This is an interesting Gospel account for us to try and enter into. We have an unrecognized Jesus standing on the side of the sea who calls out to his disciples, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" John tells us the disciples were only about 100 yards off the shore, in our common parlance a football field out there on the Sea of Galilee. Have you ever noticed how well sound travels across water? The disciples look back and they tell him no, no fish today. Then the unrecognized Jesus tells them to cast the net on the other side of the boat and they catch an abundant amount of fish. John tells us this three times in these verses to make sure we do not miss the point that there were a lot of fish in that teeming net.

Jesus is then recognized by them and Peter, who was naked, got dressed and then jumped in the water in his urgency to get to Jesus. (I cannot help but think this incident would have made a great addition to YouTube.) This impetuousness of Peter makes him endearing. He wants to be respectful and appropriate when he greets his Lord, but what an image, a dripping wet Peter coming up out of the water to greet Jesus. And Jesus returns the greeting by showing him the fire and meal he has prepared for Peter and the other disciples. Peter's eagerness, his joy is a precursor for the questions Jesus will ask him after they eat.

The other disciples arrive, more fish are put on the fire, bread is distributed and they all eat breakfast. Jesus then asks three times whether Peter loves him. Peter gets increasingly agitated in responding, "Of course I do!" After each assertion of this love Peter is instructed to "Feed my lambs," "Tend my sheep," "Feed my sheep." And then Jesus tells Peter "Follow me."

The structure and format of the Gospel of John has a beautiful symmetry. This last miracle of Jesus on a beach in Galilee is balancing against the first miracle we hear about in this Gospel: the water turned into wine at the wedding banquet in Cana of Galilee. Both of these miracle stories concern the abundant nature of Jesus' love and gifts to us. All the other miracle stories in John take place in Jerusalem, but the two that bookend this Gospel, at the start and the end, take place in Galilee and involve abundance.  

Peter's three professions of love and the three instructions by Jesus to "Feed my lambs," "Tend my sheep," and "Feed my sheep" mirror earlier events in this Gospel. Remember that Jesus predicted that Peter would deny him three times and then we are witness to those three actual denials that Peter acts out. This particular action of Jesus, of making Peter profess his love three times, is an important element to this account. Jesus is moving Peter away from their past relationship together. Jesus is showing Peter that those denials, that his blindness, are forgiven. Peter's relationship with God and with Jesus is now based in something far different, far more concrete. That relationship is now based in love: a love that finds its foundation in unity, intimacy and mutuality. This last chapter of John is tying up loose ends for us: the final brush strokes on a masterpiece, making the whole that much more complete, complex and whole.