In the last chapter of John verses 1-14 (John 21:1-14 ) we read about Jesus' last encounter with humans before he ascended to Heaven.
In these few verses we see that these seven men decide to go out to fish one night. They spend the whole night out in the boat fishing and catch absolutely nothing.
Then, early the next morning Jesus was standing on the shore next to a small fire he built for the breakfast and asked the men "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
Now, I'm no Bible expert, but I think that Jesus, the son of God would have known that these men hadn't caught any fish. Jesus must have been there for quite some time anyway to have had enough time to build a small fire and get some bread and fish to cook on it. So my best guess is that Jesus knew that these men hadn't caught any fish - the reason why he asked them is clear in the next few verses.
The men reply with a simple no, then Jesus tells them to throw their nets over the right side of the boat.
Some of these men were disciples, some were fishermen, all of them were rubbish. These seven men spent all night in a boat trying to catch some fish and can't even catch one. Also, notice that none of them recognise Jesus straight away - it takes a miracle for them to realise it's Jesus talking to them.
The men throw their nets over the right side of the boat, with no questions asked and immediately their net is filled with 153 fish. It's full of so much fish in fact that the seven men on the boat don't have enough strength to pull the boat ashore.
The men row the boat back to shore to meet Jesus (who they finally recognise) and arrive to see that Jesus is standing there with a fire cooking some bread and fish. As soon as Jesus sees them he says "come and have breakfast."
These seven men spent all night not being able to catch any fish, then Jesus turns up, shows them the right way to fish. They catch 153 fish and Jesus brings his own fish just in case 153 wasn't enough!
This is one of my favourite passages of the Gospels.
These seven men had been fishing all night, then in the early hours of the morning Jesus performs his last miracle and gives them enough food to feed an army (or a small youth group).
Then, just as the sun was rising over the sea they all ate breakfast that Jesus cooked them, on the beach!
The Bible doesn't say what they talked about but I'm pretty sure whatever they talked about would have been amazing. When I was reading these verses three main things stuck out to me.
1) The men on the boat - like everyone else who's ever been alive - were rubbish.
2) Jesus was awesome.
3) I would have loved to have been on this beach eating breakfast and talking with Jesus just before the ascension.
If you have any questions or queries we'd love to hear from you! Email us at christianunion.blog@gmail.com
You can also find us in all of these other places!
