Near the end of the gospel of John, (in John 21:1-14), we find a story where, some days after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, seven of Jesus's disciples have travelled north from Jerusalem to the sea of Galilee. At Peter's suggestion they have all gone out in his boat to fish. They fish all night, but have no luck, and catch nothing. They are fairly close to the shore, and as the early morning light begins to grow they see a man standing by the water. He calls out to them, asking if they have caught anything. When they answer "no", he tells them, "try the other side of the boat". They give it a try. When they do, they catch so many fish that they can't haul the net into the boat; it's too heavy. So they row toward shore, dragging the net full of fish behind them.

As they're drawing closer to shore, they still haven't recognized that the man on the shore is Jesus. He has kindled a small, and is cooking fish. He invites them to have breakfast with Him, and at that point, John realizes that it is Jesus, and tells Peter. Peter grabs his cloak, belts it around himself to cover his nakedness, and jumps into the water to swim to shore.

This story has some interesting details to explore. The earlier stories of events that happened after the Lord's rising took place in or near Jerusalem, but this one is in Galilee. Five of these disciples are named, and at least four of the five were from Galilee, so they are at home. They were fishermen before Jesus called them to be disciples, so to go fishing is in their blood.

The five disciples named in the story are Simon (or Peter), the brothers James and John, Thomas, and Nathaniel. Two more who are not named, to make up the seven, and it would be reasonable to guess that they were Andrew, Peter's brother, and Philip, a friend of Nathaniel's - both of whom were also from Galilee.

The angels that Peter and John had seen at the sepulcher had told them that Jesus would meet them in Galilee on "the mountain". Perhaps these seven, being from Galilee, had hurried on ahead of the others.

Let's look at their names and see what the literal meaning is, and what they represent in a spiritual way.

- Simon was renamed by Jesus as ‘Peter', which in the Greek means a rock. In this case, the name means the firmest and most critical rock, or truth, of Christianity, i.e. that Jesus was from God.

- John means love or charity.

- James, John's brother, means the doing of charity.

- Nathaniel means a gift from God, and being a friend of Philip, I think it might be that the gift from God that he represents is the love of learning things that fill the understanding, our curiosity.

- Thomas, in Greek, means a twin, and since he is named right after Peter perhaps he has a similar representation. Peter believes in the Lord easily because of what he has seen and what the Lord has told him whereas Thomas believes, and believes just as strongly, but only after his doubts have been erased, after he has been shown.

The towns most mentioned in the stories that take place around the "Sea of Galilee" in the gospels are Bethsaida, Capernaum, Cana, and Nazareth. Bethsaida itself means "a place of fishing." The maps I have of the area are small scale and not all exactly the same, but the indication is that it is at the northern end of the lake or even on the upper Jordan river just before it runs into the lake. Capernaum and Magdala are on the northwestern shore and Cana and Nazareth are inland, but only four or five miles west of this corner of the lake. This area was where most of these disciples had been brought up, and fishing was a common occupation.

The name Galilee means "a circuit". The Word teaches us that Jesus taught in the towns all around the lake, so that a reading of all that Jesus taught and did in that country could be thought of as a "circuit" of His teachings.

The next detail of interest is that when the Lord suggests the other side of the boat and the result is a large catch of fish after a long night of nothing. This is reminiscent of the fishing incident given in Luke 5:4-7. Since the disciples are to become "fishers of men" (as in Matthew 4:19) and they are to persuade people into the knowledge and worship of the Lord, the Christ, it is perhaps a lesson that in their ministry they must always be guided by the Lord.

Then John realizes, and whispers to Peter, "it's the Lord" (John 21:7) and Peter quickly puts his cloak on and jumps in to get to shore faster. Why is it John that first realizes? John represents love and affection while Peter represents faith or truth. While truth is the means of acting, as Peter does, love is the means of connecting, which is what John did. And why did Peter need to grab his cloak and put it on? Clothing in the Word represents the truths about spiritual things that all people may have if they look for them. It is the particular truths that form Peter as a disciple, "Thou art the Christ" (Matthew 16:16-18) that he answers to the Lord, and this truth is the rock of the Christian church. Having this truth as part of himself is necessary to meet the Lord.

When they are all on shore, Jesus says to them to bring some of the fish they have caught, so Peter goes to the water and drags the full net up onto the sand and counts out the fish, one hundred and fifty three. Then Jesus invites them all to come and eat.

Now a strange comment is put into the story: "…none of the disciples durst ask him, 'who art thou?', knowing that it was the Lord." (John 21:12). It seems that they should have known. They had been following Him for several years. I wonder if this is a reminder that the Christian church has yet to understand the true reality of the Lord - was He God, or was He man? The Catholic church argued this for more than three hundred years, and the council that was supposed to decide came up with three separate persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all in one Godhead. Some of the Christian churches of today seem to focus on two, the Father, and a Son born from eternity, who apparently both rule together.

The New Christian Church understands that Jesus was born both God and man but that there was a slow but inevitable change going on during His lifetime. He was born with God, Jehovah, as His inmost, and a human heredity and body from Mary as a covering or cloak over this inmost. Mary was, you may recall, of the royal house of David, so her heredity was both strong and inclusive, and thus represented all that was connected to the Jewish form of worship. During Jesus' life (and starting early, though we don't know just how early), He put off things from Mary, and put on what was a corresponding Divine, from His inmost, in its place, until on Easter morning He was wholly divine, with all that came from His mother being dispersed and gone. There is only One God.

Why is it that in this little story the number of fishes that were caught in the net is mentioned, and why does it seem now so important that Peter took the time to count them as everyone waited? Something that has been revealed to the New Christian Church is that all the numbers used in the stories of the Word have a meaning that belongs to that number even outside the literal use in the story. The number 153 can be seen as the combination of 150 and 3, and both of these are strongly meaningful. Starting with the "three", there should be little doubt that it means something since it is used so often. Jesus rose on the third day. Also three is the number of things that, put together, make anything complete, the wish or desire to do it, the knowledge of how to do it, and the actual doing. This is true of any task - from baking a cake right up to the Lord's love, His wisdom, and His act put forth in creating the universe. One hundred and fifty is not so plain. I am aware of only two places it is used in the Word, and we are told that it means a total change, an ending of something and the beginning of something different. It is used here and in the story of the flood, at the end of Genesis 7 and in Genesis 8:3; "And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days." "… And the waters returned from off the earth continually; and after the end of the one hundred and fifty days the waters were abated." The use here is that it means the end of the Church called "Adam" and the start of the church called "Noah" (See on this website "The Churches", and for the meaning, see Arcana Coelestia 812, 846). In the story we are considering it means the end of the Church called Israel and the start of the Christian church, though that is probably complete a day or two later when the Lord meets with all of His disciples on the mountain and sends them out to preach and heal.

This first part of this story ends with all of the seven disciples on the shore with Jesus, and His giving to them a breakfast of bread and roasted fish. With this giving, perhaps they all fully realized who He was, as with the two disciples at Emmaus. The Gospel comments, "This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to his disciples after that He was risen from the dead.

"Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy Word." Psalm 119:67

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes." Psalm 119:71

Additional readings: Isaiah 30:1-17, Matthew 16:13-28

When the Lord said to Peter that He must suffer many things of the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be put to death, Peter was grieved and said, "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee," Then the Lord replied, "Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."

The thought of affliction is repugnant to the unregenerate man, but we do not attain victory without effort, and the severity of the Lord's words to Peter shows the enormity of his error. Isaiah is writing of this same attitude when he says: "Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits" (Isaiah 3:10).

The Lord called Peter Satan to indicate the origin and character of person’s sense of offense at the life the Lord Himself led and the struggles He went through. After the resurrection He appeared to the disciples and said, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26)

Affliction—at present, at least—is a part of human life. No human being can escape from it. It is born with us and follows us wherever we go. The strongest cannot throw it off. The swiftest cannot escape it. The richest cannot purchase release from it. The cleverest cannot evade it. It waits for the sluggish. The young and the old, the weak and the strong, the ignorant and the wise, the evil and the good are alike subject to it. Today there is widespread affliction and suffering, so that the world is shocked by it, and many are brought to despair.

Yet it is not the things that we like to hear that are always good for us. The truth often runs counter to our natural inclinations, but if we follow our natural inclinations, we do so to our everlasting hurt. So the psalmist writes: "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." When afflictions come, the first question that arises naturally is, "What is their cause?" We should know that they do not come from the Lord. He does not send them. No suffering of body or soul, no disappointment or sorrow comes from Him. Good, and only good can come from Him.

The human body was created in infinite wisdom and with the purpose of gifting mankind with delights. Every part was designed to be a means of communicating happiness to man. The nerves, for example, were created to give pleasure and not to torment with pain. Yet the nerves are sometimes the means of bringing terrible suffering. The Lord does not inflict the suffering. If we violate the laws of Divine order, pain ensues. The ability to enjoy pleasures implies the ability to suffer. If we could not feel pain, we could not feel delights. Stones and trees do not feel pain; neither can they have delights. Even a limited reason can see that it is far better to be a being exposed to the danger of suffering than to be a stone or a tree without the possibility of enjoying. The nerves serve to warn us of dangers and to protect us, as well as to give us delights. These same laws apply to our moral nature. Our intellectual faculties and affections were given for the purpose of bringing us happiness far surpassing the purely physical delights of the senses. Family affections are an instance of this law familiar to us all. They were given to bind husband and wife, parents and children together, and to make each the giver and sharer of the other's joys. New and deep fountains of life and. happiness are opened with each child that the Lord gives.

Yet these capacities for happiness can be the source of the keenest sorrows. When illness and death befall members of the family circle, when true family relationships are perverted, when evils creep in, when selfishness, waywardness, and follies are indulged in, the family suffers. But if no family cares and anxieties were possible, we should also be insensible to all family joys. There is no way to avoid the possibility of suffering without making man such that he is also incapable of enjoying.

If the Lord gives us faculties capable of bringing us joy and happiness and we misuse them so that they bring us pain, we should realize that the pain is the result not of the Lord's action, but of our own. It is true that the Scriptures in the letter often say that the Lord sends affliction, suffering, and sorrow, but such statements have taken their literal form from the appearance—according to humanity's selfish tendency to escape responsibility. They are true only in the sense that all the power we have is given us by the Lord. It is our own misuse of this power which brings suffering upon ourselves and others.

And we should be able to go farther than this. We should be able to see that while the Lord permits evil and suffering, His providence extends over the permission and uses our afflictions as a means of bringing blessings to us. In His infinite mercy and goodness He uses our afflictions to do us good. He provides, in the words of Paul, "that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).

We cannot see this from a merely natural point of view. We must have the eternal life in mind. Just as the material body is not the real man or the purpose of his creation, so this natural life is in itself but the smallest and grossest part of his existence. The world was created for mankind and for the purpose of gratifying his desires and giving delights, to develop his powers and faculties, but not as the supreme end of his existence. We abuse this world if all our conceptions of happiness are limited to it and all our energies are directed to attaining its good things.

The more our natural desires are indulged the more imperative they become. If they were not checked, there would be no possibility of the development of our spiritual faculties. Like the vine our natural tendencies need to be pruned. It is a fact abundantly proved by history that man is of such a nature that he cannot bear uninterrupted natural prosperity. It is a thousandfold more dangerous to him than adversity. So adversities sometimes come. The Lord wishes and seeks to provide for us a beautiful and perfect home in the heavens. People are prone to seek one in this world and to neglect their higher interests. So we come into conflict with the Divine purposes and laws and afflictions ensue.

We never suffer any pain if the body is in perfect health. Pain in the body is a note of warning. When we are afflicted with pain, we seek to find, its cause and to remove it. So it is with our sorrows, which are pains of the mind. They are the voices of sentinels warning us of danger. They tell us that we have wandered from the ways of Divine order and are going astray. We little realize how much we are indebted to the adversities that have come upon us. If we had never had any warning, if we had never been checked in any of our desires, if we never had any anxiety, if nothing ever thwarted our own way, would we ever look to any other than self? Indeed we would go astray from the Lord and never desire to return. But sometimes terrible afflictions come upon us like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. The health which we had enjoyed suddenly fails, our plans are thwarted, death comes unexpectedly and takes husband or wife or children or friends. The whole course of life is broken up. Why is this? What good can come from it? There is one obvious answer, namely, that there is no natural good, no earthly condition which can be relied upon to give us happiness. Afflictions are permitted in order to turn our thoughts to higher things. The natural mind is stubborn. Afflictions soften the stubborn mind. If they are greater than we think we can bear, we may turn to the Lord. The Lord never casts us off. If we cannot find refuge in the Lord, there is no place in the universe where we can find help. When we realize that the Lord never brings the slightest harm or sorrow upon us, but that He is in the constant effort to teach us how to avoid them, to support us when they do come, and to turn them to our advantage by awakening in our minds an abhorrence of the things which caused them, our whole attitude toward affliction and sorrow is changed. We see that the Lord is on our side, taking part with us against the enemies to our peace.

So if afflictions come, let us turn to the Lord for help. It is difficult for the natural mind to conceive that there can be any higher good than that which it is immediately seeking. We put confidence in ourselves rather than in the Lord. We are slow to believe that His plans for us are better than our own, and slow to seek to learn and do His will. But if we will go to the Lord in His Word and listen to Him with a humble and open mind, we shall see that He is using afflictions to restrain us from going farther astray from heaven and from home, to assist us in forming a juster estimate of natural things, to weaken the force of our natural desires, to arouse in us an aversion toward falsity and evil, and to make more room in our thoughts and affections for spiritual things. We shall find that He is giving us more than we have lost, and we shall be ready to say “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes”—learn to know them, to love them, and to do them.

And if we tempted to look upon our afflictions and losses as irreparable, we shall be able to answer, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word” — before I was afflicted I was too much absorbed with natural delights, but now, chastened and humbled, I turn to the light Divine truth and find happiness In trying to follow Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.