FISH FOR BREAKFAST

John 21:7-14
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.

Epilogue: Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. 8 The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. 9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.

10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.

12 “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.


Fish is not a regular item on my families breakfast menu. When I was much younger, I remember those special occasions when my father would prepare a breakfast of salmon, rice and scrambled eggs. Can you imagine how special it was in the memory of these disciples, the breakfast of fish and bread prepared for them by the risen Lord.

For fishermen, any meal with fish was probably very ordinary. What made this special was the preparer. They had seen Jesus crucified. They had also had visits from Him in the upper room. Now here He was out in the open. “They knew it was the Lord.” Here He was, meeting their needs. The great catch of fish He had directed them to … and breakfast. Every day stuff made special because this was the risen Lord.