There’s lots of symbolism in the fishing story found in today’s Gospel (see John 21:1-19). According to the account, the disciples had spent the whole night fishing, but had caught nothing. Then Jesus appeared to them in the morning and told them to cast their nets to the “other side of the boat.” We can only imagine how incredulous the disciples might have been at this suggestion, but they followed his direction and then caught so many fish their nets nearly broke; in fact, the Gospel tells us very precisely they caught “one-hundred-fifty-three large fish.” It also tells us that only then, after the big catch, did the disciples recognize who Jesus was.
Scriptural numbers are usually used symbolically. For example, when Jesus told his disciples they had to forgive “seventy times seven,” he did not literally mean that they should forgive only four-hundred-ninety times, but rather he challenged them to forgive others without limits and without end. Because the Gospel reported the disciples caught exactly “one-hundred-fifty-three large fish,” it specifically intended to teach Christians about the universal mission of the church. At that time, it wasn’t coincidental that there were only “one-hundred-fifty-three” types, or species of fish known to the disciples of Jesus. This number clearly signified to them that the mission of the Church was not simply to serve one specific community of people (i.e., one “type” of fish).
The early disciples therefore were called to move beyond their own cultural, religious, and social “comfort zones,” and instead to take the message of the Gospel to all peoples and to all places of the world. I think this also may have been symbolized by Jesus’ challenge to them to throw their nets to the “other side of the boat.”
In our own time we are called to do the same, but isn’t it true that we might be tempted to want to stay within our own “comfort zones,” and not to dare to reach out to those who are different from us? Yet we too are called to throw our nets out to the “other side of the boat.” I believe if we fail to do this, then we might just continue to convince people who are different that they are not welcomed by our church. Many such people may believe we have judged them to be terrible sinners, or that they have made life choices unacceptable to us, or that we could never be flexible enough to allow them to thrive as they are within our communities of faith. If this would be the case, then it would be no surprise to me if our so-called efforts to “evangelize” would have little or no success. Simply put, if we are afraid to throw our nets out to the “other side of the boat” it will not be possible for us to take the Gospel to all people and to all places; likewise, it will not be possible for us to catch that metaphorical “one-hundred-fifty-three large fish.”
I believe the Lord of our faith embraces every kind of person, every race, and every culture; he embraces sinners and saints, the lowly and the mighty. May we, like those disciples of Jesus who were fishing on the Sea of Tiberias after his resurrection from the dead, never be afraid to throw our nets out to the “other side of the boat.” Like them, may we rejoice when we follow Jesus and then catch our own “one-hundred-fifty-three large fish!” It’s in doing such, and in all those fish, that we too will recognize the presence of the Risen Jesus!
Christ is Risen, Truly, He is Risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Praise God! Friar Timothy
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