요한복음 Chapter 21

Translation: ESV

3

Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going fishing.' They said to him, 'We will go with you.' They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Key Message

The disciples' all-night futility after returning to their old life reconfirms that nothing can be accomplished apart from Christ.

▸Peter's 'I am going fishing' shows the wandering that followed the resurrection.

Peter's 'I am going fishing' shows the wandering that followed the resurrection. In the midst of the shame of having denied Jesus three times and the uncertainty about his calling, he returns to his old livelihood. The disciples who follow him are in a similar state of wandering. 'That night they caught nothing' symbolizes that ministry by human effort alone bears no fruit.

Related Verses

And Simon answered, 'Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.'
6

He said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.' So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

Key Message

When one obeys even a command that is difficult to understand, God's abundant fruitfulness appears.

▸The risen Jesus commands from the shore.

15

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.' He said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'

Key Message

Jesus restores the failed Peter and shows that a confession of love leads directly to a commission.

▸This is a threefold declaration of restoration corresponding to Peter's threefold denial (18:15–27).

17

He said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?' and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.'

Key Message

Restoration begins not from one's own perfection but from the humility of laying oneself down before Jesus' omniscience as one is.

▸On the third question, Jesus lowers the word for 'love' to the word Peter had been using — 'phileō (φιλέω, friendship love).

19

(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, 'Follow me.'

Key Message

The final command 'Follow me' declares that the essence of discipleship is following Jesus even knowing the outcome.

▸After the prophecy alluding to Peter's martyrdom, Jesus simply says 'Follow me.

24

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.

Key Message

The Gospel of John is grounded in the direct testimony of an eyewitness, and the community confirms the trustworthiness of this testimony.

▸The final confirmation that the author of the Gospel of John is 'the beloved disciple.

25

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Key Message

Jesus' ministry is infinite, beyond what any book can fully contain, and what is recorded is selective testimony to lead believers to life.

▸This is the final verse of the Gospel of John and the second-to-last verse of the New Testament.