John 21
1 Later,a Jesus showed himself to the students again at Lake Tiberias.b Here’s how he showed himself:
2 Simeon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael (the one from Cana in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee,c and two other of his students were together. 3 Simeon Peter said to them, “I’m going fishing.”
“We’re coming with you too,” they said.
They went out and got into the boat, and they didn’t catch anything that night. 4 When it had reached early morning, Jesus stood on the beach; however, the students did not realize it was Jesus. 5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?”
“No,” they replied.
6 “Cast your net on the right side of the boat,” he told them, “And you’ll find some.” So, they cast it, and they weren’t strong enough to pull it in anymore from how many fish there were.
7 So, the student whom Jesus lovedd said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!”
When Simeon Peter heard “It’s the Lord!” he tied his clothing around himself (because he was naked)e and threw himself into the lake. 8 Then the other students came in the boat, dragging the net of fish, since they were not a long way from land, only about 100 yards.f 9 When they got out onto the land, they saw a charcoal fire set up and fish placed over it and bread.
10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve now caught,” Jesus said to them. 11 So, Simeon Peter went aboard and dragged the net onto the land. It was filled with 153 large fish. Though there were so many, the net wasn’t torn.
12 “Come here, have breakfast,” said Jesus.
None of the students dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, picked up the bread and gave it to them, and he did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus was shown to the students after he was awakenedg from among the dead.
15 After they had breakfast, Jesus said to Simeon Peter, “Simeon, son of John, do you loveh me more than these?”i
“Yes, Lord. You know that I care aboutj you,” he said.
“Feed my lambs,” said Jesus.
16 Again, Jesus said to him a second time, “Simeon, son of John, do you lovek me?”
“Yes, Lord. You know that I care aboutl you,” he said.
“Take care ofm my sheep,” said Jesus.
17 The third time, Jesus said to him, “Simeon, son of John, do you care aboutn me?” Peter was heartbrokeno that, the third time, Jesus said to him, “Do you care about me?”
“Lord,” he said, “You understand everything. You know that I care aboutp you.”
“Feed my sheep,” said Jesus. 18 “Truly, Truly, I’m telling you, when you were young, you used to strap a belt around yourself and walk around wherever you wanted, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will strap you up and take you where you don’t want to go.” 19 (He said this to be a sign of with what type of death he would praise God.)
After saying this, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”
20 Turning around, Peter saw the student whom Jesus lovedq following (this was the one who leaned back against his chest at the dinner and said, “Lord, who is the one who’s handing you over?”).r
21 At seeing them, Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, what about them?”
22 “If I want them to stay present until I come,” said Jesus, “What is it to you? Follow me!”
23 So discussion of the ideas went out to the Family that this student would not die. However, Jesus didn’t say that they wouldn’t die; instead, he said, “If I want them to stay present until I come, what is it to you?”
24 This is the studentt who is telling about these things and writing these things, and we have seen that their report is trustworthy. 25 There is a lot of other things that Jesus did. If each of them was written down, then I think not even the whole world would have room for the books that would be written.
FOOTNOTES:
a Literally, ‘after these’
b This is another name for the Sea of Galilee. See John 6:1.
c The ‘sons of Zebedee’ were John and Jacob (traditionally known as James). See Matthew 4:21.
d The word for ‘love’ here is agapao, which is about commitment to acting for the benefit of someone. It is not opposed to affection or attraction, but those are conveyed by other words, such as phileo and eros (which is about romantic love or sexual attraction and is not used anywhere in the Bible). This same wording is used in John 13:23; however, phileo is used in John 20:2 in a nearly identical phrase. It is translated there as ‘the student whom Jesus was close with.’ Since phileo carries a meaning of a relational bond, emotional care and affection between family members or close friends, and agapao has more to do with a commitment to pursue benefit, take care of, or advocate on behalf of someone or something, it seems that both types of relationship were true between Jesus and this student. Jesus both had a particular commitment to work toward the benefit of this student (agapao) and also felt affection for him as a close friend (phileo).
e Cuturally, it seems unlikely he was completely naked, though the word can mean that. It is more likely that he was in his undergarments or that he was naked underneath the clothing that he ties around himself. In any case, it seems that he thought it would be inappropriate to greet Jesus without that outer item of clothing secured.
f Literally, ‘200 cubits’
g Or ‘roused,’ traditionally, ‘raised.’ This word egeiro is most often used for getting up from sleep. Sleep was a common euphemism for death. This word was used in John 5:21 and John 12:1, and is a different word, though it shares some possible definitions as a synonym, from the word in John 11:23 and 20:9 (anistemi). According to The Cambridge Greek Lexicon (2021), this word carries these possible uses: 1) stir from sleep, rouse, waken; 2) be awake, alert, be awakened; 3) rouse, stir up [to action or thought]; 4) stir up, provoke; 5) awaken, rouse [to singing, praise, shouting]; 6) rouse (into new or renewed existence, such as “stir into flame”), stimulate, revive; 7) raise up (foundations of a building, city wall), and 8) [citing the New Testament] restore to life.
h This word is agapao, which is love in the sense of commitment to acting for the benefit of someone.
i This phrase is extremely ambiguous. Which of these options does it mean: “Do you love me for than these do?” or “Do you love me more than you love these?” Just like the English is ambiguous in that way, so is the Greek. Also, the word for ‘these’ is touton, which can be masculine, feminine, or neuter, which means it could literally be referring to anything. In the context, the possibilities seem to be the other students and the fish and fishing equipment. Nothing gives a definitive clue, however. Some translations seek to pick one of the options, such as the NET’s translation, “Do you love me more than these do?” but any effort to narrow it down runs the risk of unintentionally changing it away from the intention. Leaving it as ambiguous as the Greek seems to be the preferable route to take here.
j This word is phileo, which carries a meaning of a relational bond, emotional care and affection between family members or close friends.
k This word is agapao, which is love in the sense of commitment to acting for the benefit of someone.
l This word is phileo, which carries a meaning of a relational bond, emotional care and affection between family members or close friends.
m Or ‘tend’ or ‘shepherd’ (as a verb, ‘to shepherd/be a shepherd to’), or ‘look after’ as a shepherd would do for their flock of sheep.
n This word is phileo, which carries a meaning of a relational bond, emotional care and affection between family members or close friends.
o Or ‘grieved’ or ‘saddened’
p This word is phileo, which carries a meaning of a relational bond, emotional care and affection between family members or close friends.
q This word is agapao, which is love in the sense of commitment to acting for the benefit of someone.
r See John 13:25
s Literally, “this logos went out.” See note in John 1:1
t There are various theories about who this ‘student home Jesus loved’ was. The most common and traditional idea is that it was John, one of the Twelve, one of the sons of Zebedee, close companion with Jacob/James and Simeon Peter and the attributed author of Revelation and 1, 2, and 3 John. However, while that is the traditional understanding and seems a good guess based on the context of how close they were, no conclusive information exists anywhere about who it was. Another strong theory is that it was Eliezer (traditionally, ‘Lazarus’), the brother of Miriam and Martha of Bethany whom Jesus raised after he died. This section in John 21 is a strong supporting argument for those who take this view. It would explain Peter’s question and the doubt about whether he would die since Jesus had raised him from among the dead. Jesus is explicitly stated to love Eliezer, Miriam [and Martha] in John 11:5. Another theory is that the reason this person is not named is because they were a woman and possible issues with credibility might surface. Through much of history, women writers have taken on masculine pseudonyms or remained anonymous in order not to have their work rejected outright simply because they were women, so there is plenty of precedent. The pronouns are traditionally translated here as masculine, as they are masculine in the Greek, but that is not conclusive evidence that it is about a man. The pronouns are modifying mathetes (student) which is a grammatically masculine word, so it has nothing to do with the gender of the person, especially when the person is not identified. Other contextual clues make it seem less likely, such as this person fishing with Peter, and Peter being in some state of undress, but nothing is conclusive.