JohnChapter 21

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¹Later, Jesus showed himself to his disciples again. It was by the Sea of Tiberias. This is how it happened. ²Some of the disciples were together. Simon Peter was there, and so was Thomas, who was called the Twin. Nathanael from Cana in Galilee was there. The sons of Zebedee were there too, and two other disciples. ³Simon Peter told them, "I'm going fishing." They said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat. But they didn't catch anything that night. ⁴Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore. But the disciples didn't know it was Jesus. ⁵He called out to them, "Children, do you have any fish?" "No," they answered. ⁶He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat. You will find some fish there." So they did. Then they couldn't pull the net in because there were so many fish. ⁷Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Simon Peter heard him say this. So he put his outer clothes back on, because he had taken them off. Then he jumped into the water. ⁸The other disciples came to shore in the boat. They dragged the net full of fish. They were not far from land, only about a hundred yards. ⁹When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals. There was fish cooking on it, and there was some bread. ¹⁰Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you just caught." ¹¹So Simon Peter climbed into the boat. He dragged the net to shore. It was full of large fish. There were 153 of them. But even with so many fish, the net did not tear. ¹²Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. ¹⁵When they had finished eating, Jesus spoke to Simon Peter. "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," Peter said. "You know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." ¹⁶Jesus asked him a second time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" "Yes, Lord," he answered. "You know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." ¹⁷Jesus asked him a third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was very hurt that Jesus asked him a third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. ¹⁸I tell you the truth. When you were young, you got yourself dressed. You went wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands. Someone else will dress you. They will lead you where you don't want to go." ¹⁹Jesus said this to show the kind of death Peter would die to bring glory to God. Then Jesus said to him, "Follow me!" ²⁰Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them. This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper. He had asked, "Lord, who is going to betray you?" ²¹When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" ²²Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me!" ²³Because of this, a story spread among the brothers. They said this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say he would not die. He only said, "If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you?" ²⁴This is the disciple who tells about these things. He is the one who wrote them down. And we know that what he says is true. ²⁵Jesus did many other things too. If every one of them were written down, I suppose even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.