Wednesday, October 31, 2007

An Observation on John 21:11

"Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken." John 21:11
This verse comes near the conclusion of the famous story in John 21, where the disciples have caught nothing after fishing all night. A man they do not yet recognize tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, where they catch all those fish; the disciples then realize that it is Christ.

Here is the part that jumped out at me today (a part not previously noticed): There were not merely 153 "average" fishes; they were 153 "great" fishes! The Greek word for "great" here is megas, the familiar word from which we get mega- and similar roots in English. Mega-, of course, refers to something which is unusually large in size, mass, etc.

The point here is this: When Jesus Christ gives us something, it is not just the "average" sort of thing we can get anywhere....it is great! His blessings are not only abundant but also exceedingly above what we ask or think. No doubt the fish those disciples ate that morning were also delicious and nutritious, in addition to being sizable. God's gifts are always good and always great.

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