Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
They said to him, “We also will come with you.”
So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
This incident of fishing all night with no catch was meant to remind us of the earlier incident when Peter and had done the same thing (see Luke 5:5). On that morning Peter had his first experience of the miraculous power of Jesus himself. But in today's Gospel, it seemed that Peter somehow reverted to his condition before his encounter with Jesus. He had already experienced the fact of the resurrection but he did not yet know how this fact was meant to impact his life. The way in which Jesus was present after the resurrection was markedly different and even more unpredictable than ever. He would appear in a locked room to reveal himself, or show up with travelers on a journey to give a direction. Following this risen Jesus would now need to take on a different character, for his disciples could not appear and disappear at will with him. But in the absence of the old way of following Jesus it seems that they were all too ready to fill their time with the mundane routines that defined their lives before become followers in the first place.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore;
but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Jesus seemed to have prevented the disciples from recognizing him when he wanted to focus their eventual recognition on some specific characteristic of his, some defining feature of his presence as the risen Lord.
So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat
and you will find something.”
So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in
because of the number of fish.
In this case the lesson Jesus gave was the repetition and completion of the earlier lesson. As a teaching, it was what Jesus meant when he said "Without me you can do nothing" (see John 15:5). As a revelation, it demonstrated that it was only the presence of Jesus himself that could give meaning to any task. Anything done as a distraction from the Kingdom would only lead to frustration. Jesus entered the situation of despair as the one who was himself the only true source of meaning. But was this sufficient in light of the resurrection when it seemed that Jesus might come and go at will, when he might not be there when needed? This was the confusion that veiled his presence. But he had in fact promised to be with his disciples always, and to send them another advocate, the Holy Spirit, to guide them into all truth. These promises meant that nothing henceforth needed to be done as a mere distraction from the mission. No net, whether for literal fish or converts to the Kingdom, ever needed to be cast without being put at the disposal, as it were, of Jesus himself.
So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat
and you will find something.”
So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in
because of the number of fish.
So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad,
and jumped into the sea.
Jesus demonstrated that he would take providential care over all the fishing that would define his followers in the future. He would provide for miraculous catches of fish of many different kinds, yet he would ensure that the net would remain in tact, and that Peter and his successors would have miraculous strength to aid them in their task.
So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore
full of one hundred fifty-three large fish.
Jesus made his presence known as the one who calls the names of individuals, as the one present in the breaking of the bread, and as the one alone who could give meaning to life. These encounters with the risen Lord paved the way for the disciples to receive ongoing access to his presence by the infusion of the Holy Spirit. Once that fire had fallen they were able to speak with conviction to those who accused them, no longer concerned about any residual risk to themselves. They themselves knew for sure the one in whom they had believed (see Second Timothy 1:12), and now felt the need to convey that truth with all of the motivation that made Peter jump from the boat and swim toward Christ.
then all of you and all the people of Israel should know
that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead;
in his name this man stands before you healed.
He is the stone rejected by you, the builders,
which has become the cornerstone.
There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved.
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