John 21 Bible Study

Where is the "Sea of Tiberias" (John 21:1)?
"Sea of Tiberias" is another name for the Sea of Galilee, which is also called the Lake of Gennesaret. Tiberias is the resort city that Herod built on the western shore of this body of water and named after Caesar Tiberias.

Which and how many of Jesus' eleven disciples were there?
Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John ("sons of Zebedee" - John 21:2) and "two others", so seven of them.

Why were they there in the first place?
They were heeding the angel at the tomb of resurrection: "But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.' So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word." (Matthew 28:5-8)


Why didn’t they recognize Jesus when He called out to them?
According to John 21:8, He was about 100 yards away (1 cubit = 18 inches, which is half of 1 yard).

What else may have impeded the recognition?
If Jesus was calling from the eastern shore, the "morning" (John 21:4) sun could have been rising behind Him.

Who shouted, “It is the Lord! (John 21:7)”
The "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 21:7), which is how John, the writer of this Gospel refers to himself.

How was he able to see Jesus?
He most likely wasn’t.

Then how did he know it was "the Lord"?
The monster catch probably reminded him of how Jesus originally had called them to be His disciples: "When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, 'Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.' But Simon answered and said to Him, 'Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.' And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!' For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.'"

What was Peter's reaction?
He left everything - the fish, the boat, the other disciples - behind and plunged into the water to get to Jesus first.

Why did he at least put on his outer garment?
He had been fishing in his undergarment and probably want to stand before Jesus in more than just that.

What does John and Peter’s reaction here remind you of?
How they reacted when Mary Magdalene brought news that Jesus' body wasn't in the tomb. On both occasions, John was the faster, both to get to the tomb and to recognize Jesus on the shore. But Peter was the first to step in, both into the empty tomb, and into the water to get to Jesus in the passage above. And for that, Peter has the upper hand: while it's important to recognize Jesus for who He is, to make Him our Lord, we must step or plunge into a relationship with Him.

What's especially commendable about Peter being the one to try to get to Jesus first?
The last time Peter was the focus of Jesus' attention, this is what had happened: "Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance. Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man was also with Him.” But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” And after a little while another saw him and said, “You also are of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So Peter went out and wept bitterly." (Luke 22:54-62) Given how he had failed, one would expect Peter to keep to himself and shy away from even raising his eyes toward Jesus. Instead, he couldn't wait to come before his Lord, and that holds a valuable lesson for Christians when we fail and sin. Our pride and the enemy will try to tempt us to hide from God as Adam and Eve did after sinning. Instead, we must heed Peter's example and come before the Lord yet again, confess our sins to Him, believing "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) and seek His help to repent from those sins.


How many "large fish" (John 21:11) did they catch?
153, so many so that "they were not able to draw it" (John 21:6) into the boat

So who provided the food for the breakfast?
Jesus. He already had "fish laid" (John 21:9) on coal and "bread" (John 21:9) prepared, and even the 153 fish were His doing. He just let the disciples enjoy the privilege of participating in His work.

What had Peter and the others who were experienced fishermen caught before Jesus showed up?
"Nothing." (John 21:3)

What lesson is there for us and the so-called 'modern' techniques of evangelism?
The church in the West is awash in seminars, conferences, books and videos on strategies and techniques of evangelism. Yet when the dust settles, the number of fish that can be dragged ashore and presented before the Lord are few. In contrast, the church in the developing world neither has nor even knows about such strategies and resources. All they have is the Bible and prayer, yet their nets get filled full of large fish. When people in the "developed" West depend on human knowledge and expertise, which is sold for money, to do God's will, is it any wonder that He lets them catch as much as the disciples caught by relying on theirs? If we want our nets to be filled again, we must clean out the clutter from Christian bookstores, seminars and conferences, and fill them with the Word of God, and then drop to our knees and pray to God to do His will His way and to receive all of the credit and glory for the catches.


What does Jesus call Peter?
"Simon, son of Jonah." (John 21:15-17)

Why do you think He called him that?
What had made Simon into Peter, the rock, was his relationship with Jesus. Since that relationship had been compromised by Peter's denial of Jesus, Simon was being called Simon until that relationship could be re-established, which is what Jesus is doing in this passage.

What does Jesus ask Peter?
If he loves Him.

Why?
Jesus wasn't asking because He didn't know the answer. Peter was correct in saying, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." (John 21:17) Jesus was doing it to have Peter confront his sins, which had to be addressed and removed before he could be commissioned to tend to the Lord's sheep.

Does this apply to today?
Absolutely. Every Christian used by God is like a scalpel used by a surgeon. Just as the scalpel must be clean to be used, so must the Christian.

How many times did Jesus ask Peter?
3 times.

Why did He repeat the same question three times?
Because Peter had denied Him three times as described above.

Are Jesus’ questions exactly the same?
Actually not.

What are His three questions?
“Do you love Me more than these?” (John 21:15)
“Do you love Me?” (John 21:16)
“Do you love Me?” (John 21:17)

Who are the “these” in John 21:15?
The six other disciples with whom they had just "eaten breakfast."

Why do you think Jesus might have asked Peter if he loved Him more than them?
Before His crucifixion, when Jesus had said that the disciples will be scattered, Peter had declared in effect that he loved Jesus more than the other disciples did: "Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘ I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee." Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” (Matthew 26:31-33)

Do you think the 2nd and the 3rd questions are the same or different?
Although they read the same in English, they are actually different in the original Greek. While English has only one word for “love”, there are several in Greek. There’s eros for erotic love, phileo for friendship or brotherly love, from which we get, “Philadelphia”, the city of brotherly love. And then there’s agape, the sacrificial love. In the passage above, Jesus uses agape in the first two of His three questions and phileo in the third, while Peter responds with phileo all three times. What’s happening is this. Jesus firstly asks Peter if he loves Him sacrificially "more than these." (John 21:15) Instead of addressing the comparison, Peter answers by claiming his love for Jesus as a friend. After having betrayed Jesus, there was no way that he could claim anything more than that. Jesus then drops the comparison and asks Peter if he simply loves Him sacrificially. Peter sticks to his claim of friendly love. With His third question, Jesus drops the level of love down to Peter’s and there’s a match. Jesus will work with whatever level of love we have for Him, but He does demand humility, which is what Peter displayed in John 21:15-17 in contrast to his prideful declaration in Matthew 26:31-33.

Why does Jesus tell Peter to feed and tend His sheep three times?
Three restorations for his three denials.


What is Jesus telling Peter in John 21:18-19?
How Peter will die.

How did he die?
Some claim that he asked to be crucified upside down because he didn’t consider Himself worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus. Jesus' words above that Peter will "stretch out your hands" (John 21:18) appear to support death by crucifixion, but there is no biblical evidence of him having been crucified upside down.

 
So, after being reinstated, Peter shapes up, right?
Wrong. True to form, he messes up right away and is scolded by Jesus.

Who was Peter referring to with, "But Lord, what about this man?" (John 21:21)
John who wrote this Gospel.

How much of an exaggeration is in John 21:25?
None. Since Jesus has been alive for eternity, what He has done amounts to infinity, which cannot fit into a finite space, not even one as large as our planet.