Peter Did NOT Swim Ahead, part 2

I've been looking at John 21 in an attempt to understand what the scene was like when the disciples, while on a fishing trip, encountered Jesus after His resurrection. Many preachers teach that upon recognizing Jesus on the shore, Peter jumped in the water and either swam or waded ahead to be the first to greet Jesus. In part 1, I said that John's attention to detail and his language don't allow for Peter to have done that. John didn't say that anyone arrived first (as he did in the account of he and Peter going to the empty tomb). He also used a very specific term to describe Peter's response to Jesus' request, "Bring Me some fish." John tells us that Peter "went up" to get the fish. Spacially, when someone is standing on the bank (as Peter would have been if he had indeed arrived on the shore first), and they move toward the water, they always "go down" to the boat or water. So the speculation that Peter swam ahead and was standing on the bank with Jesus just doesn't make sense.

Well, if Peter didn't swim ahead, what exactly was he doing - and why did he do that? I'm glad you asked that question. You DID ask didn't you? The answer is wrapped up in the scene that follows this breakfast by the lake - the encounter between Jesus and Peter. You remember this scene - after breakfast, Jesus asks Peter three times, "Peter, do you love me?" After Peter's response each time, Jesus commanded him, "Tend my sheep" or "Feed my lambs." (John 21:15-17) It is important to remember that Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times during Jesus' trial prior to being crucified. It is also important to remember that following his denial, Peter "wept bitterly." (Matthew 26:75; Mark 14:72; Luke 22:62) He was totally devastated! He had denied the person he had promised to defend to the death. It's interesting that three times Peter denied knowing Jesus, and three times Jesus gave him the opportunity to express his love for Him. HOWEVER, that opportunity to express love came after the fishing and breakfast incident.

On a personal level, have you ever done something for which you were ashamed? I'm not even talking about sin - I'm simply talking about some embarrassing action toward a friend. After that embarrassing moment, didn't you want to avoid that person? Even though you knew the person would be gracious and kind and forgiving, there was something inside that made you want to avoid contact with them. Well imagine how you would feel if you had bragged that you would stand firm when everyone else was falling away; then when your friend needed you the most you denied even knowing him. Then, add to that the nagging thought that if you had just kept your word, your friend might not have had to suffer and die... Peter was probably blaming himself for Jesus' suffering and death! The last thing he would want to do is swim ahead and see Jesus face to face. He was overcome with the shame of failure!

That explains why he grabbed his outer garment and jumped into the water. He was trying to remove any evidence that he had been on the boat. He probably jumped into the water, placing the boat and the net full of fish between himself and Jesus, just hoping that Jesus wouldn't know that Peter was even there. Then Peter hung out in the water while the other disciples went on shore and had fellowship with Jesus. Perhaps that is why we know how many fish were in the net - Peter was busy counting them while he was hanging out in the water! I realize that is speculation - but more plausible than saying Peter swam ahead.

Jesus, trying to draw Peter out of hiding, asked for some fish (even though he already had fish cooking!). Knowing Peter's desire/need to work his way back into Jesus' favor, Jesus gave him a task to do. Now that task didn't have anything to do with Peter getting back into good standing with Jesus. He was already in good standing with Jesus. It was just Jesus' way of getting Peter to come out of hiding. It's an interesting part of fallen human nature - we somehow think we need to and even CAN earn God's favor. We don't understand God's grace and mercy. We think that some small activity on our part will make up for our sinfulness. All Jesus asks us to do is affirm our love for Him. He has already affirmed and demonstrated His love for us - in that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

So there we have it. Peter saw Jesus on the shore. He was filled with shame at having denied his friend. He was filled with shame because if he had not denied Jesus, Jesus might not have had to suffer and die. He was filled with shame and so he grabbed his outer garment and jumped into the water to hide. Jesus knew he was there and asked for a fish (even though he already had fish cooking) in order to draw Peter from his hiding place. After he got him out of hiding, Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to affirm his love - once for every time he had denied knowing Jesus. He does the same for us - He draws us out of hiding and gives us opportunity to affirm our love for him.

Peter Did NOT Swim Ahead

Why is it that preachers feel the need to add things that are not there to scripture, and ignore things that are there? I use the story of Peter encountering Jesus on the Sea of Galilee following Jesus' resurrection as an exammple. The story is found in the 21st chapter of John's Gospel. Peter decided that he wanted to go fishing. The other disciples joined him. As they were casting their nets - and not being successful in their endeavors - the resurrected Jesus showed up on the shore and asked them if they were catching anything. Without recognizing him, they replied that they were catching nothing. He said to them, "Cast your net on the right hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." They did and so many fish filled their net that they were unable to haul it in. In that instant, John (identified as "the disciple whom Jesus loved") recognized the land-bound stranger as Jesus. Here is where things get interesting and preachers/teachers begin to add things to the text and ignore things that are in the text.

When Peter heard it was Jesus, he grabbed "his outer garment (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea." (21:7) The thing that is ALWAYS added to this text are the words, "and he swam ahead." Why do people add that? It isn't in the text and it doesn't even make sense! And the thing they always leave out is the detail of him grabbing his outer garment. Logically, if Peter were going to swim ahead, he wouldn't grab his outer garment. That big heavy robe-like garment would simply slow him down and might even put him in danger of drowning! Some commentators say that the boat was in shallow water - so shallow, in fact, that Peter simply waded to shore. Again, people have added that concept and NOTHING in the text indicates that Peter got to the shore first or even attempted to get to the shore first.

One of the major principles of interpreting scripture is that wherever possible, scripture should be used to interpret itself. In this case, we can look at John's own writing. In chapter 20, in the account of the resurrection, John points out the he and Peter were running together toward the empty tomb, and that John arrived at the tomb first (20:4). John then, reveals that even though he had arrived first, Peter was the first to enter the tomb (20:6). So John has a habit of describing how events unfolded and in this instance, he made no effort at all to let his readers know that Peter arrived on shore first. Further, he doesn't even describe Peter's arrival!

All of this, so far, has been rather circumstantial. Now we come to a language clue. Notice, that when the disciples arrive, they see a charcoal fire with some fish already cooking, along with some bread (21:9). Then Jesus says, "Bring some of the fish which you have caught." And here is the language clue - "Peter WENT UP and drew the net to land." Now think about that for a moment. If Peter had been standing beside Jesus - close enough to observe the fire, fish, and bread - and if he headed to the boat to drag the net to land, how would that movement toward the water have been described? He would have "gone down" to the sea and boat. In John 6:16-17 we get that exact description: "When evening came, his disciples WENT DOWN to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea..." So for John to say that Peter WENT UP to the boat, we have to see a different picture. The only way for Peter to go UP to the boat, is for him to still be in the water. The word translated "went up" is described in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament like this: The basic meaning is spatial, i.e., “to rise from the depths to the heights.” It is used for climbing aboard a ship (bold mine).

So what do we know? Peter did not grab his coat - jump into the water and swim or wade ahead of the other disciples. He grabbed his coat - jumped into the water - and when Jesus asked for a fish, Peter WENT UP and got what Jesus asked for. But why? Can we figure that out? And how do we know the number of fish that were in the net? I'll discuss those issues later. But for now, understand that the Bible does not indicate that Peter swam ahead of the other disciples when they saw Jesus on the shore after the resurrection.