Church Fathers Commentary John 21:12-14

"Jesus saith unto them, Come [and] break your fast. And none of the disciples durst inquire of him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus cometh, and taketh the bread, and giveth them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after that he was risen from the dead." — John 21:12-14 (ASV)

St. Augustine of Hippo: When the fishing was finished, our Lord invited them to dine. Jesus said to them, Come and dine.

St. John Chrysostom: John does not say that He ate with them, but Luke does. He ate, however, not to satisfy the needs of His body, but to show the reality of His resurrection.

St. Augustine of Hippo: When the bodies of the righteous rise again, they will need neither the word of life to keep them from dying of disease or old age, nor any physical nourishment to prevent hunger and thirst. For they will be endowed with a sure and inviolable gift of immortality, so that they will not eat out of necessity, but will only be able to eat if they choose.

The need to eat and drink will be taken away from them, but not the ability. In the same way, our Savior took food and drink with His disciples after His resurrection—in His spiritual yet real flesh—not for nourishment, but as an exercise of His power.

No one dared to doubt that it was Him, much less deny it, for it was so evident. If anyone had doubted, they would have asked.

St. John Chrysostom: He means that they did not have the confidence to talk with Him as they had before. Instead, they sat looking at Him in silence and reverence, absorbed in observing His altered and now supernatural form, and were unwilling to ask any questions.

Knowing it was the Lord, they were in awe and ate only what He, in an exercise of His great power, had created. Again, He does not look up to heaven or do anything in a human manner, thus showing that His former acts of that kind were done only out of condescension. Jesus then comes, takes the bread and gives it to them, and the fish likewise.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Mystically, the cooked fish is Christ who suffered. And He is the bread that came down from heaven. The Church is united to Him as His body for participation in eternal bliss. Therefore, He says, Bring some of the fish that you have just now caught, to signify that all of us who have this hope—and who are represented by that group of seven disciples, which symbolizes the universal Church—partake of this great sacrament and are admitted to this bliss.

St. Gregory the Great: By holding this last feast with seven disciples, He declares that only those who are full of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit will be with Him in the eternal feast. Time is also reckoned by periods of seven days, and perfection is often designated by the number seven. Therefore, those who now strive for perfection are the ones who feast upon the presence of the Truth in that final banquet.

St. John Chrysostom: However, since He did not converse with them regularly or in the same way as before, the Evangelist adds, This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was risen from the dead.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This refers not to the number of appearances, but to the number of days on which He appeared: the first was the day He rose; the second was eight days later, when Thomas saw and believed; and the third was this day at the catch of fish. From then on, He appeared to them as often as He saw them, up until the time of His ascension.

We find ten occasions mentioned in the four Gospels on which our Lord was seen after His resurrection: first, at the sepulcher by the women; second, by the women returning from the sepulcher; third, by Peter; fourth, by the two going to Emmaus; and fifth, in Jerusalem, when Thomas was not present. The sixth was when Thomas saw Him; the seventh, at the Sea of Tiberias; and the eighth, by all eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee, as mentioned by Matthew. The ninth was when He ate with the disciples for the last time, and the tenth was when He was seen no longer on earth, but high up on a cloud.