John 21

Thought on This Chapter

JN 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

JN 21:4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

JN 21:5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.

JN 21:6 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.

Jesus had already risen from the dead. Peter and John had been to the tomb and seen the linen clothes. And now the disciples go fishing. This was not a pleasure trip. Fishing was the occupation for many of them before they met Christ. Jesus had told them to leave their jobs as fishermen and follow Him, and He would make them fishers of men. They now decide to go back to fishing. Going back to their old occupation was clearly against the will of God for them. Their endeavor was met with total failure. They fished all night and caught nothing. Now I can go out with a fishing pole and accomplish that no problem. But they were fishing with nets. It is pretty hard to fish all night in an inland lake with nets and not get at least one fish. This was not an accident. God was at work. He was using fishing as an object lesson. He is teaching them that He has a job for them to do. They still need to be fishers of men. They were called men of God. If they chose to go back to their old occupation, God was not going to bless their endeavor. Then Jesus talks to them and commands them to cast the net on the right side. They do it and catch more fish than they can draw in. Hopefully you see the difference. They were fishing in disobedience to God and caught absolutely nothing. This is contrasted by fishing in obedience to God and they caught a great many fishes. What a powerful object lesson to men who had been told to leave fishing for fishes and become fishers of men. They got the point and never went back to their old trade. Instead they turned the world upside down for Christ. They fished for men and brought in a great harvest.

We see here that God wanted them to stay faithful to the work that they were called to do. The same is true for us. God has a job for every born again believer, and how ever big or small that job is, we need to stick with it.

Thought On This Chapter

JN 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

JN 21:23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

Twisting scripture or at least miss teaching what it says is nothing new. It was going on before the ink was dry on the New Testament. Jesus never said that the disciple would not die. However, that is the saying that went abroad. And notice this false teaching went abroad among the brethren. This false hood went out among so many that it warrented mentioning it in the Word of God. People do love to tell some new thing. Especially if it is exciting, or novel. Can't you almost hear it. "Wow, did you hear that Jesus said that that disciple would not die." And so it spread like wildfire. The first person miss quoted what Jesus said, and those who heard it did not bother to verify it before they passed it along. And because of it error spread.

We see the same thing today. Someone will misrepresent scripture. They will say that it says something that it really does not. The health and wealth false gospel for example. It is false, but people find it new and exciting. It tickles their ears and so instead of studying to check out if it is true or not people just jump on the bandwagon and pass the false hood along. Just like in this Bible account, at first someone miss represents scripture and the people who hear it do not take the time or spend the effort to find out if it is true. And so error spreads like wildfire. Often error spreads much faster than truth. As Christians we should always be careful to check things out for ourselves. Make sure of the Biblical truth of a matter before we pass it along.

King James Bible Main Index:

John 21 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

JN 21:1 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.

JN 21:2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.

JN 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

JN 21:4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

JN 21:5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.

JN 21:6 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.

JN 21:7 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 fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.

JN 21:8 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.

JN 21:9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.

JN 21:10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.

JN 21:11 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.

JN 21:12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

JN 21:13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.

JN 21:14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

JN 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

JN 21:16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

JN 21:17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

JN 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

JN 21:19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

JN 21:20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

JN 21:21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

JN 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

JN 21:23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

JN 21:24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.

JN 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

JN 21:21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

JN 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

Peter was just told to feed Jesus' sheep. And then Jesus foretold the way that Peter was going to die.

Peter then says what shall this man do, referring to another apostle.

Jesus answers what is that to thee. And then Jesus tells Peter to follow thou me.

Peter took his eyes off of what Jesus told him to do and put his eyes on what Jesus told others to do.

Jesus told Peter to never mind what I tell others to do. That is none of your business. You just worry about yourself.

The same principal applies to us today. Too many Christians want a certain ministry because they see that others have it.

The reverse is also true. Some do not want to enter a certain ministry because Jesus has not asked someone else to do the same thing.

What Jesus does or does not tell others to do is not to be our concern.

What we need to be concerned with is what is Jesus asking me to do.