Nov. 4 - Fish Tales: Catch of the Day

Read this intriguing fish tale from the Gospel of John.

What odd things do you notice about this story?

What might this story be trying to teach you?


In the Sunday message, we focused upon six important details about the story...

• It happened after the resurrection.

This is a "post-Easter" story about an encounter with the risen Christ.

• The disciples had gone back to work.

This seems a little odd. They already knew Christ had risen from the dead. And what did they do? They went back to work. (Fishing was their vocation, not their recreation.) But we actually ought to understand that. Too often when God touches our lives in a mighty way, we find it easy to go back to "business as usual."

• Something similar had happened before.

Read this story from the gospel of Luke - for a similar, but different, account of a miraculous catch of fish. This happened early in Jesus' ministry, when the disciples were first being called to follow him. In this story, Jesus tells them they are to be "fishers of men." This clue remains important as we realize that fish may represent people.

• The catch totaled 153 fish.

There are all kinds of theories about the 153 fish. This article has a reference to some of the theories that are most popular. Knowing that we are "fishers of men," perhaps the 153 fish represent Jesus' reminder that ALL people - all nations, races, languages, for all time - are to be reached out to in love. (Think how amazing that must have seemed at the time.

• The net was not torn.

This might seem quite insignificant, but it is interesting in light of the fact that in the Luke 5 story (the other story about a huge catch of fish), the nets began to break. The nets likely represent the equipment we are given by the power of the Holy Spirit to be in ministry.

Think about the fact that with the power of the Resurrection, the disciples are now equipped to "fish for men" without their resources giving out.

(Others see the unbroken net as a metaphor for the unity of the church.)

• They ate together.

Good Christians always seem to wind up at the table, don't they! But again, this seemingly small detail has a big meaning. Since some felt like the disciples' resurrection experience was simply an internal vision, the story of eating with the risen Christ affirms Jesus' bodily resurrection.


So perhaps this most unusual fish tale does have something to say to us.

For in our day and time too often we admire the fishing that people did in Bible time – and we forget that we too are called to go fish. That the presence of the risen Christ equips us with nets that have room for all of God’s people. Our nets will not be broken.