Ver. 1. After these things Jesus showed himself] Some have been of the opinion that this chapter was not written by John (because he concluded his history in the end of the last chapter), but added by some other, as the last chapter of Deuteronomy was to Moses’ writings. These should have observed, that in the former chapter those arguments only are set down by the evangelist that happened at Jerusalem for the manifestation of Christ’s resurrection; as in this chapter, those whereby he approved the truth of his resurrection in Galilee also, according to his promise, Matthew 26:32; that they might believe and remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was verily raised from the dead according to the gospel, 2 Timothy 2:8: this being a doctrine of greatest consequence and comfort, 1 Corinthians 15:4. Peter thought himself sufficiently assured of it, and therefore said, I go a fishing; but he was deceived, and needed further confirmation.
Ver. 2. There were met together Simon, &c.] When good and godly men meet, when chaste and honest people assemble together, it is not to be called a faction, but a court rather, saith Tertullian. Those are a faction, that conspire against good men. The society of such is like the slime and filth that is congealed where many toads and other vermin join together. God dwells in the assembly of saints; shall we, like stoics, confine ourselves, and not daily run into their company? He that comes when ointments and sweet spices are stirring, doth carry away some of the sweet savour, though he think not of it: so here. See Proverbs 13:10. Cum boni, cum probi coeunt, cum pii, cum casti congregantur, non est factio dicenda sed curia, et e contrario illis nomen factionis accommodandum. Tert. Apol. adver. Gent. 39.
Ver. 3. I go a fishing, &c.] Being not yet employed in the public ministry, he would not be idle, and that he might not be chargeable to the Church. This life is in Isaiah called, “The life of our hands,” because it is to be maintained by the labour of our hands. We are to earn ere we eat, 2 Thessalonians 3:8. Res age tutus eris. Undertake wil will be safe to do. Ovid. And that night they caught nothing] Labour we never so hard, unless God bless it, and stop that hole in the bottom of the bag, Haggai 1:6, those secret issues and drains of expense, at which men’s estates run out, we shall be forced to say with Severus the emperor, Omnia feci et nihil profuit. Everything I have done and nothing profited. (Spartian.)
Ver. 4. But when the morning] Mourning lasteth but till morning, Psalms 30:5. Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur, Poor beginnings come before better fortune, said Queen Elizabeth, when she was to be sent to the Tower.
Ver. 5. Children, have ye any meat?] This he saith as seeming to be some housekeeper, who passing by fishermen, calls to them, as willing to buy their fish for the use of his family. Galeacius Caracciolus, that noble marquis of Vico (that left all for Christ, preferring the blessing of God before the world’s warm sun), would go into the market at Geneva and cater for his household; grieving for nothing more than that he had not wherewithal to keep a better house for the relief of the poor. And in that respect only he wished himself as great a man at Geneva as he was in Italy. (His Life by Crashaw.)
Ver. 6. Cast the net on the right side, &c.] This counsel he gives as a stranger, who haply might see a confluence of fish there, being on the shore, which they in the ship saw not. They obey him therefore, as content to lose one labour more, if it must be so; they knew not what another draught might produce. It is good to be doing in God’s way: sooner or later success will ensue. Bind not the Lord to a day; wake not my beloved till he please; he will pay us for all our pains and patience. Consider but our, 1. distance, 2. dependence, and we will wait.
Ver. 7. Therefore that disciple, &c.] Now they see the cause why, till then, they caught nothing was, that they might the better know him to be the Lord. God will one day let us see that he in very faithfulness afflicts us; and that however it seems so for a season, it is not in vain to have sought his face. John knew not our Saviour by sight here, but by the multitude of fishes that came to hand by his direction. The Rochellers might easily see as much, when they were miraculously relieved by that shoal of shell fish cast upon their shore in a strait siege, whereby their city was miraculously preserved.
Ver. 8. And the other disciples came, &c.] They came all to Christ, but Peter sooner; he cast away all care of his fish, having the Lord to go to. It is best to be first and forwardest in a good matter; not only to make a shift to get to heaven, but to have an abundant entrance thereinto, to come bravely into the haven, by adding one grace to another, as Peter hath it, 2 Peter 1:2,11. It is a low and unworthy strain in some (saith one) to labour after no more grace than will keep life and soul together, that is, soul and hell asunder. But that man for heaven, and heaven for him, that sets up for his mark, “the resurrection of the dead,” Philippians 3:11, that is, by a metonymy of the subject for the adjunct, that perfection of holiness that accompanieth the state of the resurrection. Paul was Insatiabilis Dei cultor, insatiable worrshipper of God, saith Chrysostom.