John 21:7-14 - The disciple whom Jesus loved

21:7

John is the “disciple whom Jesus loved”, as we have noted throughout this book. Now when we hear this phrase our immediate reaction is probably to think “who does he think he is?” Why does he say this? Why does he boast like this, for that is what we think he is doing? Well, first of all we have problems with the word “love”. We tend to think of romantic or affectionate love, or sentimental mush. These things are all covered by “love”, but there is much more to it than that. Now consider who else is “loved” by God? Jesus is loved by the Father, and the world is loved by God. Let’s focus on Jesus here. The Father’s love for Jesus is shown by the fact that He sent Him, empowered Him and gave Him authority to do all sorts of things (give life, exercise judgement etc). Now let’s apply this to “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, especially in the context of what comes later in this chapter about John. John had lived much longer than all the other apostles. From the content of the gospel of John it seems that Jesus made him aware of things that the other disciples were not aware of. So being the “disciple whom Jesus loved” meant that John had been kept alive for a long time so that he could write this gospel at the right time, and that Jesus had spoken many things to him. So that just as Jesus spoke only what He heard the Father say, so John is relating only what he heard Jesus say. So John is not boasting, just telling us the truth.

John was much more contemplative than Peter, so it was Peter who jumped into the water the moment he realised it was Jesus.

21:8-14

The other disciples dragged the net into the shore with boat. On the shore a fire was burning and already had fish on it. In a sense this is a surreal scene. Why did Jesus light a fire? Where did the fish come from that were already on the fire? Jesus then invites them to add some of their own fish and to have breakfast with Him. Why is all this happening? He has risen from dead, He has borne all our sins upon Himself. Perhaps it is to stress that ordinary life goes on and Jesus is involved in our everyday lives.

It seems strange for them to think of asking “Who are you?”, especially when it immediately says that they knew it was the Lord. Perhaps it means that they wondered what sort of person He was. Why is the Lord giving them breakfast?