causes of love. It seems to ally itself with equal readiness with pity and with
admiration. It is attracted sometimes by similarity of disposition, sometimes by contrast. It is now
stirred by gratitude and again by the conferring of favours. Some persons whom we feel we ought
to love we do not draw to. Others who seem comparatively unattractive strongly draw us. But
there are always some persons in every society who are universally beloved; and these are
persons who are not only good, but whose goodness is presented in an attractive form<<who have
some personal charm, in appearance or manner or disposition. If some churlish person does not
own the ascendency, you know that the churlishness goes deep into the character.
But this poorly illustrates the ascendency of Christ and what our denial of it implies. His goodness
is perfect and it is complete. Not to love Him is not to love goodness; it is to be out of sympathy
with what attracts pure and loving spirits. For whatever be the apparent or obscure causes of
love, this is certain<<that we love that which best fits and stimulates our whole nature. Love lies
deeper than the will; we cannot love because we wish to do so, any more than we can taste
honey bitter because we wish to do so. We cannot love a person because we know that their
influence is needful to forward our interests. But if love lies deeper than the will, what power have
we to love what at present does not draw us? We have no power to do so immediately; but we
can use the means given us for altering, purifying, and elevating our nature. We can believe in
Christ's power to regenerate us, we can faithfully follow and serve Him, and thus we shall learn
one day to love Him.

187. But the presence or absence in us of the love of Christ is an index not only to our present state,
but a prophecy of all that is to be. The love of Christ was that which enabled and impelled the
Apostles to live great and energetic lives. It was this simple affection which made a life of
aggression and reformation possible to them. This gave them the right ideas and the sufficient
impulse. And it is this affection which is open to us all and which equally now as at first impels to
all good. Let the love of Christ possess any soul and that soul cannot avoid being a blessing to
the world around. Christ scarcely needed to say to Peter, "Feed My sheep; be helpful to those for
whom I died," because in time Peter must have seen that this was his calling. Love gives us
sympathy and intelligence. Our conscience is enlightened by sympathy with the person we love;
through their desires, which we wish to gratify, we see higher aims than our own, aims which
gradually become our own. And wherever the love of Christ exists, there sooner or later will the
purposes of Christ be understood, His aims be accepted, His fervent desire and energetic
endeavour for the highest spiritual condition of the race become energetic in us and carry us
forward to all good. Indeed, Jesus warns Peter of the uncontrollable power of this affection he
expressed. "When you were younger," He says, "you girded yourself and walked where you
would; but when you are old another shall gird you, and carry you on to martyrdom." For he who
is possessed by the love of Christ is as little his own master and can as little shrink from what that
love carries him to as the man that is carried to execution by a Roman guard. Self<possession
terminates when the soul can truly say, "Thou knowest that I love Thee." There is henceforth no
choosing of ways of our own; our highest and best self is evoked in all its power, and asserts
itself by complete abnegation of self and eager identification of self with Christ. This new affection
commands the whole life and the whole nature. No more can the man spend himself in self<
chosen activities, in girding himself for great deeds of individual glorification, or in walking in ways
that promise pleasure or profit to self; he willingly stretches forth his hands, and is carried to much
that flesh and blood shrink from, but which is all made inevitable, welcome, and blessed to him
through the joy of that love that has appointed it.
But are we not thus pronouncing our own condemnation? This is, it is easy to see, the true and
natural education of the human spirit<<to love Christ, and so learn to see with His eyes and
become enamoured of His aims and grow up to His likeness. But where in us is this absorbing,
educating, impelling, irresistible power? To recognise the beauty and the certainty of God's
method is not the difficulty; the difficulty is to use it, to find in ourselves that which carries us into
the presence of Christ, saying, "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love Thee."
Admiration we have; reverence we have; faith we have; but there is more than these needed.
None of these will impel us to life<long obedience. Love alone can carry us away from sinful and
selfish ways. But this testing question, "Lovest thou Me?" was not the first but the last put to Peter
by our Lord. It was only put after they had passed through many searching experiences together.
And if we feel that for us to adopt as our own Peter's assured answer would only be to deceive

188. ourselves and trifle with the most serious of matters, we are to consider that Christ seeks to win
our love also, and that the ecstasy of confessing our love with assurance is reserved even for us.
It is possible we may already have more love than we think. It is no uncommon thing to love a
person and not know it until some unusual emergency or conjuncture of circumstances reveals us
to ourselves. But if we are neither conscious of love nor can detect any marks of it in our life, if we
know ourselves to be indifferent to others, deeply selfish, unable to love what is high and self<
sacrificing, let us candidly admit the full significance of this, and even while plainly seeing what
we are, let us not relinquish the great hope of being at length able to give our heart to what is best
and of being bound by an ever<increasing love to the Lord.
16
Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you
truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you
know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care
of my sheep."
GILL, “
Joh 21:16 - He saith unto him again the second time,.... Willing to 
have the expressions of his love repeated and confirmed; 
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? he leaves out the words, "more than these", 
though Nonnus expresses them; he saw Peter's heart, and observed the modesty of his 
answer, and would not urge him any more in that comparative way, only required a 
repetition of his sincere and hearty love to him: 
he saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; expressing himself 
in the same language as before; and it is, as if he should say, Lord, what can I say more? I
can say no more than I have done, and by that I abide: 
he saith unto him, feed my sheep; both the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and his 
other sheep among the Gentiles, whom the Father had given him, and he had paid a 
price for, and must be brought in; these being called, he would have fed with the word 
and ordinances, with the bread of life, and water of life, not lorded over, and fleeced, and 
much less worried and destroyed; every instance of care and love shown to these, he 
takes as a mark of affection and respect to himself.

189. Jfb, “He saith to him ... the second time ... lovest thou me, etc. — In this 
repetition of the question, though the wound was meant to be reopened, the words 
“more than these” are not repeated; for Christ is a tender as well as skilful Physician, and
Peter’s silence on that point was confession enough of his sin and folly. On Peter’s 
repeating his protestation in the same words, our Lord rises higher in the manifestation 
of His restoring grace.
Feed — keep.
my sheep — It has been observed that the word here is studiously changed, from one 
signifying simply to feed, to one signifying to tend as a shepherd, denoting the abiding 
exercise of that vocation, and in its highest functions.
Barnes, “Joh 21:16 - 
Feed my sheep - The word here rendered “feed,” as has been remarked, is different 
from the word in the previous verse. It has the sense of governing, caring for, guiding, 
protecting - the kind of faithful vigilance which a shepherd uses to guide his flock, and to 
make provision against their wants and dangers. It may be implied here that the care 
needed for the young in the church is to instruct them, and for those in advanced years 
both to instruct and govern them.
My sheep - This term commonly denotes the church in general, without respect to 
age, John 10.
CALVIN, “
16.Feed my sheep. Christ does not give to Peter and others the office of feeding all
sorts of persons, but only his sheep or his lambs. He elsewhere describes who they are whom he
reckons to belong to his flock.
My sheep, says he, hear my voice, and follow me; they hear not the voice of a stranger,
(Joh_10:5.)
True, faithful teachers ought to endeavor to gather all to Christ; and as they cannot distinguish
between sheep and wild beasts, they ought to try by all methods if they can tame those who
resemble wolves rather than sheep. But after having put forth their utmost efforts, their labor will
be of no avail to any but the elect sheep; for docility and faith arise from this, that the heavenly
Father delivers to his Son, that they may obey him, those whom he elected before the creation of
the world. Again, we are taught by this passage, that none can be fed to salvation by the doctrine
of the Gospel but those who are mild and teachable; for it is not without reason that Christ
compares his disciples to lambs and sheep; but it must also be observed, that the Spirit of God
tames those who by nature were bears or lions.
BENSON, “
John 21:16<17. He saith unto him again the second (and even the third) time, Simon,
&c., lovest thou me?
— Doubtless with a view to impress the importance of the question with the
greater force on his mind; and perhaps, also, to remind Peter of his having thrice denied him, and
thereby given him cause to question the sincerity of his love. But at these two latter times, Christ
leaves out the words more than these:because Peter, in his answer, had modestly left them out.
Observe, reader, though we cannot say we love Christ more than others do, yet we shall be
accepted if we can say we love him indeed. This Peter professes to do again and again, confidently
affirming, Yea, or surely, Lord, I love thee. He had a high esteem and value for his Lord; a grateful
sense of his kindness; and was entirely devoted to his honour and interest; his desire was toward
him, as one he should be undone without; and his delight in him, as one he should be unspeakably

190. happy in. And let it be remembered, those who can truly say that they love the Lord Jesus, may take
to themselves the comfort arising from an assurance of their having an interest in him,
notwithstanding their daily infirmities. It deserves our notice here, that Peter could appeal to Christ
himself for the proof of his love, saying once and again, Thou knowest that I love thee; and the third
time, speaking yet more emphatically, Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. He
doth not vouch his fellow<disciples to witness for him; they might be deceived in him; nor doth he
think his own word might be taken; the credit of that was more than shaken already: but he calls
Christ himself to witness. Happy they that, on good grounds, can do the same! He saith unto him,
Feed my sheep
— The word rendered feed in the preceding verse, and in
John 21:17 th βοσκε,
properly means to give food; but the word here used,
ποιαινε, implies more largely to do all the
offices of a shepherd, namely, to guide, watch, and defend the sheep, as well as to feed them.
“From our Lord’s asking Peter if he loved him, before he gave him commission to feed his lambs
and his sheep, it is justly inferred, that to render men duly qualified for the ministerial function, they
must prefer the interest and honour of Christ to every other consideration whatever. This is the great
qualification by which alone a minister can be animated to go through the labours and difficulties of
his office, and be fortified against the dangers which may attend it. Moreover, Christ’s exhortation to
Peter to feed his lambs and sheep, being the reply which he made to Peter’s declaration that he
loved him, shows us that ministers best testify their love to Christ by their singular care and
diligence in feeding his flock. Our Lord’s three<fold repetition of his commission to Peter, was
probably in allusion to Peter’s three denials; and as it contains an oblique intimation that his
repentance should bear some proportion to his sin, so it seems to have been intended by our Lord
to convince the rest of the disciples of the sincerity of Peter’s conversion, and to prevent any slight
which he might be exposed to from their suspecting the contrary. However, we are told that Peter
was grieved at this repeated application to him: 1st, Because it seemed to him an intimation that
Christ doubted the sincerity of his repentance; and to a person of his sanguine temper, nothing
could have afforded a more sensible anguish than such a suggestion. 2d, It recalled his crime, with
all its aggravating circumstances, into his mind; it renewed his grief for having offended, and it
increased that grief from a consideration that he had given sufficient grounds for suspecting his
fidelity, even after his conversion. 3d, It put him in fear lest his Master foresaw some further
misconduct of his, which would be as great a contradiction to his professions of love to him as the
former was. One would wonder that from circumstances so evidently humiliating to the mind of
Peter, the Papists could have inferred a grant to him of supreme dominion over the church, clergy
as well as laity; as if a charge to serve the sheep, gave a power to lord it over all the shepherds.
The passage has doubtless a quite different meaning; for Peter, by his late cowardice and perfidy,
having, as it were, abdicated the apostleship, was hereby no more than formally restored to his
office, through the indulgence of his kind and merciful Master; and not raised to any new dignity
above his brethren.” See Macknight, and Tillotson’s Works.

COKE, “
John 21:16<17. He saith to him again— From our Lord's asking Peter if he loved him,
before he renewed his commission to feed his lambs and his sheep, it is justly inferred, that, to
render men duly qualified for the ministerial function, they must prefer the interest and honour of
Christ to every other consideration. This is the great qualification by which alone a minister can be
animated to go through the labours and difficulties of his office, and be fortified against the dangers
which may attend it. Moreover, Christ's exhortation to St. Peter, to feed his lambs and sheep, being
the reply which he made to Peter's declaration that he loved him, shews us that ministers best shew
their love to Christ by their singular care and diligence in feeding his flock. Our Lord's threefold
repetition of his commission to Peter, most probably was in allusion to Peter's three denials; and as
it contains an oblique intimation that his repentance should bear some proportion to his crime, so it
seems to have been intended by our Lord, to convince the rest of the disciples of the sincerity of St.
Peter's conversion, and to prevent any slight which he might be exposed to from their suspecting
the contrary. However, we are told that Peter was grieved at this repeated application to him for it
seemed to him an intimation that Christ perhaps did not consider his repentance to be sincere; and
to a person of his sanguine temper, nothing could have afforded a more sensible anguish than such
a suggestion. It recalled his crime, with all its aggravated circumstances, into his mind, and renewed
his grief for having offended. One would wonder that, from circumstances so evidently humiliating to
the mind of St. Peter, the Papists could have inferred a grant of his supreme dominion over the

191. church. The passage has evidently a quite different meaning; for Peter, by his late cowardice and
perfidy, having, as it were, abdicated the apostleship, was hereby no more than formally restored to
his office through the indulgence of his kind and merciful Master, and not raised to any new dignity
above his brethre 
John 21:15
PULPIT, “He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son o f 
Jonas (John), lovest thou me? Here our Lord omits, as Peter had done, the "more than
these," but he again, with perhaps deeper meaning, uses the word ἀγαπᾶς . Dost thou render me
even more in one sense, though less in another, of thy heart's reverence? Dost thou treat me
with the confidence and esteem, submission and admiration, which are my due? Again Peter,
with his heart bursting with personal affection, feels that he can and must say, Yea, Lord; 
thou knowest that I love thee ( φιλῶ ere;i.e. love thee dearly). The commission that follows
is the second stage of pastoral office. He saith to him, Tend ("act the part of shepherd") my 
sheep. Christ is the "good Shepherd," and, as Peter puts it in 1Pe_5:4, the "chief Shepherd." He
has laid down his life with a view of taking it again, and ever after discharging the functions of the
Shepherd. He means to bring all the "sheep" into one flock. They shall all hear his voice, and
receive from him everlasting life. Meanwhile the leader of the apostles is made to appreciate that
love is the condition of all healthy guidance. Faculty for rule is part of the very nature of the
pastoral care. The sheep will need this even more than the "lambs;" the old disciples will require,
even more than the young converts, both direction and command In this respect the subsequent
career of Peter was more conspicuous than that of the rest of the apostles
(see Rev_2:27; Rev_7:17; Act_20:28; 1Pe_5:2 for the use of the word). But the shepherding of
the sheep is an essentially necessary and integral portion of every pastor's care. When assailed
by the wolf of heresy, by the hostile marauder, by new conditions of any kind, by special danger,
unless he can in self'forgetting love pilot and protect his flock, he is no true shepherd.
17
The third time he said to him, "Simon son of
John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt
because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do
you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all
things; you know that I love you." Jesus said,
"Feed my sheep.
AJidTfe, “He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou me? Peter was grieved because he said the third time, etc. — This was the 

192. Physician’s deepest incision into the wound, while yet smarting under the two former 
probings. Not till now would Peter discern the object of this succession of thrusts. The 
third time reveals it all, bringing up such a rush of dreadful recollections before his view, 
of his “thrice denying that he knew Him,” that he feels it to the quick. It was fitting that 
he should; it was meant that he should. But this accomplished, the painful dialogue 
concludes with a delightful “Feed My sheep”; as if He should say, “Now, Simon, the last 
speck of the cloud which overhung thee since that night of nights is dispelled: 
Henceforth thou art to Me and to My work as if no such scene had ever happened.”
CALVIN, “
17.Peter was grieved. Peter undoubtedly did not perceive the object which Christ had
in view, in putting the same question so frequently; and therefore he thinks that he is<in<directly
accused, as if he had not answered with sincerity. But we have already showed that the repetition
was not superfluous. Besides, Peter was not yet sufficiently aware how deeply the love of Christ
must be engraven on the hearts of those who have to struggle against innumerable difficulties.
He afterwards learned by long experience, that such a trial had not been made in vain. Those
who are to undertake the charge of governing the Church are also taught, in his person, not to
examine themselves slightly, but to make a thorough scrutiny what zeal they possess, that they
may not shrink or faint in the middle of their course. We are likewise taught, that we ought
patiently and mildly to submit, if at any time the Lord subject us to a severe trial; because he has
good reasons for doing so, though they are generally unknown to us.
GILL, “Joh 21:17 - He saith unto him the third time,.... That by these three 
testimonies, out of his mouth, the thing might be established, and be out of all doubt: 
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? is it so indeed that thou lovest me? is thy love
really so hearty and sincere as thou savest? may it be depended upon? 
Peter was grieved, because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? 
because it put him in mind of his having denied his Lord three times; the remembrance 
of which cut him to the heart and it added to his grief, that his love, which he knew was 
unfeigned, notwithstanding his conduct, should seem to be suspected: 
and he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I 
love thee; he appeals with great warmth and earnestness to him, as the omniscient God,
and the searcher of all hearts, who knows all persons and things, and the secret thoughts,
dispositions, and affections of men's minds, for the truth of his love to him; for though 
he knew the treachery of his own heart, and durst not trust to it; and therefore chose not 
to be determined by his own assertions, and was well aware that the sincerity of his love 
might be called in question by fellow Christians, because of his late conduct; but as 
everything was naked and open to his Lord, with whom he had to do, he lodges and 
leaves the appeal with him: so every soul that truly loves Christ, whatever Satan, the 
world, professors, or their own hearts under unbelieving frames, may suggest to the 
contrary, can appeal to Christ, as the trier of the reins of the children of men, that he it is 
whom their souls love; and though their love may be greatly tried, and they themselves 
be sorely tempted by Satan, and suffered to fall greatly; yet their love to Christ can never 
be lost; the fervency of it may be abated, the exercise of it may be very languid, but the 
principle itself always remains, as it did in Peter: 
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. It may be observed from the repetition of this 
phrase following upon Peter's declaration of his love to Christ, that such only are proper 

193. persons to feed the lambs and sheep of Christ, who truly and sincerely love him: and in 
doing which they show their love to him: and who indeed would be concerned in this 
service, but such? since the work is so laborious, the conduct of those to whom they 
minister oftentimes is so disagreeable, the reproach they meet with from the world, and 
the opposition made unto them by Satan, and all the powers of darkness: it is true 
indeed, there are some that take upon them this work, and pretend to do it, who do not 
love Christ; but then they are such who feed themselves, and not the flock; and who feed 
the world's goats, and not Christ's lambs and sheep, and in time of danger leave the 
flock; only the true lovers of Christ faithfully perform this service, and abide in it by 
preaching the pure Gospel of Christ, by administering his ordinances, in their right 
manner, and by directing souls in all to Christ, the heavenly manna, and bread of life. Dr.
Lightfoot thinks that by the threefold repetition of the order to feed Christ's lambs and 
sheep, is meant the threefold object of Peter's ministry; the Jews in their own land, the 
Gentiles, and the Israelites of the ten tribes, that were in Babylon.
Barnes, “The third time - It is probable that Jesus proposed this question three times 
because Peter had thrice denied him. Thus he tenderly admonished him of his fault and 
reminded him of his sin, while he solemnly charged him to be faithful and vigilant in the 
discharge of the duties of the pastoral office. The reason why the Saviour addressed Peter
in this manner was doubtless because he had just denied him - had given a most 
melancholy instance of the instability and weakness of his faith, and of his liability to fall.
As he had thus been prominent in forsaking him, he took this occasion to give to him a 
special charge, and to secure his future obedience. Hence, he so administered the charge 
as to remind him of his fault; and he made him so prominent as to show the solicitude of 
the Saviour that, henceforward, he might not be left to dishonor his high calling. This 
same charge, in substance, he had on other occasions given to the apostles Mat_18:18, 
and there is not the slightest evidence here that Christ intended, as the Papists pretend, 
to give Peter any special primacy or eminence in the church. The charge to Peter arose, 
manifestly, from his prominent and melancholy act in denying him, and was the kind 
and tender means used by a faithful Saviour to keep him from similar acts in the future 
dangers and trials of life. It is worthy of remark that the admonition was effectual. 
Henceforward, Peter was one of the most firm and unwavering of all the apostles, and 
thus fully justified the appellation of a rock, which the Saviour by anticipation had given 
him. See the notes at Joh_1:42.
PULPIT, “And now Peter seems to have conquered, by his persistence, the heart of his Lord,
and Jesus adopts the very phrase which Peter twice over had substituted for that which he had
himself used; for he saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas (John), lovest thou 
me? ( φιλεῖς /ε ;); as if he had said, "Dost thou indeed love me dearly, love me as a friend, love
me with the earnestness and fervor that twice over has corrected my word into one more
congenial to thee, and more ample and true than that used by myself?" This trait of Peter's
character, which John has hinted on several occasions, is abundantly illustrated in the synoptic
narrative and in the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was grieved because he said unto him 
the third time, Lovest thou me? The grief was natural. The repeated question suggests
some doubt about his sincerity, and the adoption of the apostle's own word cut him with a more
poignant heart'thrust? He may have thought thus: Jesus seems to distrust the reality of my
personal affection. and will not accept my implication that this is more to me than the most
thoughtful ἀγαπή , the most deeply meditated and measured reverence. He was grieved because
a third time seems like an infinite repetition, and, if repeated thus a third time, it may be asked me
again and again every day of my life. He was grieved from the irresistible analogy between the

194. threefold denial of which he had been guilty, and this threefold interrogatory. He does not say as
before, "Yea, Lord;" but commences, Lord, thou knowest ( οἶδας ) all things. Omniscience
is freely conceded to the Lord. All things that Peter did, thought, or felt, all his bewilderment, all
his mistakes, all his impulsiveness and mixture of motive, all his self'assertion, all his weakness
and disloyalty, are known; but so also all the inner springs and lines of his nobler nature, and that
though he played the fool, he was a hypocrite in his denials. The Lord knew that his faith did not
really fail, though his courage did; and in virtue of this breadth of the Lord's knowing, he must
have come to full cognizance of the entire meaning of Peter's life. Thou (seest) hast come 
fully to know that I love thee! Just because thou intuitively knowest all things. The play
on οἶδας and γινώσκεις is obvious (see Joh_10:14; Joh_17:3, etc.). Jesus saith to him, Feed
my little sheep. £ It is said by some that, even if this be the true reading, we have simply a
renewal of the tenderness and strong emotion which led the Lord to speak of the ἄρνια on the
first occasion. Doubtless deep and glowing affection pervades the use of these epithets; but if
this be the sole explanation, then the reason of the adoption of πρόβατα in the second
commission is not evident, ἄρνια would have answered the purpose. There is distinct progress in
the ideas:
(1) "Feed my lambs;"
(2) "Rule (shepherd) my sheep;"
(3) "Feed my little sheep."

SIMEON, “INQUIRIES ABOUT LOVE TO CHRIST
Joh_21:17. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was
grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord,
thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.
IT requires much wisdom to discharge the office of a reprover aright. We have a duty to the
Church, not to countenance sin in any one, and least of all in a person professing godliness: on
the other hand, we have a duty to our offending brother, not to wound his feelings by a needless
severity. If his fault have been private, a private admonition will suffice; but if his sin have given
open offence, we must bear a public testimony against him, and require a public acknowledgment
of his fault. Our blessed Lord was full of compassion towards Peter, after his shameful dereliction
of duty: he looked upon him with pity; he appeared to him before any other of his Apostles; and
restored him publicly to his office, from which he had fallen. But in what manner did he restore
him? He drew forth from him, in the presence of all the Apostles, repeated confessions of his faith
and love; and re<invested him with his Apostolic commission, precisely as often as Peter had
publicly renounced it.
The questions put to Peter on this occasion, and the answers he gave to them, will naturally
furnish us with the following remarks:
I. That repeated violations of duty are a just ground for questioning our love to Christ—

195. There is no surer test of our love to Christ, than our obedience to his commands—
[This is what our blessed Lord himself requires as the fruit and evidence of our love; “If ye love
me, keep my commandments [Note: Joh_14:15.].” And certainly a more unexceptionable test
cannot be conceived. Had he required only some particular feelings, a person of a sanguine
disposition might easily have wrought up himself to those frames which he supposed to be
indications of love to Christ: and many, on the contrary, might have been discouraged, under the
idea that they never had experienced what was necessary to their salvation. But the evidence of
an obedient life is such as no man can have who does not love the Lord [Note: Joh_14:24.], and
as every man will have who does love the Lord [Note: Joh_14:23.]: so that it is less likely to be
mistaken than any other, and carries stronger conviction with it: it enables us to determine with
certainty, who does love him, and who does not [Note: Joh_14:21. with 2Co_8:8.]. St. John, who
was, beyond all others, the loving, and beloved Disciple, not only establishes this as the most
unequivocal test of our love [Note: 1Jn_5:3
and 2 John, ver. 6.], but without hesitation pronounces
him a “liar,” who pretends to have any knowledge of the Saviour, without justifying his pretensions
by this mark [Note: 1Jn_2:3 4.]. We may therefore assume this as an infallible distinction between
those who are sincere followers of Christ, and those who are only hypocrites and dissemblers
with God.]
In proportion as this evidence is wanting, doubts must be entertained of our love to Christ—
[We speak not now of a course of open sin, which would at once brand us as enemies of Christ:
nor, on the other hand, do we speak of those infirmities which are found in the best of men: we
refer rather to those habitual deviations from duty which afford us just reason to doubt of our
state. We know that, amongst men, there is always a desire to please those whom we love. The
“loving one another in word and in tongue is contrasted with the loving in deed and in truth
[Note: 1Jn_3:18.].” And supposing the fact to be true, that was an unanswerable question which
Delilah put to Sampson; “How canst thou say ‘I love thee,’ when thy heart is not with me
[Note: Jdg_16:15.]?” If then our heart be not with Christ, if we seek not after him in earnest prayer,
if we feel no desire to do his will, if we live in a way which is displeasing to him, if we indulge
dispositions and habits which are directly opposite to those which he himself cultivated, how can
we imagine that we love him? Such a life is rather characteristic of his enemies than of his
friends: and, while we live in such a state, we have far greater reason to suspect our love to him,
than to indulge any confidence respecting it.]
We wonder not that “Peter was grieved” at being a third time questioned about the sincerity of his
love: for we cannot but feel,
II. That the very existence of a doubt respecting it ought to fill us with deep concern—

196. Let it only be considered, what such a doubt implies: it involves a doubt,
1. Respecting our interest in God’s favour—
[There is no medium between a state of acceptance with God, and of obnoxiousness to his wrath
and indignation. We must either be his friends or his enemies: we must either be his children, or
“the children of the wicked one.” Now our blessed Lord has said, “If God were your father, ye
would love me [Note: Joh_8:42.]:” and consequently, if there be room for questioning our love to
him, there is room also for questioning our relation to God. And is it not an awful thing to doubt,
whether we be children of God, or children of the devil? Is it a light matter, to whom we belong?
Should any man feel composed or satisfied, till he has ascertained this point on sure and
scriptural grounds?]
2. Respecting our prospects in the eternal world—
[There are two states, in one or other of which all will be placed as soon as they go hence: to
some will be assigned a state of happiness in heaven; to others a state of misery in hell: and
whichever be our lot, it will be eternal.
Now that heaven cannot be the receptacle of those who love not the Lord Jesus, is evident: for
what should they do there: or how could they be happy, if they were there? We are not happy
even here amongst those whom we do not love; notwithstanding we may manage to conceal our
aversion, and to put on a cheerful countenance before them: but in heaven there can be no
concealment: our real dispositions will all be manifest; and if we cannot cordially unite in the
exercises of those around us, we shall find nothing to amuse or divert our minds: in other words,
if our whole delight be not in singing “praises, to God and to the Lamb,” we shall find no
congeniality of sentiment with those around us, nor any occupation suited to our taste: and the
very consciousness of our unfitness for the place, will render the place dreary, the company
odious, the employment irksome.
And must it not be inexpressibly painful to be left in suspense; to see time running away, and
eternity fast approaching, and not to know whether we shall spend that eternity in heaven or in
hell? If we were not ourselves melancholy examples of the same obduracy, we should wonder
how any one could give sleep to his eyes, or slumber to his eye<lids, till he had attained some
solution of this doubt. Were he only in suspense about the issue of a trial for life and death, it
would create considerable anxiety: how much more then should it, when it respects everlasting
happiness or everlasting misery! Well indeed may that man be grieved, who is in the least doubt
what answer he shall give to the question in our text, “Lovest thou me?”]

197. We cannot however but take occasion from the instance before us to observe,
III. That notwithstanding we have deviated for a time from the path of duty, we may be so far
recovered as to warrant an appeal to Christ, that we do indeed love him—
God forbid that we should encourage any man to think lightly of sin; or that any thing we speak for
the comfort of true penitents should have such a construction put upon it. Yet we must not
conceal the truth, for fear it should be perverted; nor must we forbear to magnify the grace of
God, lest some one should abuse it. Our position, properly understood, will not sanction false
confidence in any man. We concede, that a man may have fallen as grossly as ever Peter did, yet
may he afterwards recover his confidence towards God, provided, like Peter, he,
1. Bitterly bewail his sin—
[Peter, after his fall, “went out and wept bitterly:” and as our Lord had particularly “prayed for him,
that his faith might not fail,” we can have no doubt but that he sought for mercy in God’s
appointed way. Now let this be done in sincerity and truth, and we do not hesitate to declare, that
it shall not be done in vain: whether the guilt be contracted by an ignorant opposer of the Gospel,
or a backslidden professor of it, and whether it be more or less heinous, it shall certainly be
forgiven [Note: Isa_1:18. 1Jn_1:7; 1Jn_1:9.], and peace shall be again restored to his wounded
conscience. “God will heal his backslidings, and love him freely,” yea, and seal a sense of his
pardoning love upon his soul. Upon his confessing with David, “I have sinned against the Lord,”
the Lord will say to him, “I have put away thy sin; thou shall not die.” But besides this he must,]
2. Take occasion from his fall to search out and mortify his besetting sin—
[Peter’s besetting sins were self<preference, and self<confidence. He had such an over<weening
conceit of his own strength, that he engaged, that “though all the other Apostles should forsake
their Lord, he never would: no; he would rather die with him than deny him.” To this our Lord
alludes in his first question, “Lovest thou me more than these?
” To that part of the question Peter
made no reply: he would no more boast of his superiority to others; but was contented with
affirming what from his inmost soul he knew to be true. Moreover, he seems many years
afterwards to have had in view his own fatal miscarriage, when he gave that advice to the Church
at large; “Be sober, be vigilant; for your adversary the devil goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour: whom resist, steadfast in the faith.” Thus he learned both humility and
caution from his past experience.
A similar effect in us will warrant a similar assurance of our love to Christ. It is often a long time

198. before our besetting sin be even known to us: for sin has such a bewitching power, that it makes
us not unfrequently admire as a virtue, what others see and know to be a weakness and a crime.
Pride, envy, covetousness, and a variety of other evils, often lurk and reign in us, while we are
scarcely sensible of their existence in our hearts. Now if we have been led to search out these
hidden abominations, to mourn over them, to subdue and mortify them, and maintain a spirit
directly opposed to them, we can scarcely wish for a clearer evidence of our sincerity: the very
fruit we produce, indisputably proves our union with Christ; and consequently justifies an assured
conviction of our love to him. Thus humbling himself for his iniquity, he must yet further,]
3. Be determined, through grace, to live and die for Christ—
[If sin be unrepented of, or self<confidence be indulged, our resolutions, like Peter’s, may prove
fallacious: but if formed with a humble dependence upon Divine grace, and with a penitent sense
of our former miscarriages, they afford a strong additional testimony on our behalf. Peter speedily
evinced the renovation of his soul, when with undaunted courage he charged home upon all the
Jewish Sanhedrim the murder of his Lord, and set at nought all their threatenings against him.
And if we
also are enabled boldly to confess Christ, and cheerfully to suffer for him, and
unreservedly to devote ourselves unto him, the matter is clear; we do indeed love him; and we
may appeal to the heart<searching God that we “love him in sincerity” and truth.]
Let us now institute the same all<important inquiry, and address to every one of you the question
in the text. Let each one put his own name in the place of Peter’s, and conceive the Lord Jesus
Christ saying to him, Lovest thou
me? Perhaps all of you, except a few humble and contrite souls,
will be ready to answer this question in the affirmative: but if you would enter more
dispassionately into it, some of you might possibly apply to yourselves what was spoken to the
unbelieving Jews, “I know you, that ye have not
the love of God in you [Note: Joh_5:42.].” Others
of you might be in doubt what answer to make; while others might be able to adopt the language
of Peter, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”
Taking for granted that there are these three descriptions of persons here present, we shall
address ourselves,
1. To those who manifestly do not love the Lord Jesus Christ—
[How surprising is it that there should be such persons in the world! yet this is the state of the
generality even of those who live in this Christian land. And what shall I say to them? Are you not
yourselves amazed at your own wickedness? Do you not appear to yourselves to be even
monsters in impiety? Not to love Him, who is infinitely lovely! Not to love Him, who is so beloved
of God, and of the holy angels, and of all the saints both in heaven and earth! Not to love Him,

199. who has so loved you as to give himself for you, and to lay down his own life a ransom for your
souls! How astonishing is it that his wrath has not long since broken forth against you to the
uttermost to consume you! Must you not assent to the justice of that denunciation, “If any man
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maran<atha [Note: 1Co_16:22.]?” And do you
not tremble lest the curse of God should come upon you? O rest not in a state of such dreadful
guilt and danger: but contemplate Him; and turn unto Him; and make Him “the only beloved of
your souls.”]
2. To those who are in doubt whether they love him or not—
[Do not leave this matter any longer in suspense. Search your own hearts, and beg of God to
search and try you. Indulge not a needless scrupulosity on the one hand, neither “speak peace
unto your souls lightly” on the other hand. Of the two, it were better to be distressed by raising the
standard too high, than to deceive yourselves by putting it too low; because, in the one case, your
pain will be only small and transient; whereas, in the other, it will be unspeakable and eternal. Not
that it is at all needful to err on either side: the marks and evidences of true love to Christ are laid
down with the utmost precision in the Holy Scriptures; and if you read the Scriptures with earnest
prayer to God for the illumination of his Spirit, “He will guide you into all truth.” If you are destitute
of true love, he will convince you of sin; and if you are possessed of it, he will shine upon his own
work, and give you the witness of his Spirit that you are his. Your Lord and Judge “knoweth all
things:
” him therefore you cannot deceive: O pray that you may not deceive yourselves.]
3. To those who can truly say, “Lord, I do indeed love thee “—
[How sweet to you must be those words of our Lord, “If any man love me, my Father will love him,
and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him [Note: Joh_14:23.].” You may rest
assured, that these words shall be fulfilled to you. There is not any mercy which God will not
vouchsafe to those who make Christ their all in all. While you have a scriptural evidence that you
do this, you have a right to rejoice: and your joy is an earnest of that everlasting blessedness
which you shall possess in his immediate presence.
Be careful then to “abide in his love.” Guard against every thing that may impeach the sincerity of
your regard. “Keep yourselves diligently in his love;” and be attentive to the duties of your calling,
whatever they may be. To Peter, who was a minister of his Gospel, our Lord said, “Feed my
sheep; feed my lambs; feed my sheep.” This he required of him as the best testimony of his
regard. To you he says, “Finish the work which God hath given thee to do.” Can you instruct
others, whether adults or children? embrace every opportunity with joy. Can you do any thing
whereby your Lord may be glorified? do it: and “whatever your hand findeth to do, do it with your
might.”]

200. [Another Exordium.—It is universally acknowledged, that men ought to inquire into their actions,
so far at least as to ascertain that they are just and honourable: but few are aware of the
obligation which they lie under, to examine the dispositions of their minds towards God. Yet this is
of prime importance. We should ask ourselves frequently, Do I love God? Do I love the Lord
Jesus Christ, my Saviour? This was the question which our Lord himself put to Peter after his fall.
The question and the answer given to it, furnish us with a fit occasion to observe—]
Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so,
But do I love Jesus, and does he know, for to him it matters so?
We love him because he first loved us,
But to know our love is to him a must.

18
I tell you the truth, when you were younger
you dressed yourself and went where you
wanted; but when you are old you will stretch
out your hands, and someone else will dress
you and lead you where you do not want to
go."

201. GILL,” Joh 21:18 - Verily, verily, I say unto thee,.... A way of speaking often 
used by Christ, when about to deliver anything of considerable moment, partly to raise 
the attention, and partly for the more strong asseveration of what is spoken; and may 
have reference both to what went before, confirming Peter's declaration of his love, 
which would be demonstrated by dying for him, and the testimony of his omniscience, by
foretelling his death, and the kind of it; and to what follows after, which contains an 
account of Peter in his younger years, and a prophecy of what should befall him in old 
age: 
when thou wast young; not that he was old now, and capable he was of doing, and he 
did do but just now, what our Lord ascribes to his younger years: 
thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldst; that is, he could put on 
his clothes himself, and gird them about him with a girdle, as was the custom of the 
eastern nations, who usually wore long garments; and as he, a little before, had girt his 
fisher's coat about him, and walked where he pleased; denoting the liberty of his will in 
things natural and civil, which every man is possessed of, though not in things spiritual, 
without the grace of God; and also his power of doing what was most grateful to him, 
without being hindered by, or obliged to ask the leave of others: 
but when thou shalt be old; implying, that he should live to a good old age, and be 
continued to be useful and serviceable in the cause of Christ, in preaching his Gospel, 
and feeding his lambs and sheep, as he did; for he lived to the times of Nero (c), under 
whom he suffered, about forty years after this: 
thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee. This refers not 
so much to an inability through old age to gird himself, and therefore should stretch 
forth his hands, that another might with more ease do it for him, and which would be the
reverse of his former and present case; for the word gird is used in another sense than 
before, and signifies the binding of him as, a prisoner with cords, or chains; so "girding", 
with the Jews, is the same as rX-8WrmsrX-`Yr, "tying and binding" (d): but either to the 
stretching out of his hands upon the cross, when he should be girt and bound to that; for 
persons were sometimes fastened to the cross with cords, and not always with nails (e): 
or, as others think, to his carrying of his cross on his shoulders, with his hands stretched 
out and bound to the piece of wood which went across; though his being girded or bound
may as well be thought to follow the former, as this: indeed, what is added best suits with
the latter, 
and carry thee whither thou wouldst not; to a painful, cruel, shameful, and 
accursed death, the death of the cross; not that Peter in spirit would be unwilling to die 
for Christ, nor was he; but it signifies, that he should die a death disagreeable to the 
flesh. 
Barnes, “Joh 21:18 - 

202. When thou wast young - When in early life thou didst gird thyself, etc. The Jews, in
walking or running, girded their outer garments around them, that they might not be 
impeded. See the notes at Mat_5:38-41.
Thou girdedst - The expression here denotes freedom. He did as he pleased - he 
girded himself or not he went or remained, as he chose. Perhaps the expression refers 
rather to that time than to the previous period of Peter’s life. “Thou being now young or 
in the vigor of life, hast just girded thyself and come freely to the shore.” In either case 
the Saviour intimates that at the end of his life he would not be thus free.
When thou shalt be old - Ancient writers say that Peter was put to death about 
thirty-four years after this. His precise age at that time is not known.
Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands - When Peter was put to death, we are told 
that he requested that he might be crucified with his head downward, saying that he who 
had denied his Lord as he had done was not worthy to die as he did. This expression of 
Christ may intimate the readiness of Peter thus to die. Though he was not at liberty as 
when he was young, though bound by others, yet he freely stretched out his hands on the 
cross, and was ready to give up his life.
Another shall gird thee - Another shall bind thee. The limbs of persons crucified 
were often bound instead of being nailed, and even the body was sometimes girded to the
cross. See the notes at Mat_27:35.
Carry thee ... - Shall bear thee, or shall compel thee to go to prison and to death. This
is not said to intimate that Peter would be unwilling to suffer martyrdom, but it stands 
opposed to the freedom of his early life. Though willing when compelled to do it, yet he 
would not seek it; and though he would not needlessly expose himself to it, yet he would 
not shrink from it when it was the will of God.
Clarke, “Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands - Wetstein observes that it was a 
custom at Rome to put the necks of those who were to be crucified into a yoke, and to 
stretch out their hands and fasten them to the end of it; and having thus led them 
through the city they were carried out to be crucified. See his note on this place. Thus 
then Peter was girded, chained, and carried whither he would not - not that he was 
unwilling to die for Christ; but he was a man - he did not love death; but he loved his life 
less than he loved his God.
HENRY,  “II. Christ, having thus appointed Peter his doing work, next appoints him his 
suffering work. Having confirmed to him the honour of an apostle, he now tells him of 
further preferment designed him - the honour of a martyr. Observe,
1. How his martyrdom is foretold (Joh_21:18): Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, 
being compelled to it, and another shall gird thee (as a prisoner that is pinioned) and 
carry thee whither naturally thou wouldest not.
(1.) He prefaces the notice he gives to Peter of his sufferings with a solemn 
asseveration, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. It was not spoken of as a thing probable, 
which perhaps might happen, but as a thing certain, I say it to thee. “Others, perhaps, 
will say to thee, as thou didst to me, This shall not be unto thee; but I say it shall.” As 
Christ foresaw all his own sufferings, so he foresaw the sufferings of all his followers, and
foretold them, though not in particular, as to Peter, yet in general, that they must take up
their cross. Having charged him to feed his sheep, he bids him not to expect ease and 
honour in it, but trouble and persecution, and to suffer ill for doing well.

203. (2.) He foretels particularly that he should die a violent death, by the hands of an 
executioner. The stretching out of his hands, some think, points at the manner of his 
death by crucifying; and the tradition of the ancients, if we may rely upon that, informs 
us that Peter was crucified at Rome under Nero, a.d. 68, or, as others say, 79. Others 
think it points at the bonds and imprisonments which those are hampered with that are 
sentenced to death. The pomp and solemnity of an execution add much to the terror of 
death, and to any eye of sense make it look doubly formidable. Death, in these horrid 
shapes, has often been the lot of Christ's faithful ones, who yet have overcome it by the 
blood of the Lamb. This prediction, though pointing chiefly at his death, was to have its 
accomplishment in his previous sufferings. It began to be fulfilled presently, when he 
was imprisoned, Act_6:3; Act_5:18; Act_12:4. No more is implied here in his being 
carried whither he would not than that it was a violent death that he should be carried to,
such a death as even innocent nature could not think of without dread, nor approach 
without some reluctance. He that puts on the Christian does not put off the man. Christ 
himself prayed against the bitter cup. A natural aversion to pain and death is well 
reconcileable with a holy submission to the will of God in both. Blessed Paul, though 
longing to be unloaded, owns he cannot desire to be unclothed, 2Co_5:4.
(3.) He compares this with his former liberty. “Time was when thou knewest not any of
these hardships, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest.” Where 
trouble comes we are apt to aggravate it with this, that it has been otherwise; and to fret 
the more at the grievances of restraint, sickness, and poverty, because we have known 
the sweets of liberty, health, and plenty, Job_29:2; Psa_42:4. But we may turn it the 
other way, and reason thus with ourselves: “How many years of prosperity have I 
enjoyed more than I deserved and improved? And, having received good, shall I not 
receive evil also?” See here, [1.] What a change may possibly be made with us, as to our 
condition in this world! Those that have girded themselves with strength and honour, 
and indulged themselves in the greatest liberties, perhaps levities, may be reduced to 
such circumstances as are the reverse of all this. See 1Sa_2:5. [2.] What a change is 
presently made with those that leave all to follow Christ! They must no longer gird 
themselves, but he must gird them! and must no longer walk whither they will, but 
whither he will. [3.] What a change will certainly be made with us if we should live to be 
old! Those who, when they were young, had strength of body and vigour of mind, and 
could easily go through business and hardship, and take the pleasures they had a mind 
to, when they shall be old, will find their strength gone, like Samson, when his hair was 
cut and he could not shake himself as at other times.
(4.) Christ tells Peter he should suffer thus in his old age. [1.] Though he should be old,
and in the course of nature not likely to live long, yet his enemies would hasten him out 
of the world violently when he was about to retire out of it peaceably, and would put out 
his candle when it was almost burned down to the socket. See 2Ch_36:17. [2.] God would
shelter him from the rage of his enemies till he should come to be old, that he might be 
made the fitter for sufferings, and the church might the longer enjoy his services.
BENSON, “
John 21:18<19. Verily I say unto thee, When thou wast young, &c. — Peter being thus
restored to the apostolical office and dignity, from which he had fallen by openly denying his Master
three several times, Jesus proceeded to forewarn him of the persecutions to which he in particular
would be exposed in the execution of his office; intending thereby to inspire him with courage and
constancy. When thou wast young thou girdedst thyself, &c. — Our Lord seems to speak thus in
allusion to the strength and activity which he had now showed in swimming ashore after he had
girded his fisher’s coat upon him. But when thou shalt be old
— He lived about thirty<six years after
this; thou shalt stretch forth thy hands
— To be nailed to the cross; and another shall gird thee —
Such as were condemned to be crucified, were tied to the cross till the nails were driven

204. in; and shall carry thee — With the cross; whither thou wouldest not — According to nature: to the
place where the cross was to be set up. In other words, Instead of that liberty which in thy youth
thou enjoyedst, thou shalt in thine old age be bound and carried to prison and to death. Accordingly,
the evangelist adds, This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God
— Namely, that
he should suffer martyrdom, and die with his hands stretched out on a cross. Observe, reader, 1st,
It is not only by acting, but also and especially by suffering, that the saints glorify God. 2d, That with
regard to death, which we must all suffer, it is the great concern of every good man, whatever death
he dies, to glorify God in it. And when we die patiently, submitting to the will of God; die cheerfully,
rejoicing in hope of the glory of God; and die usefully, witnessing to the truth and goodness of
religion, and encouraging others, we glorify God in dying. 3d, That the death of the martyrs was, in a
special manner, for the glorifying of God. The truths of God, which they died in defence of, were
hereby confirmed; the grace of God, which carried them with so much constancy through their
sufferings, was hereby magnified; and the consolations of God, which abounded toward them in
their sufferings, and his promises, the springs of their consolations, have been hereby
recommended to the faith and joy of all the saints. When he had spoken this, he saith, Follow
me
— That is, as I now walk along, and show thereby that thou art willing to conform to my
example, and to follow me, even to the death of the cross. Agreeably to this, the unanimous
testimony of antiquity assures us that Peter was crucified.

CALVIN, “18.Verily, verily, I tell thee. After having exhorted Peter to feed his sheep, Christ
likewise arms him to maintain the warfare which was approaching. Thus he demands from him
not only faithfulness and diligence, but invincible courage in the midst of dangers, and firmness in
bearing the cross. In short, he bids him be prepared for enduring death whenever it shall be
necessary. Now, though the condition of all pastors is not alike, still this admonition applies to all
in some degree. The Lord spares many, and abstains from shedding their blood, satisfied with
this alone, that they devote themselves to him sincerely and unreservedly as long as they live.
But as Satan continually makes new and various attacks, all who undertake the office
of feeding must be prepared for death; as they certainly have to do not only with sheep, but also
with wolves. So far as relates to Peter, Christ intended to forewarn him of his death, that he might
at all times ponder the thought, that the doctrine of which he was a minister must be at length
ratified by his own blood. Yet it appears that in these words Christ did not speak with a view to
Peter alone, but that he adorned him with the honourable title of Martyr in presence of the others;
as if he had said, that Peter would be a very different kind of champion from what he had formerly
shown himself to be.
When thou wast younger. Old age appears to be set apart for tranquillity and repose; and,
accordingly, old men are usually discharged from public employments, and soldiers are
discharged from service. Peter might, therefore, have promised to himself at that age a peaceful
life. Christ declares, on the other hand, that the order of nature will be inverted, so that he who
had lived at his ease when he was young will be governed by the will of another when he is old,
and will even endure violent subjection.
In Peter we have a striking mirror of our ordinary condition. Many have an easy and agreeable life
before Christ calls them; but as soon as they have made profession of his name, and have been
received as his disciples, or, at least, some time afterwards, they are led to distressing struggles,
to a troublesome life, to great dangers, and sometimes to death itself. This condition, though
hard, must be patiently endured. Yet the Lord moderates the cross by which he is pleased to try
his servants, so that he spares them a little while, until their strength has come to maturity; for he
knows well their weakness, and beyond the measure of it he does not press them. Thus he
forbore with Peter, so long as he saw him to be as yet tender and weak. Let us therefore learn to
devote ourselves to him to the latest breath, provided that he supply us with strength.
In this respect, we behold in many persons base ingratitude; for the more gently the Lord deals
with us, the more thoroughly do we habituate ourselves to softness and effeminacy. Thus we
scarcely find one person in a hundred who does not murmur if, after having experienced long

205. forbearance, he be treated with some measure of severity. But we ought rather to consider the
goodness of God in sparing us for a time. Thus Christ says that, so long as he dwelt on earth, he
conversed cheerfully with his disciples, as if he had been present at a marriage, but that fasting
and tears afterwards awaited them,
(235) (Mat_9:15.)
Another will gird thee. Many think that this denotes the manner of death which Peter was to
die,
(236) meaning that he was hanged, with his arms stretched out; but I consider the
word gird as simply denoting all the outward actions by which a man regulates himself and his
whole life. Thou girdedst thyself; that is, “ wast accustomed to wear such raiment as thou
chosest, but this liberty of choosing thy dress will be taken from thee.” As to the manner in which
Peter was put to death, it is better to remain ignorant of it than to place confidence in doubtful
fables.
And will lead thee whither thou wouldst not. The meaning is, that Peter did not die a natural
death, but by violence and by the sword. It may be thought strange that Christ should say that
Peter’ death will not be voluntary; for, when one is hurried unwillingly to death, there is no
firmness and none of the praise of martyrdom. But this must be understood as referring to the
contest between the flesh and the Spirit, which believers feel within themselves; for we never
obey God in a manner so free and unrestrained as not to be drawn, as it were, by ropes, in an
opposite direction, by the world and the flesh. Hence that complaint of Paul,
“ good that I would I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do,”
(Rom_7:19.)
Besides, it ought to be observed, that the dread of death is naturally implanted in us, for to wish to
be separated from the body is revolting to nature. Accordingly, Christ, though he was prepared to
obey God with his whole heart, prays that he may be delivered from death. Moreover, Peter
dreaded the cross on account of the cruelty of men; and, therefore, we need not wonder if, in
some measure, he recoiled from death. But this showed the more clearly the obedience which he
rendered to God, that he would willingly have avoided death on its own account, and yet he
endured it voluntarily, because he knew that such was the will of God; for if there had not been a
struggle of the mind, there would have been no need of patience.
This doctrine is highly useful to be known; for it urges us to prayer, because we would never be
able, without extraordinary assistance from God, to conquer the fear of death; and, therefore,
nothing remains for us but to present ourselves humbly to God, and to submit to his government.
It serves also to sustain our minds, that they may not altogether faint, if it happen at any time that
persecutions make us tremble. They who imagine that the martyrs were not moved by any fear
make their own fear to yield them a ground of despair. But there is no reason why our weakness
should deter us from following their example, since they experienced a fear similar to ours, so
that they could not gain a triumph over the enemies of truth but by contending with themselves.
COKE, “
John 21:18<19. When thou wast young, &c.— St. Peter being thus restored to his
apostolic office and dignity, Jesus proceeded to forewarn him of the persecutions, to which he, in
particular, would be exposed in the execution of his office, intending thereby to inspire him with
courage and constancy; but we do not read a word of that spiritual dignity and authoritywhich his
pretended successors have arrogated. When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, &c. alluding
perhaps to the strength and activitywhich he had now shown in swimming to shore after he had
girded his fisher's coat upon him: but, when thou shalt be old,&c. "Instead of that liberty which in
youth thou enjoyedst, thou shalt in thine old agebe a prisoner; for thou shalt be bound and carried
whither thou wouldest not naturally incline to go, even to those sufferings to which flesh and blood
have the strongest aversion." Some have thought, that the words thou shalt stretch forth thy
hands, &c. allude to the manner of his death on the cross, and which indeed seems probable from
the next words, which the historian delivers as explanatory of those of our Lord, This spake he,

206. signifying by what death he should glorify God. However, the next words of our Lord must plainly be
understood to signify, that Peter was to follow him in the kind of his death: "Follow me, and shew
that thou art willing to conform to my example, and to follow meeven to the death of the cross."
Agreeably hereto, the unanimous voice of antiquity assures us, that St. Peter was crucified, and, as
some say, about forty years after this; but the exact time is not known.

NISBET, “Peter, with all his advantages, fell; he denied his Master. He was forgiven, but he
could not forget. Yet he learnt that the pain of that memory had its part to play in the purification,
the renewing, the strengthening of his character.
It is a greater evidence of the power of Christianity that Peter should have died a martyr than that
Saul, the fierce inquisitor, should have become the St. Paul of the great hymn to charity.
I. The one thing Peter wanted is told him.—At first reading this suggestion that he would die a
martyr seems a harsh one, but it was probably the one thing which could have restored his self<
respect, He is reassured of his capacity for heroism. For the fears of a good man are not allayed
when he has saved his skin, nor is his inner sense of shame wiped out by repentance. Peter
knew that he had been a coward, and the more keenly a man repents cowardice, the more
terribly is it borne in upon him that he may do the same thing again. Peter had protested that he
was ready to die, and having refused to die, he has done with protestations. ‘Thou knowest all
things; Thou knowest that I love Thee,’ is all that he will say. Christ makes the protestation for
him. He will be ready, Christ assures him, to die any death, and the last terror is lifted from the
soul of the man who, tradition tells us, voluntarily increased the sufferings of his own crucifixion.
No wonder that when our Lord called to him to follow he was ready to follow both to prison and to
death.
II. This, indeed, is forgiveness and renewal.—He does not wish to know that he has been
excused the penalty; he is willing, nay, desirous of paying that if he can atone; he has been
thwarting the Divine purpose; can he do anything to counteract the past, and so feel that he is
now at least in harmony with the Divine will? Yes, he has been a coward, but he may become a
martyr. His Lord’s faith in him redeems him from despair, sets him again in self<respect upon his
feet, and remains a continual inspiration from which he shall never again fall away.
—
Rev. F. Ealand.
Illustration
‘ “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these? Feed My sheep.” Do we love Christ;
then does our
love drive us to feed sheep or tend lambs? Have we “girded ourselves” to some
task in which our own profit is not concerned? have we committed ourselves to any cause, so as
to give others a chance to carry us whither we would not? Let us not accept that miserable view
of a layman, that he is a mere non<clergyman, a negative thing, a man unfettered by creeds and
articles and definitions—that is but a poor idea of a layman. A layman is a member of the laos or
people of Christ, and as such he is like his brethren of the clergy, both free and bound, free and
yet the servant of Christ, in Whose service alone he can find true freedom.’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE TWO GIRDINGS

207. Sometimes, and not unfrequently, this happens; the scheme on which the hearts of a few wise
men are set seems to be gaining ground year by year, and then, who knows how, from beyond
the world, as it seems, there comes over the people a wind of some new enthusiasm, and the
ideals so sedulously pursued seem by comparison insignificant and the old watchwords cease to
attract, and the reformers themselves are carried with more or less reluctance on wider ways not
of their own choosing. So it was with St. Peter, and so it is still. How deep an echo must these
words of our text find in the hearts of statesmen who have been anything more than opportunists!
The thoughts suggested for our consideration shall be these two simple but none the less
important ones—
I. That under Divine Providence we have each a work to do for God, each a station and
duties in the Divine society; some
sheep to feed, some lambs to tend.
II. That the way in which we can best do this work, while it must task our own utmost capacity
in wisdom and power, is yet (because it is under Divine power and wisdom) subject to changes
beyond our calculation, which confound the wisdom of the wisest and lay the greatest power in
the dust.
—Rev. Canon Beeching.
Illustration
‘The Divine Master is here bringing Himself into personal relations with His great and chief
Apostle. It was not, as when He appeared to the ten in the upper chamber, when words of peace
and of solemn commission were addressed to all—“Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent
Me, even so send I you.” These words were spoken to St. Peter amongst the rest, and we are
told, too, that there was a special and private interview vouchsafed to him alone: “The Lord is
risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon.” And we cannot doubt that then words of
reconciliation, words of pardon, words of peace were spoken to the Apostle who had betrayed his
Lord. But now, in the eyes of the Divine Master, something more is needed. St. Peter had lost
that lawful self<confidence that was necessary to the fulfilment of the apostolic office; he who in
the strength of his character, he who in the warmth and sensitiveness of his moral nature had
taken, naturally, the foremost place amongst his brother disciples, must needs have lost that
position of eminence and of dignity, having thrice denied Him. And so does the Divine Master will
to restore, and to reassure him, and so, on the shore of the lake, after the long night had been
spent in fruitless endeavour in the fishermen’s craft, and when, in obedience to the Divine Master,
the miraculous draught of fishes had taken place, He addresses Himself personally to St. Peter in
the presence of the rest.’

208. KRETZMANN 18-19,   “The interview with Peter affected also the Lord very deeply, because
His love for His disciples was most cordial. Referring probably to the action of Peter in girding his
coat about him when the Lord stood on the beach, Jesus tells him that these conditions are still
obtaining. He still has his freedom to come and go as he wished. But the time is coming, in his old
age, when Peter will be obliged to extend his hands, to be bound and manacled and to be led
where he has no natural inclination to go. It was a prophecy of Peter's martyrdom. According to
tradition which seems correct, Peter was put to death under the emperor Nero, by crucifixion,
thus giving glory and honor and praise to God, even in his death. Only he must follow Christ, his
Lord and Savior, at all times, whithersoever he was led. Note: The steadfast believer, sealing his
faith with his life, gives glory to, and causes glory to come upon, the name of God and Jesus.
Suffering for the sake of Christ belongs to the experiences of the average Christian, and
especially of the servants of the Word.
BURKITT, “In these words our Saviour forewarns Peter of his future sufferings, intimating, that he
should prove more stout than in his former trial. When he was young and unexperienced, he
enjoyed his liberty; but when he was grown older in years and stronger in grace, he should
willingly stretch forth his hands, and quietly suffer himself to be bound to the cross; for Peter (say
some) was not nailed, but tied and bound to the cross only, and so as a martyr or witness for the
truth of Christ glorified God by his death.
Learn hence, 1. The ministers of Jesus Christ, when they undertake the charge of his flock, must
prepare for suffering work, and their lot upon it: therefore is this prediction of Peter's suffering
joined with the former injunction, Feed my sheep.
2. That human nature in Christ's ministers, as well as in any other men, reluctates sufferings, has
an antipathy against a violent death: they shall carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
3. From the time of St. Peter's sufferings, when he is old; learn, that the timing of the saints'
sufferings is in Christ's hands; he can, and when he pleaseth doth, screen them from suffering till
old age; and when their work is almost done for God, they close their days with suffering for
him: When thou art old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee.
Learn lastly, that the suffering of the saints in general, and of the ministers of Christ in particular,
do redound much to the glory of God; which is a consideration that ought to reconcile them to the
cross of Christ, and support them under it: This spake he, signifying by what death he should 
glorify God.
ufeghTdHJoh_21:18. Verily, verily I say unto thee. —Upon the solemn re<institution of Peter,
follows the revelation of Jesus concerning the manner of his life, and his exode. The words of
Jesus give the prophecy of Peter’s future in a simple life<picture of the contrast between youth
and old age. Peter is a vigorous man, in the middle years of life, occupying, therefore, a position
betwixt youth and old age. The prophecy attaches itself to this fact, just as the contrast of youth
and old age is frequently made a symbol in the Old Testament also (Isa_40:30<31; Ezekiel
16; Hos_11:1). The Lord employs the homeliest figure for the most mysterious disclosure. Yet
allegorical traits mingle in the figure itself. That the young man girds himself, is agreeable to
nature; it is likewise in accordance with nature that “a perfectly decrepid old man”
stretches out
his hands for help and lets himself be girded and led by another. But the traits: Thou didst walk,
as a young man, whither thou wouldest, as an old man thou shalt be led whither thou wouldest
not, in themselves point to the prophetic meaning.

209. John gives the interpretation of the saying in Joh_21:19; he refers it to the martyrdom of Peter.
This is the centre of the dark, significant saying; a meaning, however, that was not fully disclosed
until Peter’s martyrdom took place. It was, however, intended that this saying should primarily
furnish Peter himself with a leading thought, and this thought is undoubtedly a word concerning
the development and future of Peter’s spiritual man—presented under the figure of the natural life
—connected with the intimation of a fate big with suffering. Tholuck justly remarks that if the
simile be intended to refer solely to the martyrdom of Peter, the protasis, the clause treating of his
youth, seems really idle; and also incongruous, inasmuch as it indicates a whole period of his life,
while the apodosis touches upon a moment only. But if, finally, in accordance with our
conception, the Epilogue present a more general life<picture of the Church of Christ in the
contrast of the Petrine and the Johannean type, then the saying will have a further application to
the Petrine form of the Church.
When thou wast younger
[ ü ́ ôå ἦò íåþôåñïò ]—Meyer adds: “than now.” The words however
simply denote, doubtless, the younger man, characterizing him with the collateral idea of one
youthfully strong, enterprising, self<willed. According to Meyer, the middle state of Peter is left
uncharaeterized. Its character, however, is that of transition, of gradual transformation from youth
to old age. If, indeed, we here find only the martyrdom predicted, neither does the figure of the
younger man constitute a trait of character. It undoubtedly denotes, however, the youthful
conduct of Peter in his discipleship; not his state before he came to Christ (Gerh., Luthardt); nor
does it include his present time of life. He girded himself in the acts of self<will of which the
evangelical history testifies; he finally in self<will trod the way of denial.
But when thou hast grown old
[ ὅôáí äὲ ãçñÜóçò ], literally, gray. —Indicative at once of the
last stage of Christian development (1Jn_2:13) and of Peter’s life’s evening (2Pe_1:14).
Thou wilt stretch forth thy hands
[ ἐêôåíåῖò ôὰò ÷åῖñÜò óïõ ].—An old man stretches out his
hands for help foreign to himself. Accordingly, the outstretching of the hands is forthwith a symbol
of submission to the power of another. The Christian grown gray in the faith resigns himself
utterly to the leading of the Lord. (Act_20:22.—“When I am weak, then am I strong”). The aged
Apostle carried out this submission by a submission to the power of Roman authority, in which
God ruled over him. The term ἐêôíåῖò ôὰò ÷åῖñÜò óïõ
has, by the Church Fathers and some
moderns, been referred to the extending of the hands on the cross (Maier, De Wette, Hilgenfeld,
and others); similarly, the girding has been considered to mean the binding upon the cross
(Tertullian), or the girding of a cloth about the loins. This view is contradicted by the fact that the
leading away does not occur until after the stretching forth of the hands. The effort has been
made to meet this objection by the remark (Casaub., Wetst. and others) that cross<bearers, on
being led forth, had their hands bound to the two sides of the cross. But this usage was not
customary in the provinces. We need but hold fast this truth, namely, that the stretching forth of
the hands, as a symbol of submission to another’s power, is once more significantly and
plastically reflected in the outstretching of the hands of a crucified martyr. The whole occurrence
is, in reality, a single life<picture.
And another
[ êáὶ ἄëëïò ].—The other unqualified: it is the figure of the objective might of Divine
Providence, ruling through human instruments (Joh_19:11).—Will gird thee
[ æþóåé óå ].—
Make thee ready for thy last journey;—in accordance with the figure of binding: he will fetter thee
(the symbolical act Act_21:11
means also, it is probable: the girdle, as the symbol of free will,
shall be changed into a fetter, as a symbol of the unfree will of a prisoner).—And will lead 
thee
[ êáὶ ïἵóåé ].—That objective, earnest guidance which puts an end to self<will; more closely
defined, apparently the leading away to martyrdom. Is

210. a violent death symbolized. However, it was the word of the Master, whose violent death had just
consisted in crucifixion, and who had now purposely selected the figure of the outstretching of the
hands, in order to express submission to the extremest fate. And death upon the cross was just
this (“Even the ἐîåðÝôáóá ôὰò ÷åῖñÜò ìïõ
, Isa_65:2, is referred by Barnabas, Ep. chap. 12;
Justin, Dial. c. Tr.
C. 97, to the crucifixion of Christ.” Tholuck). Whither thou wouldest 
not
[ ü ́ ðïõ ïὐ èÝëåéò ], i.e. not as regards thy inner life and new man, which latter has just been
active in the stretching forth of the hands, but as regards the old, expiring self<will of the natural
life; comp. the legend of Peter’s flight from prisoa at Rome. Calvin: Nunquam enim tam soluto
affectu obsequimur deo, quin caro velut funiculis quibusdam in contrarium nos
retrahat.
Augustine: Hunc invenit exitum ille negator et amator; præsumendo elatus, negando
prostratus, flendo purgatus, confitendo probatus, patiendo coronatus.
—(The interpretation of the
entire passage by Gurlitt and Paulus as a prophecy of actual senile weakness hardly needs
mention).

EXPOSITORS BIBLE, “
XXVI. CONCLUSION.
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither
thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall
gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Now this he spake, signifying by what
manner of death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow
Me. Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned back
on His breast at the supper, and said, Lord, who is he that betrayed Thee? Peter therefore seeing
Him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry
till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me. This saying therefore went forth among the
brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, that he should not die; but,
If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which beareth witness of
these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his witness is true. And there are also
many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that
even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written."<< Joh_21:18 25.
Peter, springing up in the boat, and snatching his fisher's coat, and girding it round him, and
dashing into the water, seemed to Jesus a picture of impetuous, inexperienced, fearless love.
And as He looked upon it another picture began to shine through it from behind and gradually
take its place<<the picture of what was to be some years later when that impetuous spirit had
been tamed and chastened, when age had damped the ardour though it had not cooled the love
of youth, and when Peter should be bound and led out to crucifixion for his Lord's sake. As Peter
wades and splashes eagerly to the shore the eye of Jesus rests on him with pity, as the eye of a
parent who has passed through many of the world's darkest places rests on the child who is
speaking of all he is to do and to enjoy in life. Fresh from His own agony, our Lord knows how

211. different a temper is needed for prolonged endurance. But little disposed to throw cold water on
genuine, however miscalculating enthusiasm, having it for His constant function to fan not to
quench the smoking flax, He does not disclose to Peter all His forebodings, but merely hints, as
the disciple comes dripping out of the water, that there are severer trials of love awaiting him than
those which mere activity and warmth of feeling can overcome, "When thou wast young, thou
girdedst thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch
forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not."
To a man of Peter's impulsive and independent temperament no future could seem less desirable
than that in which he should be unable to choose for himself and do as he pleased. Yet this was
the future to which the love he was now expressing committed him. This love, which at present
was a delightful stimulus to his activities, diffusing joy through all his being, would gain such
mastery over him that he would be impelled by it to a course of life full of arduous undertaking
and entailing much suffering. The free, spontaneous, self<considering life to which Peter had
been accustomed; the spirit of independence and right of choosing his own employments which
had so clearly shown itself the evening before in his words, "I go a<fishing"; the inability to own
hindrances and recognise obstacles which so distinctly betrayed itself in his leaping into the
water,<<this confident freedom of action was soon to be a thing of the past. This ardour was not
useless; it was the genuine heat which, when plunged in the chilling disappointments of life,
would make veritable steel of Peter's resolution. But such trial of Peter's love did await it; and it
awaits all love. The young may be arrested by suffering, or they may be led away from the
directions they had chosen for themselves; but the chances of suffering increase with years, and
what is possible in youth becomes probable and almost certain in the lapse of a lifetime. So long
as our Christian life utters itself in ways we choose for ourselves and in which much active energy
can be spent and much influence exerted, there is so much in this that is pleasing to self that the
amount of love to Christ required for such a life may seem very small. Any little disappointment or
difficulty we meet with acts only as a tonic, like the chill of the waters of the lake at dawn. But
when the ardent spirit is bound in the fetters of a disabled, sickly body; when a man has to lay
himself quietly down and stretch forth his hands on the cross of a complete failure that nails him
down from ever again doing what he would, or of a loss that makes his life seem a living death;
when the irresistible course of events leads him past and away from the hopefulness and joy of
life; when he sees that his life is turning out weak and ineffectual, even as the lives of others,<<
then he finds he has a more difficult part to play than when he had to choose his own form of
activity and vigorously put forth the energy that was in him. To suffer without repining, to be laid
aside from the stir and interest of the busy world, to submit when our life is taken out of our own
hands and is being moulded by influences that pain and grieve us<<this is found to test the spirit
more than active duty.
The contrast drawn by our Lord between the youth and age of Peter is couched in language so

212. general that it throws light on the usual course of human life and the broad characteristics of
human experience. In youth attachment to Christ will naturally show itself in such gratuitous and
yet most pardonable and even touching exhibitions of love as Peter here made. There is a girding
of oneself to duty and to all manner of attainment. There is no hesitation, no shivering on the
brink, no weighing of difficulties; but an impulsive and almost headstrong commital of oneself to
duties unthought of by others, an honest surprise at the laxity of the Church, much brave
speaking, and much brave acting too. Some of us, indeed, taking a hint from our own experience,
may affirm that a good deal we hear about youth being warmer in Christ's service than maturity is
not true, and that it had been a very poor prospect for ourselves if it had been true; and that with
greater truth it may be said that youthful attachment to Christ is often delusive, selfish, foolish,
and sadly in need of amendment. This may be so.
But however this may be, there can be no doubt that in youth we are free to choose. Life lies
before us like the unhewn block of marble, and we may fashion it as we please. Circumstances
may seem to necessitate our departing from one line of life and choosing another; but,
notwithstanding, all the possibilities are before us. We may make ours a high and noble career;
life is not as yet spoiled for us, or determined, while we are young. The youth is free to walk
whither he will; he is not yet irrecoverably pledged to any particular calling; he is not yet doomed
to carry to the grave the marks of certain habits, but may gird on himself whatever habit may fit
him best and leave him freest for Christ's service.
Peter heard the words "Follow Me," and rose and went after Jesus; John did the same without
any special call. There are those who need definite impulses, others who are guided in life by
their own constant love. John would always absorbedly follow. Peter had yet to learn to follow, to
own a leader. He had to learn to seek the guidance of his Lord's will, to wait upon that will and to
interpret it<<never an easy thing to do, and least of all easy to a man like Peter, fond of managing,
of taking the lead, too hasty to let his thoughts settle and his spirit fixedly consider the mind of
Christ.
It is obvious that when Jesus uttered the words "Follow Me," He moved away from the spot where
they had all been standing together. And yet, coming as they did after so very solemn a colloquy,
these words must have carried to Peter's mind a further significance than merely an intimation
that the Lord wished His company then. Both in the mind of the Lord and of Peter there seems
still to have been a vivid remembrance of Peter's denial; and as the Lord has given him
opportunity of confessing his love, and has hinted what this love will lead him to, He appropriately
reminds him that any penalties he might suffer for his love were all in the path which led straight
to where Christ Himself for ever is. The superiority to earthly distresses which Christ now enjoyed
would one day be his. But while he is beginning to take in these thoughts Peter turns and sees
John following; and, with that promptness to interfere which characterised him, he asked Jesus

213. what was to become of this disciple. This question betrayed a want of steadiness and
seriousness in contemplating his own duty, and met therefore with rebuke: "If I will that he tarry till
I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me." Peter was prone to intermeddle with matters
beyond his sphere, and to manage other people's affairs for them. Such a disposition always
betrays a lack of devotion to our own calling. To brood over the easier lot of our friend, to envy
him his capacity and success, to grudge him his advantages and happiness, is to betray an
injurious weakness in ourselves. To be unduly anxious about the future of any part of Christ's
Church, as if He had omitted to arrange for that future, to act as if we were essential to the well<
being of some part of Christ's Church, is to intermeddle like Peter. To show astonishment or
entire incredulity or misunderstanding if a course in life quite different from ours is found to be
quite as useful to Christ's people and to the world as ours; to show that we have not yet
apprehended how many men, how many minds, how many methods, it takes to make a world, is
to incur the rebuke of Peter. Christ alone is broad as humanity and has sympathy for all. He alone
can find a place in His Church for every variety of man.
Coming to the close of this Gospel, we cannot but most seriously ask ourselves whether in our
case it has accomplished its object. We have admired its wonderful compactness and literary
symmetry. It is a pleasure to study a writing so perfectly planned and wrought out with such
unfailing beauty and finish. No one can read this Gospel without being the better for it, for the
mind cannot pass through so many significant scenes without being instructed, nor be present at
so many pathetic passages without being softened and purified. But after all the admiration we
have spent upon the form and the sympathy we have felt with the substance of this most
wonderful of literary productions, there remains the question: Has it accomplished its object?
John has none of the artifice of the modern teacher who veils his didactic purpose from the
reader. He plainly avows his object in writing: "These signs are written that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." After
half a century's experience and consideration, he selects from the abundant material afforded him
in the life of Jesus those incidents and conversations which had most powerfully impressed
himself and which seemed most significant to others, and these he presents as sufficient
evidence of the divinity of his Lord. The mere fact that he does so is itself very strong evidence of
his truth. Here is a Jew, trained to believe that no sin is so heinous as blasphemy, as the
worshipping more gods than one or making any equal with God<<a man to whom the most
attractive of God's attributes was His truth, who felt that the highest human joy was to be in
fellowship with Him in whom is no darkness at all, who knows the truth, who is the truth, who
leads and enables men to walk in the light as He is in the light. What has this hater of idolatry and
of lying found as the result of a holy, truth<seeking life? He has found that Jesus, with whom he
lived on terms of the most intimate friendship, whose words he listened to, the working of whose
feelings he had scanned, whose works he had witnessed, was the Son of God. I say the mere
fact that such a man as John seeks to persuade us of the divinity of Christ goes far to prove that

214. Christ was Divine. This was the impression His life left on the man who knew Him best, and who
was, judging from his own life and Gospel, better able to judge than any man who has since lived.
It is sometimes even objected to this Gospel that you cannot distinguish between the sayings of
the Evangelist and the sayings of his Master. Is there any other writer who would be in the
smallest danger of having his words confounded with Christ's? Is not this the strongest proof that
John was in perfect sympathy with Jesus, and was thus fitted to understand Him? And it is this
man, who seems alone capable of being compared with Jesus, that explicitly sets Him
immeasurably above himself, and devotes his life to the promulgation of this belief.
John, however, does not expect that men will believe this most stupendous of truths on his mere
word. He sets himself therefore to reproduce the life of Jesus, and to retain in the world's memory
those salient features which gave it its character. He does not argue nor draw inferences. He
believes that what impressed him will impress others. One by one he cites his witnesses. In the
simplest language he tells us what Christ said and what He did, and lets us hear what this man
and that man said of Him. He tells us how the Baptist, himself pure to asceticism, so true and holy
as to command the submission of all classes in the community, assured the people that he,
though greater and felt to be greater than any of their old prophets, was not of the same world as
Jesus. This man who stands on the pinnacle of human heroism and attainment, reverenced by
his nation, feared by princes for the sheer purity of his character, uses every contrivance of
language to make the people understand that Jesus is infinitely above him, incomparable. He
himself, he said, was of the earth: Jesus was from above and above all; He was from heaven,
and could speak of things He had seen; He was the Son.
The Evangelist tells us how the incredulous but guileless Nathanael was convinced of the
supremacy of Jesus, and how the hesitating Nicodemus was constrained to acknowledge Him a
teacher sent by God. And so he cites witness after witness, never garbling their testimony, not
making all bear the one uniform testimony which he himself bears; nay, showing with as exact a
truthfulness how unbelief grew, as how faith rose from one degree to another, until the climax is
reached in Thomas's explicit confession, "My Lord and my God!" No doubt some of the
confessions which John records were not acknowledgments of the full and proper divinity of
Christ. The term "Son of God" cannot, wherever used, be supposed to mean that Christ is God.
We, though human, are all of us sons of God<<in one sense by our natural birth, in another by our
regeneration. But there are instances in which the interpreter is compelled to see in the term a
fuller significance, and to accept it as attributing divinity to Christ. When, for example, John says,
"No man hath seen God at any time: the only'begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him," it is evident that he thinks of Christ as standing in a unique relation to
God, which separates Him from the ordinary relation in which men stand to God. And that the
disciples themselves passed from a more superficial use of the term to a use which had a deeper
significance is apparent in the instance of Peter. When Peter in answer to the inquiry of Jesus

215. replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus replied, "Flesh and blood hath not
revealed this unto thee"; but this was making far too much of Peter's confession if he only meant
to acknowledge Him to be the Messiah. In point of fact, flesh and blood did reveal the
Messiahship of Jesus to Peter, for it was his own brother Andrew who told Peter that he had
found the Messiah, and brought him to Jesus. Plainly therefore Jesus meant that Peter had now
made a further step in his knowledge and in his faith, and had learned to recognise Jesus as not
only Messiah, but as Son of God in the proper sense.
In this Gospel, then, we have various forms of evidence. We have the testimonies of men who
had seen and heard and known Jesus, and who, though Jews, and therefore intensely prejudiced
against such a conception, enthusiastically owned that Christ was in the proper sense Divine. We
have John's own testimony, who writes his Gospel for the purpose of winning men to faith in
Christ's Sonship, who calls Christ Lord, applying to Him the title of Jehovah, and who in so many
words declares that "the Word was God"<<the Word who became flesh in Jesus Christ. And what
is perhaps even more to the purpose, we have affirmations of the same truth made by Jesus
Himself: "Before Abraham was I am"; "I and the Father are one"; "The glory which I had with Thee
before the world was"; "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." Who that listens to these
sayings can marvel that the horrified Jews considered that He was making Himself equal with
God and took up stones to stone Him for blasphemy? Who does not feel that when Jesus allowed
this accusation to be brought against Him at the last, and when He allowed Himself to be
condemned to death on the charge, He must have put the same meaning on His words that they
put? Otherwise, if He did not mean to make Himself equal with the Father, would He not have
been the very first to unmask and protest against so misleading a use of language? Had He not
known Himself to be Divine, no member of the Sanhedrim could have been so shocked as He to
listen to such language or to use it.
But in reading this Gospel one cannot but remark that John lays great stress on the miracles
which Christ wrought. In fact, in announcing his object in writing it is especially to the miracles he
alludes when he says, "These signs are written that ye might believe." In recent years there has
been a reaction against the use of miracles as evidence of Christ's claim to be sent by God. This
reaction was the necessary consequence of a defective view of the nature, meaning, and use of
miracles. For a long period they were considered as merely wonders wrought in order to prove
the power and authority of the Person who wrought them. This view of miracles was so
exclusively dwelt upon and urged, that eventually a reaction came; and now this view is
discredited. This is invariably the process by which steps in knowledge are gained. The pendulum
swings first to the one extreme, and the height to which it has swung in that direction measures
the momentum with which it swings to the opposite side. A one<sided view of the truth, after being
urged for a while, is found out and its weakness is exposed, and forthwith it is abandoned as if it
were false; whereas it is only false because it claimed to be the whole truth. Unless it be carried

216. with us, then, the opposite extreme to which we now pass will in time be found out in the same
way and its deficiencies be exposed.
In regard to miracles the two truths which must be held are: first, that they were wrought to make
known the character and the purposes of God; and, secondly, that they serve as evidence that
Jesus was the revealer of the Father. They not only authenticate the revelation; they themselves
reveal God. They not only direct attention to the Teacher; they are themselves the lessons He
teaches.
During the Irish famine agents were sent from England to the distressed districts. Some were
sent to make inquiries, and had credentials explaining who they were and on what mission; they
carried documents identifying and authenticating them. Other agents went with money and
waggon<loads of flour, which were their own authentication. The charitable gifts told their own
story; and while they accomplished the object the charitable senders of the mission had in view,
they made it easy of belief that they came from the charitable in England. So the miracles of
Christ were not bare credentials accomplishing nothing else than this<<that they certified that
Christ was sent from God; they were at the same time, and in the first place, actual expressions
of God's love, revealing God to men as their Father.
Our Lord always refused to show any bare authentication. He refused to leap off a pinnacle of the
Temple, which could serve no other purpose than to prove He had power to work miracles. He
resolutely and uniformly declined to work mere wonders. When the people clamoured for a
miracle, and cried, "How long dost Thou make us doubt?" when they pressed Him to the
uttermost to perform some marvellous work solely and merely for the sake of proving His
Messiahship or His mission, He regularly declined. On no occasion did He admit that such
authentication of Himself was a sufficient cause for a miracle. The main object, then, of the
miracles plainly was not evidential. They were not wrought chiefly, still less solely, for the purpose
of convincing the onlookers that Jesus wielded super<human power.
What, then, was their object? Why did Jesus so constantly work them? He wrought them because
of His sympathy with suffering men,<<never for Himself, always for others; never to accomplish
political designs or to aggrandise the rich, but to heal the sick, to relieve the mourning; never to
excite wonder, but to accomplish some practical good. He wrought them because in His heart He
bore a Divine compassion for men and felt for us in all that distresses and destroys. His heart was
burdened by the great, universal griefs and weaknesses of men: "Himself took our infirmities and
bare our sicknesses." But this was the very revelation He came to make. He came to reveal
God's love and God's holiness, and every miracle He wrought was an impressive lesson to men
in the knowledge of God. Men learn by what they see far more readily than by what they hear,
and all that Christ taught by word of mouth might have gone for little had it not been sealed on

217. men's minds by these consistent acts of love. To tell men that God loves them may or may not
impress them, may or may not be believed; but when Jesus declared that He was sent by God,
and preached His gospel by giving sight to the blind, legs to the lame, health to the hopeless, that
was a form of preaching likely to be effectual. And when these miracles were sustained by a
consistent holiness in Him who worked them; when it was felt that there was nothing ostentatious,
nothing self<seeking, nothing that appealed to mere vulgar wonder in them, but that they were
dictated solely by love,<<when it was found that they were thus a true expression of the character
of Him who worked them, and that that character was one in which human judgment at least
could find no stain, is it surprising that He should have been recognised as God's true
representative?
Supposing, then, that Christ came to earth to teach men the fatherhood and fatherliness of God<<
could He have more effectually taught it than by these miracles of healing? Supposing He wished
to lodge in the minds of men the conviction that man, body and soul, was cared for by God; that
the diseased, the helpless, the wretched were valued by Him,<<were not these works of healing
the most effectual means of making this revelation? Have not these works of healing in point of
fact proved the most efficient lessons in those great truths which form the very substance of
Christianity? The miracles are themselves, then, the revelation, and carry to the minds of men
more directly than any words or arguments the conception of a loving God, who does not abhor
the affliction of the afflicted, but feels with His creatures and seeks their welfare.
And, as John is careful throughout his Gospel to show, they suggest even more than they directly
teach. John uniformly calls them "signs," and on more than one occasion explains what they were
signs of. He that loved men so keenly and so truly could not be satisfied with the bodily relief He
gave to a few. The power He wielded over disease and over nature seemed to hint at a power
supreme in all departments. If He gave sight to the blind, was He not also the light of the world? If
He fed the hungry, was He not Himself the bread which came down from heaven?
The miracles, then, are evidences that Christ is the revealer of the Father, because they do
reveal the Father. As the rays of the sun are evidences of the sun's existence and heat, so are
the miracles evidences that God was in Christ. As the natural and unstudied actions of a man are
the best evidences of his character; as almsgiving that is not meant to disclose a charitable spirit,
but for the relief of the poor, is evidence of charity; as irrepressible wit, and not clever sayings
studied for effect, is the best evidence of wit<<so these miracles, though not wrought for the sake
of proving Christ's union with the Father, but for the sake of men, do most effectually prove that
He was one with the Father. Their evidence is all the stronger because it was not their primary
object.
But for us the question remains, What has this Gospel and its careful picture of Christ's character

218. and work done for us? Are we to close the Gospel and shut away from us this great revelation of
Divine love as a thing in which we claim no personal share? This exhibition of all that is tender
and pure, touching and hopeful, in human life<<are we to look at it and pass on as if we had been
admiring a picture and not looking into the very heart of all that is eternally real? This accessibility
of God, this sympathy with our human lot, this undertaking of our burdens, this bidding us be of
good cheer<<is it all to pass by us as needless for us? The presence that shines from these
pages, the voice that sounds so differently from all other voices<<are we to turn from these? Is all
that God can do to attract us to be in vain? Is the vision of God's holiness and love to be without
effect? In the midst of all other history, in the tumult of this world's ambitions and contendings,
through the fog of men's fancies and theories, shines this clear, guiding light: are we to go on as if
we had never seen it? Here we are brought into contact with the truth, with what is real and
abiding in human affairs; here we come into contact with God, and can for a little look at things as
He sees them: are we, then, to write ourselves fools and blind by turning away as if we needed
no such light<<by saying, "We see, and need not be taught?"
19
Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by
which Peter would glorify God. Then he said
to him, "Follow me!"
Jfb, “
This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God — not,
therefore, a mere prediction of the manner of his death, but of the honor to be conferred 
upon him by dying for his Master. And, indeed, beyond doubt, this prediction was 
intended to follow up his triple restoration: - “Yes, Simon, thou shall not only feed My 
lambs, and feed My sheep, but after a long career of such service, shalt be counted 
worthy to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me — By thus 
connecting the utterance of this prediction with the invitation to follow Him, the 
Evangelist would indicate the deeper sense in which the call was understood, not merely 
to go along with Him at that moment, but to come after Him, “taking up his cross.”

219. Clarke, “Joh 21:19 - 
Should glorify God - Ancient writers state that, about thirty-four years after this, 
Peter was crucified; and that he deemed it so glorious a thing to die for Christ that he 
begged to be crucified with his head downwards, not considering himself worthy to die in
the same posture in which his Lord did. So Eusebius, Prudentius, Chrysostom, and 
Augustin. See Calmet.
Follow me - Whether our Lord meant by these words that Peter was to walk with him
a little way for a private interview, or whether he meant that he was to imitate his 
example, or be conformed to him in the manner of his death, is very uncertain.
Barnes, “By what death ... - In these words two things are implied:
1. That Peter would die a violent death; and,
2. That his death would be such as to honor God.
The ancients say that Peter was crucified at Rome, about 34 years after this, with his 
head downward. Clemens says that he was led to the crucifixion with his wife, and 
sustained her in her sufferings by exhorting her to remember the example of her Lord. 
He also adds that he died, not as the philosophers did, but with a firm hope of heaven, 
and patiently endured the pangs of the cross (Strom. vii.). This declaration of the Saviour
was doubtless continually before the mind of Peter, and to the hour of his death he 
maintained the utmost constancy and fidelity in his cause, thus justifying the appellation 
which the Lord Jesus gave him - a rock.
GILL, “Joh 21:19 - This spake he,.... These are the words of the evangelist, explaining 
the meaning of Christ in like manner, as in Joh_12:33
signifying by what death he should glorify God; for by the above words Christ not 
only intimated that Peter should die, not a natural, but a violent death, or that he should 
die a martyr in his cause, but the very kind of death he should die, namely, by 
crucifixion; and that Peter was crucified at Rome, ecclesiastical history confirms (f), 
when Christ was magnified, and God was glorified by his zeal and courage, faith and 
patience, constancy and perseverance to the end: 
and when he had spoken this: concerning the usage and treatment he should meet 
with, the sufferings he should undergo, and death he should die for his sake, for the 
present trial of him: 
he saith unto him, follow me: which may be understood literally, Jesus now rising 
up, and ordering him to come after him; and yet as a sign of his following him, in a 
spiritual sense, exercising every grace upon him, discharging every duty towards him, 
faithfully and constantly performing his work and office, as an apostle and preacher of 
the Gospel, in which he had now reinstated and confirmed him, and patiently bearing 
and suffering all kind of reproach, persecution, and death, for his name's sake. 
HENRY, “2. The explication of this prediction (Joh_21:19), This spoke he to Peter, 
signifying by what death he should glorify God, when he had finished his course. 
Observe, (1.) That it is not only appointed to all once to die, but it is appointed to each 
what death he shall die, whether natural or violent, slow or sudden, easy or painful. 
When Paul speaks of so great a death, he intimates that there are degrees of death; there

220. is one way into the world, but many ways out, and God has determined which way we 
should go. (2.) That it is the great concern of every good man, whatever death he dies, to 
glorify God in it; for what is our chief end but this, to die to the Lord, at the word of the 
Lord? When we die patiently, submitting to the will of God, - die cheerfully, rejoicing in 
hope of the glory of God, - and die usefully, witnessing to the truth and goodness of 
religion and encouraging others, we glorify God in dying: and this is the earnest 
expectation and hope of all good Christians, as it was Paul's, that Christ may be 
magnified in them living and dying, Phi_1:20. (3.) That the death of the martyrs was in 
a special manner for the glorifying of God. The truths of God, which they died in the 
defence of, are hereby confirmed. The grace of God, which carried them with so much 
constancy through their sufferings, is hereby magnified. And the consolations of God, 
which have abounded towards them in their sufferings, and his promises, the springs of 
their consolations, have hereby been recommended to the faith and joy of all the saints. 
The blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the church, and the conversion and 
establishment of thousands. Precious therefore in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints, as that which honours him; and those who thereby at such an expense honour 
him he will honour.
The word of command he gives him hereupon: When he had spoken thus, observing 
Peter perhaps to look blank upon it, he saith unto him, Follow me. Probably he rose from
the place where he had sat at dinner, walked off a little, and bade Peter attend him. This 
word, Follow me, was (1.) A further confirmation of his restoration to his Master's 
favour, and to his apostleship; for Follow me was the first call. (2.) It was an explication 
of the prediction of his sufferings, which perhaps Peter at first did not fully understand, 
till Christ gave him that key to it, Follow me: “Expect to be treated as I have been, and to 
tread the same bloody path that I have trodden before thee; for the disciple is not 
greater than his Lord.” (3.) It was to excite him to, and encourage him in, faithfulness 
and diligence in his work as an apostle. He had told him to feed his sheep, and let him set
his Master before him as an example of pastoral care: “Do as I have done.” Let the under-
shepherds study to imitate the Chief Shepherd. They had followed Christ while he was 
here upon earth, and now that he was leaving them he till preached the same duty to 
them though to be performed in another way, Follow me; still they must follow the rules 
he had given them and the example he had set them. And what greater encouragement 
could they have than this, both in services and in sufferings? [1.] That herein they did 
follow him, and it was their present honour; who would be ashamed to follow such a 
leader? [2.] That hereafter they should follow him, and that would be their future 
happiness; and so it is a repetition of the promise Christ had given Peter (Joh_13:36), 
Thou shalt follow me afterwards. Those that faithfully follow Christ in grace shall 
certainly follow him to glory.
CALVIN, “
19.Signifying by what death he should glorify God. This circumlocution is highly
emphatic; for though the end held out to all believers ought to be, to glorify God both by their life
and by their death, yet John intended to employ a remarkable commendation for adorning the
death of those who, by their blood, seal the Gospel of Christ and glorify his name, as Paul
teaches us, (Phi_1:20.) It is now our duty to reap the fruit which the death of Peter has yielded;
for it ought to be imputed to our indolence, if our faith be not confirmed by it, and if we do not
keep the same object in view, that the glory of God may be displayed by us. If the Papists had
considered this end in the death of the martyrs, that sacrilegious and detestable invention would
never have entered into their minds, that their death contributes to appease the wrath of God, and
to pay the ransom for our sins.
And when he had said this. Christ here explains what was the design of that prediction of a
violent death. It was, that Peter might be prepared to endure it; as if he had said, “ you must

221. endure death by my example, follow your leader.” Again, that Peter may the more willingly obey
God who calls him to the cross, Christ offers himself as a leader; for this is not a general
exhortation by which he invites him to imitate himself, but he speaks only of the kind of death.
Now, this single consideration greatly soothes all the bitterness that is in death, when the Son of
God presents himself before our eyes with his blessed resurrection, which is our triumph over
death.
 
LANGE, “Joh_21:19. Signifying by what manner of death [ óçìáßùí ðïßù ̣ èáíÜôù ̣]—A
Johannean expression, comp. Joh_12:33; Joh_18:32. By what
(a) death,—bringing to view not
only the kind of death, as martyrdom, namely, but also the distinguished species of that
death.
According to Tertullian (Scorp.
15, De Præscr. 35, and Euseb. H. E. III.1), Peter was crucified.
When John wrote, the crucifixion of Peter (67, or 68 A. D.) must already have been an event in
ecclesiastical history well known in the Christian churches. Had Peter still been living, John would
not thus have publicly interpreted the dark saying of Christ, even though he were himself perfectly
cognizant of its meaning.—He was to glorify God
[ äïîÜóåé ôὸíèåüí ].—Martyrdom has a reflex
lustre from the crucial death of Christ; it redounds in a peculiar degree to the glory of God. Hence
the expression: äïîÜæåéí ôὸí èåüí
was later a customary term for martyrdom (Suicer, Thes. 1. p.
949). [To suffer for Christ is to glorify God; but there is a martyrdom of life as well as of death; by
the former John, by the latter Peter and Paul glorified God.—P. S.].
Follow me.
[ Ἀêïëïýèåé ìïé . This, in a wider sense, is the sum and substance, the beginning and
end of Christian life, as an imitation of the life of Christ in its sinless perfection, its divine<human
character, its prophetic, priestly, and kingly office, and in its states of humiliation and exaltation
from the cross to the crown.—P. S.] Comp. Joh_13:36. Different interpretations:
1. Follow me in doctrine and till death (Cyril, Theophylact);
2. In the death of the cross (Euthym.);
3. In a martyr’s death (Meyer);
4. As ecumenical bishop or teacher (Chrysostom);
5. Reference at once to the guidance of the Church and to martyrdom (Ewald);
6. The words are to be taken literally: the Redeemer leads the disciple aside in order to a
confidential communication (Kuinoel, Paulus, Thol., and others). Meyer in objection to this view:
The words would thereby be stripped of all significance.
The first question to be asked is, what they mean when considered in connection with the
context; this done, the immediately subsequent: Peter turned himself about and 
saw,
etc. following [ἐðéóôñáöåὶò ὁ ÉÉÝôñïò âëÝðåé ôὸí ìáèçôὴí ï ͂ í ἠãÜðá ὁ Ἰçóïῦò
ἀêïëïõèïῦíôá
, Joh_21:20] is decisive in favor of the primarily literal sense. It is to be considered,
moreover, that Peter could not understand this saying of Jesus as distinctly referring to
martyrdom, if he did not understand the previous saying as referring to the same. We suppose,
however, the significance of this literal sense to have lain in the fact that Jesus retired to the
background of the scene, as if for departure to the invisible world, and hence that the summons to
Peter was a trial. The literal expression, therefore, has likewise a symbolical background. He
must prepare himself for the possibility of the immediate decision of his fate; i.e.
stand a test of
absolute submission. (Leben Jesu,
ii. pp. 17, 19. Luthardt). This assumption does not exclude the
design of a further communication. On the contrary, such a communication was probably
intended, since the imminent walk could not be a merely symbolical one. Had the communication,

222. however, as strictly confidential, been designed to exclude John, that disciple would doubtless not
have followed too.

20
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom
Jesus loved was following them. (This was the
one who had leaned back against Jesus at the
supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to
betray you?")
T-idAh , “Peter, turning about — showing that he followed immediately as 
directed.
seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on Jesus’ 
breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? — The 
Evangelist makes these allusions to the peculiar familiarity to which he had been 
admitted on the most memorable of all occasions, perhaps lovingly to account for Peter’s
somewhat forward question about him to Jesus; which is the rather probable, as it was 
at Peter’s suggestion that he put the question about the traitor which he here recalls 
(
Joh_13:24, Joh_13:25).
GILL, “Joh 21:20 - Then Peter turning about,.... After he was risen, and was 
following Christ: 
seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following also; by whom is designed John 
the Evangelist, and writer of this Gospel; who hearing Christ bid Peter follow him, rose 
up likewise, and went after him, in token of his willingness to serve him, and suffer for 
him too: 
which also leaned on his breast at supper; at the "paschal supper", as the Persic 
version here reads it: "and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?" This disciple had 
a peculiar share in the love of Christ, as man, and was admitted to great nearness and 
freedom with him, signified by his leaning on his breast; and who being so near his 
person, and allowed to use a liberty with him, everyone did not take, at the motion of 
Peter, asked our Lord at supper, who the person was he meant that should betray him; 
all this is said as descriptive of the disciple here spoken of, which leaves it without any 
doubt, that it was the Apostle John; and who, from Joh_21:2 appears to be one of this 
company, and is further confirmed at Joh_21:24.

223. BENSON, “John 21:20<21. Then Peter, turning about — Namely, as he followed Jesus; seeth the
disciple whom Jesus loved following
— Silently, and in humble token of his readiness likewise to
suffer the greatest extremities in the service of so gracious a Master. Peter, seeing him follow Jesus
in the same manner as he himself did, though he was not called to it, saith to Jesus, Lord, what
shall this man do
— What is to become of him? must he, who is now following with me, partake of
the like sufferings, and in like manner testify his love by dying for thee? “There is a peculiar spirit
and tenderness in this plain passage. Christ orders Peter to follow him, in token of his readiness to
be crucified in his cause. John stays not for the call, he rises and follows him too; but says not one
word of his own love or zeal. He chose that the action only should speak this; and even when he
records the circumstance, he tells us not what the action meant, but with great simplicity relates the
fact only. If here and there a generous heart sees and emulates it, be it so; but he is not solicitous
that men should admire it. It was addressed to his beloved Master, and it was enough that he
understood it.” — Doddridge.
 
BARCLAY 20-24, “
This passage makes it quite clear that John must have lived to a very old age;
he must have lived on until the report went round that he was going to go on living until Jesus came
again. Now, just as the previous passage assigned to Peter his place in the scheme of things, this
one assigns to John his place. It was his function to be pre<eminently the witness to Christ. Again,
people in the early Church must have made their comparisons. They must have pointed out how
Paul went away to the ends of the earth. They must have pointed out how Peter went here and
there shepherding his people. And then they may have wondered what was the function of John
who had lived on in Ephesus until he was so old that he was past all activity. Here is the answer:
Paul might be the pioneer of Christ, Peter might be the shepherd of Christ, but John was the
witness of Christ. He was the man who was able to say: "I saw these things, and I know that they
are true."
To this day the final argument for Christianity is Christian experience. To this day the Christian is the
man who can say: "I know Jesus Christ, and I know that these things are true."
So, at the end, this gospel takes two of the great figures of the Church, Peter and John. To each
Jesus had given his function. It was Peter's to shepherd the sheep of Christ, and in the end to die
for him. It was John's to witness to the story of Christ, and to live to a great old age and to come to
the end in peace. That did not make them rivals in honour and prestige, nor make the one greater or
less than the other; it made them both servants of Christ.
Let a man serve Christ where Christ has set him. As Jesus said to Peter: "Never mind the task that
is given to someone else. Your job is to follow me." That is what he still says to each one of us. Our
glory is never in comparison with other men; our glory is the service of Christ in whatever capacity
he has allotted to us.
Henry,
Joh 21:20-25 - 
In these verses, we have,
I. The conference Christ had with Peter concerning John, the beloved disciple, in 
which we have,
1.The eye Peter cast upon him (
Joh_21:20): Peter, in obedience to his Master's 
orders, followed him, and turning about, pleased with the honours his Master now did 
him, he sees the disciple whom Jesus loved following likewise. Observe here, (1.) How 
John is described. He does not name himself, as thinking his own name not worthy to be 
preserved in these records; but gives such a description of himself as sufficiently informs 
us whom he meant, and withal gives us a reason why he followed Christ so closely. He 

224. was the disciple whom Jesus loved, for whom he had a particular kindness above the 
rest; and therefore you cannot blame him for coveting to be as much as possible within 
hearing of Christ's gracious words during those few precious minutes with which Christ 
favoured his disciples. It is probable that mention in here made of John's having leaned 
on Jesus's breast and his enquiring concerning the traitor, which he did at the 
instigation of Peter (Joh_13:24), as a reason why Peter made the following enquiry 
concerning him, to repay him for the former kindness. Then John was in the favourite's 
place, lying in Christ's bosom, and he improved the opportunity to oblige Peter. And now
that Peter was in the favourite's place, called to take a walk with Christ, he thought 
himself bound in gratitude to put such a question for John as he thought would oblige 
him, we all being desirous to know things to come. Note, As we have interest at the 
throne of grace, we should improve it for the benefit of one another. Those that help us 
by their prayers at one time should be helped by us with ours at another time. This is the 
communion of saints. (2.) What he did: he also followed Jesus, which shows how well he 
loved his company; where he was there also would this servant of his be. When Christ 
called Peter to follow him, it looked as if he designed to have some private talk with him; 
but such an affection John had to his Master that he would rather do a thing that seemed
rude than lose the benefit of any of Christ's discourse. What Christ said to Peter he took 
as said to himself; for that word of command, Follow me, was given to all the disciples. 
At least he desired to have fellowship with those that had fellowship with Christ, and to 
accompany those that attended him. The bringing of one to follow Christ should engage 
others. Draw me and we will run after thee, Son_1:4. (3.) The notice Peter took of it: 
He, turning about, seeth him. This may be looked upon either, [1.] As a culpable 
diversion from following his Master; he should have been wholly intent upon that, and 
have waited to hear what Christ had further to say to him, and then was he looking about
him to see who followed. Note, The best men find it hard to attend upon the Lord 
without distraction, hard to keep their minds so closely fixed as they should be in 
following Christ: and a needless and unseasonable regard to our brethren often diverts 
us from communion with God. Or, [2.] As a laudable concern for his fellow-disciples. He 
was not so elevated with the honour his Master did him, in singling him out from the 
rest, as to deny a kind look to one that followed. Acts of love to our brethren must go 
along with actings of faith in Christ.
COKE, “John 21:20. Then Peter, turning about,— "There is a spirit and tenderness in this plain
passage, which I can never read (says Dr. Doddridge,) without the most sensible emotion. Christ
orders Peter to follow him, in token of his readiness to be crucified in his cause. John stays not for
the call; he rises and follows too; but he says not one word of his love and his zeal; he chose that
the action should speak that; and, when he records this circumstance, he tells us not what that
action meant, but with great simplicity relates the fact only. If here and there a generous heart,
glowing, like his own, with love to Christ, sees and emulates it, be it so; but he is not solicitous that
men should admire it: it was addressed to his Master, and it was enough that he understood it. And
can any man be base or absurd enough to imagine, that such a man could spend his life in
promoting a notorious falsehood, and, at last, in his old age, when his relish for everything but
goodness and immortality was gone, would so solemnly attestit as he does in the conclusion of his
gospel?—May God deliver every one that reads this from a head so fatally beclouded by the
corruptions of the heart!"
 
KRETZMANN 20-23,  “
Peter was not yet altogether healed of his impetuousness. As he was
walking along with Jesus, he could not refrain from turning back, and thus noticed that John, who
here describes himself very exactly, was also coming their way. Peter at once asked: Lord, but
this man, what of him? The Lord rebuked this lack of undivided attention on the part of Peter,
telling him that it was entirely a matter for Him to decide whether John should remain until He

225. would return. As soon as a person spends his time in musing upon what other people will do, he
neglects some opportunities for service. The great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, has charge of His
Church and will manage its affairs in such a way as to have them all redound to the salvation of
them that are His and to the glory of God. Any interference with His government is foolish and
sinful. Whether Jesus referred to His coming at the end of the world or to that coming which
began in the judgment of Jerusalem, Mat_16:28, is immaterial. But the saying of Jesus was
understood falsely. Some of the disciples believed that John would never die. This notion,
however, he himself corrects by emphasizing the words: If I will that he tarry. All things are in the
power, under the government of Jesus, the Lord and King of the Kingdom of Grace. A simple
trust in the wisdom of His guidance should always characterize the attitude of all believers. We
must be sure that the risen Christ has the fortunes of those that are His in His hand and will
always guide them in the way which is to their value and benefit.
INTERVARSITY, “Later Disciples Bear Witness to theINTERVARSITY, “Later Disciples Bear Witness to theINTERVARSITY, “Later Disciples Bear Witness to theINTERVARSITY, “Later Disciples Bear Witness to the
Beloved Disciple's WitnessBeloved Disciple's WitnessBeloved Disciple's WitnessBeloved Disciple's Witness
The reference to the Beloved Disciple (vv. 20-23) leads right into an identification
of him as
the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down (v.
24). As the author of this Gospel, the Beloved Disciple fulfills Jesus' commission
to those who were with him to be witnesses to him (15:27). The word
wrote does
not necessarily mean John actually did the writing. Indeed, one tradition of the
church names his scribe as Prochorus. Or perhaps there were a number of
disciples involved. But
wrote does mean the Beloved Disciple is at least directly
responsible for what was written, just as Pilate was responsible for the title on the
cross (19:22). This Gospel claims to be an eyewitness account.
Next is an attestation to this witness:
We know that his testimony is true (v. 24).
Some think this is the Beloved Disciple bearing witness to himself, but the
editorial "we" is followed by a first-person plural pronoun (cf. 3:11; 1 Jn 1:2, 4),
not a third-person singular as here
(his). So this is the testimony of John's
disciples, probably the leaders within the churches or at least those who have
helped with the production of the Gospel. It is not clear on what grounds they
bear witness. Were some of them also eyewitnesses who can certify the
accuracy of the information, or are they testifying that the Spirit has confirmed to
them the truth of what John has said (cf. 1 Jn 2:27)? If it is the latter sense, then

226. we today can join our testimony to theirs and to that of Christian brothers and
sisters throughout the ages who have found the truth of this Gospel confirmed by
the living Jesus through the Spirit.
This Gospel, which is so full of cryptic sayings and deeds, ends with one last
enigma. After the
we of verse 24, who is this I in verse 25? Are these the words
of a further redactor, beyond the work of the disciples in view in verse 24? Or is
this first-person singular pronoun merely part of the hyperbole (Brown
1970:1129)? Or is this the Beloved Disciple himself, who now "feels free to make
an overt self-reference" (Carson 1991:686)? Or is this neither the Beloved
Disciple himself nor the disciples who have helped with the Gospel but the scribe
who has taken it down (cf. Rom 16:22, Michaels 1989:364)? It would be fitting for
a scribe to conclude with a reference to all
the books that would be written! One's
view of the identity of this person will be determined in large part by how one
thinks the Gospel came to be produced. For my own part, the last option
mentioned is attractive, but there can be no certainty on this matter.
This final voice adds one last witness to the greatness of Jesus. Such hyperbole
may be a literary convention (Talbert 1992:264; Moloney 1998:562), but in this
case it is quite literally true, for there is no limit to the riches that are in Christ
Jesus. Jesus is the very presence of God come into our midst. All authority has
been given to him, and judgment is in his hands. He is quite strict regarding
obedience, but he is full of mercy. He has revealed the Father, overcome the
prince of this world and taken away the sin of the world. He also washed his
disciples' feet and served them breakfast. No human being has ever dreamed up
such a God--we have a hard enough time remaining true to the witness he has
left us through his servants, in particular, through John, the Beloved Disciple.
CALVIN, “
20.And Peter, turning about. We have in Peter an instance of our curiosity, which is
not only superfluous, but even hurtful, when we are drawn aside from our duty by looking at
others; for it is almost natural to us to examine the way in which other people live, instead of
examining our own, and to attempt to find in them idle excuses. We willingly deceive ourselves by
this semblance of apology, that other people are no better than we are, as if their indolence freed
us from blame. Scarce one person in a hundred considers the import of those words of Paul,

227. Every man shall bear his own burden, (Gal_6:5.)
In the person of one man, therefore, there is a general reproof of all who look around them in
every direction, to see how other men act, and pay no attention to the duties which God has
enjoined on themselves. Above all, they are grievously mistaken in this respect, that they neglect
and overlook what is demanded by every man’ special calling.
Out of ten persons it may happen that God shall choose one, that he may try him by heavy
calamities or by vast labors, and that he shall permit the other nine to remain at ease, or, at least,
shall try them lightly. Besides, God does not treat all in the same manner, but makes trial of every
one as he thinks fit. As there are various kinds of Christian warfare, let every man learn to keep
his own station, and let us not make inquiries like busybodies about this or that person, when the
heavenly Captain addresses each of us, to whose authority we ought to be so submissive as to
forget every thing else.
Whom Jesus loved. This circumlocution was inserted, in order to inform us what was the reason
why Peter was induced to put the question which is here related; for he thought it strange that he
alone should be called, and that John should be overlooked, whom Christ had always loved so
warmly. Peter had, therefore, some apparently good reason for asking why no mention was made
of John, as if Christ’ disposition towards him had undergone a change. Yet Christ cuts short his
curiosity, by telling him that he ought to obey the calling of God, and that he has no right to
inquire what other people do.
BURKITT, “Our Saviour having foretold the manner of Peter's death in the foregoing verses;
here in these, Peter is inquisitive after, and very solicitous for the knowledge of, what kind of
death St. John should die. Christ checks him for his curiosity, as meddling with that which did not
concern him, yet intimates to him that John should live till he came to take vengeance on the
Jews, and destroy Jerusalem: If I will that he tarry till I come; that is, till I come to execute
judgment upon Jerusalem.
Here we may note, there are two great vanities in men with reference to knowledge; the one a
neglect to know what is our duty to know; the other a curiosity to know what doth not belong to us
to know. Christ tells Peter, it was none of his business to enquire what John should do; but he
ought rather to be preparing for what he himself should suffer: If I will that he tarry, what is that 
to thee.
NISBET, “It is somewhat strange that no reference is made in the early registers of the Festival
of John. The Venerable Bede is said to be the first writer in whose works it is mentioned; and the
probability is that its first observance was merely local; in the thirteenth century, however, it
became universal, and ever since has been celebrated, year after year, on the twenty<seventh
day of December, with services of a high and holy character.
I. The man.—His form will stand out more distinctly if we but glance at some leading
circumstances in his history. He was young, perhaps in his teens, when he entered into public
life; and was a Galilæan, son of Zebedee and Salome, and junior brother of James the Great,
with whom he pursued the vocation of a fisherman. Like all young men of true and powerful
temperament, he was capable of vehement anger, which would occasionally burst forth
(Luk_9:51-56). Hence he was surnamed ‘a Son of Thunder.’ When the hour of danger came he

228. never turned his back in the day of battle. Such was John: lowly, yet noble; calm, yet passionate;
gentle, yet brave; simple, yet real; in the main, a man to be greatly admired and safely followed.
II. The disciple.—He is now generally spoken of as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved;’ and this
appellation he gave himself on the evening of the betrayal; for neither did Jesus nor the other
disciples use it. But it was a true and proper title nevertheless: Jesus loved him unutterably. His
heart went out specially to him; and John’s heart was won completely by the heart of Jesus. So
closely were they bound together that John companioned with Jesus wherever He went, and
when He sat down John ‘leaned upon His Breast.’ Thus John was absorbed with his Lord, and
thus he rested in the calm assurance of His Divine favour. This was John’s heaven on earth.
III. The apostle.—After the Ascension of Christ, John associated intimately with Peter, and this
brotherly fellowship continued until they returned to Jerusalem from an evangelising tour in
Samaria. From this time John seems to have taken little part in any outward movement; but he
finally quitted the Holy City and transferred his home to Ephesus. After residing here for a while,
he was banished to Patmos—a dreary islet in the Ægean Sea; yet albeit a wretched place, he
was favoured here with the glorious visions so eloquently described in the Apocalypse. What he
did in his exile, and how long he remained in it, we know not; but toward the end of the first
Christian century he returned to his adopted city. He was now an old man—the last survivor of
those who had been with Jesus. He calls his converts in Ephesus ‘my little children’; and thence,
as a centre, he exercised all the holy influence he possessed. His Gospel and Epistles—‘the last
and richest treasures of sacred literature’—show the ripeness of his experience and the depth of
his wisdom. At the age of one hundred and twenty he prepared his soul for the New Jerusalem,
and died peacefully at Ephesus, surrounded by his ‘children.’
Act_1:8 (R.V.)
DIVINE ENDUEMENT
‘Ye shall receive power, when the holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses.’
Act_1:8 (R.V.)
God the Holy Ghost alone is the Source of power. Why do I believe that this power is a real thing,
a real gift?
I. It is clearly promised by God.—God, Who never fails His people, has promised power: ‘Not
by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.’ When Jesus Christ went away
He said, ‘It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to
you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.’ What was He to do when He came? ‘Tarry ye in
Jerusalem till ye be clothed with power from on high.’ ‘When the Holy Ghost is come upon you ye
shall receive power.’ Could the Word of God be more clearly pledged to anything than to this, that
the Holy Ghost shall give us power? I look to see whether this promise was fulfilled in the first
disciples, and I see a body of men, not only Apostles, but all the early disciples—men and women
just like ourselves—I find them tarrying in Jerusalem, gathered together, weak, irresolute, timid,
and perplexed. I hear the sound of rushing, mighty wind; I see tongues of fire come down upon
that body. What has happened? They have received the spirit of power; these timid, irresolute
fishermen and peasants are turned into the world’s Apostles—quite bold, always knowing the

229. next thing to do, they faced the world. These humble people, unknown, unnamed, go out a little
body, full of the Holy Ghost, and they convert the world. This is my first point, without which all
else is nothing, that this thing which we are promised from heaven, this power of the Holy Ghost,
is a real thing, as real as the wind, though we cannot see it, a real spiritual gift.
II. And that brings me to ask, Do you want it?
—And the answer to that depends upon the
answer to another question. What is the object of your life? What are you aiming at in life? The
whole object for which the Holy Ghost was to come upon us was that we should be witnesses to
Jesus Christ throughout the world. When we look to<day round the world it is a comforting thing
(is it not?) to see how Jesus Christ is winning the world every day. Thousands more every day
are being converted to Jesus Christ. ‘See how we prevail nothing. Behold the world has gone
after Him.’ But how has it been done? That is the wonderful thing. Not by great preachers, not by
people whose names are known to the world, but by thousands and tens of thousands of
witnesses, who, in every part of the world, of every colour and of every race, bear witness to
Jesus Christ. If we are not aiming at being witnesses, we do not want spiritual power. If we are
aiming at other things, riches and pleasures, there are plenty of things that will do for our needs;
but if everyone of us—and not the least you young boys and girls who are starting in life—make
this our aim, to be a faithful witness to the death, then we want power. ‘O God, give me power!’
will be our cry.
III. And so we come to our last question. How are we to receive this power?
—And of course
we turn—we are right to turn—to that early Church, that band of early disciples, to see how they
received their power.
(a) They waited for it. ‘Tarry in Jerusalem, till ye be clothed with power from on high.’ They did not
force the hand of God; they did not get impatient. They waited upon God. When I find people
giving up their prayers because they do not feel anything; when I find them disheartened and
depressed, because they say that when they were confirmed they were full of warm aspirations,
but that they are now so dry and cold, I know they have missed the first lesson. They are to wait
—to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit. It is certain to come, whether they feel it or not; it does
not depend upon feeling at all.
(b) Then while you tarry, pray. Pray with all your soul; not merely wish vaguely for a little more
spiritual power—that is not the way to get it; but pray with all your mind and soul and being if it is
to come at all, for it is the most precious thing in the world. It is violence which takes the Kingdom
of Heaven by force; pray, then, with all your soul. Pray in faith, and pray together.
(c) Use the channels of the power. That is what the first disciples did. They were all baptized,
every one of them. ‘Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of

230. heaven.’ But they were not only baptized, they were confirmed. ‘The chiefs of the Church were
sent down’—you will find all this in your Bible—‘then laid they their hands on them and they
received the Holy Ghost, for as yet He was fallen upon none of them.’ So they bowed their heads
for the falling of the Holy Ghost in Confirmation. Have all of you here been confirmed? If not, why
not? Put yourselves in the way of the power, as the first disciples did. But they were not content
even with that. ‘They abode in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship and in the breaking of the
bread and in the prayers.’ Keep with the Church—certainly every Sunday. Those first disciples
put themselves in the way of power by the breaking of the bread and the prayers.
—
Bishop A. F. Winnington<Ingram.
Illustration
‘My hands were filled with many things
That I did precious hold
As any treasure of a king’s,
Silver or gems or gold.
Ths Master came and touched my hands
(The scars were in His own)
And at His feet my treasures sweet
Fell shattered one by one.
“I must have empty hands,” said He,
“Wherewith to work My works through thee.”
My hands were strong in fancied strength,
But not in power Divine,
And bold to take up tasks at length

231. That were not His but mine.
The Master came and touched my hands,
(And might was in His own);
But mine since then have powerless been
Save His are laid thereon.
“And it is only thus,” said He,
“That I can work My works through thee.”
21
When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what
about him?"
Barnes, “Joh 21:21 - 
What shall this man do? - This question probably means, “What death shall he 
die?” But it is impossible to ascertain certainly why Peter asked this question. John was a
favorite disciple, and perhaps Peter suspected that he would have a happier lot, and not 
be put to death in this manner. Peter was grieved at the question of Jesus; he was 
probably deeply affected with the account of his own approaching sufferings; and, with 
perhaps a mixture of grief and envy, he asked what would be his lot. But it is possible, 
also, that it was from kindness to John - a deep solicitude about him, and a wish that he 
might not die in the same manner as one who had denied his Lord. Whatever the motive 
was, it was a curiosity which the Lord Jesus did not choose to gratify.
GILL, “Joh 21:21 - Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus,.... Peter took a great deal of 
notice of John, and very likely understood, that he meant by his rising up and following 
Christ, to signify his readiness for service and suffering in the cause of Christ: and 
therefore says, 

232. Lord, and what shall this man do? The phrase in the original is very short and 
concise, "Lord, and this what?" The Arabic version renders it, "and this, of what mind is 
he?" it looks as if he was of the same mind with me to follow thee; but it is better 
rendered by us, "what shall this man do?" in what work and service shall he be employed,
who seems as willing as I am to serve thee? or it may be rendered thus, "and what shall 
this man suffer?" shall he suffer at all? and if he shall, what kind of death shall he 
undergo? what will become of him? what will be his end? how will it fare with him? this 
he said, partly out of curiosity, and partly out of concern for him, they two being 
associates and intimates, who had a strong affection for each other.
HENRY, “2. The enquiry Peter made concerning him (Joh_21:21): “Lord, and what shall
this man do? Thou hast told me my work - to feed the sheep; and my lot - to be carried 
whither I would not. What shall be his work, and his lot?” Now this may be taken as the 
language, (1.) Of concern for John, and kindness to him: “Lord, thou showest me a great 
deal of favour. Here comes thy beloved disciple, who never forfeited thy favour, as I have 
done; he expects to be taken notice of; hast thou nothing to say to him? Wilt thou not tell
how he must be employed, and how he must be honoured?” (2.) Or of uneasiness at what
Christ had said to him concerning his sufferings: “Lord, must I alone be carried whither 
I would not? Must I be marked out to be run down, and must this man have no share of 
the cross?” It is hard to reconcile ourselves to distinguishing sufferings, and the troubles 
in which we think we stand alone. (3.) Or of curiosity, and a fond desire of knowing 
things to come, concerning others, as well as himself. It seems, by Christ's answer, there 
was something amiss in the question. When Christ had given him the charge of such a 
treasure, and the notice of such a trial, it had well become him to have said, “Lord, and 
what shall I do then to approve myself faithful to such a trust, in such a trial? Lord, 
increase my faith. As my day is, let my strength be.” But instead of this, [1.] He seems 
more concerned for another than for himself. So apt are we to be busy in other men's 
matters, but negligent in the concerns of our own souls - quick-sighted abroad, but dim-
sighted at home - judging others, and prognosticating what they will do, when we have 
enough to do to prove our own work, and understand our own way. [2.] He seems more
concerned about events than about duty. John was younger than Peter, and, in the 
course of nature, likely to survive him: “Lord,” says he, “what times shall he be reserved 
for?” Whereas, if God by his grace enable us to persevere to the end, and finish well, and 
get safely to heaven, we need not ask, “What shall be the lot of those that shall come after
us?” Is it not well if peace and truth be in my days? Scripture-predictions must be eyed 
for the directing of our consciences, not the satisfying of our curiosity.
22
Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive
until I return, what is that to you? You must
follow me."

233. Jfb, “If I will that he tarry fill I come, what is that to thee? follow thou 
me — From the fact that John alone of the Twelve survived the destruction of Jerusalem,
and so witnessed the commencement of that series of events which belongs to “the last 
days,” many good interpreters think that this is a virtual prediction of fact, and not a 
mere supposition. But this is very doubtful, and it seems more natural to consider our 
Lord as intending to give no positive indication of John’s fate at all, but to signify that 
this was a matter which belonged to the Master of both, who would disclose or conceal it 
as He thought proper, and that Peter’s part was to mind his own affairs. Accordingly, in 
“follow thou Me,” the word “thou” is emphatic. Observe the absolute disposal of human 
life which Christ claims: “If I will that he tarry till I come,” etc.
GILL, “Joh 21:22 - Jesus saith unto him,.... Christ vouchsafes an answer to Peter, 
but not a very clear one, nor such an one as he wished for, and not without a rebuke to 
him: 
if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? meaning, that if it was his 
pleasure that he should live, not till his second coming to judge the quick and dead at the
last day, but till he should come in his power and take vengeance on the Jewish nation, 
in the destruction of their city and temple by the Romans, and in dispersing them 
through the nations of the world; till which time John did live, and many years after; and
was the only one of the disciples that lived till that time, and who did not die a violent 
death; what was that to Peter? it was no concern of his. The question was too curious, 
improper, and impertinent; it became him to attend only to what concerned himself, and
he was bid to do: 
follow thou me; whence it may be observed, that it becomes the saints to mind their 
duty in following Christ, and not concern themselves in things that do not belong to 
them. Christ is to be followed by his people as their leader and commander; as the 
shepherd of the flock; as a guide in the way, and the forerunner that is gone before; as 
the light of the world; as the pattern and example of the saints, and as their Lord and 
master; and that in the exercise of every grace, as humility and meekness, love, zeal, 
patience, and resignation to the will of God; and also in the discharge of duty, both with 
respect to moral life and conversation, and instituted worship, as attendance on public 
service, and submission to ordinances; and likewise in enduring sufferings patiently and 
cheerfully for his sake. Saints are under obligation to follow Christ; it is their interest so 
to do; it is honourable, safe, comfortable, and pleasant, and ends in happiness here and 
hereafter.
BENSON, “John 21:22<23. Jesus saith, If I will that he tarry — Without dying; till I come — With
power and great glory, to execute the judgment I have threatened on mine enemies. Till then he
certainly did tarry, and who can say when or how he died? What is that to thee
— Or to any one
else? Follow thou me
— Mind thou thine own duty, and endeavour to prepare for thine own
sufferings, and pry not, with a vain curiosity, into the secret events which may befall him or any
other of thy brethren. Then
— As this answer was not rightly understood; went this saying abroad
among the brethren
— That is, among the other followers of Christ; (our Lord himself taught them to
use that appellation,
John 20:17;) that that disciple should not die;and the advanced age to which
he lived gave some further colour for it; yet Jesus said not unto him
— Or of him; He shall not die — 
Not expressly. And St. John himself, at the time of writing his gospel, seems not to have known

234. clearly whether he should die or not; but, If I will, &c. — He only said the words expressed before,
which, if St. John understood, he did not think proper to explain.
 
COKE, “
John 21:22<23. If I will that he tarry, &c.— "If it is my pleasure that he should live till my
coming [in judgment upon Jerusalem], what is that to thee?" So the word
ενειν signifies, being
elliptical for the words
ενειν εν τη σαρκι, to abide in the flesh. We have both the elliptical and
complete phrase,
Philippians 1:24<25. The brethren, it seems, understood, by Christ's coming, his
coming to future judgment; and upon this foundation they grounded their notion that John should not
die: and that there was such a notion and tradition among the ancients, learned writers have
particularly shewn; and among the rest, Fabricius, in his Codex Apocal. Nov. Test. vol. 2: p. 533.
This prophetic suggestion of the longevity of St. John was verified by the event; for he lived till
Trajan's time, or thereabouts, which was near one hundred years after Christ's birth, and thirty years
after the destruction of Jerusalem; so that he did abide in the flesh till his Lord came to take signal
vengeance on that devoted city. Our Lord's reply to St. Peter seems very strongly to discourage a
curiosity ofinquiring into other men's affairs, and into doctrines which are of no importance in
religion.
 
Barnes, “Joh 21:22 - 
That he tarry - That he live. The same word is used to express life in 
Phi_1:24-25; 
1Co_15:6.
Till I come - Some have supposed this to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem; others
to the day of judgment; others to signify that he would not die a violent death; but the 
plain meaning is, “If I will that he should not die at all, it is nothing to thee.” In this way 
the apostles evidently understood it, and hence raised a report that he would not die. It is
remarkable that John was the last of the apostles; that he lived to nearly the close of the 
first century, and then died a peaceful death at Ephesus, being the only one, as is 
supposed, of the apostles who did not suffer martyrdom. The testimony of antiquity is 
clear on this point; and though there have been many idle conjectures about this passage 
and about the fate of John, yet no fact of history is better attested than that John died 
and was buried at Ephesus.
What is that to thee? - From this passage we learn:
1. That our main business is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. That there are many subjects of religion on which a vain and impertinent curiosity 
is exercised. All such curiosity Jesus here reproves.
3. That Jesus will take care of all his true disciples, and that we should not be unduly 
solicitous about them.
4. That we should go forward to whatever he calls us to persecution or death - not 
envying the lot of any other man, and anxious only to do the will of God.
Clarke, “Joh 21:22 - 
If I will that he tarry till I come - There are several opinions concerning this: the 
following are the principal.
1. Some have concluded from these words that John should never die. Many eminent 
men, ancients and moderns, have been and are of this opinion.
2. Others thought that our Lord intimated that John should live till Christ came to 
judge and destroy Jerusalem. On this opinion it is observed that Peter, who was 
the oldest of the apostles, died in the year 67, which, says Calmet, was six years 
before the destruction of Jerusalem; and that John survived the ruin of that city 

235. about thirty years, he being the only one of the twelve who was alive when the 
above desolation took place.
3. St. Augustin, Bede, and others, understood the passage thus: If I will that he 
remain till I come and take him away by a natural death, what is that to thee? 
follow thou me to thy crucifixion. On this it may be observed, that all antiquity 
agrees that John, if he did die, was the only disciple who was taken away by a 
natural death.
4. Others imagine that our Lord was only now taking Peter aside to speak 
something to him in private, and that Peter, seeing John following, wished to know
whether he should come along with them; and that our Lord’s answer stated that 
John should remain in that place till Christ and Peter returned to him; and to this 
meaning of the passage many eminent critics incline. For neatly eighteen hundred 
years, the greatest men in the world have been puzzled with this passage. It mould 
appear intolerable in me to attempt to decide, where so many eminent doctors 
have disagreed, and do still disagree. I rather lean to the fourth opinion. See the 
conclusion of the Preface to this Gospel.
HENRY, “3. Christ's reply to this enquiry (Joh_21:22), “If I will that he tarry till I come,
and do not suffer as thou must, what is that to thee. Mind thou thy own duty, the 
present duty, follow thou me.”
(1.) There seems to be here an intimation of Christ's purpose concerning John, in two 
things: - [1.] That he should not die a violent death, like Peter, but should tarry till Christ 
himself came by a natural death to fetch him to himself. The most credible of the ancient 
historians tell us that John was the only one of all the twelve that did not actually die a 
martyr. He was often in jeopardy, in bonds and banishments; but at length died in his 
bed in a good old age. Note, First, At death Christ comes to us to call us to account; and it
concerns us to be ready for his coming. Secondly, Though Christ calls out some of his 
disciples to resist unto blood, yet not all. Though the crown of martyrdom is bright and 
glorious, yet the beloved disciple comes short of it. [2.] That he should not die till after 
Christ's coming to destroy Jerusalem: so some understand his tarrying till Christ comes. 
All the other apostles died before that destruction; but John survived it many years. God 
wisely so ordered it that one of the apostles should live so long as to close up the canon of
the New Testament, which John did solemnly (Rev_22:18), and to obviate the design of 
the enemy that sowed tares even before the servants fell asleep. John lived to confront 
Ebion, and Cerinthus, and other heretics, who rose betimes, speaking perverse things.
(2.) Others think that it is only a rebuke to Peter's curiosity, and that his tarrying till 
Christ's second coming is only the supposition of an absurdity: “Wherefore askest thou 
after that which is foreign and secret? Suppose I should design that John should never 
die, what does that concern thee? It is nothing to thee, when or where, or how, John 
must die. I have told thee how thou must die for thy part; it is enough for thee to know 
that, Follow thou me.” Note, It is the will of Christ that his disciples should mind their 
own present duty, and not be curious in their enquiries about future events, concerning 
either themselves or others. [1.] There are many things we are apt to be solicitous about 
that are nothing to us. Other people's characters are nothing to us; it is out of our line to 
judge them, Rom_14:4. Whatsoever they are, saith Paul, it makes no matter to me. Other
people's affairs are nothing to us to intermeddle in; we must quietly work, and mind our 
own business. Many nice and curious questions are put by the scribes and disputers of 
this world concerning the counsels of God, and the state of the invisible world, 
concerning which we may say, What is this to us? What do you think will become of such
and such? is a common question, which may easily be answered with another: What is 

236. that to me? To his own Master he stands or falls. What is it to us to know the times and 
the seasons? Secret things belong not to us. [2.] The great thing that is all in all to us is 
duty, and not event; for duty is ours, events are God's - our own duty, and not another's; 
for every one shall bear his own burden - our present duty, and not the duty of the time 
to come; for sufficient to the day shall be the directions thereof: a good man's steps are 
ordered by the Lord, (Psa_37:23); he is guided step by step. Now all our duty is summed
up in this one of following Christ. We must attend his motions, and accommodate 
ourselves to them, follow him to do him honour, as the servant his master; we must walk 
in the way in which he walked, and aim to be where he is. And, if we will closely attend to
the duty of following Christ, we shall find neither heart nor time to meddle with at which 
does not belong to us.
4. The mistake which arose from this saying of Christ, that that disciple should not die,
but abide with the church to the end of time; together with the suppressing of this 
motion by a repetition of Christ's words, Joh_21:23. Observe here,
(1.) The easy rise of a mistake in the church by misconstruing the sayings of Christ, and
turning a supposition to a position. Because John must not die a martyr, they conclude 
he must not die at all.
[1.] They were inclined to expect it because they could not choose but desire it. Quod 
volumus facile crediumus - We easily believe what we wish to be true. For John to abide
in the flesh when the rest were gone, and to continue in the world till Christ's second 
coming, they think, will be a great blessing to the church, which in every age might have 
recourse to him as an oracle. When they must lose Christ's bodily presence, they hope 
they shall have that of his beloved disciple; as if that must supply the want of his, 
forgetting that the blessed Spirit, the Comforter, was to do that. Note, We are apt to dote 
too much on men and means, instruments and external helps, and to think we are happy 
if we may but have them always with us; whereas God will change his workmen, and yet 
carry on his work, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of men. There
is no need of immortal ministers to be the guides of the church, while it is under the 
conduct of an eternal Spirit.
[2.] Perhaps they were confirmed in their expectations when they now found that John
survived all the rest of the apostles. Because he lived long, they were ready to think he 
should live always; whereas that which waxeth old is ready to vanish away, Heb_8:13.
[3.] However, it took rise from a saying of Christ's, misunderstood, and then made a 
saying of the church. Hence learn, First, The uncertainty of human tradition, and the 
folly of building our faith upon it. Here was a tradition, an apostolical tradition, a saying 
that went abroad among the brethren. It was early; it was common; it was public; and 
yet it was false. How little then are those unwritten traditions to be relied upon which the
council of Trent hath decreed to be received with a veneration and pious affection equal 
to that which is owing to the holy scripture. Here was a traditional exposition of 
scripture. No new saying of Christ's advanced, but only a construction put by the 
brethren upon what he did really say, and yet it was a misconstruction. Let the scripture 
be its own interpreter and explain itself, as it is in a great measure its own evidence and 
proves itself, for it is light. Secondly, The aptness of men to misinterpret the sayings of 
Christ. The grossest errors have sometimes shrouded themselves under the umbrage of 
incontestable truths; and the scriptures themselves have ben wrested by the unlearned 
and unstable. We must not think it strange if we hear the sayings of Christ 
misinterpreted, quoted to patronise the errors of antichrist, and the impudent doctrine 
of transubstantiation - for instance, pretending to build upon that blessed word of Christ,
This is my body.

237. (2.) The easy rectifying of such mistakes, by adhering to the word of Christ, and 
abiding by that. So the evangelist here corrects and controls that saying among the 
brethren, by repeating the very words of Christ. He did not say that the disciple should 
not die. Let us not say so then; but he said, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that 
to thee? He said so, and no more. Add thou not unto his words. Let the words of Christ 
speak for themselves, and let no sense be put upon them but what is genuine and 
natural; and in that let us agree. Note, The best end of men's controversies would be to 
keep to the express words of scripture, and speak, as well as think, according to that 
word, Isa_8:20. Scripture language is the safest and most proper vehicle of scripture 
truth: the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, 1Co_2:13. As the scripture itself, duly 
attended to, is the best weapon wherewith to wound all dangerous errors (and therefore 
deists, Socinians, papists, and enthusiasts do all they can to derogate the authority of 
scripture), so the scripture itself, humbly subscribed to, is the best weapon - salve to heal 
the wounds that are made by different modes of expression concerning the same truths. 
Those that cannot agree in the same logic and metaphysics, and the propriety of the 
same terms of air, and the application of them, may yet agree in the same scripture 
terms, and then may agree to love one another.
CALVIN, “
22.If I will that he remain. It has been customary to take this sentence as detached,
and to read the former clause affirmatively, I will that he tarry till I come; but this has been done
through the ignorance of transcribers, not through the mistake of the translator; for he could not
have been mistaken about the Greek word, but a single letter might easily creep into the Latin
version, so as to alter the whole meaning.
(237) The whole sentence, therefore, is a question,
and ought to be read in immediate connection; for Christ intended to put his hand on his disciple,
in order to keep him within the limits of his calling. “ is no concern of yours,” says he, “ you have
no right to inquire what becomes of your companion; leave that to my disposal; think only about
yourself, and prepare to follow where you are called.” Not that all anxiety about brethren is
uncalled for but it ought to have some limit, so that it may be anxiety, and not curiosity, that
occupies our attention. Let every man, therefore, look to his neighbours, if by any means he may
succeed in drawing them along with him to Christ, and let not the offenses of others retard his
own progress.
(237) Calvin here throws out a conjecture, that the clause originally stood in the Vulgate, SI eum
volo manere and that by the addition of” a single letter” to the first word of the clause, some
ignorant transcriber altered it to SIC eum rolo manere He declares it to be impossible that the
word Sic should have found its way into the verse in any other manner, because the translator
could not mistake the meaning of “ Greek word” ἐάν — Ed.
GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, “The Individuality of Duty
Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.—
Joh_21:22.
1. This is the last recorded dialogue between Peter and Christ, and it has a special and a
touching interest from the fact that it is so. How many and how varied these dialogues had been,

238. and how rich and how vivid the instruction they contain! They form a magazine of truth in
themselves, and had we no other fragments of Christ’s life handed down to us than the narrative
of His dealings with Peter, we should still have a tolerably full indication both of the doctrine He
intends us to believe and of the duty He commands us to practise. And now the revelation was
wound up, and the interviews themselves were to cease. Whatever further talk the Lord had with
Peter, “something sealed the lips of the evangelist”; for with these words before us his record
ends.
Could there be a more fitting and consistent close to the whole? It is the same Peter who speaks,
tender<hearted and impulsive as ever, with a trace of the old leaven not yet purged. It is the same
Christ, too, who answers him, true to the message and unaltered in the character He had
revealed from the very first. “Follow me,” He said three years before by the lakeside where Peter
was plying his toils, unaware of the destiny that awaited him. And now, after all that had come
and gone, when faith had been strengthened by experience, and the cord of love that had first
drawn the heart after Christ had become a fast firm cable, wrought through long days of
fellowship and common toil, there, at the self<same spot where Christ called His disciple before,
He calls him again, reminding him, as He does so, that the omega of his life is the same as its
alpha, even the duty of personal discipleship, the word “Follow me.”
2. When Jesus had said “Follow me,” Peter turned about and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved
following. At once he put the question, “Lord, and what shall this man do?” Christ’s answer is our
text.
Now it is not easy to determine with any certainty the spirit in which that question was asked, or
the meaning of the answer it received. Some have imagined that Peter, fancying from Christ’s
silence regarding the beloved disciple, that his
course would be free from those fiery troubles
which had just been foretold for himself, inquired, with a kind of envious dissatisfaction,
respecting the destiny of John. This explanation, however, seems incredible. We must remember
that the thrice<repeated question, “Lovest thou me?” had only just thrilled on his ear, awakening
solemn memories of his thrice<repeated denial. We must remember that Christ had suddenly
revealed the future, and indicated a martyr’s death as his lot in the day of his old age. We must
bear in mind that Peter possessed that generous impulsive nature which would prompt a man
under excitement to forget his own sorrows in unselfish devotion to his friends. And then,
remembering that from the recent conversation with Christ, his heart must have been quivering
with the emotions of love and sorrow, it is hard to conceive that one feeling of jealous discontent
could have suggested this inquiry.
Most probably the question sprang from earnest anxiety regarding John’s destiny. It may even be
that Peter, having at length learned the glory of sharing the Saviour’s cross, was concerned lest

239. his brother disciple should not have the honour of following so closely in his Master’s sufferings
as himself. Mingled with that would be the anxious feeling which men of Peter’s ardent and
unselfish nature ever cherish regarding the future of a friend. It is easier for such impetuous souls
to trust their own lot in God’s hands than that of their brother; they can accept sorrow more calmly
for themselves than view its advent for another. And in this spirit of unselfish devotion—rising
even to restless curiosity regarding the Divine plan—it probably was that, gazing on the beloved
disciple Peter forgot the picture of his own martyrdom in his solicitude for John.
3. Christ’s answer contains three statements—
I. The duty of following Him lies on every one of us—“Follow thou me.”
II. The manner of the following rests upon His will and our individuality—“If I will that he
tarry till I come.”
III. We are warned against needless curiosity or anxiety—“What is that to thee?”
I
Following is for All
“Follow thou me.”
This is the Lord’s command to each of His disciples. We have heard His voice saying “Come unto
me,” and now He says, “Follow thou me.”
1. Notice how comprehensive is this command. It includes every other requirement and precept
of the Gospel, and it calls into action every power and faculty of our renewed being.
(1) It means follow with the heart.—This is no mere external compliance, no mere outward
conformity to our blessed Master’s will. It is the service of the heart. The force that is brought to
bear on the disciple is not that of compulsion, but of attraction. “Draw
me, we will run after thee”
(Son_1:4). No man can follow Christ whose heart has not been won by Him. “Whereas ye were
servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart
to that form of teaching whereunto ye were
delivered” (Rom_6:17, R.V.). It is neither the terrors of the law nor the fear of a judgment to come
that enables us to respond to this command. It is the attraction of Divine love that is the power.
The Lord Himself must be the loadstone of our hearts.
Every question was among some of his friends an open question. Strauss and Comte, Mill and
Bentham, Coleridge, Carlyle, and Maurice appear as factors again and again in the discussions
of that time. But nothing seems to have disturbed his balance; “his heart stood fast.” His habit of

240. obedience to his mother, and his intense affection for her, had insensibly passed into strict
obedience to conscience. Perhaps one of the chief lessons of his early life is that this affectionate
obedience is the soil in which faith flourishes.
1 [Note: Frederick Temple, Archbishop of
Canterbury, i. 54.]
(2) It means follow in faith.—Following is often like stepping out on the unseen. It is often like
walking on the water. We could never venture out without a Divine warrant. But He who granted it
to Peter when He said “Come!” gives us the same warrant when through the darkness and the
trial He says, “Follow thou me.” This needs the courage of faith. Without faith we could not take a
single step, for it is an impossible walk except to him that believeth. The stepping<stones of faith
are the promises of God. “But supposing I have no faith,” says one; “what am I to do?” Don’t think
of believing
at all. Think of Him who bids you follow Him. Hearken to His voice. In other words,
listen to His written Word: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”
(Rom_10:17).
Can you picture it at all? The church is built by the natives—walls of nipa palm spines, and
thatched roof of palm leaves, floor of bark—two doorways
on each side, and one at each end,
and plenty of square openings for windows. We have no church members here yet, but we think
of the Moffats, and feel encouraged. They were fifteen years working at one station and not one
member, and yet she asked a friend to send her a communion service, and directly after it arrived
they needed it.
1 [Note: James Chalmers, 337.]
(3) It means follow with the will—Our wills must be in this following, or it means nothing. All true
obedience begins, not in the outward action, but in the inward spring of all activity; that is, in the
will. We must will
to do His will, if we would follow Christ. We become obedient within, before we
are obedient in the outward act. The moment for action may not have arrived, but the time for
willing to be obedient is always present.
2 [Note: E. H. Hopkins.]
The wish to disobey is already disobedience; and although at this time I was really doing a great
many things I did not like, to please my parents, I have not now one
self<approving thought or
consolation in having done so, so much did its sullenness and maimedness pollute the meagre
sacrifice.
3 [Note: Ruskin, Praeterita, i. 424.]
2. Notice how difficult it is. Against us are the efforts of our great spiritual adversary. He is
constantly on the watch with a view to hindering God’s children in their progress. But this, let us
never forget, is not without God’s permission. It is His will that our following of Him should be, not
apart from obstacles, but in the midst of them, in spite of them.
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left

241. untried.1 [Note: G. K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World.]
(1) There are alluring attractions —earthly objects and pursuits that appeal to our natural
inclinations. Some of them are perfectly harmless in themselves, but when they are yielded to, we
discover afterwards that they have lowered our spiritual tone, and robbed us of our strength. And
so we have been impeded in our progress.
Progress is marked by stations left behind. If we follow Jesus, we go somewhere, which means
leaving some place. Journeying with the breast to the East means with the back to the West. The
disciples left their boats and nets when they followed Jesus. What has our following cost us?
What selfish plans, worldly projects, doubtful amusements, dangerous companionships, are
behind us for the King’s and the kingdom’s sake? We sing, “Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to
leave and follow Thee,” but another hymn brings the thought to a sharp point, “Have I left aught
for Thee?”
2 [Note: M. D. Babcock, Thoughts for Every<Day Living, 25.]
“
As for the pleasures of this Life, and outward Business, let that be upon the bye. Be above all
these things, by Faith in Christ; and then you shall have the true use and comfort of them,—and
not otherwise.” How true is this; equal in its obsolete dialect, to the highest that man has yet
attained to, in any dialect old or new!
3 [Note: Carlyle, Cromwell’s Letters and
Speeches, ii. 136.]
(2) Then there are perplexing problems.—Perhaps we are troubled as we look around upon the
sufferings of our fellow<creatures. We think of the multitudes living in darkness and degradation,
not only in heathen lands, but in our own Christian England. We are unable to fathom the
mysteries these questions suggest. Or, it may be, we are perplexed by the objections of sceptics
to the truth of Holy Scripture. We are unable to find an answer to these things. What is the
remedy? Look to the Master, who says, “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.” We must rest in
His wisdom, we must confide in His faithfulness, and, without waiting to question or to speculate,
we must be prompt in our obedience, and follow Him.
All the great mysteries are simple as well as unfathomably deep; and they are common to all
men. Every Christian feels them less or more.
1 [Note: Memoir of John Duncan, 403.]
(3) Then there are distracting cares —the things that belong to the ordinary business of daily life.
Some of these are very common matters, and perhaps very trivial, but God’s children, when they
carry them, find them a serious hindrance to their progress. It is quite possible to be so
overburdened by care that we cease to follow Christ. We must learn the secret of committing
all
into His hands daily if we would know what it is to follow the Lord fully.
2 [Note: E. H.
Hopkins.]

242. “Acts of obedience are not perfect, and therefore yield not perfect Grace. Faith, as an act, yields
it not; but ‘only’ as it carries us into Him, who is our perfect rest and peace; in whom we are
accounted of, and received by, the Father,—even as Christ Himself. This is our high calling. Rest
we here, and here only.” Even so, my noble one! The noble soul will, one day, again come to
understand these old words of yours.
3 [Note: Carlyle, Cromwell’s Letters and
Speeches, iii. 190.]
There is a beautiful old tradition, done finely into verse by one of our poets, that, during the
demon<raging fury of the Neronic persecution, Peter, visiting the harried flock at Rome, who
nevertheless were undaunted in their brave stand for the Name of Christ, was one day waited
upon by the threatened Christians, who urged him to leave the city of death, that he might
continue, in less dangerous places, to carry on his apostolic work.
Not in yon streaming shambles must thou die;
We counsel, we entreat, we charge thee, fly!
The Apostle protests that his place is the place of danger, and that, come what may, in Rome he
will remain. One by one they plead—for the sake of multitudes who will be as sheep without a
shepherd, for the Kingdom’s sake, for Christ’s sake—that Peter, though for himself not caring,
yet, as caring for others, may seek safety in flight. At last he yields—yields to their importunity. He
goes forth, in the night<time, through the Capuan gate. Stealthily, swiftly, he pursued his way
To the Campania glimmering wide and still,
And strove to think he did his Master’s will.
But he fights with pursuing doubts. Is his flight cowardice? or is it for the sake of longer<continued
testimony? Is he still true to the voice which said, “Follow thou me”? Soon shall he have his
answer. What is that vision of the night?
Lo, on the darkness brake a wandering ray:
A vision flashed along the Appian Way.
Divinely in the pagan night it shone—
A mournful Face—a Figure hurrying on—

243. Though haggard and dishevelled, frail and worn,
A King, of David’s lineage, crowned with thorn.
“Lord, whither farest?” Peter, wondering cried.
“To Rome,” said Christ, “to be re<crucified.”
Into the night the vision ebbed like breath;
And Peter turned, and rushed on Rome and death.
1 [Note: T. F. Lockyer, Seeking a
Country, 101.]
II
The Manner of Following is for the Individual
“If I will that he tarry till I come.”
The first thought is that it is the duty of us all to follow; the second is that the manner of following
rests upon His will and is made to suit our individuality. To the anxious Peter, Christ declared that
John’s course was to be different from his own. By the words, “What is that to thee,” He
emphatically indicated a distinction—implying by them that he should go his own way and leave
his brother’s cause in His hands. The one was to labour, the other to wait. The one was to preach
the Gospel throughout the world, and be summoned to heaven by the sufferings of martyrdom,
the other was to watch in long banishment the coming again of the unseen Saviour when the old
economy should fall, and then in peaceful old age to pass to the eternal home. All this marked
difference of destiny by which they were each to follow the Saviour is contained in the reply, “If I
will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?”
1. Christ appoints a separate experience for each of His followers. “Lord, what shall this man do?”
“What is that to thee?” No words could mark more emphatically the great difference which was
henceforth to exist between the paths of those two men who had hitherto followed Christ side by
side. They seem to express a kind of impassable solitude in which each man was to live. John
could not lead the life of Peter; Peter could not fulfil the destiny of John. In different and lonely
ways they were each to travel till the end should come. The life of Peter was to be action crowned
by suffering, the life of John a patient waiting for the manifestation of Christ—there, in the
difference between labouring and watching, lay the difference in their respective courses. Now, if
we contemplate the distinctive characters of these two men, we shall find its Divine meaning.
Each course was beautifully adapted to train their individual characters, and to fit them for their

244. individual work.
What could be more appropriate as a close to the life of Christ than such a picture as this, which
opened out such a view of the Church’s mission, as waiting and yet working, as suffering and yet
serving? The great difficulty in the mind of Peter was how to reconcile the two, so that they might
live and act harmoniously together. This difficulty was to be solved in course of time, when the
days of trial and persecution came on the Church. Then it was seen that something more was
needed than suffering and service; they would have to “tarry” or wait in patient expectation for the
coming of Christ. In this way, the waiting spirit, the spirit of John, came to be more and more
developed in the Church; and in proportion as it becomes developed, so ought the active spirit,
the spirit of Peter, to make a corresponding advance. And thus the two sides of the Church’s life
will advance in harmonious union, until, by the discipline of suffering, and service, and patience, it
is perfected in every part.
1 [Note: D. Merson, Words of Life, 223.]
2. The discovery of our own particular path is found in the revelation of His will which God makes
to us. “If I will that he tarry.” To follow Christ is, like Him, to obey whenever God’s will is clear; to
be patient like Him when it is dark. And this is a rule which applies to all
circumstances, and one
which can be obeyed in defiance of all results. There are circumstances to which no other law
applies; under which no experiences of other men can help us. The only course at such times is
to act at once under such light as we may possess. Do the duty that is nearest to you. Follow
Christ in His perfect, unmurmuring obedience, and as you follow, a fuller light will come. It may be
that your duty is not to act, but to be patient: if so, forget not that “they also serve who only stand
and wait.” And to follow Christ is to do God’s will and challenge results. When that will is clear, we
have no right to look at consequences. The command to Peter was a command to challenge all
issues, although “another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not, follow thou
me.”
There is one way for thee; but one; inform
Thyself of it; pursue it; one way each
Soul hath by which the Infinite in reach
Lieth before him; seek and ye shall find:
To each the way is plain; that way the wind
Points all the trees along; that way run down

245. Loud singing streams; that way pour on and on
A thousand headlands with their cataracts
Of toppling flowers; that way the sun enacts
His travel, and the moon and all the stars
Soar; and the tides move towards it; nothing bars
A man who goes the way that he should go;
That which comes soonest is the thing to do.
Thousand light<shadows in the rippling sand
Joy the true soul; the waves along the strand
Whiten beyond his eyes; the trees tossed back
Show him the sky; or, heaped upon his track
In a black wave, wind heaped, point onward still
His way, one way. O joy, joy, joy, to fill
The day with leagues! Go thy way, all things say,
Thou hast thy way to go, thou hast thy day
To live; thou hast thy need of thee to make
In the hearts of others; do thy thing; yes, slake
The world’s great thirst for yet another man!
And be thou sure of this: no other can
Do for thee that appointed thee of God;

246. Not any light shall shine upon thy road
For other eyes;
Thee the angel calls,
As he call others; and thy life to thee
Is precious as the greatest’s life can be
To him; so live thy life and go thy way.
1 [Note: Richard Watson Dixon.]
III
Be Not Too Curious or Anxious
“What is that to thee?”
In these words there seems to be conveyed to us a warning against unnecessary curiosity or
anxiety about the lot of others, and in general about the providence of God. Peter’s anxiety
typifies the impertinence of curiosity, the impatience of ignorance, in things sacred, which has
been the temptation of Christians in every age. The rebuke is the Master’s protest against
indulgence in this spirit. Energetic work in the present, not idle speculation about the future, is the
parting charge which He gives to His chief disciple, and through Him to His whole Church so long
as time shall be.
There are several occasions in the Gospel narrative on which a temper near akin to this was
checked and corrected by our blessed Lord. Two of them are recorded in the thirteenth chapter of
St. Luke. “Tell me not” (He would there say) “of those Galileans whom the cruel Pilate ordered to
be massacred while they were engaged in sacrifice; or of those eighteen inhabitants of
Jerusalem, upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell, and slew them; tell me not of these, as though
you would seek to pry into the judicial dealings of God’s providence towards them; but look rather
to yourselves, and be assured of this, that except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” And
again, “Ask me not, in a spirit of unprofitable curiosity, or of self<righteous estimate of your own
condition, whether there be few, or many, who are to be saved; but ask this rather of your own
consciences—are ye striving
to enter in at the strait gate? for many, I say unto you, shallseek to
enter in and shall not be able.”

247. 1. Our Lord did not mean to arrest the spirit of legitimate inquiry.—Curiosity is the parent of
knowledge. Peter’s question concerning the future reserved for his friend seems to have been
prompted partly by affection, but partly also by curiosity. Both instincts belong to our essential
human nature. When God created man, He breathed into him an inquiring spirit, and made him
eager to explore the mysterious world which spreads round about him, and to search out
whatever things are hidden and unknown. Urged by this great impulse, the captains of adventure
forced their way through forest and wilderness, and steered by the stars across an uncharted
sea. And every lad who is worth his salt still tingles at times with the ancient longing to wander in
strange lands, that he may discover for himself what treasures they conceal. It is the same
imperious desire that has gathered the facts of science and framed the systems of philosophy. As
Cudworth quaintly puts it: “The sons of Adam are now as busy as ever himself was, about the
tree of knowledge of good and evil, shaking the boughs of it and scrambling for the fruit”: and
people who pride themselves on being neither philosophical nor scientific betray this elemental
instinct of curiosity in double measure in regard to everything which is human or which deals with
humanity.
I am reminded, by one who was present, of a scene when some Americans were announced,
seeking an interview, “What is it you want?” she [Jenny Lind] asked, standing very erect. “Oh,
Madame Goldschmidt, we hoped to have the pleasure of seeing you, and making your
acquaintance.” “Well, here is my front!” Then (with a whisk round), “There is my back. Now” (with
a deep curtsey) “you can go home, and say that you have seen me!” After her visitors had crept
out abashed, she was very penitent for having been at all rude. But she could not endure any
impertinent curiosity; and it was always a perilous experiment to introduce a stranger to her, lest
she should suspect some motive in the introduction, when her coldness would be
freezing.
1[Note: H. Scott Holland, Personal Studies, 23.]
2. Jesus did not desire to discourage sympathetic interest in the welfare of others.—It would be
strange indeed if He did, He, who in word and act preached the principle, “Look not every man on
his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Yet it may be one thing to say, “What
shall I do for this man?” and another, and a very different one, to ask, “What shall this man do?”
In the first case, the question turns upon present duty, in the second it turns upon future events.
The former word raises the thought of a responsibility that is mine, the latter intermeddles with a
care which is really not mine, but God’s. And in every such case, as we pass from what is
practical to what is curious, and let the thoughts turn from the matters of personal duty to the
mysteries of Divine administration, the Saviour refuses to lift the veil, saying, “Hitherto shalt thou
come and no farther. The secret things belong unto God, but the things that are revealed belong
unto thee to do them. Askest thou, What shall this man do? What is that to thee? Follow thou
me.”

248. We are not to suppose that the doctrine of altruism is a gospel peculiar to the enlightenment of
more modern times; there is a Christian altruism that is far more ennobling and radical than
anything to which infidel ethics has given the name. Here, as elsewhere, the ideas with which it is
hoped to supersede the Bible have been drawn from the Bible itself, as if the voice could be
silenced by the echo, and the substance be banished by its own pallid shadow. We grant it all.
But if the question be a question of what is spiritual, if it be a question between the keeping of
your own soul unspotted on the one hand, and the doing of some imagined service for your
neighbour on the other, then remember that Christ says, “What is that neighbour’s state unto
thee?”—what is it, that is to say, in these particular circumstances, under these particular
conditions?—“Follow thou me!” Personal holiness is the main thing, personal discipleship,
personal salvation. It is your first duty to save your soul, and that not for your own sake merely,
but for the sake of a God who has given you the trust, and asks it back from your hands by a right
which is peculiarly His own. Why do I say these things? Because there is a class of literature and
of sentiment at the present day that exalts the doctrine of love and self<sacrifice towards our
neighbour to the extent of attempting to enlist admiration when love and self<sacrifice lead to sin
for his sake. No, in the matters that pertain to the soul, its welfare and safe<keeping, one’s own
cares come first. And to give them anything else than the first place is to become practical
idolaters by the preference of a neighbour’s claim to God’s.
1 [Note: W. A. Gray, The
Shadow of the Hand, 149.]
Men speak too much about the world. Each one of us here, let the world go how it will, and be
victorious or not victorious, has he not a Life of his own to lead? One Life; a little gleam of Time
between two Eternities; no second chance to us forevermore! It were well for us
to live not as
fools and simulacra, but as wise and realities. The world’s being saved will not save us; nor the
world’s being lost destroy us. We should look to ourselves: there is great merit here in the “duty of
staying at home!” And on the whole, to say truth, I never heard of “worlds” being “saved” in any
other way. That mania of saving worlds is itself a piece of the Eighteenth Century with its windy
sentimentalism. Let us not follow it too far. For the saving of the world
I will trust confidently to the
Maker of the world; and look a little to my own saving, which I am more competent to!
1 [Note:
Carlyle, Heroes and Hero<Worship, 163.]
Thomas à Kempis tells us that
If you could let men go their way,
They would let you go yours;
and he adds:

249. We might have peace, great peace,
If we would not load ourselves with others’ words and works,
And with what concerns us not.
How can he be long at rest
Who meddles in another’s cares,
And looks for matters out of his own path,
And only now and then gathers his thoughts within him?
2 [Note: Lord Avebury, Peace and
Happiness, 342.]
3. We must be concerned for others but we may be over'anxious.—Some men, of ardent,
energetic temperament, seem to have very exaggerated ideas of the extent of their responsibility.
They seem to live only to keep all other people straight. No heresy can anywhere be broached,
but they must rush to the front and expose it. No iniquity can anywhere be practised, but they
must drag it into the light to condemn it. God made them keepers of their own vineyards, but they
spend all their time in looking after other men’s vines. Unquestionably there is something noble in
this temper; but there is something quixotic too; and Christ seems here to teach that He imposes
upon no man such a responsibility. The world is sadly full of evil, scepticism, infidelity,
superstition, immorality, on every side. What, then, am I as a Christian to do? Simply to obey my
Master’s command, “Follow thou me,”—protest assuredly, where a protest must be made to clear
oneself of all complicity with sin; protest where a protest is needed to save a brother, and to put a
wrong<doer to shame; but before all that, be thou a true disciple, whoever may be false; be thou
thyself a holy example of justice and mercy and purity and truth, though all the world should be
only a sweltering mass of impiety, and impurity, and wrong.”
I was once sitting in a room where I had to wait for half an hour before a meeting, and by the fire
was sitting a poorly clad, rather wretched<looking, old man, gently moaning at intervals. I asked
him if anything was the matter, and he said, “No; I was only just thinking what a deal of trouble it
takes to get the world right and to keep it right.”
1 [Note: Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 222.]
One man is a missionary perhaps in some foreign land; he is alone, one Christian among
thousands of heathen, and he would fain know what will become of all these. Another is labouring
single<handed as a parochial minister in the midst of a thronging town population whom his words
never reach and never can reach; and he asks in dismay what shall be the end of all these. If he

250. picks up one soul here and another there out of the seething mass of ignorance and vice, it is all
that he can hope to do. To his faithless questioning the rebuke is addressed, “What is that to
thee? Thou hast a work to do; thou hast a message to deliver. Thou knowest that thy message is
truth, and because it is truth, therefore it is salvation. This is enough for thee. Execute thy task to
the best of thy power, and leave the rest to Me.”
2 [Note: J. B. Lightfoot, Ordination
Addresses, 165.]
4. Peter’s question is often the question of vain speculation about the purposes of God.—It
cannot be otherwise than that His deep purposes should be hidden, for He is God, and His
designs cannot be scanned and measured by human wisdom. “O the depth of the riches both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past
finding out,” said one very near to the heart of God. So does He manifest His independence to
the will and the counsel of His creatures. It is the glory of God to conceal His purposes. “Who
hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?” Such concealment is
adapted to our condition. By it He trains us to submission; He promotes within us humility, He
awakens us to constant ceaseless vigilance; He inspires diligence in our daily living; by gradually
removing the cloud from His throne, He makes a constant revelation of truth. Well said Robinson,
“There is a new light in God’s word that is yet to break out.” Who knows all the mysteries
contained in this volume? Eternity will not be long enough for the full development of all that was
in God’s thought, God’s heart, when He inspired this Book. But still there are among us men who
are curiosity<mongers about the purposes of God. They will have all God’s depths to be shallows
rather than confess their own inability to fathom all mysteries with their own reason.
In my student days I had a very intimate friend, who was pre<eminently successful in gaining
prizes by written competition. So surely as he went in for any particular subject, whether classics,
philosophy, or mathematics, he came out first. In the general work of the classes and in the
recitations he did not appear to be any better than his neighbours; but at a written examination he
was “facile princeps.” At the end of our course I asked him to explain this to me, and he revealed
his secret thus: “You take the questions in the paper as they come; hence, if the first question is a
very hard one, you spend, perhaps, the whole time allotted for the paper upon that; but when I get
a paper into my hand, I read over all the questions, pick out those that I see I can answer at once,
and then having disposed of them, and made sure that they will count, I go on to the harder ones.
I pass through the plain ones to the difficult, and I take care always to do the one before I attempt
the other.” There was great wisdom in the plan, and in the college of life more of us, I imagine,
would come out prizemen at the last, if we were to let the hard things of speculation alone, at
least until we have performed the plain duties which our Saviour has set before us. But if this be
so with the “hard” things, how much more does it hold of those things which are insoluble by mere
human reason. Yet how many there are among us who make difficulties, for the existence of
which they are not responsible, and for the removal of which they are incompetent, a reason

251. either for their refusing to follow Christ, or for following Him only afar off. 1 [Note: W. M.
Taylor, The Limitations of Life, 66.]
(1) There are the mysteries of God’s Providence. How often are we completely at our wits’ end
what to make of them. When we begin to inquire into the meaning of this or that occurrence, we
get no reply. We meet with things that baffle explanation in our everyday life. The good are taken
away, and the wicked left; strong men are cut down in the midst of their days and usefulness. We
see communities visited with the most appalling calamities, young and innocent lives taken away
in one fell disaster. We see the rising hope of a happy home laid low by the ravages of death, and
the weak and feeble spared to a lingering old age. We can scarcely open a newspaper without
reading of sufferings and fatalities that make the heart bleed. These things are mysteries to us.
We try to explain them, but our explanations are often as perplexing as the mysteries themselves.
That old debate which waxed so hot between Job and his friends in the far land of Uz has
emerged anew in some form or other in every individual heart and in every successive
generation. It has never received fuller or more exhaustive treatment than it had at the hands of
these Eastern sages. Yet virtually they left it where they found it. Jehovah appeared to them at
the close asserting His sovereignty, and claiming His right to veil Himself in clouds and darkness.
He asked them to confide in His wisdom, and to leave the matter in His hands. And what farther
can we get than that? We are not responsible for the government of the world. It is not ours to sit
upon the throne. We may well leave the vindication of God’s workings to God Himself. He will
take care of His own honour. Meanwhile for us there is the lowlier province of working out our
own salvation with fear and trembling, under the assurance that “it is God who worketh in us, to
will and to do of his good pleasure.” To us the gospel has been preached, and for the use we
make of that we shall be held to account. To us the Saviour has said, “Follow me,” and for the
answer we give to that earnest call we shall be responsible.
The saintly Robert Leighton—sometime Bishop of Dunblane (of whom, as I am his unworthy
successor in the Episcopate of that See, so I would wish to be indeed his follower, even as he
was of Christ)—that holy Bishop has a sermon upon this text—preached before the Scottish
Parliament in Edinburgh, November 14, in 1669—in which, speaking of the state of things as it
existed in this country two hundred years ago, he exclaims: “Ah! my brethren, the body of religion
is torn, and the soul of it expires, while we are striving about the hem of its garment.” Alas! there
is too much reason still for the same complaint. We are still far too much inclined to place
speculation before practice, to place knowledge before virtue; to be curious about the future
rather than to be careful for the present; to be inquisitive about others rather than to be well
acquainted with ourselves. How few of us are there, it is to be feared, who could appeal to God in
those beautiful sentiments expressed in the 131st Psalm: “Lord, I am not high<minded; I have no
proud looks; I do not exercise myself in great matters, or in things which are too high for me. But I

252. refrain my soul and keep it low; like as a child that is weaned from his mother; yea, my soul is
even as a weaned child.” To say this, and to say it truly, would be indeed to follow Christ.
1[Note:
C. Wordsworth, Primary Witness to the Truth of the Gospel, 166.]
All that we can safely gather from his conversation at St. Helena is that his mind turns greatly on
these questions of religion. He ponders and struggles. A remark which he lets fall at St. Helena
explains probably his normal state of mind. “Only a fool,” he says one day, “says that he will die
without a confessor. There is so much that one does not know, that one cannot explain.” And as
he spoke of the mysteries of religion, we may speak of his frame of mind with regard to them.
“There is so much that one does not know, that one cannot explain.”
2 [Note: Lord Rosebery,
Napoleon, the Last Phase, 173.]
(2) There are difficulties connected with doctrines of the faith, which rest upon unrevealed
mysteries behind them. If we are perplexing ourselves with such things as the fall of man, the sin
of the angels, the salvability of the heathen, the locality of heaven, and of the spirits in prison, the
decrees of God that seem to destroy the free will of man, or that great problem that presses with
equal force on the brain of the wisest philosopher and the heart of the little child, why God
permitted the entrance of evil into the world at the first, and why He permits its dominion still; we
can not only calm ourselves by the reflection that probably these are depths that no created mind
can sound; but still more by the voice of our heavenly Lord, who does not explain any one of
them, but says, “Leave mysteries to God, and do thou thine own work of following Me.”
I read Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Coleridge, Philip Van Artevelde, for views of man to
meditate upon, instead of theological caricatures of humanity; and I go out into the country
tofeel
God; dabble in chemistry, to feel awe of Him; read the life of Christ, to understand, love,
and adore Him; and my experience is closing into this, that I turn with disgust from everything to
Christ. I think I get glimpses into His mind, and I am sure that I love Him more and more.? A
sublime feeling of a Presence comes upon me at times, which makes inward solitariness a trifle
to talk about.
1 [Note: Life and Letters of F. W. Robertson, 152.]
“
As to what you may think of my beliefs I have no fear; they need not be discussed and they
cannot be attacked.”
“——But your church has its dogmas.”
“There is not a dogma of my church that I have ever thought of for a moment—or of any other
church.”
“How can you remain in your church without either believing or disbelieving its dogmas?”

253. “My church is the altar of Christ and the House of God,” replied Gabriella simply. “And so is any
other church.”
“And you believe in them all?” he asked in wondering admiration. “I believe in them all.” 2 [Note:
James Lane Allen.]
I have a life with Christ to live,
But, ere I live it, must I wait
Till learning can clear answer give
Of this and that book’s date?
I have a life in Christ to live,
I have a death in Christ to die;—
And must I wait, till science give
All doubts a full reply?
Nay rather, while the sea of doubt
Is raging wildly round about,
Questioning of life and death and sin.
Let me but creep within
Thy fold, O Christ, and at Thy feet
Take but the lowest seat,
And hear Thine awful voice repeat
In gentlest accents, heavenly sweet,

254. Come unto Me, and rest:
Believe Me, and be blest.
3 [Note: John Campbell Shairp.]
(3) Then there are
mysteries in the future that we should like to have cleared up. We
should like to know the times and the seasons, and we are told that it is not for us
to know the times and the seasons, which the Father has placed in His own
hands. There are many questions respecting the life to come that press for an
answer, such as the nature of the punishment in reserve for the wicked, the
occupation of the redeemed, the appearance of the Saviour, the recognition of
friends, and the nature of the intercourse in the next life. Regarding these
questions, we are left in comparative ignorance, and so their solution cannot be
of much practical importance. It is unimportant to know the nature of future
punishment; but it is all<important to avoid it. It is unimportant to know the
character of the heavenly state; but it is all<important to prepare for it. It might
satisfy our curiosity to know if there will be recognition of friends in the next life;
but it is of eternal moment to strive to enter in at the strait gate. A veil is drawn
over these questions, and our prying into them can do no good. We have been
told enough for the practical guidance of life, and whatever interferes with that
should be let alone. What is it to us? Let us use to the full the knowledge that
God has given us respecting the duties of the present, and the mysteries of the
future will be cleared up in due time. Let us act up to our present light, and when
we are in a position to benefit by more, more will be given. Meanwhile, let our
desire be to follow Jesus; and as we follow Him the light will brighten, our vision
will widen, until, amid clearer light than that of the sun, we shall read all mysteries
plain, and know even as also we are known.
The Archbishop was spending the day here, and preaching for me. After lunch we went into my
study, and he let me talk to him. He was so exceedingly fatherly that day, that I was led on to talk
to him about the great problems and mysteries of life, and told him of a certain matter which
weighed upon me at times with an almost insupportable weight. It was connected with the
hereafter. I may as well say it was the notion of endlessness
of time. He listened patiently, and
suggested certain lines of thought—and asked if I did not think Hegel’s philosophy helped over
such a matter.
Then I said, bluntly enough—“My Lord, have you
never had any of these troubles? Don’t you ever
feel the mystery of that other life?”

255. He turned in his chair, put his hand up to his chin, looked at me a moment in his steady way, and
then said—“Yes, I think I know what you mean. But I believe so entirely that God is my Father,
and that He loves me, and that He will make me perfectly happy in the other life, that I never
worry myself over what that life will be.”
1 [Note: 1 Frederick Temple, Archbishop of
Canterbury, ii. 655.]
Experience bows a sweet contented face,
Still setting<to her seal that God is true:
Beneath the sun, she knows, is nothing new;
All things that go return with measured pace,
Winds, rivers, man’s still recommencing race:—
While Hope beyond earth’s circle strains her view,
Past sun and moon, and rain and rainbow too,
Enamoured of unseen eternal grace,
Experience saith, “My God doth all things well:”
And for the morrow taketh little care,
Such peace and patience garrison her soul:—
While Hope, who never yet hath eyed the goal,
With arms flung forth, and backward<floating hair,
Touches, embraces, hugs the invisible.
1 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]

256. 23
Because of this, the rumor spread among the
brothers that this disciple would not die. But
Jesus did not say that he would not die; he
only said, "If I want him to remain alive until
I return, what is that to you?"
Barnes, “Joh 21:23 - 
Then went this saying ... - This mistake arose very naturally:
1. From the words of Jesus, which might be easily misunderstood to mean that he 
should not die; and,
2. It was probably confirmed when it was seen that John survived all the other 
apostles, had escaped all the dangers of persecution, and was leading a peaceful life
at Ephesus. This mistake John deemed it proper to correct before he died, and has 
thus left on record what Jesus said and what he meant.
GILL, “Joh 21:23 - Then went this saying abroad among the brethren ,.... It 
not being rightly understood by some one or more of the disciples present: it was 
divulged with a wrong sense annexed to it among other persons; who, though not of the 
eleven, yet were followers of Christ, children of God, that belonged to the same family, 
and were, in a spiritual relation, brethren to each other, and to the apostles: 
that that disciple should not die; but should remain till the second coming of Christ,
and be found among them that shall be then alive, and be changed. And such a notion 
not only was among the ancients; but Beza, in his notes on this text, tells us of a strolling 
wicked fellow, that gave out that he was the Apostle John; and was encouraged by some, 
particularly Postellus, a Sorbonic doctor, but was afterwards burnt at Tholouse. 
Yet Jesus said not unto him he shall not die, but if I will that he tarry till I 
come, what is that to thee? These are the words of John himself, the disciple spoken 
of, who gives a true and just account of Christ's words, freeing them from the false sense 
that was put upon them; which shows his ingenuous disposition, his integrity and love of
truth; being unwilling that such an error should obtain among the disciples, and pass in 
the world for truth.
BURKITT, “
Observe here, how strangely our Saviour's words were mistaken and misunderstood
by his own disciples; they apprehend presently that John should not die, and so it passed current
among them.
From hence we may note, how much the wisdom of God is, and ought to be admired, in giving us

257. a written word, and tying us to it, when we see erroneous traditions so soon on foot in the world,
and our Saviour's own speeches so much mistaken, and that by wise and holy men themselves in
the purest times. Much more may the words of others be misreported, and wrested contrary to
their sense and meaning. How great then is the vanity and uncertainty of oral tradition! Men are
naturally prone to mistake, to mistake themselves, and to mistake one another. The more to be
admired is their over<daring ignorance, who think they cannot err. Such a haughty opinion of a
man's self, concludes him to be neither good nor wise.
 
CALVIN, “23.Then this saying went forth. The Evangelist relates that, from misunderstanding
Christ’ words, an error arose among the disciples, that John would never die. He means those
who were present at that conversation, that is, the Apostles; not that the name brethren belongs
to them alone, but that they were the first<fruits, as it were, of that holy union. It is also possible,
that, besides the eleven, he refers to others who were at that time in company with them; and by
the expression, went forth, he means that this error was spread in all directions; yet probably it
was not of long duration, but subsisted among them, until, being enlightened by the Holy Spirit,
they formed purer and more correct views of the kingdom of Christ, having laid aside carnal and
foolish imaginations.
(238)
What John relates about the Apostles happens every day, and we ought not to wonder at it; for if
Christ’ disciples, who belonged to his family and were intimately acquainted with him, were so
egregiously mistaken, how much more are they liable to fall into mistakes, who have not been so
familiarly instructed in the school of Christ? But let us also observe whence this fault arises. The
teaching of Christ is useful, and for edification; that is, it is plain; but we obscure the light by our
wicked inventions, which we bring to it from our own views. Christ had not intended to pronounce
any thing certain or definite about John, but only to affirm that he had full power to decide about
his life and death; so that the doctrine is simple and useful in itself, but the disciples imagine and
contrive more than had been told them. Accordingly, in order that we may be safe from this
danger, let us learn to be wise and to think soberly. But such is the wantonness of the human
understanding, that it rushes with all its force into foolishness. The consequence was, that this
very error, against which the Evangelist had expressly warned them to be on their guard,
continued notwithstanding to gain currency in the world; for a fable has been contrived, that he
ordered a ditch to be digged for him, and went down into it, and that next day it was found empty.
We see, therefore, that we shall never cease to err, unless we unreservedly receive what the
Lord hath taught us, and reject all inventions of men.
24
This is the disciple who testifies to these things
and who wrote them down. We know that his
testimony is true.
Barnes, “
This is the disciple ... - This proves that the beloved disciple was 
John.

258. We know - That is, it is known; it is universally admitted. It was so decidedly his 
character that he always declared the truth, that it had become known and was 
unquestioned, so that he himself might appeal to the universal testimony in his behalf. In
this case, therefore, we have the testimony of a man whose character for nearly a century 
was that of a man of truth - so much so that it had become, in a manner, proverbial, and 
was put beyond a doubt. It is impossible to believe that such a man would sit down 
deliberately to impose on mankind, or to write a book which was false; and if not, then 
this book is true, and that is the same as saying that Christianity is a religion from 
heaven.
GILL, “Joh 21:24 - This is the disciple which testifieth of these things,.... 
Recorded in this chapter concerning the appearance of Christ to his disciples at the sea of
Tiberias, and what were done by him in their presence, what passed between them; 
particularly the conversation he had with Peter, both concerning himself, and the 
disciple John: and also, of all things that are written in this whole Gospel. These are 
testified to be true by this very disciple John, concerning whom the above report went 
upon a mistaken sense of Christ's words, and who himself 
wrote these things; all that is contained in this book, as well as the particulars relating
to this conversation of Christ with Peter: 
and we know that his testimony is true. The testimony of one that was an eye and 
ear-witness, as John was, of all that he testified and wrote, must be known, owned, and 
allowed by all to be true, firm, and unquestionable; and therefore the apostle speaks in 
the plural number, as being not only his own sense, but the sense of all men. Though 
some take this to be the attestation of the Ephesian church, or of the bishops of the 
Asiatic churches, who put John upon writing this Gospel; of which they give their 
judgment and testimony, as believing it to be a true and faithful narrative.
Clarke, “Joh 21:24 - 
This is the disciple - It is, I think, very likely that these two verses were added by 
some of the believers at that time, as a testimony to the truth of the preceding narration; 
and I allow, with Bishop Pearce and others, that it is possible that John may mean 
himself when he says We know, etc., yet, I think that it is very unlikely. It is certain that 
this Gospel loses no part of its authority in admitting the suffrage of the Church of God: 
it rather strengthens the important truths which are delivered in it; and in the mouths of 
so many witnesses the sacred matters which concern the peace and salvation of the 
world, are still more abundantly established. See the last note on the preceding chapter.
We know - Instead of οιδαRεν, we know, some have written ';xBsRMq, I know indeed; 
but this is mere conjecture, and is worthy of no regard. It is likely that these verses were 
added by those to whom John gave his work in charge.
HENRY, “II. We have here the conclusion of this gospel, and with it of the evangelical 
story, Joh_21:24, Joh_21:25. This evangelist ends not so abruptly as the other three did, 
but with a sort of cadency.
1. This gospel concludes with an account of the author or penman of it, connected by a 
decent transition to that which went before (Joh_21:24): This is the disciple which 
testifies of these things to the present age, and wrote these things for the benefit of 

259. posterity, even this same that Peter and his Master had that conference about in the 
foregoing verses - John the apostle. Observe here, (1.) Those who wrote the history of 
Christ were not ashamed to put their names to it. John here does in effect subscribe his 
name. As we are sure who was the author of the first five books of the Old Testament, 
which were the foundation of that revelation, so we are sure who were the penmen of the 
four gospels and the Acts, the pentateuch of the New Testament. The record of Christ's 
life and death is not the report of we know not who, but was drawn up by men of known 
integrity, who were ready not only to depose it upon oath, but, which was more, to seal it
with their blood. (2.) Those who wrote the history of Christ wrote upon their own 
knowledge, not by hearsay, but what they themselves were eye and ear witnesses of. The 
penman of this history was a disciple, a beloved disciple, one that had leaned on Christ's 
breast, that had himself heard his sermons and conferences, had seen his miracles, and 
the proofs of his resurrection. This is he who testifies what he was well assured of. (3.) 
Those who wrote the history of Christ, as they testified what they had seen, so they wrote 
what they had first testified. It was published by word of mouth, with the greatest 
assurance, before it was committed to writing. They testified it in the pulpit, testified it at
the bar, solemnly averred it, stedfastly avowed it, not as travellers give an account of 
their travels, to entertain the company, but as witnesses upon oath give account of what 
they know in a matter of consequence, with the utmost caution and exactness, to found a 
verdict upon. What they wrote they wrote as an affidavit, which they would abide by. 
Their writings are standing testimonies to the world of the truth of Christ's doctrine, and 
will be testimonies either for us or against us according as we do or do not receive it. (4.) 
It was graciously appointed, for the support and benefit of the church, that the history of 
Christ should be put into writing, that it might with the greater fulness and certainty 
spread to every place, and last through every age.
2. It concludes with an attestation of the truth of what had been here related: We 
know that his testimony is true. This may be taken either, (1.) As expressing the common
sense of mankind in matters of this nature, which is, that the testimony of one who is an 
eye-witness, is of unspotted reputation, solemnly deposes what he has seen, and puts it 
into writing for the greater certainty, is an unexceptionable evidence. We know, that is, 
All the world knows, that the testimony of such a one is valid, and the common faith of 
mankind requires us to give credit to it, unless we can disprove it; and in other cases 
verdict and judgment are given upon such testimonies. The truth of the gospel comes 
confirmed by all the evidence we can rationally desire or expect in a thing of this nature. 
The matter of fact, that Jesus did preach such doctrines, and work such miracles, and 
rise from the dead, is proved, beyond contradiction, by such evidence as is always 
admitted in other cases, and therefore to the satisfaction of all that are impartial; and 
then let the doctrine recommend itself, and let the miracles prove it to be of God. Or, (2.) 
As expressing the satisfaction of the churches at that time concerning the truth of what is
here related. Some take it for the subscription of the church of Ephesus, others of the 
angels or ministers of the churches of Asia to this narrative. Not as if an inspired writing 
needed any attestation from men, or could thence receive any addition to its credibility; 
but hereby they recommended it to the notice of the churches, as an inspired writing, 
and declared the satisfaction they received by it. Or, (3.) As expressing the evangelist's 
own assurance of the truth of what he wrote, like that (Joh_19:35), He knows that he 
saith true. He speaks of himself in the plural number, We know, not for majesty-sake, 
but for modesty-sake, as 1Jo_1:1, That which we have seen; and 2Pe_1:16. Note, The 
evangelists themselves were entirely satisfied of the truth of what they have testified and 
transmitted to us. They do not require us to believe what they did not believe themselves;
no, they knew that their testimony was true, for they ventured both this life and the other

260. upon it; threw away this life, and depended upon another, on the credit of what they 
spoke and wrote.
3. It concludes with an et cetera, with a reference to many other things, very 
memorable, said and done by our Lord Jesus, which were well known by many then 
living, but not thought fit to be recorded for posterity, Joh_21:25. There were many 
things very remarkable and improvable, which, if they should be written at large, with 
the several circumstances of them, even the world itself, that is, all the libraries in it, 
could not contain the books that might be written. Thus he concludes like an orator, as 
Paul (Heb_11:32), What shall I more say? For the time would fail me. If it be asked why 
the gospels are not larger, why they did not make the New Testament history as copious 
and as long as the Old, it may be answered,
(1.) It was not because they had exhausted their subject, and had nothing more to write
that was worth writing; no, there were many of Christ's sayings and doings not recorded 
by any of the evangelists, which yet were worthy to be written in letter of gold. For, [1.] 
Every thing that Christ said and did was worth our notice, and capable of being 
improved. He never spoke an idle word, nor did an idle thing; nay, he never spoke nor 
did any thing mean, or little, or trifling, which is more than can be said of the wisest or 
best of men. [2.] His miracles were many, very many, of many kinds, and the same often 
repeated, as occasion offered. Though one true miracle might perhaps suffice to prove a 
divine commission, yet the repetition of the miracles upon a great variety of persons, in a
great variety of cases, and before a great variety of witnesses, helped very much to prove 
them true miracles. Every new miracle rendered the report of the former the more 
credible; and the multitude of them renders the whole report incontestable. [3.] The 
evangelists upon several occasions give general accounts of Christ's preaching and 
miracles, inclusive of many particulars, as Mat_4:23, Mat_4:24; Mat_9:35; Mat_11:1; 
Mat_14:14, Mat_14:36; Mat_15:30; Mat_19:2; and many others. When we speak of 
Christ, we have a copious subject before us; the reality exceeds the report, and, after all, 
the one half is not told us. St. Paul quotes one of Christ's sayings, which is not recorded 
by any of the evangelists (Act_20:35), and doubtless there were many more. All his 
sayings were apophthegms.
(2.) But it was for these three reasons: - [1.] Because it was not needful to write more. 
This is implied here. There were many other things, which were not written because 
there was no occasion for writing them. What is written is a sufficient revelation of the 
doctrine of Christ and the proof of it, and the rest was but to the same purport. Those 
that argue from this against the sufficiency of the scripture as the rule of our faith and 
practice, and for the necessity of unwritten traditions, ought to show what there is in the 
traditions they pretend to be perfective of the written word; we are sure there is that 
which is contrary to it, and therefore reject them. By these therefore let us be 
admonished, for of making many books there is no end, Ecc_12:12. If we do not believe 
and improve what is written, neither should we if there had been much more. [2.] It was 
not possible to write all. It was possible for the Spirit to indite all, but morally impossible
for the penmen to pen all. The world could not contain the books. It is a hyperbole 
common enough and justifiable, when no more is intended than this, that it would fill a 
vast and incredible number of volumes. It would be such a large and overgrown history 
as never was; such as would jostle out all other writings, and leave us no room for them. 
What volumes would be filled with Christ's prayers, had we the record of all those he 
made, when he continued all night in prayer to God, without any vain repetitions? Much
more if all his sermons and conferences were particularly related, his miracles, his cures, 
all his labours, all his sufferings; it would have been an endless thing. [3.] It was not 
advisable to write much; for the world, in a moral sense, could not contain the books 
that should be written. Christ said not what he might have said to his disciples, because 

261. they were not able to bear it; and for the same reason the evangelists wrote not what 
they might have written. The world could not contain, 
chōrēsai. It is the word that is 
used, 
Joh_8:37, “My word has no place in you.” They would have been so many that they
would have found no room. All people's time would have been spent in reading, and 
other duties would thereby have been crowded out. Much is overlooked of what is 
written, much forgotten, and much made the matter of doubtful disputation; this would 
have been the case much more if there had been such a world of books of equal authority 
and necessity as the whole history would have swelled to; especially since it was requisite
that what was written should be meditated upon and expounded, which God wisely 
thought fit to leave room for. Parents and ministers, in giving instruction, must consider 
the capacities of those they teach, and, like Jacob, must take heed of over-driving. Let us 
be thankful for the books that are written, and not prize them the less for their plainness 
and brevity, but diligently improve what God has thought fit to reveal, and long to be 
above, where our capacities shall be so elevated and enlarged that there will be no danger
of their being over-loaded.
The evangelist, concluding with Amen, thereby sets to his seal, and let us set to ours, 
an Amen of faith, subscribing to the gospel, that it is true, all true; and an Amen of 
satisfaction in what is written, as able to make us wise to salvation. Amen; so be it.
BENSON, “John 21:24. This is the disciple which testifieth these things — Being still alive after he
had written them. From this verse Grotius and some others infer, that the Ephesian bishops added
this whole chapter to St. John’s gospel, after his death. But, as Dr. Macknight observes, it evidently
proves the contrary, for it assures us that John wrote the things contained in this chapter. And we
know that his testimony is true — The church probably added these words to this gospel, as Tertius
did those to St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans, Romans 16:23. Further, though the evangelist seems
to conclude his gospel, (John 20:31,) it is no unusual thing with the sacred writers to add new matter
after such conclusions. See the epistle to the Romans, and that to the Hebrews, at the end. As to
the writer of this gospel being spoken of in the third person, it is agreeable to John’s manner;
(see John 19:35;) who likewise speaks of himself in the plural number, 1 John 5:18<20. To
conclude, the verse under consideration is shown to be genuine, by a similar passage in the
conclusion of the third epistle, John 21:12. In detailing the events subsequent to the crucifixion, the
reader may readily observe, that much matter is recorded in a small compass; and that though each
evangelist has given his particular and connected narration, much new matter is introduced by each
one, unnoticed by the others. To frame a general narrative by a combination of the whole, and to
dispose the various circumstances in the order they are supposed to have occurred, have been
objects of difficulty to harmonists. On these accounts, the following concise summary of the events,
in the order they may rationally be supposed to have happened, is introduced, as arranged by Dr.
Benson, and afterward adopted by Archbishop Newcome.
On the morning of the first day of the week, Jesus rises from the dead; a great earthquake happens
about the time of his resurrection; and an angel appears, who rolls away the stone that closed the
mouth of the sepulchre, sits upon it, and strikes the keepers with great fear; thus causing them to
remove to such a distance, as to remain unnoticed by the women and others hereafter, Matthew
28:2<4. After his resurrection, many bodies of the saints rise from their graves, and are seen by
many in Jerusalem,Matthew 27:52<53. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome,
Joanna, and other women, (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,) go very early to the sepulchre,
intending to embalm the body of Jesus, (having bought spices the preceding evening for that
purpose.) In their way they consult about removing the stone from the door of the sepulchre.
Perceiving it already taken away, they enter into the sepulchre, yet find not the body of the Lord
Jesus, Mark 16:3<5; Luke 24:2<3; John 20:1. Mary Magdalene, hastily returning to Jerusalem,
relates to Peter and John that they had taken the Lord out of the sepulchre, John 20:2. The other
women remaining in the sepulchre, two angels appear unto them, and one of them requests the
women to inform the disciples, and Peter in particular, that Jesus was risen, &c., Matthew 28:5<
7; Mark 16:4<7; Luke 24:4<8. The women return from the sepulchre, relate these things to the

262. apostles, and are discredited, Matthew 28:8; Mark 16:8; Luke 24:8<11. Peter and John having heard
Mary Magdalene’s report of his having been taken away, and the women’s of his having risen, run
to the sepulchre, and find the body removed according to their information, and wondering at what
was come to pass, return home, Luke 24:12; John 20:3<10. The resurrection having been stated to
the disciples at Jerusalem at this period, (Luke 24:22<24,) Cleophas and his companion leave their
brethren to go to Emmaus. Mary Magdalene goes again to the sepulchre, tarries there after the
apostles, (John 20:11,) and converses with the two angels who had before appeared to the women.
Turning herself back, she perceives Jesus, who gradually makes himself known unto her; she
consequently hastens to the city, and announces this his first appearance to the disciples, but they
believe not, Mark 16:9<11; John 20:11<18. The other women, having told the disciples of his
resurrection, continue in the city, while Peter and John visit, and Mary Magdalene revisits, the
sepulchre: they then go back again, and upon finding it deserted, return toward Jerusalem. On their
way, Jesus meets and requests them to direct his disciples to depart into Galilee, Matthew 28:9<10.
This is his second appearance. The guards about this time leave the neighbourhood of the
sepulchre, and inform the Jewish rulers of what had occurred within their knowledge,Matthew
28:11<15. According to Paul, (1 Corinthians 15:5,) the third appearance is to Cephas; and the fourth,
to the two who some time prior to this left their brethren to proceed to Emmaus; who, immediately
returning to Jerusalem, relate it to the other disciples, and are not credited, Matthew 16:12<13; Luke
24:13<36. The last time of his being seen on the day of his resurrection, being the fifth, was by the
apostles as they sat at meat in the absence of Thomas, 1 Corinthians 15:5; Mark 16:14<18; Luke
24:36<49; John 20:19<23. This concludes the great and glorious transactions of the important day on
which Jesus rose from the dead. About the eighth day after his resurrection, he again, the sixth
time, appears to his disciples, when Thomas was present, John 20:24<29. His seventh appearance
occurs between the eighth and fortieth day, at the sea of Tiberias, to his disciples, (Matthew
28:16; John 21:1<24,) and his. eighth, to them upon the mountain in Galilee, Matthew 28:16<20.
Paul (1 Corinthians 15:6) relates his having been seen of above five hundred brethren at once,
many of whom, at the time of his writing this epistle, were living witnesses to this the ninth
appearance. His tenth is to James; and his final appearance, being the eleventh, is to the apostles,
on the ascension, 1 Corinthians 15:7; Acts 1:3<12;Mark 16:19<20; Luke 24:50<53.
KRETZMANN 24-25, “Here John, in a final note, defends the trustworthiness of the record
which he has offered in his gospel. He has not written on the basis of questionable sources, but
he knows that the witness which he hereby bears is true: Incidentally he affirms that if all the
sayings and all the miracles and signs of Jesus had been recorded and described, it would be
such a great mass, as one might say, that the world could not contain all the books, could not
comprehend and grasp the wonders thus offered. But what John has recorded is fully sufficient
for his purpose and that of the Spirit that spoke through him, namely, to teach the deity and the
redemption of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, that all that believe on Him might not perish,
but have everlasting life.
Summary.Jesus appears to seven disciples at the Sea of Galilee, gives them another miraculous
draught of fishes, and, in a searching interview, reinstates Peter into his discipleship.
BURKITT, “The great modesty of the holy evangelist St. John, is all along throughout his gospel
very observable; he mentioneth himself hitherto under a third person; he calleth himself a
disciple, a learner, who excelled the most accomplished doctors of the ages ever since. Here he
speaks more plainly and expressly concerning himself, declaring that he was an eye<witness and
an ear<witness of what he wrote, for the greater certainty therof. And this protestation here made
by the evangelist of the truth of what he wrote, was highly necessary, lest any should think that
Christ's extraordinary love and affection to him, (he being the beloved disciple) should move him

263. to exceed (as we are prone to do) in writing the history of their lives who are dear to us, and we to
them.
Learn hence, that this gospel was written by John the beloved disciple, and the narration is of
divine truth, worthy to be embraced and received by us as a perfect rule of faith and life. We 
know that his testimony is true.
25
Jesus did many other things as well. If every
one of them were written down, I suppose that
even the whole world would not have room for
the books that would be written.
T-idAh , “And there are many other things which Jesus did — (Compare 
Joh_20:30, Joh_20:31).
if ... written every one, I suppose — an expression used to show that what follows 
is not to be pressed too far.
even the world itself would not hold the books, etc. — not a mere hyperbolical 
expression, unlike the sublime simplicity of this writer, but intended to let his reader 
know that, even now that he had done, he felt his materials so far from being exhausted, 
that he was still running over, and could multiply “Gospels” to almost any extent within 
the strict limits of what “Jesus did.” But in the limitation of these matchless histories, in 
point of number, there is as much of that divine wisdom which has presided over and 
pervades the living oracles, as in their variety and fullness.
CALVIN, “
25.There are also many other things that Jesus did. Lest any one should view his
narrative with suspicion, as if it had been written through partiality, because Jesus loved him, he
anticipates this objection, by saying, that he has passed over more than he has written. He does
not speak of Christ’ actions of every kind, but of those which relate to his public office; nor ought
we to think that the hyperbole is absurd, when we bear with many figures of speech of the same
kind in heathen authors. Not only ought we to take into account the number of Christ’ works, but
we ought also to consider their importance and magnitude. The majesty of Christ, which by its
infinity swallowed up, if I may so speak, not only the senses of men, but heaven and earth, gave
a miraculous display of its own splendor in those works. If the Evangelist, casting his eyes on that
brightness, exclaims in astonishment, that even the whole world could not contain a full narrative,

264. ought we to wonder at it? Nor is he at all to be blamed, if he employ a frequent and ordinary
figure of speech for commending the excellence of the works of Christ. For we know how God
accommodates himself to the ordinary’ way of speaking, on account of our ignorance, and
sometimes even, if I may be allowed the expression, stammers.
Yet we ought to remember what we formerly stated, that the summary which the Evangelists
have committed to writing, is sufficient both for regulating faith and for obtaining salvation. That
man who has duly profited under such teachers will be truly wise. And, indeed, since they were
appointed by God to be witnesses to us, as they have faithfully discharged their duty; so it is our
duty, on the other hand, to depend wholly on their testimony, and to desire nothing more than
what they have handed down to us; and especially, because their pens were guided by the sure
providence of God, that they might not oppress us by an unlimited mass of narratives, and yet, in
making a selection, might make known to us all that God knew to be necessary for us, who alone
is wise, and the only fountain of wisdom; to whom be praise and glory for ever. Amen
 
GILL, “Joh 21:25 - And there are also many other things which Jesus did,.... 
Which refer not to his doctrines and discourses, his sermons and prayers, and the 
conversation he had with his disciples, and others, on different accounts; but to the 
signs, and wonders, and miraculous operations, which were done by him, that are 
neither recorded in this, nor in any of the evangelists: 
the which, if they should be written everyone; with all the particular 
circumstances relating to them: 
I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should 
be written. The Arabic version renders it, "the things written in the books"; and the 
Syriac, "that the world would not be sufficient for the books that should be written"; and 
so the Persic, which adds, "and the Scribes of the world would fail, or be deficient"; there 
would not be Scribes enough in the world to write them; nor could they be read by men, 
if they were written; the world would be overloaded with them; and therefore the Holy 
Ghost has not thought fit to lay such a burden on men they could not bear, as to read 
such numbers of volumes; but has reduced them into a brief compendium, which may be
read with ease, delight, and pleasure; and which is abundantly sufficient to attest the 
truth of Christ's incarnation, miracles, doctrines, obedience, sufferings, death, 
resurrection, ascension, session at God's right hand, &c. and of the whole of Christianity, 
and all that appertains to it, or whatever is necessary to be known, for the salvation of 
men: for this cannot be understood of the carnal and unbelieving part of the world, not 
receiving and bearing what would be contained in such volumes, were they written; for 
they are not able to receive and bear what is now written, but reject and despise it as 
foolishness. Some understand this as an hyperbolical expression; but the sense above 
given, may be admitted without an hyperbole; though an hyperbole may very well be 
allowed of; nor, taken literally, will it appear greater than some others used in Scripture; 
as when the posterity of Abraham are said to be as numerous as the stars of the sky; and 
especially when said to be as the sand by the sea shore, innumerable, 
Heb_11:12 and 
when Capernaum is said to be exalted unto heaven, or to reach unto it, Mat_11:23 and 
particularly the Jews have no reason to object, as one of them does (g), to such a way of 
speaking, whose writings abound in hyperbolical expressions, and in some like to this; as
when one of their Rabbins says (h), 

265. "if all the seas were ink, and the bulrushes pens, and the heavens and the earth volumes, 
and all the children of men Scribes, rXmTsZmTJusb-Y-V8wsb-W, "they would not be sufficient to 
write the law", which have learned, &c.'' 
and it is commonly said (i) by them, if this, or that, or the other thing was done, su-J-sWu
suZ8wusWwu‘, "the world would not be able to bear them". And a later writer (k) of theirs, 
speaking of the different interpretations given by some of their Rabbins of a certain 
passage, says, they are so many, that an ass is not able to carry their books. And the 
intention of this expression, supposing it hyperbolical, is to show, that but a few of the 
wonderful things done by Christ were recorded by the evangelist, in comparison of the 
many which he every day did, in all places where he came; for he was continually going 
about doing good, and healing all manner of diseases; but these that were written are 
sufficient to prove him to be the true Messiah, and to require faith in him as such. To all 
which the evangelist sets his "Amen", as attesting and confirming the truth of all he had 
written; and which may be depended upon, and assented to, as truth, by all that read this
Gospel. The Alexandrian copy, and Beza's Cambridge copy, have not the word "Amen"; 
nor have the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions. In some copies the 
following words are added, 
"the Gospel according to John was given out thirty two years after the ascension of 
Christ;'' 
which would fall on the year of Christ 66, and so before the destruction of Jerusalem; 
which is contrary to the common opinion of learned men, some placing it in the year 97, 
others in the year 99. 
(John starts his Gospel by stating: "All things were made by him". If one were to attempt 
to even summarise the works of creation, there is no way the world could contain the 
resulting volumes! Editor.) 
Barnes, “Many other things - Many miracles, Joh_20:30. Many discourses 
delivered, etc.
I suppose ... - This is evidently the figure of speech called a hyperbole. It is a mode of
speech where the words express more or less than is literally true. It is common among 
all writers; and as the sacred writers, in recording a revelation to men, used human 
language, it was proper that they should express themselves as men ordinarily do if they 
wished to be understood. This figure of speech is commonly the effect of surprise, or 
having the mind full of some object, and not having words to express the ideas: at the 
same time, the words convey no falsehood. The statement is to be taken as it would be 
understood among the persons to whom it is addressed; and as no one supposes that the 
author means to be understood literally, so there is no deception in the case, and 
consequently no impeachment of his veracity or inspiration. Thus, when Longinus said 
of a man that “he was the owner of a piece of ground not larger than a Lacedaemonian 
letter,” no one understood him literally. He meant, evidently, a very small piece of land, 
and no one would be deceived. So Virgil says of a man, “he was so tall as to reach the 
stars,” and means only that he was very tall. So when John says that the world could not 
contain the books that would be written if all the deeds and sayings of Jesus were 
recorded, he clearly intends nothing more than that a great many books would be 

266. required, or that it would be extremely difficult to record them all; intimating that his life
was active, that his discourses were numerous, and that he had not pretended to give 
them all, but only such as would go to establish the main point for which he wrote that he
was the Messiah, Joh_20:30-31. The figure which John uses here is not uncommon in 
the Scriptures, Gen_11:4; Gen_15:5; Num_13:33; Dan_4:20.
This gospel contains in itself the clearest proof of inspiration. It is the work of a 
fisherman of Galilee, without any proof that he had any unusual advantages. It is a 
connected, clear, and satisfactory argument to establish the great truth that Jesus was 
the Messiah. It was written many years after the ascension of Jesus. It contains the 
record of the Saviour’s profoundest discourses, of his most convincing arguments with 
the Jews, and of his declarations respecting himself and God. It contains the purest and 
most elevated views of God to be found anywhere, as far exceeding all the speculations of
philosophers as the sun does the blaze of a taper. It is in the highest degree absurd to 
suppose that an unlettered fisherman could have originated this book. Anyone may be 
convinced of this by comparing it with what would be the production of a man in that 
rank of life now. But if John has preserved the record of what has occurred so many 
years before, then it shows that he was under the divine guidance, and is himself a proof, 
a full and standing proof, of the fulfillment of the promise which he has recorded that the
Holy Spirit would guide the apostles into all truth, Joh_14:26. Of this book we may, in 
conclusion, apply the words spoken by John respecting his vision of the future events of 
the church: “Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this” book, “and 
keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand,” Rev_1:3.
Clarke, “Joh 21:25 - 
Many other things - Before his disciples, is added by two MSS. The Scholia in 
several MSS. intimate that this verse is an addition; but it is found in every ancient 
version, and in Origen, Cyril, and Chrysostom.
Could not contain, etc. - Origen’s signification of the word χωρειν is to admit of, or 
receive favourably. As if he had said, the miracles of Christ are so many, and so 
astonishing, that if the whole were to be detailed, the world would not receive the 
account with proper faith; but enough is recorded that men may believe that Jesus is the 
Son of God, and that in believing they may have life through his name: Joh_20:31.
We have already seen that this apostle often uses the term world to designate the 
Jewish people only; and if it have this sense here, which is possible, it will at once 
vindicate the above exposition of the word χωρειν. As if he had said, Were I to detail all 
the signs and miracles which Jesus did among his disciples, and in the private families 
where he sojourned, the Jewish people themselves would not receive nor credit these 
accounts; but enough is written to prove that this Christ was the promised Messiah.
Bishop Pearce has a very judicious note here, of which what follows is an abstract, with
a few additions.
Even the world itself, etc. This is a very strong eastern expression, to represent the 
number of miracles which Jesus wrought. But, however strong and strange this 
expression may seem to us of the western world, we find sacred and other authors using 
hyperboles of the like kind and signification. In Num_13:33, the spies who returned from
the search of the land of Canaan say that they saw giants there of such a prodigious size 
that they were in their own sight as grasshoppers. In Dan_4:11, mention is made of a 
tree, whereof the height reached unto the heaven; and the sight thereof unto the end of 
all the earth. And the author of Ecclesiasticus, in 47:15, speaking of Solomon’s wisdom, 
says, Thy soul covered the whole earth, and thou filledst it with parables: so here, by one 

267. degree more of hyperbole, it is said that the world would not contain all the books which 
should be written concerning Jesus’s miracles, if the particular account of every one of 
them were given. In Josephus, Antiq. lib. xix. c. 20, God is mentioned as promising to 
Jacob that he would give the land of Canaan to him and his seed; and then it is added, q]d
R[&EqQK'dROKOFudbK&Fdc['q5dbEdud]O'd“&Fd]O'deO[OKKOν. They shall fill all, whatsoever the 
sun illuminates, whether earth or sea. Philo in his tract De Ebriet, T. i. p. 362, 10, is 
observed to speak after the same manner, qQH!d“OEd…DFdHDE!DFd]]OFq5dqQH!'5daDE&KO'd…qd
OZeqFqFdR[&eq5ud'KD5dH’dqQH’dbd]qK[q5. Neither is any one able to contain the vast 
abundance of gifts; nor is the world capable of it. And in his tract De Posterit. Caini, T. i. 
p. 253, l. 38, he says, speaking of the fullness of God, fQH!d“OEd!'5d(ει)dR[qQ…qFd
!R'H!']FQKeO'd\qQ[&e!'&d…qFdgOQ…qQudaDE&KO'dOFud&R!'EDe!'K&5d]O'deO[O……&5udcdKQ[ROKOd“&. 
And should he will to draw out his fullness, the whole compass of sea and land could not 
contain it.”
Homer, who, if not born in Asia Minor, had undoubtedly lived there, has sometimes 
followed the hyperbolic manner of speaking which prevailed so much in the east, as in 
Iliad, b. xx. he makes Aeneas say to Achilles: - 
Αλλ’dO“!d[&]!…'d…OQ…Od[!“D[!eOudF&RQ…'q'di5u
j̣αοτ’d!Fd[!KKldmK['FldH&'nq…&…q5I
Uk'd“OEdO[Zq…!Eq'K'FdqF!'H!Od[Qe&KOKeO'
Pq[[Od[O[’odqQH’dOFdF&Q5dg]O…qFpQ“q5dOaeq5dOEq'…qI
q…E!R…&dH!d“[DK5’d!k'd\Eq…DFudRq[!!5dH’d!F'd[Qeq'u
POF…q'q'od!R!DFdH!dRq[Q5dFq[q5d!FeOd]O'd!FeOI
rRRq'qFd]’d!'RlKeOd!Rq5ud…q'qFd]’d!RO]qQKO'5I
Iliad, xx. v. 244-250.
But wherefore should we longer waste the time
In idle prate, while battle roars around?
Reproach is cheap. With ease we might discharge
Gibes at each other, till a ship that asks
A hundred oars should sink beneath the load.
The tongue of man is voluble, hath words
For every theme, nor wants wide field and long;
And, as he speaks, so shall he hear again.
Cowper.
Few instances of any thing like these have been found in the western world; and yet it 
has been observed that Cicero, in Philip ii. 44, uses a similar form: Praesertim cum illi 
eam gloriam consecuti sunt, quae vix coelo capi posse videatur - “especially when they 
pursued that glory which heaven itself seems scarcely sufficient to contain.” And Livy 
also, in vii. 25, Hae vires populi Romani, quas vix terrarum capit orbis - “these energies 
of the Roman people, which the terraqueous globe can scarcely contain.”
We may define hyperbole thus: it is a figure of speech where more seems to be said 
than is intended; and it is well known that the Asiatic nations abound in these. In 
Deu_1:28, cities with high walls round about them are said to be walled up to heaven. 

268. Now, what is the meaning of this hyperbole? Why, that the cities had very high walls: 
then, is the hyperbole a truth? Yes, for we should attach no other idea to these 
expressions than the authors intended to convey by them. Now, the author of this 
expression never designed to intimate that the cities had walls which reached to heaven; 
nor did one of his countrymen understand it in this sense - they affixed no other idea to 
it, (for the words, in common use, conveyed no other), than that these cities had very 
high walls. When John, therefore, wrote, the world itself could not contain the books, 
etc., what would every Jew understand by it! Why, that if every thing which Christ had 
done and said were to be written, the books would be more in number than had ever 
been written concerning any one person or subject: i.e. there would be an immense 
number of books. And so there would be; for it is not possible that the ten thousandth 
part of the words and actions of such a life as our Lord’s was could be contained in the 
compass of one or all of these Gospels.
There is a hyperbole very like this, taken from the Jewish writers, and inserted by 
Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, liv. iii. c. 1, s. 9. “Jochanan succeeded Simeon - he attained the 
age of Moses - he employed forty years in commerce, and in pleading before the 
Sanhedrin. He composed such a great number of precepts and lessons, that if the 
heavens were paper, and all the trees of the forest so many pens, and all the children of 
men so many scribes, they would not suffice to write all his lessons!” Now, what meaning
did the author of this hyperbole intend to convey? Why, that Jochanan had given more 
lessons than all his contemporaries or predecessors. Nor does any Jew in the universe 
understand the words in any other sense. It is worthy of remark that this Jochanan lived 
in the time of St. John; for he was in Jerusalem when it was besieged by Vespasian. See 
Basnage, as above.
There is another quoted by the same author, ibid. c. v. s. 7, where, speaking of Eliezar, 
one of the presidents of the Sanhedrin, it is said: “Although the firmament were vellum, 
and the waters of the ocean were chanced into ink, it would not be sufficient to describe 
all the knowledge of Eliezar; for he made not less than three hundred constitutions 
concerning the manner of cultivating cucumbers.” Now, what did the rabbin mean by 
this hyperbole? Why, no more than that Eliezar was the greatest naturalist in his time; 
and had written and spoken more on that subject and others than any of his 
contemporaries. This Eliezar flourished about seventy-three years after Christ. It is 
farther worthy of remark that this man also is stated to have lived in the time of St. John.
John is supposed to have died a.d. 99.
Hyperboles of this kind, common to the east and to the west, to the north and to the 
south, may be found every where; and no soul is puzzled with them but the critics. The 
above examples, I trust, are sufficient to vindicate and explain the words in the text. It is 
scarcely necessary to add that the common French expression, tout le monde, which 
literally means the whole world, is used in a million of instances to signify the people 
present at one meeting, or the majority of them, and often the members of one particular
family. And yet no man who understands the language ever imagines that any besides 
the congregation in the one case, or the family in the other, is intended.
Amen - This word is omitted by ABCD, several others; Syriac, all the Arabic, and both 
the Persic; the Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Syriac Hieros., Vulgate, and all the 
Itala but three.
The word ןמאssef2 , which has passed unaltered into almost all the languages of the 
world in which the sacred writings are extant, is pure Hebrew; and signifies to be steady, 
constant, firm, established, or confirmed. It is used as a particle of affirmation and 
adjuration. When a person was sworn to the truth of any fact, the oath was recited to 

269. him, and he bound himself by simply saying, h,Wdh,Wddlo8e, amen. See an instance of this, 
Num_5:22. In Deu_27:15-26, it is to be understood in the same sense; the persons who 
use it binding themselves, under the curse there pronounced, should they do any of the 
things there prohibited. It is often used as a particle of affirmation, approbation, and 
consent, examples of which frequently occur in the Old Testament. When any person 
commenced a discourse or testimony with this word, it was considered in the light of an 
oath; as if he had said, I pledge my truth, my honor, and my life to the certainty of what I 
now state.
Our Lord begins many of his discourses with this word, either singly, Amen, I say unto 
you; or doubled, Amen, amen, I say unto you; which we translate verily: as Christ uses it, 
we may ever understand it as expressing an absolute and incontrovertible truth. 
Instances of the use of the single term frequently occur: see Mat_5:18, Mat_5:26; 
Mat_6:2, Mat_6:5, Mat_6:16; Mat_8:10; Mat_10:15, Mat_10:23, Mat_10:42, etc., etc.; 
but it is remarkable that it is doubled by St. John, see Joh_1:51; Joh_3:3, Joh_3:5, 
Joh_3:11; Joh_5:19, Joh_5:24, Joh_5:25; Joh_6:26, Joh_6:32, Joh_6:47, Joh_6:53; 
Joh_8:34, Joh_8:51, Joh_8:58; Joh_10:1, Joh_10:7; Joh_12:24; Joh_13:16, Joh_13:20, 
Joh_13:21, Joh_13:38; Joh_14:12; Joh_16:20, Joh_16:23; Joh_21:18; and is never 
found iterated by any of the other evangelists. Some have supposed that the word dh,Wdis 
contracted, and contains the initials of h,?Udsi,dfU-Wddz3sel_dtlT82d—88ole, my Lord the 
faithful King; to whom the person who uses it is always understood to make his appeal. 
Christ is himself called the Amen, bdh[&F, Rev_1:18; Rev_3:14; because of the eternity of 
his nature and the unchangeableness of his truth. In later ages, it was placed at the end 
of all the books in the New Testament, except the Acts, the Epistle of James, and the 
third Epistle of John, merely as the transcriber’s attestation to their truth; and, perhaps, 
it is sometimes to be understood as vouching to the fidelity of his own transcript.
The subscriptions to this Gospel, as well as to the preceding Gospels, are various in the
different versions and manuscripts. The following are those which appear most worthy of
being noticed.
“The most holy Gospel of the preaching of John the evangelist, which he spake and 
proclaimed in the Greek language at Ephesus, is finished.” - Syriac in Bib. Polyglott.
“With the assistance of the supreme God, the Gospel of St. John the son of Zebedee, 
the beloved of the Lord, and the preacher of eternal life, is completed. And it is the 
conclusion of the four most holy and vivifying Gospels, by the blessing of God. Amen.” - 
Arabic in Bib. Polyglott.
“The four glorious Gospels, of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are completed.” - 
Persic in Bib. Polyglott.
Other subscriptions are as follow: - 
“The end of the holy Gospel of John - delivered thirty years - thirty - two years after the
ascension of Christ - in the Isle of Patmos - in the Greek tongue at Ephesus - under the 
reign of Domitian - written by John when he was an exile in Patmos - under the Emperor
Trajan - and delivered in Ephesus by Gaius the host of the apostles. John, having 
returned from his exile in Patmos, composed his Gospel, being 100 years of age and lived
to the age of 120.” - Suidas.
In an Ethiopic MS. in the royal library in Paris, at the conclusion of this evangelist are 
these words: - “Now the sum of all the clauses of the four Gospels is 9700. - By the grace 
of the Lord, here are ended the four Gospels. The sections of the four Gospels are 217. 

270. The clauses of the holy Gospel, even from its beginning to its end, namely, the writing of 
St. John, are completed.”
It may be just necessary to inform the reader that the most ancient MSS. have scarcely 
any subscription at all, and that there is no dependence to be placed on any thing of this 
kind found in the others; most of the transcribers making conclusions according to their 
different fancies. See the concluding note of the preceding chapter; and see the preface to
this Gospel, where other subjects relative to it are discussed.
BURKITT, “
John being about to conclude the history of our Saviour's life asserts, that there
were many other miracles and special deeds done by Christ, both before and after his passion,
which he had not recorded or set down; because, should all that Christ did and said be committed
to writing, it would even fill the world, the volumes would be so many.
From hence we gather, 1. The wonderful activity, industry, and diligence, of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he was never idle, but that his whole life was spent in doing good; stances have been
recorded, it would amount to an incredible bulk.
Learn, 2. That it is impossible to get all said, which might be said of Christ, and in his
commendation: such is the transcendent excellency of his person, and the weakness of our
apprehensions and judgments, that if all were written, which might be written concerning him, the
world itself could not contain the books which should be written.
Learn lastly, that although many of Christ's sermons, conferences, miracles, and actions, be not
recorded; yet it doth not follow, nor can it be inferred from thence, that any necessary doctrine is
omitted, or not sufficiently confirmed: there being so much written as it pleased God we should
know, and was necessary for us to know, in order to our improvement in faith and holiness. If
then, after all the revelation and discovery which God hath made of his Son Christ Jesus, and of
the way that leads to eternal salvation by him, persons remain willingly ignorant of him, and of
their duty to him, "where shall they appear, and how shall they escape?"
Now unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath 
made us kings and priests unto God and his Father: To him be glory and domination for 
ever and ever.Rev_1:5 6
Amen.
BARCLAY, “
In this last chapter the writer of the Fourth Gospel has set before the Church for whom
he wrote certain great truths. He has reminded them of the reality of the Resurrection; he has
reminded them of the universality of the Church; he has reminded them that Peter and John are not
competitors in honour, but that Peter is the great shepherd and John the great witness. Now he
comes to the end; and he comes there thinking once again of the splendour of Jesus Christ.
Whatever we know of Christ, we have only grasped a fragment of him. Whatever the wonders we
have experienced, they are as nothing to the wonders which we may yet experience. Human
categories are powerless to describe Christ, and human books are inadequate to hold him. And so
John ends with the innumerable triumphs, the inexhaustible power, and the limitless grace of Jesus
Christ.

BENSON, “
John 21:25. And there are also many other things which Jesus did — Many which none
of the evangelists have recorded; which, if they should be written every one — Every fact, and all
the circumstances thereof;I suppose — This expression, which softens the hyperbole, (if this be
one,) shows that John wrote this verse; the world itself could not contain the books that should be
written — The construction of this verse, in our present translation, is fully justified by adducing from
the Old Testament expressions equally hyperbolical. Thus Exodus 3:8, the land of Canaan is said to
flow with milk and honey. Numbers 13:33, the spies, who returned from searching the land of

271. Canaan, say they saw giants there of such a prodigious size, that they were, in their own sight, as
grasshoppers. 7:12, the Midianites, &c., are said to lie along in the valley like
grasshoppers, and their camels to be as the sand by the sea'shore for multitude. 1 Kings 10:27,
Solomon is said to make silver be in Jerusalem as stones. The reader may find more examples of
such hyperboles, both in sacred and profane authors, in a note of Bishop Pearce on this text. Such
expressions are not unusual in the magnificent luxuriance of the oriental style, though rarely
occurring in the simple, artless narrations of the apostles. Thus understood, the clause simply
means, that Jesus performed a prodigious number of miracles. The text may, nevertheless, be
considered in a sense somewhat different. This evangelist frequently uses the word world in a
general sense, to denote its inhabitants, as John 8:26, and in other places, (see John 15:18,) as
signifying the carnal and unbelieving part of mankind. The Greek word
χωρεω, here
translated contain, is not only used in that sense, but, when applied to the mind, denotes the
reception and understanding of any thing, and is rendered to this purpose,
Matthew 19:11<12;
and Philemon 1:15. By adopting these observations the text may be understood to mean, I am
persuaded the world itself would not receive the books that should be written;which is Doddridge’s
translation. Whitby, Chandler, and many others, have supported this construction. According to it
John informs us, that if all the miracles which Jesus performed were written, the world itself could
not receive the books, could not believe them, because they would appear absolutely incredible. But
to this interpretation it may be objected, that the phrase,
αυτον τον κοσον, the world
itself, cannot mean the men of the world, for which reason the first sense, it seems, is to be
preferred.
“I agree perfectly,” says Dr. Campbell, “with those interpreters who think that the hyperbole
contained in this verse is much more tolerable than the torture to which some critics have put the
words, in order to make them speak a different sense.”
“Perhaps,” says the pious Dr. Doddridge, referring to what St. John here declares respecting the
many other things done by Jesus, which have not been recorded, “it may be a most delightful part of
the entertainment of the heavenly world, to learn from our blessed Lord himself, or from those who
conversed with him on earth, a multitude of such particulars of his life as will be well worthy our
everlasting admiration. In the mean time, let us praise God for what is recorded, and let us study the
sacred records which contain such authentic and exact accounts of those important facts, in which
we are all so nearly concerned; records incomparably more valuable than the writings of our private
estates, or the charters of our public liberties. Let us earnestly pray, that their great design may be
answered in us; and make it our importunate request to Him, who is the giver of all grace, that
through the operations of that Holy Spirit, (without the influence of which, even the Scripture itself,
with all our advantages for understanding and improving it, will be but a sealed book, or a dead
letter,) our faith may be nourished and confirmed by every portion of it which we read. And let us,
above all, be concerned that our hearts may be so influenced by his word, and, as it were, delivered
into the mould of it, that, believing in Christ, under all the characters he bears, we may have life
through his name, and may at length receive the end of our faith in the completesalvation of our
souls.” Amen! So may it be to the author of this work, and to all that do or may peruse it!
AUTHOR UNKNOWN, ““There’s all the difference in the world between an inquiring mind and an
inquisitive mind. The one is often the enemy of the other. Peter is anxious to know what part he
can play in hastening the kingdom of God: He is to be commended: He has an inquiring mind.
Peter is curious to know what part John is to play: He is merely inquisitive: He must be told to mind
his own business.
There is such a thing as a sublime selfishness. It is all very well for Peter to interest himself in
John, but there are times when it is Peter’s bounden duty to forget all about John and to concentrate
all his attention on Peter. We are living in a world in which everybody knows what everybody else
ought to do. We can each of us see at a glance what the Prime Minister ought to do, and what the
Government ought to do, and what the opposition ought to do, and what the editor ought to do.
Peter always seems to know exactly what John ought to do. The pity of it is that we are not
sufficiently self<centered. If only Peter would give his whole heart and soul to discovering what
Peter ought to do! If only Peter would mind his own business.”

272. COKE, “John 21:25. I suppose that even the world, &c.— According to most commentators, this
is an hyperbole; a figure in which the Asiatics are known to have dealt greatly, and which they
carried far higher than is allowable in the European languages; and the word I suppose naturally
leads to this exposition: thus understood, the clause means that Jesus performed a prodigious
number of miracles. Dr. Doddridge understands the passage differently, as if the evangelist had
said, "I am persuaded,
Οιαι,— that if all the to things which Jesus did, were written, the work
would amount to so vast a bulk that the world itself would not be able to receive the books that
should be written; but the very size of the volumes would necessarily prevent the generality of
mankind fromprocuring or reading them." Perhaps it may be a most delightful part of the
entertainment of the heavenly world, to learn from our blessed Lord himself, or from those who
conversed with him upon earth, a multitude of such particulars of his life, as will be well worthy our
everlasting admiration. In the mean time, the pious and attentive study of what is recorded by the
evangelists, may most happily prepare us for such discoveries, and add an unutterable relish to
them: forthey were written that we might believe that Jesus was the Christ; and that, believing, we
may have life through his name. Amen! blessed Lord.
Inferences on our Lord's resurrection, drawn from ch.
John 19:38 to ch. John 20:29. Grace does not
always make much show, where it is; though it always burns for doing good. There is much secret
riches, both in the earth and sea, which no eye ever saw. We never heard any news till now
of Joseph ofArimathea; yet was he eminently rich, and wise, and good. True faith may be
sometimes reserved, but will not be cowardly. Now he puts forth himself, and dares to beg the body
of Jesus.
Death is wont to quell all quarrels. Pilate's heart tells him that he has done too much already, in
sentencing an innocent person to death: the request is granted; the body is yielded, and taken
down; and now, that which hung naked, is wrapped in fine linen; that which was soiled with sweat
and blood, is curiously washed and embalmed. Now even Nicodemus comes in for his share: he
fears not the envy of a good profession, but boldly flies forth, and will now be as liberal in his orders,
as he was before niggardly in his nightly confession.
All this while the devout Marys retire, and silently spend their sabbath in a mixture of grief and hope;
but now they gladly agree, in the dawn of the Sunday morning, to visit the sacred sepulchre; nor will
they go empty<handed. She that had bestowed that costly alabaster<box of ointment upon her
Saviour alive, has prepared no less precious odours for him dead.
Of all the women, Mary Magdalene is first named: she is noted above her fellows. None of them
were so much obliged,—none so zealously thankful. Seven devils were cast out of her by the
command of Christ. The heart thus powerfully dispossessed, was now filled with gratitude to her
great Deliverer. Where there is a true sense of favour, there cannot but be a fervent desire of
retribution. O blessed Lord! could we feel the danger of sin, like her, and the malignity of those
spiritual possessions from which thou hast freed us, how should we pour out our souls in
thankfulness for thy bounty!
Every thing here had horror; the place both solitary, and a sepulchre; nature abhors, as the
visage, so theregion of death and corruption:—the time, night; only the moon perhaps gave them
some faint glimmering:—their business, the visitation of a dead corpse: and yet their zealous love
has easily overcome all these. They had followed him in his sufferings, when the timid disciples had
left him. They attended him to his cross, weeping; they followed him to his grave; nay, and even
there they leave him not; but, ere it be day<light, they return to pay him the sad tribute of their duty.
—How much stronger is love than death or fear.
How well it succeeds when we go faithfully and conscientiously about our work, and leave the issue
to God! Lo, God has removed the cares of these holy women, together with the grave<stone. The
obstacle is removed; the seal broken; the watch fled. What a scorn does the Almighty God make of
the impotent designs of men! He sends an angel from above;—the earth quakes beneath;—the
stone rolls away;—the soldiers stand like carcases, and when they have got heart enough to run
away, think themselves valiant. The tomb is opened, Christ rises, and they are confounded. O the
vain project of silly mortals! as if, with such a shovelful of mire; they could dam up the sea; or keep

273. the sun from shining, by holding up their hands. Indeed, what creature is so base, that the
Omnipotent cannot arm against us to our confusion? Lice and frogs shall be too strong for Pharaoh,
and worms for Herod! There is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord.
But O the marvellous pomp and magnificence of our Lord's resurrection! (See Matthew 28:1<4.)
The earthquakes, the angel appears, that it may be plainly seen that this divine Person, now rising,
has the command both of heaven and earth. Good cause had the earth to quake, when the God
who made her, powerfully calls for his own flesh from the usurpation of her bowels. Good cause had
she to open her graves, and eject her dead, in attendance to the Lord of life, whom she had thus
detained in that cell of darkness. What seeming impotence was here! but now what a demonstration
of omnipotence bursts forth in this glorious resurrection! The rocks rend; the graves open; the dead
rise and appear; the soldiers flee and tremble: saints and angels attend thy rising, O Saviour! Thou
liedst down in weakness, thou risest in power and glory: thou liedst down as a man, thou risest like
a God.
What a lively image hast thou herein given me of the dreadful majesty of that general resurrection
on thy second appearance! Then not the earth only, but the powers of heaven also shall be
shaken; not some few graves shall be open, and some saints appear, but all the bars of death shall
be broken, and all that sleep in the dust shall awake, and stand up from the dead before thee. Not
some one angel shall descend; but Thou, the great angel of the covenant, attended with thousand
thousands of those mighty spirits: and if these stout soldiers were so filled with terror at the feeling
of an earthquake, and the sight of an angel, where shall thine enemies appear, O Lord, in the day of
thy terrible vengeance, when the earth shall reel and vanish, when the elements shall be on a flame
around them, and the heavens shall be parched up as a scroll, in that awful, that inexorable day!
Where, where, for shelter shall the guilty fly, When consternation turns the good man pale?
Thou didst raise thyself, O blessed Jesus! thy angels removed the stone. They, who could have no
hand in thy resurrection, shall yet have their part in removing outward impediments; not because
thou neededst, but because thou wouldest: just so thyself alone didst raise Lazarus; thou
badest others to loose him, and let him go. Works of omnipotency thou reservest to thine own
immediate performance; ordinary actions thou consignest to means subordinate.
How great must have been the joy of angels on this stupendous event! But how transcendent their
joy whom thou raisedst with thee from the dead! O death, where is now thy sting? O grave, where is
thy victory?
But how am I conformable to thee, O Saviour, if, when thou art risen, I am still lying in the grave of
my corruptions? How am I a member of thy body, if, while thou hast that perfect dominion over
death, death has dominion over me?—How am I thine, if I be not risen?—and if I be risen with
thee, why do I not seek the things above, where thou, O Christ, sittest at the right hand of God?—
For where the treasure is, there must the heart be also.
I marvel not at your speed, blessed disciples, if, upon the report of these good women, ye ran,
yea, flewupon the wings of zeal, to see what was become of your Master. Your desire was noble,
was equal; but John is the younger, his limbs are more nimble, and breath more free. He looks first
into the sepulchre; but Peter more boldly goes down the first. Happy competition, where the only
strife is, who shall be most zealous in the inquiry after Christ!
They saw enough to amaze their senses; not enough, however, to settle their faith. O blessed
Jesus, how dost thou pardon our errors! and how should we pardon and pity the errors of each
other on lesser occasions, when as yet thy chief and dearest disciples, after so much divine
instruction from thine own lips, knew not the scriptures, that thou must rise again from the
dead. They went away more astonished than confident; more full of wonder than of belief.
There is more tenderness, where it takes in the weaker sex; those holy women, as they came first,
so they stayed last. Especially devout Mary Magdalene stands still by the cave weeping. Well might
those tears have been spared, if her knowledge had been answerable to her affection, or her faith to
her fervour.
As our eye will ever be where our love is, she stoops, and looks down into that dear sepulchre. The
angels appear in glorious apparel; their splendor shewed them to be no mortal creatures; not to

274. mention that Peter and John had but just come out of the sepulchre, and both found and left it
empty in her sight. Yet do we not find the good woman aught appalled with the unexpected glory.
So deeply was her heart absorbed with the thoughts of her Saviour, that she seems insensible of
every other object. The tears which she let drop into the sepulchre, sent up back to her the voice of
the angels; Woman, why weepest thou?
The sudden wonder has not dried her eye, nor charmed her tongue. She freely confesses the cause
of her grief to be the missing of her Saviour, and simply complains, They have taken away my Lord,
and I know not where they have laid him. Alas, good Mary, of whom dost thou complain? Who can
have removed thy Lord but himself? Neither is he now laid any more; he stands by thee, whose
removal thou now lamentest.—Thus many a tender soul afflicts itself with the want of that Saviour,
who is near, yea, present to bless.
Turn back thine eye, O mourning soul, and see Jesus standing by thee, though thou knowest not
that it is he. His habit was one that he had then assumed.—And thus sometimes it pleases our
Saviour to appear to his disciples in some sense unlike himself. Sometimes he offers himself to us
in the shape of a poor man, and sometimes of a distressed captive. (See Matthew 25:34; Matthew
25:46.) Happy he or she who can discern the Saviour in all his forms! Mary now took him for the
gardener. O blessed Lord! be thou to me such as thou appearedst to this holy woman: break up the
fallows of my nature; implant in me thy grace; prune me with meet corrections; bedew me with the
former and latter rain of thy counsels;—do what thou wilt with me, so thou but make me fruitful!
Joseph could no longer contain himself in the house of Pharaoh from the notice of his brethren; and
thus thy compassion, O Saviour, causes thee to break forth into clear discovery: the very sound of
his name bringeth Mary to herself. Thou spakest to her before, but in the tone of a stranger: now it
is the compellation of a friend. O speak to every reader's heart in the same affectionate and
powerful manner!
No sooner had Mary heard this familiar sound, than she turned herself, and saith unto him,
Rabboni!which is to say, Master. Before, her face was toward the angels; the call of
her Saviour instantly averts all inferior regards; nor do we rightly apprehend the Son of God, if any
creature in heaven or earth can withhold our eyes or estrange our hearts from him. Let Mary be our
example: the moment she hears his voice, her whole attention is riveted on her Lord. She salutes
him with a Rabboni, in acknowledgment of his authority over her; she falls down before him, in a
desire humbly to embrace those sacred feet, which she now rejoices to behold, past the use of
odours and unguents.
Jesus however is pleased to wave the acceptance of her zealous intentions, (touch me not, &c.)
possibly by way of gentle reproof, for a joy which perhaps betrayed worldly exultation. Even our
well<meant zeal in seeking and enjoying the Saviour, may be faulty. May we, blessed Lord, be
taught with Mary, from thy remonstrance, if we have known thee heretofore after the flesh, yet
henceforth to know thee so no more.Should we so fasten our thoughts on the corporeal or terrestrial
circumstances attending thee, as not to look higher, even to the spiritual part of thine
atchievements,—the power and the issues of the resurrection;—what could it profit our immortal
souls?
But to whom then dost thou send her?—Go, and tell my brethren. Blessed Jesus, who are those?
Were not they thy followers,—rather, were not they thy forsakers?—Yet still thou stylest them thy
brethren. O admirable humility! infinite mercy! abundant grace! How dost thou raise their titles with
thyself? At first they were thy servants; then disciples: a little before thy death thou vouchsafedst to
call them thy friends;now, after thy resurrection, thou dignifiest them with the endearing appellation
of brethren. O why do we stand so proudly upon the terms of our poor distinctions and inequality,
when the incarnate Son of the most high God stoops so low as to call us his brethren;—his Father
our Father; and his God our God!
With what joy must Mary have received this errand! With what joy must the disciples have
welcomed both it and the bearer! Here were good tidings indeed from a far country, even as far as
the utmost regions of the shadow of death.
While their thoughts and conversation are employed on so grateful a subject; the Saviour makes his
miraculous and sudden appearance among them, bids their senses be witnesses of his revival, and

275. of their happiness, stands in the midst of them, and saith, Peace be unto you. Instantly all the mists
of doubting are dispelled; the sun breaks forth clear. They were glad when they saw the Lord. His
approved Deity gave them confidence; his gracious presence inspired their hearts with joy.
But where wert thou, O Thomas, when the rest of this sacred family were met together? Alas! we
cannot but be losers by our absence from holy assemblies; for God standeth in the congregation of
his saints.Now, for this time, thou missest that divine breath, which so powerfully inspired the rest;
and fallest into that weak and rash distrust, which thy presence there would probably have
prevented. Suspicious man, who is the worse for thy scepticism? Whose the loss, if thou wilt not
believe? Is there no certainty but in thine own senses? Is any thing beyond the sphere of divine
Omnipotence? Go then, O simple and unwise, and please thyself in thy bold incredulity, while thy
fellows are happy in believing.
For a whole week Thomas rests in his infidelity. Notwithstanding the conduct and the testimony of
others; notwithstanding the report of the two travellers to Emmaus, whose hearts burning within
them, had set their tongues on fire to relate the happy occurrence of their walk;—still he struggles
with his own distrust; still he combats that truth, whereof he can hardly deny himself to be
unanswerably convinced.
O condescending Lord, how shall we enough admire thy tenderness and forbearance! Justly
mightest thou have left this man to his own pertinacious heart; and of whom could he have
complained, had he perished in his unbelief? But thou art infinite in compassion, and willest not the
death of a sinner. This straggler shall be indulged with the desired evidences of thy resurrection; he
shall once more see thee to his shame, and to his joy; and he will hear thy voice, and taste thy love.
Behold, the mercy no less than the power of the Son of God hath melted the stony heart of this
unbelieving disciple: Then Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord, and my God. I do not
read that, when it came to the issue, Thomas fulfilled his resolution, and employed his hands in trial
of the fact. His eyes are perhaps now a sufficient assurance; the sense of his Master's Omniscience
supersedes all further hesitation.
It was well for us, Thomas, that thou didst thus disbelieve; else the world had not received this
striking evidence of that resurrection whereon all our salvation depends. Blessed be thou, O God,
whose great prerogative it is to bring good out of evil, and to make a glorious advantage of every
incident, for the promotion of the salvation of thy faithful people, the confirmation of thy church, and
the glory of thy name! Amen.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The disciples being appointed to meet their Lord in Galilee, returned thither,
and, till the time came, employed themselves in their former occupations. Christ's servants must not
be idlers.
1. Christ appears to them at the sea of Tiberias, where Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons
of Zebedee, and two other disciples, were fishing. They were unsuccessful all night, and toiled in
vain: in the morning Jesus stood on the shore, and at the distance they were off, the disciples knew
him not. Note;(1.) God's ministers sometimes labour long, and see little fruit; but they must not be
weary, nor faint in their minds: patient perseverance shall at last be crowned with success. (2.) They
who are diligent in their honest calling, are in Christ's way, and may expect his blessing.
2. Christ addresses them in his familiar manner, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him,
No. He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. Rather than
return empty, they resolved to make the trial, and, to their astonishment, found the net so full,
that they were not able to draw it up into the boat for the multitude of fishes. Note; (1.) Christ takes
cognizance of his disciples' wants; he will see that they have meat to eat. (2.) They who go to
minister under a divine call, shall find at last that their labour is not in vain in the Lord.
3. John hereupon suggests, that this must needs be the Lord. Peter instantly caught the hint, and,
fired with zeal and love, girt up his coat, and plunged into the sea, impatient to be at his dear
Master's feet; while the other disciples, who were but a little way from shore, about a hundred yards,
hasted to land, dragging the net with them. Simon joined them, and assisted them in their labour;
and, to their astonishment, they counted one hundred and fifty<three large fishes, and yet the net
remained unbroken, which still increased the miracle. Note; Different disciples excel in different gifts
and graces: some are more quick to discern, others more intrepid to execute; some move slowly,

276. but steadily; others blaze with zeal, though not equally uniform; and each especially serviceable in
his place.
4. Their Master, who had given them this miraculous draught of fishes, had provided also for their
refreshment on shore. They found a fire, and fish laid thereon, and bread, to which he bids them
add some of those they had caught, and then kindly and familiarly, as formerly, invites them to
come and refresh themselves; while they, in sacred awe at his presence and miracle, kept at a
respectful distance, nor durst ask him, Who art thou? which would have implied unbelief, when
indeed they were fully satisfied that it was the Lord. Note; (1.) They who act under the command of
Jesus, and go forth in his name, shall not want a provision: Verily they shall be fed. (2.) In the
ordinances a rich repast is provided for believers, and the Master in them will break the bread of life
to our souls. (3.) The gospel word is, COME Christ's arms are open to believers; they will be
welcome to all the rich provision of his grace.
5. Christ, as the master of the feast, distributes the bread and fish to them, and did eat and drink
with them, to shew himself truly alive, and to confirm them in the certainty of his resurrection. (Acts
10:41.) And still he is the same gracious Lord: they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, shall
be filled, and all the wants of their souls relieved by the abundance of his grace.
6. The evangelist remarks, that this was the third public appearance of Jesus to any considerable
number of his disciples together, whose faith would hereby be more confirmed: or this was the third
time he appeared to them: the first day of his resurrection he appeared five several times, one the
week after, and now again for the third time; and every repeated visit brought new tokens of his
love.
2nd, When dinner was ended, Christ addressed himself to Peter. He knew that Peter's conscious
heart upbraided him bitterly for his past conduct; and now, to silence his fears, while he tacitly
reproves his unfaithfulness, he confirms him in his office, as fully restored to his favour and love.
We have,
1. The question thrice put to Peter, Lovest thou me? and the first time Christ adds, more than
these?more than he loved his dearest relatives or friends who were present; or more than the ship,
and nets, and fish, and all comforts and gain; or more than these love me; because he had once so
boldly and forwardly intimated his superior attachment to him, that though all men should be
offended, yet will not I and then it implied a tacit rebuke for this vain<glorious boast? But now that he
was restored to favour again, this new obligation conferred upon him required an especial return of
love. Note; (1.) When we do amiss, we must not be displeased to have our sincerity questioned. (2.)
True love to Christ will make us count every thing trivial in comparison with him.
2. Three times Peter makes the same reply: Thou knowest that I love thee: he will not pretend any
more to a superiority over his brethren, though conscious of the sincerity of his love. The third time,
grieved at the repeated question, which seemed to intimate a suspicion of his sincerity, and
reminded him of his threefold denial, he adds, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I
love thee; and for this he can appeal to him as the Searcher of hearts. Note; They who are sincere
in their attachment to Christ, can appeal for their simplicity to the Searcher of their hearts.
3. Thrice Jesus bids him prove the sincerity of his love by his diligence and labour in the
ministry. Feed my lambs; feed my sheep. Since his iniquity is pardoned, his commission is renewed,
and with more abundant diligence he is called upon to discharge his awful trust. He must feed the
lambs, the young disciples, and those who are most weak and feeble; considering their weakness,
and having compassion on their infirmities, as remembering his own. He must feed the sheep, the
strong of the flock, willing to expose himself to any danger for their sake, and faithfully ministering to
them the rich food of the gospel word for their nourishment and growth in grace.
4. Christ foretels the sufferings which awaited St. Peter in the discharge of his ministry. He must
seal the truth that he preached, by enduring martyrdom. Verily, verily I say unto thee, When thou
wast young, thou girdedst thyself, full of vigour, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou
shalt be old, after a long life of labour, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee,
and carry thee whither thou wouldest not, even to prison and the cross; and this he spake,
signifying by what death he should glorify God; and the concurring testimony of antiquity reports,
that he suffered crucifixion. Note; (1.) Nature starts from death, as reluctant to go; but grace can

277. enable us to meet it calmly in its most tremendous forms. (2.) Every saint of God desires to die, as
he lives, to God's glory; patiently resigned to his will; commending with his dying breath the good
ways of the Lord; and rejoicing in hope of the glory ready to be revealed in him.
5. He gives Peter a significant sign of what he required of him. Rising from table, he saith unto
him, Follow me; copy my example; follow my instructions; and if he was called to the cross, he must
remember, it would be no more than his Master for his sake had endured before. Whatever we
suffer, we should never forget how much more our Master endured; and that this is the way to come
to be with him in his glory. We must bear the cross before we wear the crown.
3rdly, Peter rising up to follow his Master, on looking back, beheld John the beloved disciple just
behind him. Hereupon,
1. He begs Jesus to say, what should be John's lot and labour. Either he was curious to know, or
tenderly concerned lest the same sufferings awaited his dear fellow<labourer. True Christian love
will make us feel for our brethren as for ourselves.
2. Christ checks his curiosity, while he answers his question. If I will that he tarry till I come, in some
peculiar glorious display of his power, such as the destruction of the Jewish nation would be, what
is that to thee? Follow thou me. Note; It is the will of Jesus, that we should follow steadily the path of
duty, without curiously desiring to pry into futurity, content to leave all our concerns in his hands.
3. From a mistake of Christ's meaning, a report spread among the brethren, as if that disciple
should not die; whereas Christ said no such thing, but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to
thee? meaning that he should live to see the destruction of the Jewish state and polity. Whence we
may observe the uncertainty of all human traditions, and the great danger of submitting implicitly to
human expositions of scripture, however supported by numbers, authority, or antiquity. We have the
book of God before us; we have the Spirit of God promised to each of us; let us therefore, after all
that others say, read, hear, and judge for ourselves.
4. The evangelist, now drawing to a conclusion, solemnly attests the truth of all that he had
recorded, being an eye and ear witness of what he writes; and as he was himself absolutely certain
of what he said, so were all his brethren; and the truths of the gospel are attended with such
evidence as must convince every impartial inquirer. They who reject the scripture testimony, wilfully
shut their eyes against the light, and, whatever they may pretend, have no cloak for their obstinate
infidelity.
5. He closes with a declaration, that innumerable other miracles were performed by Jesus, besides
those he had recorded; which, if they were all related with the circumstances severally attending
them, not all the scribes in the world could have written them, nor the most retentive memory have
contained them. Nor would the unbelieving world, who reject the present evidence, have received
the truth, though innumerable volumes of Christ's had been written for their conviction. Hereto the
evangelist sets his Amen! What he wrote was infallibly certain: let us add our Amen to his; perfectly
satisfied in his testimony; by faith embracing the glorious truths which he records; and fervently
praying for the accomplishment of all the inestimable blessings that are promised. Amen! Amen!