Fish offer many reminders of Jesus

April 22, 2007 -- Third Sunday of Easter

By Fr. Michael Stubbs

	Fr. Mike Stubbs

Ordinarily, I have some toast, fresh fruit and coffee for breakfast. Once in a while I'll eat pancakes. But never have I eaten fish for breakfast. But that is what Jesus serves the disciples in Sunday's gospel reading, John 21:1-19. "Jesus said to them, 'Come, have breakfast.' ... Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish."

We might wonder, why fish?

The obvious answer might include the fact that fish is available. The disciples are at the Sea of Tiberias. They have been fishing, without any success, and Jesus has helped them make a catch.

But the fish carries a meaning beyond the obvious. The fish which the risen Jesus offers to the disciples reminds us of the fish which he himself eats on another occasion, in another gospel, in order to demonstrate to the disciples that he is not a ghost, that he possesses a real human body, capable of eating food. "They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them." (Luke 24:42, 43)

The fish also recalls the earlier multiplication of the loaves and the fish, the important miracle which John's gospel associates with a long discourse on the Bread of Life. With only five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus feeds the huge crowd which has followed him beside the Sea of Tiberias. (John 6 1-15) Both the menu and the location correlate to the breakfast in Sunday's gospel.

The fish also alludes to an Old Testament image, the Leviathan. This sea monster symbolizes the forces of evil opposed to God. The Old Testament looks forward to the time when God will vanquish the Leviathan. "On that day, the LORD will punish with his sword that is cruel, great, and strong, Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the coiled serpent; and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea." (Isaiah 27:1)

By his cross, Jesus has battled with the forces of evil. In his resurrection, he has won the victory. Combat with the Leviathan serves as an appropriate metaphor for this struggle. In fact, some of the early church fathers visualized Jesus' descent into Hades after his death as a descent into the waters of chaos, where he wrestles with the Leviathan.

So, Jesus is a fisherman. Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus appears as the sower, who sows the word among the crowd as one might scatter seed, to take root and germinate and produce a crop. (Matthew 13) Jesus also appears as the good shepherd, who leads his flock to pasture and protects it from the wolves. (John 10:14-18)

But in Sunday's gospel reading, Jesus appears as the fisherman. Risen from the dead, he has successfully defeated the Leviathan. As a successful fisherman, he advises the disciples, who have been working all night long without making a catch, where to find the fish. When they cast their net, the result is overwhelming. "So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish."

Jesus is the great fisherman. No wonder that he invites the disciples to share in his work. "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of people." (Mark 1:17)

(Fr. Stubbs, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, has a master's degree in theology from Harvard.)