Some oddities of the narrative of John 21. Peter, we’re told, has stripped, apparently to make it easier to do his fishing. When he hears that Jesus is on the shore, he puts ON his outer robe and throws himself into the sea. As a practical matter, this doesn’t make much sense; he’d be able to swim better without the outer robe. As a symbolic act, it makes a lot of sense at a number of levels: Peter is about to be re-installed as an apostolic shepherd, and prior to that he puts on a robe of investiture; the sea being an image of the Gentiles, Peter is a Jonah throwing Himself into ministry to the world; it appears also to be a baptismal scene, with Peter restored by washing and investiture to table fellowship and ministry with Jesus.
Fish and Dominion
An interesting point is that the fishermen do not seem to have dominion over the fish in John 21. The new gardener, Jesus does. In Him, the dominion mandate will be fulfilled, because He possesses all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28).
Resurrection and Veil
The Old Covenant was characterized by veils. The veil covered the Shekinah glory of God from view. Moses, for instance, wore a veil when he met with God. Those veils meant separation from God and His glory; it meant death. This veil folded and set aside after the resurrection is proof that the veil has been lifted. Isaiah 25 tells us that on that day the veil of death that is hanging over the nations would be removed. This veil is now set aside. The glory of God is revealed in His beloved and resurrected Son.
153 in John 21
Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn ( John 20:11).
Most Bible readers would simply skip over this little precise detail in the text, but we should consider always ask why the Spirit of God puts such a detail in the text. This is not just a round number. The text does not say “approximately 153,” but rather it states emphatically there were 153 fishes in the net. Why this precision? Is it simply to confirm that John’s eye-witness account of the event is accurate and that he was really there? Yes. The number serves this function in the text, but it is only an additional benefit in the text. The significance of the number “153” is symbolic.
Rich Lusk notes that:
While the use of triangulation (17+16+15+14….=153) and gematria (the numerical value of words) seems weird to us, there is almost no doubt these things are present in the passage. The number “153” pops out at you from the text, and cries for an interpretation. There are just too many easy-to-find connections to be merely coincidental.
James Jordan comments similarly:
This is one of those texts in the Bible that many people puzzle over. It is not a puzzle for some. They say this just happens to be the record of the number of fish that were caught, evidence of a true fisherman’s recounting (e.g., Leon Morris; William Hendriksen). It is true that there were exactly 153 fish caught, but that is not the reason the precise number is given. It does not occur to such non-literary interpreters that the Holy Spirit often does not give precise numbers, and that if the precise number were not important, the text would only say “many fish” or “about 150 fish.”
Far from allegorical coincidence or allegorical abuse (common in the early church), this is a clear and necessary point of the text. John is communicating the completeness and totality of the nations of world; Gentiles and Jews are now coming into the arena of redemption. They are being joined to form one new family, one new creation under One Lord.
Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee in John 21
There is a lot going on in the first two verses of John 21. Jesus manifests himself to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Now, Tiberias is the Roman name for Galilee (see John 6:1). In verse 2, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee is in this group of fishermen. In John 2, Cana in Galilee is the place where Jesus turns water into wine; lots of wine. Interestingly, the text only tells us of Nathaniel’s origin. In this passage Jesus is manifesting the abundance of His reign. There is a lot of wine in Cana of Galilee, and now a lot of fish.