The Catch of 153 Fish

Illustration of The Catch of 153 Fish
An empty night, a voice from the shore, and 153 fish in an unbroken net - the risen Jesus re-enacting Peter's call before restoring him.

After the resurrection, seven disciples fished all night on the Sea of Galilee and caught nothing. At dawn a figure on the shore told them to cast the net on the right side of the ship - and the net filled so full they could not draw it. John said to Peter, 'It is the Lord,' and Peter threw himself into the sea to swim ashore, where Jesus already had bread and fish cooking on a fire of coals. The net held a hundred and fifty and three great fishes, 'and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.' The scene deliberately echoes the first miraculous catch that began Peter's call - and beside a charcoal fire like the one where he denied Jesus three times, Peter is restored three times: 'Lovest thou me?... Feed my sheep.'

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Details

Category
Provision
Testament
New Testament
Performed by
Jesus

Key Chapters

John 21 Jesus and Peter Restored 4 min read

Key Passages

Cast the Net on the Right Side

John 21:4-11

B4ut when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

5 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 fisherโ€™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. 9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. 10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 11 Simon Peter went up, and drew 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.

Explore Related

Characters

Jesus Jesus is portrayed in the Bible as the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah whose coming fulfilled Oldโ€ฆ Peter Peter, originally a fisherman named Simon, was called by Jesus along the Sea of Galilee to become one ofโ€ฆ John (Apostle) John the Apostle, son of Zebedee and brother of James, was among Jesus' innermost circle of disciples andโ€ฆ Thomas Thomas, one of the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus, is frequently identified in Scripture as the discipleโ€ฆ Bartholomew (Nathanael) Bartholomew, also identified as Nathanael in the Gospel of John, was one of the twelve apostles selected byโ€ฆ

Places

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee, a freshwater lake in northern Israel also known as Lake Kinneret, formed the geographicโ€ฆ

Themes

Faith Without faith it is impossible to please God. From Abraham leaving everything for an unknown land to aโ€ฆ Gratitude Only one of ten healed lepers returned to say thank you. That moment captures a universal truth inโ€ฆ Sovereignty of God The Lord reigns. From Joseph's slavery to Daniel's lions' den, Scripture reveals a God who works all thingsโ€ฆ

Did You Know?

1

The catch is one of the very few numbers of its kind in Scripture - exactly 153 - counted, John implies, fish by fish on the shore; interpreters from Jerome onward have proposed meanings, but the text just remembers the count.

2

John notes the net 'was not broken' - in the first miraculous catch three years earlier, the nets broke; grace at the end of the story holds what it could not at the beginning.

3

The 'fire of coals' on the shore uses the same rare Greek word as the fire where Peter denied Jesus - the setting for his three-fold restoration was deliberately rebuilt.