<p>21:3 - see on Mk. 10:28.</p><p><em>Simon Peter said to them: I am going fishing. They said to him: We will go with you. They went out and entered into the boat, and that night they caught nothing</em>-</p><p>John perhaps especially brings out their blindness at this time. He describes how they were fishing on the lake, having given up, it seems, their faith in Jesus, despite His appearances to them. Yet John describes that incident in language which evidently alludes to the account in Luke 5 of the Lord&rsquo;s first call to them by the same lake, whilst they were fishing. Consider the similarities:<br />- They have fished all night but caught nothing<br />- The Lord tells them to cast their nets<br />- They obey and catch many fish<br />- The effect on the nets is mentioned<br />- Peter reacts emotionally, and in both records is called &lsquo;Simon Peter&rsquo;<br />- The presence of &ldquo;the sons of Zebedee&rdquo; is mentioned both times (Jn. 21:2; Lk. 5:10)<br />- Jesus is called &lsquo;Lord&rsquo;<br />- The same Greek words are used for climbing aboard, landing, the nets etc.</p><p>The point being that John is saying: &lsquo;Durrr We were so dumb, not to realize the similarities more quickly <em>Of course it was Jesus</em> But we were so, so pathetically slow to accept it. After the encounter by the lake in Lk. 5, Jesus made us fishers of men. But we refused to be, initially. So He had to re-commission us yet again after this second incident&rsquo;. John uses the verb <em>helkein</em> to describe how they &lsquo;drew&rsquo; the nets to land- the same word used elsewhere by him for people being &lsquo;drawn&rsquo; to Jesus (Jn. 6:44; 12:32). He is recognizing that they had had to be re-taught the call to be fishers of men, because they had pushed off to Galilee in disbelief and disobedience to the great commission to go and catch men. Perhaps John records Peter being asked the same question &ldquo;Lovest thou me?&rdquo; three times, in order to show how terribly slow they all were to accept the teachings of the Lord which now they were asking others to accept.</p><p>Peter is presented as the leader of the group, and is mentioned first in the list (:2); as if to demonstrate that the one who led them fishing, in disbelief and disobedience to the command to meet in a mountain nearby (Mt. 28:16), was the very one who became the leader of the early church. Again and again, the weakness of the disciples is emphasized in their own preaching; for the Gospel records are transcripts of their preaching to others. The details of them walking to the shore and getting into the boat are recorded in detail because John wishes us to imagine the shameful incident.</p>