John 21:11

John 21:11. Simon Peter therefore went up, and drew the net to the land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three; and for all there were so many, yet was not the net rent. Again Peter appears in all the prominence of his character and work, the leader of the apostolic company. The fishes drawn to shore by means of the net were ‘great:' yet neither by their sire nor by their number was the net rent. No fish was lost. (See further below.)

The comparison of this miracle with that of the draught of fishes in Luke 5:4-7 supplies various points of contrast, at once bringing out and confirming what we have yet to speak of as the inner meaning of the section before us. Of these the most interesting are that the fishes are all great and good, and numbered; in the earlier narrative we have no such statements. In the earlier, too, the net was breaking: here ‘the net was not rent.' The contrasts all point to the difference between a ministry of trial with a suffering Lord, and a ministry of triumph with a glorified Lord.