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A Large Catch Of Fish, and Jesus Comes To Breakfast (John 21:1-14)

 It's possible the apostles didn't believe what they had already seen, so Jesus comes again to reveal himself. It might've been a kind of hangover for the apostles, because they had such joy when they saw Jesus again, and then they had to go back to regular life.

Or so they thought.

Several of them went fishing, including St. Peter. They didn't catch anything. It reminds me of when Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do nothing."

They thought they saw a man on the beach, and they didn't know it was Jesus. Whether Jesus prevented them from knowing it was him, or whether they couldn't see them because they were a long way off, Jesus wanted to wait until the right moment to let them know it was him. As it turned out, Jesus decided to let the miracle do the talking. They cast their nets on the right side of the boat. St. Peter probably thought he was just being nice to a guy trying to give him advice on fishing. He is a fisherman; I would hope Peter knows what he's doing by now.

They couldn't haul it in by themselves, because they caught so many fish.

St. John is the one who told Peter that it was the Lord. I guess Peter thought that it would be undignified to meet the Lord again in his work clothes, which were almost nothing, so he put his regular clothes on and jumped right in the water, to meet Jesus at the shore.

Jesus had already made a charcoal fire with fish and bread, and he told them to bring some of the fish they had just caught. St. John tells us that they caught 153 large fish. Even so, the net was not torn. Perhaps St. John sees this as a miracle; the number of fish probably is, especially since they caught nothing the night before. Here's an interesting question: did St. John recognize Jesus with his eyes, or did he know it must have been Jesus, because of the miracle?

I think it's fair to say that Jesus ate in front of them to prove he was alive, and that they had not seen a ghost, when they saw him before.

In worship, we bring the ordinary things of life--like bread and wine--and they become for us the body and blood of Christ. On this occasion, God gives the ordinary things in life, and shares them with us. "God is with us." It's a profound mystery that goes both ways: he sheds light on God, because he is God, and he sheds light on our humanity, because he shares it with us.

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