Beyond Fishing

When Jesus rose from death in Jerusalem, he surprised his friends by meeting them in various places – on country roads, in urban gardens, closed rooms, on mountain tops - but only one of these recorded events occurred near water. You can read the story in John 21.

I suppose it was inevitable, really. Most of Jesus' disciples hailed from Galilee as did Jesus, so it was only natural that he would re-connect with them back in their familiar haunts.

The angel-in-the-tomb told the disciples Jesus would meet them in Galilee, so they left Jerusalem and went back north. One night eight of them went fishing – except that the fish didn’t cooperate. It was a fruitless outing and as dawn broke over the horizon, their nets were empty and their arms ached. No doubt they talked a lot about the recent events and the puzzling whereabouts of Jesus. Their whole sense of mission seemed as vague and futile as this fishing venture.


A stranger on the shore suggested throwing their nets on the other side of the boat. Fishermen don’t usually appreciate unsolicited advice – especially from folks on shore, but Peter and his friends did as suggested and, to their astonishment, netted a huge haul of fish.

Fresco by Bertrand Bahuet 1995-1996

They figured out quickly that the stranger on the shore was Jesus. And when they got to shore, found that Jesus already had fish grilling for breakfast!

The whole event reminded Peter of a similar time three years earlier when Jesus first recruited him to join his mission. It had also been a fruitless night of fishing, similar instructions from Jesus and a net-ripping catch of fish that had scared Peter witless. “There’s nothing to fear,” Jesus told Peter, “from now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.”

‘It’s déjà vu all over again,’ thought Peter as he counted his catch this time – over 150 large fish, and the nets untorn! But Peter knew Jesus had more in mind than a bonanza at the Galilee fish-market.

After breakfast, Jesus took Peter for a walk and cleared away the debris in Peter’s heart about his colossal collapse the night of Jesus’ arrest. Jesus forgave him and reassured him, Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved him (echoing his three denials) and three times Peter affirmed his commitment to Jesus. And with each “Yes!”, Jesus re-commissioned him to his mission.

But there was a difference in the way Jesus described Peter’s new work – a change in metaphor that became a paradigm shift for Peter. No more 'you’re going to fish for people'; now it was 'feed my sheep'. From fish-harvesting to animal husbandry!

This re-invented the purpose of Peter’s life. It was not just to catch people for God, but to nurture them into a healthy community. Jesus took a fisherman and re-tooled him into a sheep-herder. The Italian painter Raphael captures this in his masterful tapestry of the scene with Peter's boat on the right and a flock of sheep on the left.

The difference was massive. For the rest of his life Peter continued netting people from the sea of humanity and drawing them to Jesus, but he was never content to merely catch ’em and count ’em as he used to do with fish. Peter spent the next 30 years, teaching young Christians the way of Christ so they would “grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus”. He modeled for young leaders in the church how to “be a shepherd of God’s flock that is under your care.”

The Lord of land and sea is still meeting people at the water – in our familiar habitats as well as our places of frustration or failure. He transforms our vision, plunging us into a life of purpose with people and expanding our horizons to the whole of God’s creation.