We Are Fishers of Men—Do What He Says (21:1–8)

We Are Fishers of Men—Do What He Says (21:1–8)

The Lord had told His disciples to meet Him in Galilee, and this is the reason they were at the Sea of Galilee, or Sea of Tiberias (Matt. 26:32; 28:7–10; Mark 16:7). John does not tell us why Peter decided to go fishing. Some say he was quite within his rights to do as he did; he had bills to meet, and fishing was the best way of getting the cash. Why just sit around? Get to work!

Some believe that Peter was called out of that kind of life (Luke 5:1-11), and it was wrong for him to go back. Peter said, "I go a-fishing," and they said, "We will go with thee!" If he was mistaken, they were mistaken also, and it is a sad thing when a believer leads others astray.

It is likely that at least seven of the twelve apostles were fishermen. Why did Jesus call so many fishermen to be His disciples? For one thing, fishermen are brave, and Jesus needs people with a brave heart to follow Him. They are also committed to one thing, and it's difficult to keep them off track. Fishermen never surrender! (We are, of course, talking about professional fishermen, not holidaymakers!) They know how to take orders and how to work together.

We have no way to prove whether Peter and his friends were right or wrong, but they were mistaken. However, we do know this: their efforts were wasted. Had they forgotten the words of the Lord, "For without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5)? They worked all night and caught nothing. Peter must have remembered what happened two years earlier when Jesus called him to full-time discipleship (Luke 5:1–11). That night Peter had fished all night and caught nothing, but Jesus had taken his failure and turned it into success.

Perhaps Peter’s impetuousness and self-assurance were showing again. He was honest; he did his best, but it was all in vain. What a likeness they bear to some of the Lord's servants! They really think they are doing the will of God, but their works are vain. They are without the guidance of the Lord, so they cannot expect to receive blessings from Him.

Our Lord was sometimes unrecognized after His resurrection (Luke 24:16; John 20:14), so His disciples did not recognize Him when He appeared on the shore at dawn. His question anticipated a negative answer. You haven't caught anything to eat, have you? The answer they gave was short and perhaps a bit sheepish: “No.”

It was time for Jesus to take over the situation as He did when He called Peter into discipleship. He told them where to cast the net. They obeyed, and they caught 153 fish! The difference between success and failure was the width of the ship! When we let Jesus give the orders, we are never far from success, and we are usually closer to it than we think.

John was the first to recognize the stranger on the shore as their own Lord and Master. It was John who had leaned back at the table on the breast of the Lord (John 13:23) and who had stood by the cross as his Lord suffered and died (John 19:26). Love is that which recognizes the Lord and bears the joyful news to others: “It is the Lord!”

Peter, in a typical impulsive move, quickly put on his outer garment ("naked" simply means "stripped for work") and dove into the water! He wanted to reach Jesus! This behavior runs counter to Luke 5:8, where Peter tells the Lord to leave him alone. The other six men came in the boat with the net full of fish. In the experience recorded in Luke 5, the nets began to break. But in this experience, the net did not break.

Maybe these two ‘fishing miracles’ can be viewed as showing how the Lord helps His people fish for lost souls. Without His guidance and blessing, our labor is wasted. In these days, we do not know how many fish we have caught, and it often seems that our nets are breaking. But at the end of the age, when we see the Lord, not a fish will be lost, and we shall know how many there are.

Jesus told the disciples, and us, that we are to be “fishers of men.” This phrase wasn’t new with Jesus; it was used by Greek and Roman teachers for years. To be a “fisher of men” in that day was to seek to persuade men and “catch” them with the truth. A fisherman catches living acquatic fish, but when he receives them, they die. Christian witness is trying to catch "dead fish" (dead in their sins), and when he or she "catches" them, they are made alive in Christ!
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Now we can see why Jesus had so many fishermen in the disciples' band. Fishermen know how to work. They have the courage and faith to go out “into the deep.” They are very patient and persistent and won’t give up. They know how to work together, and they know how to use the equipment and the boat. What examples can we follow in our quest to “catch fish” for Jesus Christ?

We are “fishers of men” and there are “fish” all around us. We will catch the fish if we obey His directions.