John 21:3

John 21:3. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also come with thee. They went forth and entered into the boat, and that night they laid hold on nothing. It is hardly probable that in this the disciples thought of anything but the supply of their temporal wants. To John, however, there is more in their act than this. His word ‘went forth' leads us at once to feel that he sees in their going the Providential guidance of God (comp. notes on chap. John 18:1; John 18:4). It is not an ordinary event: it will illustrate that Divine scheme for the salvation of men which was accomplished through Him who ‘came forth' from God. Moreover, just as once before Peter and some of his companions had been called from the work of fishing to the first stage of their apostolate (Luke 5:1-11), so shall he and those with him be called from a similar scene to that higher stage upon which they are now to enter. In Peter's being the first to make the proposal, we can hardly fail to see the elements of that character which gave him the prominence he afterwards had in the Church of the Redeemer. He is the moving spring of the whole apostolic band; he proposes, and the others say, ‘We also come with thee.' Yet writers can be found to urge that one great object of the Fourth Gospel is to depreciate Peter in comparison with John, one of this very company! The seven go forth by ‘night' (the usual time for fishing), but they caught nothing. There is no reason to think that the season was unfavourable; but they were not successful. The word used for ‘catch' is worthy of notice. It means to lay hold on, and it does not seem to be elsewhere used in the sense of catching fish.