John 21 - The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition

The Fishing Miracle (21:1–14). Peter decides to return to his long-neglected work of fishing. At sunrise they are finishing up when an unknown voice from shore instructs them to try the opposite side of the boat. “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some,” Jesus called out (v. 6). To toss a cast net at random into the sea was virtually futile. Only a school captured by a trammel net could be picked up in this manner. But the stranger may have seen a large school of fish from the shore, and Peter quickly spins the net over his head and lets it sail, like a parachute, dropping onto the sea as he watches the sinkers take it down.

In these shallow waters, the miraculous catch cannot be mistaken. Pinned to the net are over one hundred fish (later counted at 153), and its weight is more than the boat can take. Immediately the Beloved Disciple recognizes Jesus on the shore and conveys the news to Peter. When he hears that Jesus is on the shore, he tucks or wraps his smock into his belt to give him a tight fit and leaps into the water.

In Judaism, an abundant catch was a sign of God’s favor and blessing; this is precisely what Jesus has done. He blesses them further by greeting them with a fire and roasting fish together with fresh bread. While they are eating, John says that the men know it is Jesus but are also afraid to ask. He is the same Jesus, but the events of Easter have also made him unmistakably different. Jesus’s offer of bread and fish precisely parallels what he did at the miraculous feeding in 6:11, and this no doubt serves as a signal that removes any uncertainties.

The Restoration of Peter (21:15–17). Jesus’s three queries in verses 15–17 are perhaps the most celebrated exchange of questions and answers in the entire Bible. Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, and three times Peter affirms his love. In each case he is commissioned to tend Jesus’s flock. There are nuances of language here, however, that are often identified in the passage, and it may be helpful to outline the exchange in Greek.

[15] Jesus: Do you love [agapaō] me? Peter: I love [phileō] you.

[16] Jesus: Do you love [agapaō] me? Peter: I love [phileō] you.

[17] Jesus: Do you love [phileō] me? Peter: I love [phileō] you.

Interpreters have to make a decision. Do these two words for love convey some hidden difference of meaning? Some commentators have argued that phileō represents an inferior form of love and that Jesus is challenging Peter to elevate his level of commitment. One of the problems with this view is that if the conversation took place in Aramaic, such variation in Greek would not have been present—although this explanation fails to recognize that John is using Greek to represent the nuances of the exchange and his choice of words remains important.

This has led many exegetes to see the variation between agapaō and phileō as insignificant and to understand these two words as synonyms. The focus of Peter’s conversation with Jesus has to do with his commission to tend the flock of Christ, not the quality of his love for him. Peter is thus upset (v. 17) not because Jesus has changed the verb for love but because Jesus has asked him the same question for the third time. Attempts to find deeper meaning in the connections among these words should be viewed with utmost caution.

The Death of Peter and the Beloved Disciple (21:18–23). We should no doubt read these verses together with 13:36–38. Peter will lay down his life for Jesus (13:37). He will be crucified also and will glorify God in the same manner as his Lord—but this must await a time in the future. “Follow me” in 21:19 now takes on a poignant and provocative new meaning. Peter will follow Jesus to the cross.

Interest now shifts to the Beloved Disciple in verses 20–23. Throughout the Gospel this disciple is an exemplar of faithfulness and commitment. We are reminded, for instance, that it was he who spoke to Jesus about betrayal at their last meal. He was faithful, standing with Jesus at the cross, and later he was the first to express faith at the empty tomb. Here at the shore, Peter is charged to “follow” Jesus (v. 19), but we learn that John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, is “following” already (v. 20). Again, he is a model who on one level may be following nearby as Jesus talks privately with Peter, but who (on another level) is found to be the ideal follower whom Peter should emulate.

It is not Peter’s privilege to know how or when John will die—or if, for that matter, John will remain alive until Jesus comes back in his powerful return. Again, Jesus tells the apostle to follow, and this time the form is emphatic. To paraphrase: “Peter, this matter is not your concern; it is mine. You have one duty: follow me.”

Verse 23 corrects what must have been an unusual misinterpretation of Jesus’s words that had circulated for some time in the church. No doubt among John’s followers many believed that their beloved leader would not die but would remain until Christ returned. Disciples in the Johannine church could thus keep their hope in the second coming alive and then increase their anticipation as John grew in age. As Peter should not speculate about John, so too should John’s followers abandon any eschatology linked to the apostle’s fate.

Validating John’s Testimony (21:24–25). John’s disciples next explicitly affirm the veracity of their leader’s work. When they write, “We know that his testimony is true” (emphases added), at once we are alerted to their presence in the narrative. Here we have a third party standing between John’s reliable testimony and ourselves as readers. With devotion and humility, they now pen the Gospel’s closing frame.

The Gospel’s closing verse may well stem from the hand of John himself (following the quick editorial insertion of v. 24). John reminds us that there is far more to Jesus’s life than what is recorded in his Gospel. This suggests again the possibility that John knew of other stories (Synoptic stories?) that he did not record (Cf. 20:30). At best we can say that the Fourth Gospel is a partial rendering—but also a sufficient rendering—of a story whose scope surpasses any one effort.

With playful and delightful hyperbole, John says that even all the books of the world could not contain Jesus’s story. John ends his Gospel with humility. The story is larger than anything he can imagine. His effort, while glorious for us to read, pales in comparison to the glory of the person whom his story describes.