21
“It’s the Lord!”
1 After this, Jesus again caused his glory to appear to the disciples, this time by the Sea of Tiberias. This is how it happened:
2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathaniel (who was from Cana in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of his were all together.
3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter said to the others.
“We’re coming with ˢyou,” the others replied. They left and got into the boat, but that night didn’t catch a thing.4 Just after daybreak, someone appeared on the shore; it was Jesus, but the disciples didn’t realize it.
5 So Jesus said to them, “Dear friends, haven’t ᵖyou caught any fish?”
“No,” they replied.
6 “Throw the net out on the right side of the boat,” he said to them, “and ᵖyou’ll catch some.” So they did, and they caught so many fish that they couldn’t even pull the net aboard.
7 So the disciple whom Jesus particularly loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!”
Simon Peter, then, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (since he was lightly clothed for work) and plunged into the water.8 The other disciples came to shore, meanwhile, with the boat, dragging behind them the net full of fish. (They weren’t far from shore, you see, but only about a hundred yards away.)
9 When they stepped ashore, then, they saw a charcoal fire with a fish cooking over it, and some bread.
10 “Bring some of the fish ᵖyou’ve just caught,” Jesus said to them.
11 So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net ashore. It was full of large fish—a hundred and fifty-three. Yet even with so many the net wasn’t torn.
12 “Come and have some breakfast,” Jesus said to them. (None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?”, because they knew that it was the Lord.)
13 Jesus came and took the bread and kept giving it to them; he did the same with the fish.
14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
“Take Care of My Sheep”
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know that I love you.”
“Take care of my lambs,” Jesus said to him.
16 Jesus asked Peter the same thing a second time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know that I love you.”
“Shepherd my sheep,” Jesus said to him.
17 Jesus asked him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was very sad that Jesus asked the question a third time. “Lord,” he said to Jesus, “you perceive all things. You know that I love you.”
“Take care of my sheep,” said Jesus.18 “Amen, amen, I solemnly tell ˢyou this: When you were younger, you would tie your belt around your garments and go about wherever you wanted. When you are old, however, you will stretch out your hands, and it will be someone else who ties you up, and takes you where don’t want to go.”
19 (In saying this, Jesus was hinting at the kind of death by which Peter would bring glory and honor to God.) And this having said, Jesus told him, “Come along with me as a disciple.”
20 Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus particularly loved following them (the one who at the meal had leaned back against Jesus’ chest and asked, “Lord, who is the one who is going to betray you?”).
21 When Peter saw this disciple, therefore, he asked Jesus, “And this man, Lord, what about him?”
22 “If this man I want to remain alive until I return, how does that concern ˢyou?” replied Jesus. “ˢYou must with me as a disciple keep coming along.”
23 So a rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple wasn’t going to die. That isn’t what Jesus said, though. He only said, “If this man I want to remain alive until I return, how does that concern ˢyou?”
24 It is this disciple who gives a solemn eyewitness account of these things and who has written them down, and we know that his report is completely reliable.
25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that not even the universe itself would be large enough to hold all the books that would be written!