Fishing

One of my husband's favorite things to do in the spring/summer is to go fishing. Lately at the Lemonds' house, he will go out on our lake, fish for a couple of hours, come home and clean them and we will cook and eat them for dinner that night. The first time we did it, Karis and Brayden watched their daddy "clean" the fish on the back porch and you could tell Karis was completely disturbed by the whole process. She got down in the fish's face and said, "It is ok fishy...I know you miss your friends." She promised she would not eat those gross things but did and loved it...they both beg for fish now...even though Brayden still calls it "shicken." We had fish for dinner last night in fact! They have liked it so much that just this week we have gone to let the kids pick out their own fishing poles (Superman for Brayden and a princess for Karis...is that possible...to have a princess fishing pole???). Anyway that is Brayden's new toy (he calls it his bee pole).

However today I just had the urge to do something fun with my husband and wanted to go out on the boat and go fishing with him tonight. Although he thought that was sweet, we decided against it and to go vote (I know...how romantic) and then we went to dinner (kids are at Lolli's house tonight). But how ironic that I happened to read tonight in John 21 when the disciples were fishing and caught nothing until Jesus told them to throw their nets on the other side and they caught a bunch! I will let the scriptures speak for themselves....

1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias.^[a] It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?"
"No," they answered.

6He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.^[b] 9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

10Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught."

11Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Two things I have pondered as I read this:
1)The first thing is something that we discussed in women's Bible study at church last Wednesday (sorry ladies if you are reading this)....but why 153 fish? Why not 125 or 152? I looked it up and this is what I found:

c. Full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three: Why 153 fish? This number has been a field day for speculative interpretations of the Bible since the early church.
i. 153 is the sum of numbers 1 to 17. Some (like Augustine) say that it is a number representing the number of commandments (10) added to the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit.
ii. 153 is the added numerical value of the Greek words “Peter” and “fish.”
iii. Some ancient writers (such as Jerome) held that there were 153 different types of fish in the world; this represents a “full harvest” of all of the world.
iv. Some (like Cyril of Alexandria) say that 100 stands for the Gentiles, 50 for Israel and 3 for the Trinity.
v. The truth is that all we know for certain is that 153 stands for the number of fish that they caught! We must always be careful of manufacturing “hidden meanings” in the Word of God.

2)The second is why did Peter put on his cloak when he saw Jesus and jump in the water? I found out that Jews regarded a greeting as a religious act that could be done only when one was clothed. Peter may have been preparing himself to greet our Lord.

If you were to look on the shore while doing your "job" tomorrow and saw Jesus himself waiting to dine with you, would you prepare to greet him by placing your cloak on and jumping in as Peter did or would you have to make arrangements to clean up your life before dining?