Relevant Verses: John 21
Theme: Knowing Jesus
Leading Question: What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?
Question: Can you think of any events in your life that seemed bad at the time but in hindsight were meaningful?
The last chapter in the Gospel of John contains Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on the shores of the Sea of Tiberius. One recognizes here multiple resonances with themes occurring throughout the Gospel. The disciples have returned to their job of fishing, and it is into the ordinariness of daily life that the resurrected Jesus reveals himself. The Gospel provides a list of names, including Nathanael of Cana, the disciple we met in the first chapter, and the location of Cana, the place celebrating the joy of life and relationship from John 2. And so we are nudged to go back to the beginning and reread the stories about Jesus and the disciples. Similar to the wedding in Cana where Jesus provided an abundance of the best wine for the wedding, here at the end of the narrative we hear about an abundance of fish.
Question: What other elements do you recognize in John 21 that resonate with themes in the Gospel of John?
Peter
Peter’s matter-of-fact words come across quite humerous, “Well then, I guess I will go fishing” (John 21:3). The others follow and board their boats. What is the intention here? Do they think to go back to being “regular” disciples? “But the ascension of Jesus will necessitate a reevaluation of what discipleship means,” says Karoline Lewis (John, p. 254), and then continues,
It is not an accident that their fishing expedition occurs at night. As we have noted throughout this commentary, night or darkness symbolizes the realm of unbelief, and day or light the realm of belief. The detail that Jesus stands on the shore at daybreak points to the possibility of what now might be seen, realizewd, and believed. Jesus is still the light and it will be in light that the moment of recognition will happen. Jesus states the obvious, “You didn’t catch anything, did you?,” with the disciples equally obvious reaponse, “You got that right.” This brief interaction postpones the moment of realization and reminds us of the critical role that conversation and dialogue have in coming to believe who Jesus is. Jesus again states what should be painfully evident. “Did you try the other side of the boat?” There is an honesty and openness here for which the disciples have long asked, a desire for plain speech. Now, they catch an abundance of fish. When the Beloved Disciple says, “It is the Lord!,” we realize that it is in Jesus’ demonstration of abundance, a sign of grace upon grace, that the moment of recognizing Jesus happens. … The resurrected Christ will be seen in displays of abundance. The ascended Christ will be known when his disciples establish opportunities to experience abundant grace.
Question: Why does Jesus ask Peter three times, “Do you love me?”
The three-fold question and answer dialogue between Peter and Jesus is critical for understanding what discipleship means in the Gospel of John. To reduce the interaction to Jesus’ forgiveness of Peter and his rehabilitation as a disciple after his failure of loyalty toward Jesus in the Temple court is not adequate and minimizes the importance of the interaction. The question, “Do you love me?” (John 21”15-17) recalls how Jesus expresses what love means in his Farewell Speech (Greek agapao and phileo). “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Jesus then asks Peter to be the good shepherd for the sake of God’s love for the world. In fact, Jesus asks Peter to be the “I AM” for the flock, paying the same price with his life that Jesus paid.
To be the “I AM” in the world may seem initially like an overstatement, even blasphemous. God is the one and only “I AM” and Jesus was the “I AM” because the Word was God. This is true … only God can be God’s presence in the world. Yet, for the Gospel of John, discipleship has to be more than modeling Jesus or thinking “what would Jesus do?” The understanding of discipleship presented in the Fourth Gospel relies on the theological promise of the incarnation. It takes the incarnation seriously so much so that the combination of our humanity and the inbreathing of the Spirit of God means that we do indeed embody the presence of God in the absence of Jesus. This does not mean that we are God. It means that God relies on us, on disciples, to witness in the world God’s love, with the entirety of our beings. This concept of discipleship underscores the oneness and unity of which Jesus spoke in the Farewell Discourse (John 17:23).
