He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
This point in John’s gospel is very different from the rest. At the beginning of his story, Jesus calls the disciples to follow him. He does not explain why he wants them to follow or what he expects them to do. He does not tell them that their lives will be changed forever in ways that they cannot even begin to understand. He simply calls them to himself.
They come to Jesus because of John’s testimony that Jesus is the Lamb of God, God’s “Chosen One.” (John 1: 29, 34, 36) They believe rightly that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One. In the Old Testament writings anointing someone or something with oil was associated with God choosing a place or a person. The first example of this is in Genesis 28: 16-17 when Jacob pours oil on a pillar of stone to mark the place he experienced the LORD in a dream. Later, in Genesis 31: 13, God refers to this act as an anointing. Throughout history, anointing with oil has been used to consecrate the holy things of the temple, consecrate priests, and later to or show who God had chosen to be king.
When the disciples come to Jesus they understood him to be the “Anointed One” that Daniel writes about in Daniel 9: 25-26. They were likely expecting Jesus to rise up in earthly power as they had been taught. At some point, Jesus would unveil himself to be the king that would restore Israel to its rightful place as God’s chosen nation. Of course, it turned out that God had other ideas.
The Jesus they encountered was humble, not flaunting his authority. He served the people of Israel, healing the sick and feeding the hungry. He taught them amazing things and performed incredible signs of his Godhood. They had seen him walk on water and calm the storm. If he could command the raindrops, it shouldn’t surprise us that he can command fish, too.
When Jesus asked, “…haven’t you any fish?” he already knew the answer to the question. He had seen to it that they would not have any fish that night. Is there any other explanation for them not catching a fish and then catching 153 fish in one cast of the net?
Application: Jesus is watching. Even the fish are under his control. His authority is absolute. His eyes are everywhere.
Food for Thought: Whether we are fishermen or doing any other kind of work we face the same challenge. When the work doesn’t go as planned, is it God’s fault? If God is responsible, is there a reason for what is happening? If there is a reason, how do we discern it?
Please click ‘’Continue Reading” for comments.
Great question and great title to the devotion. I like the way you worked a pun into that title.
I believe God always has a reason for anything He does. However, I am not sure we will always know the reason in the moment. The gap between what I know and what He is doing is where faith and trust grow.
Rich,
Thanks for the encouragement! 🙂 You make a great point: The gap between what we know and what God knows is called “faith.” Well said!
I’m in the middle of a situation where my family is doing a service to another in order to help them grow…but this didn’t work out the way I had envisioned it would. This last weekend we had to admit defeat and inform the party that we need to stop our support. It is very painful. It is difficult to see God’s plan in the middle of the failure. We only can hope that God will work all things for His good…and to hope I’m getting my part right. For now, it’s hard to see beyond my sadness.
Rob,
I am so sorry about the painful challenges you are working though. These are the most difficult times to believe that the God who tells the fishes what to do is also watching over our fishing efforts. Sometimes we do not even know what we are fishing for. My prayer is for God’s peace in your life during this time and that at some point He gifts you with insight into why things worked out this way.
Praying for that situation and for you and your family Rob.
Father, please bring Your comfort and peace into that situation. Please grant understanding, wisdom and healing to all parties involved. Allow this Thanksgiving to be special even in the midst of disappointment and pain. Use this experience to help the other party to grow in maturity. Bring Your truth to light in this and bring Your perspective as time goes by. Provide all that is needed to encourage all involved in their faith and in relationship to one another. In Jesus name. Amen.
👍🏻