John 21

²Simon Peter was there, and Thomas, and Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, and James and John the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

³Peter said, 'I am going fishing.' The others said, 'We are coming with you.' They got into the boat and fished all through the night — but they caught nothing at all.

⁴As morning arrived, Jesus was standing on the shore. But the disciples did not know it was Jesus — not yet.

⁵Jesus called out to them: 'Friends, have you caught any fish?' They called back: 'No.'

⁶He said, 'Throw your net over the right side of the boat, and you will find fish.' They threw it — and now they could not even pull it in, because there were so many fish!

⁷John said to Peter, 'It is the Lord!' The moment Peter heard that, he wrapped his outer coat around himself and jumped straight into the water to swim to Jesus.

⁸The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the heavy net full of fish. They were not far from shore — only about 100 metres away.

⁹When they reached the shore, they saw a charcoal fire already burning, with fish cooking on it, and bread ready beside it.

¹⁰Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish you just caught.'

¹¹Peter climbed up and dragged the net full of large fish to the shore. They counted them — one hundred and fifty-three fish! And even though there were so many, the net did not tear.

¹²Jesus said, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples dared ask, 'Who are you?' — they already knew it was the Lord.

¹³Jesus came over, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish.

¹⁴This was the third time Jesus had appeared to His disciples since He rose from the dead.

¹⁵After breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me more than these others do?' Peter said, 'Yes, Lord — You know that I love You.' Jesus said, 'Then feed My lambs.'

¹⁶Jesus asked him again: 'Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me?' Peter answered again: 'Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.' Jesus said, 'Then take care of My sheep.'

¹⁷Jesus asked a third time: 'Peter, do you love Me?' Peter felt the pain of being asked again. He said, 'Lord, You know everything. You know that I love You.' Jesus said, 'Then feed My sheep.'

¹⁸Jesus said: 'When you were young, you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and take you where you do not want to go.'

¹⁹Jesus said this to show how Peter would one day die in a way that would glorify God. Then He simply said to Peter: 'Follow Me.'

²⁰Peter looked around and saw the disciple Jesus loved — John — following behind. This was the same John who had leaned close to Jesus at the Last Supper and asked who would betray Him.

²¹Peter saw John and asked Jesus: 'Lord, what about him? What will happen to him?'

²²Jesus answered: 'If it is My will that he stays until I return, what is that to you? You — follow Me!'

²³This story spread among the believers, and some said John would never die. But Jesus never said that. He only said, 'What if I want him to stay until I come?' — that does not mean he would not die.

²⁴This is the disciple — John — who is telling all these things and who wrote them down. And we know his testimony is true.

²⁵Jesus did so many other things too. If every one of them were written down, I think the whole world could not hold all the books that would need to be written. Amen.