John Hargrove Seeking Truth and Reality

John 21  ·  Deeper Dive and Series Close

Gospel of John Study  ·  Source of Old Faith Church, Vidor, Texas  ·  Led by John Hargrove

John 20 sounds like the end of a book. Thomas confesses, “My Lord and my God,” and John states his purpose: “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (20:31). Then the story continues. One more morning, one more meal, one more conversation. Chapter 21 does not add a new doctrine. It takes the risen Lord back to the lakeshore where most of these men first met Him, and it shows what following Him looks like after the cross, after failure, and after the Gospel has been written down.

Every surviving manuscript of John includes chapter 21. Many readers call it an epilogue because of its placement and the “we know” of verse 24. What we can say plainly is that the church has always received it as part of John’s Gospel.

READING SLOWLY

Brother George Floyd shared a meditation on this chapter from his prayer time in March. He began with a simple challenge: take one chapter and stay with it. The Hebrew word behind “meditate” in Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2 is hagah, to murmur or mutter—reading aloud under one’s breath, over and over, until the words settle in. His outline of meditation is a good posture for this session:

• Reflect — think carefully about what the text says and what God reveals about Himself.
• Repeat — read it again, quietly, and let it sink in.
• Internalize — let it move from the page into the way you think.
• Apply — ask what this truth asks of you.
• Focus — keep your attention on God’s character and promises.

Read John 21 through at least twice before class. It is twenty-five verses. As George put it, it is not the entire Torah.

OBSERVATION: WHAT DOES THE TEXT SAY?

The chapter moves in six scenes. Before interpreting anything, notice who speaks, what is done, and what is repeated.

1. A night with nothing (vv. 1–3)

Seven disciples are together by the Sea of Tiberias: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael of Cana, the sons of Zebedee, and two others. Peter says, “I am going fishing.” The others go with him. They catch nothing all night.

2. A voice from the shore (vv. 4–8)

At daybreak Jesus stands on the shore. They do not recognize Him. He calls them “children” and asks if they have any fish. They answer, “No.” He tells them where to cast. They obey a voice they do not yet recognize, and the net is too full to haul in. The disciple whom Jesus loved says, “It is the Lord!” Peter puts on his outer garment and throws himself into the sea.

3. Breakfast (vv. 9–14)

On shore there is already a charcoal fire, with fish on it and bread. Jesus says, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” Peter drags the net ashore: 153 large fish, and the net is not torn. Jesus says, “Come, have breakfast.” No one dares ask who He is; they know. He takes the bread and gives it to them, and the fish likewise. John notes this is the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples as a group after He was raised.

4. Three questions (vv. 15–19)

After the meal Jesus asks Peter three times, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” The first adds “more than these.” Each answer is followed by a charge: feed My lambs; shepherd My sheep; feed My sheep. The third question grieves Peter. Jesus then tells him that when he is old he will stretch out his hands and be led where he does not want to go. John explains this signified the death by which Peter would glorify God. Jesus says, “Follow Me.”

5. “What about him?” (vv. 20–23)

Peter turns and sees the beloved disciple following. He asks, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answers, “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you? You follow Me!” A saying spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. John corrects it by quoting Jesus exactly: “Jesus did not say that he would not die, but only…”

6. The witness (vv. 24–25)

The disciple who testifies to these things has written them down, “and we know that his testimony is true.” Jesus did many other things; if all were written, the world could not hold the books.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONSWhat is the first thing Jesus asks the disciples to do, and what happens when they do it?Which details does John give with unusual precision in this chapter? Count them.Jesus asks Peter three questions. Does He ever mention the denial?Every charge Jesus gives Peter uses the word “My.” Whose lambs and sheep are they?Verse 23 is the only place in the chapter where John stops to correct a misunderstanding. What was misunderstood, and how does he correct it?

CONTEXT

• Back in Galilee. Matthew and Mark record the instruction for the disciples to go to Galilee, where they would see Him (Matthew 28:7, 10; Mark 16:7). The command to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4) comes later. The text does not say whether the fishing trip was a lapse, restlessness, or simply work while they waited. John records it without comment.
• The Sea of Tiberias. Only John uses this name for the Sea of Galilee (6:1, 6:23, 21:1). Herod Antipas founded the city of Tiberias around AD 20 and named it for the emperor. By the time John wrote, late in the first century, his readers in Asia Minor would know the name.
• Night fishing. Galilean fishermen worked at night with nets let down from the boat and hauled in by hand. A hundred yards offshore (literally two hundred cubits) is close enough to hear a voice from the beach.
• An echo of the beginning. Luke 5:1–11 records an earlier night of catching nothing, a command to let down the nets, a catch too large to handle, and Peter’s response. The one who first called them fishers of men stands on the shore again.
• The charcoal fire. John uses the word for a charcoal fire only twice: the courtyard where Peter denied Jesus three times (18:18) and this beach (21:9).
• First names and first places. Jesus addresses him as “Simon son of John,” the same form He used at their first meeting when He renamed him Cephas (1:42). Nathanael of Cana appears only in John 1 and John 21. Cana is where the first sign was done (2:11).

INTERPRETATION: PLAIN, DEBATED, AND BEYOND THE TEXT

We continue using the three-bucket approach from earlier sessions. Bucket 1 is what Scripture states plainly. Bucket 2 is where faithful Christians have read the text differently. Bucket 3 is what comes from outside the text.

Bucket 1 — What the text says plainly

• Jesus is bodily risen. He stands, speaks, cooks, serves bread and fish, and is recognized.
• Their labor without Him produced nothing. At His word the net was full.
• Jesus restored Peter publicly, three times, beside a charcoal fire, without rehearsing his failure.
• The charge given to Peter is care for people who belong to Christ. The sheep remain His.
• Peter would die in a way that glorified God. Following Jesus would cost him.
• Jesus’ last recorded command to Peter is “Follow Me,” spoken twice (vv. 19, 22).
• Believers misread Jesus’ words about His return, and the Gospel corrects them by quoting what He actually said.
• The written account is true testimony. It is not exhaustive, but it is sufficient (20:31; 21:24–25).

Bucket 2 — Where faithful readers differ

• “More than these.” More than the other disciples love Me? More than the boat and nets? More than these men? The Greek allows each. The question presses on priority either way.
• Two words for love. Jesus uses agapaō in the first two questions and phileō in the third; Peter answers with phileō each time. Some see a deliberate step down to meet Peter where he is. Others note that John uses the two words interchangeably elsewhere (the Father’s love for the Son in 3:35 and 5:20; Jesus’ love for Lazarus in 11:3 and 11:5; the beloved disciple in 13:23 and 20:2). The text itself says what grieved Peter was that Jesus asked “the third time.”
• Was the fishing trip a failure? Some read it as drifting back to the old life. Others read it as honest work while waiting in Galilee as instructed. The text does not judge it.
• The 153 fish. Jerome reported that ancient writers counted 153 kinds of fish, suggesting a picture of all nations. Augustine noted that 153 is the sum of the numbers 1 through 17. The plainest observation is that an eyewitness counted the catch and remembered the number, and that John emphasizes the net did not tear.
• The beloved disciple. Church tradition from Irenaeus onward identifies him as John son of Zebedee. The Gospel itself never names him.
• Peter’s death. Early Christian writers understood “stretch out your hands” as crucifixion, and Peter’s martyrdom in Rome under Nero is well attested. The detail that he was crucified upside down comes from later tradition.

Bucket 3 — Beyond the text

• Number codes and letter-value systems (gematria) that assign hidden meanings to 153 go beyond anything John says. They can be interesting, but they carry no authority, and the text does not need them.
• Verse 25 says many things Jesus did were not written. It does not say they were written somewhere else. It is not an endorsement of later books claiming to fill the gaps. John’s own claim is that what he wrote is enough for belief and life (20:31).
• Verse 22 is sometimes pulled into end-times timelines. Verse 23 is the Bible’s own warning against doing exactly that.

KEEP IN MIND — VERSE 23The first end-times rumor in the church came from adding one step to Jesus’ words. He said, “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you?” Believers heard, “That disciple will not die.” John’s answer was not a new theory. It was the exact quote: “Jesus did not say that he would not die, but only…”That is the discipline for us. When Scripture is clear, stand on it. When it is debated, hold your view humbly. When it is silent, do not fill the silence and call it Scripture.

PATRISTIC VOICE — AUGUSTINE, TRACTATES ON JOHN 123Augustine observed that the threefold confession answered the threefold denial, so that Peter’s tongue would serve love no less than it had once served fear. The restoration matches the failure point for point, and it ends not in shame but in a task.

REFLECTION AND PLACEMENT

These questions ask what the text shows. Take them slowly. Silence is welcome.

1. Jesus asks, “Children, do you have any fish?” and lets them answer “No” before He fills the net. What does the question accomplish?
2. The fire is already burning with fish on it when they land. Why might Jesus still say, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught”?
3. Peter’s restoration takes place beside the same kind of fire as his denial. What does Jesus do with that setting, and what does He leave unsaid?
4. Each of Peter’s answers is followed by work, not a lecture. What does that order tell us about how Jesus restores?
5. Peter looks at another disciple and asks, “What about him?” Where does Jesus turn Peter’s attention?
6. Why might John take such care, near the very end of his Gospel, to get a few words of Jesus exactly right?

LOOKING BACK: THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

We began this study in the prologue: “In the beginning was the Word” and “the Word became flesh” (1:1, 14). We watched John the Baptist point away from himself, heard Jesus ask, “What are you seeking?” and heard Him answer, “Come and see.” We followed the signs from Cana to the tomb of Lazarus, listened to the I AM statements accumulate, sat in the upper room, stood at the cross, and came to the empty tomb and Thomas’s confession. John 21 closes the circle.

Where it began	Where it ends
“What are you seeking?” (1:38)	“Do you love Me?” (21:15–17)
“Come and see.” (1:39)	“Follow Me.” (21:19, 22)
“You are Simon son of John; you will be called Cephas.” (1:42)	“Simon son of John… feed My sheep.” (21:15–17)
Nathanael is fully known under the fig tree (1:48)	Nathanael on the shore; “Lord, You know all things.” (21:2, 17)
The first sign at Cana (2:11)	Nathanael “of Cana” is present for the last miracle John records (21:2)
John the Baptist comes as a witness (1:7)	The beloved disciple’s testimony is true (21:24)

THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Jesus is the center.

John’s Gospel answers one question above all others: who is Jesus? The Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the I AM, the resurrection and the life, “My Lord and my God.” Whenever our discussions drifted toward timelines, alternate books, or hidden knowledge, the text brought us back to a Person. In chapter 21 the beloved disciple does not solve a puzzle. He recognizes someone: “It is the Lord.” Know Him first, and everything else will be read in the right light.

2. The written Word is enough. Read what it says.

John tells us plainly that he did not write everything (20:30; 21:25) and that what he wrote is sufficient for belief and life (20:31). It is testimony, and it is true (21:24). The church’s first misreading of Jesus’ words about His return was corrected, not with a new theory, but with an exact quote (21:23). Trust the Bible you hold. Where it is clear, stand firm. Where it is debated, hold your view humbly. Where it is silent, let it be silent.

3. Faith grows by following, and failure is not the end.

The first disciples followed before they understood (1:39). Nicodemus came by night, the man born blind saw more with each question, Thomas doubted and then confessed. Faith in John grows through nearness to Jesus, not through having every answer first. Peter’s story does not end at the courtyard fire. It ends at a breakfast fire, restored, entrusted with Christ’s sheep, and told the cost. The call is personal and it does not wait on anyone else’s path: “What is that to you? You follow Me.”

The Gospel that began with “Come and see” ends with “Follow Me.” Between them stands the One worth both.