The Seventh
Significant Miracle in John – Raising a Dead Man
The seventh sign/miracle is the
raising of Lazarus,[1] whose
name means, ‘whom God helps’. When Jesus
received news that His friend was at the point of death, He not only delayed
until Lazarus was dead, but also waited until he had been buried and entombed
for four days. When Jesus finally arrived, He voiced the reason for His delay:
“that the Son of God might be glorified through it” and, “that you might
believe”. There was a great purpose to His actions. While the Messiah could have returned to Bethany earlier and healed
Lazarus prior to his decease, or raised him from the dead on the first or
second day, His intention was to demonstrate to the leaders of the Jewish
nation, that He was able to raise Lazarus, not just from the grave but from
Hades. Because of the framework of
Jewish belief at that time, they believed that the soul did not descend into
Hades until after three days. Jesus needed to wait until the fourth day to
demonstrate fully that His power reached to Hades. This sign would be used to demonstrate to the
nation, for the last time, the Messianic credentials of Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, it was of such a calibre that it
would also support His claim to deity, as He said: “This sickness is … for the
glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”[2]
It is this miracle that demonstrated, illustrated,
and elucidated, John’s inspired assessment of Jesus: “in Him was life”;[3]
and, “he who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have the life.”[4] Taking a phrase or two from the incident when
Jesus forgave the sins of a paralytic before healing him, the Messiah could
have asked here: ‘Whether it is easier, to say, I am the resurrection and the
life; or to say, Lazarus come forth? But that you may know that the Son of man
is the resurrection and the life, (He said to the deceased,) I say unto you,
Lazarus come forth!’ Then he that was dead exited the tomb while still bound
hand and foot with grave clothes.
We will more fully examine the
raising of Lazarus later under the heading of ‘the sign of the prophet Jonah’
(chapter ten).
The Eighth
Significant Miracle in John – The Miraculous Catch of Fish
The last sign recorded in John’s gospel is that
which took place at the Sea of Galilee after
the resurrection of the Messiah.[5] The disciples should have gathered in the
mountain region of Galilee,[6] but
Peter had initiated a return to their old occupation, “I am going fishing.” The Greek word used for ‘I go’ is ‘upagw’, The word is made up of two
elements. The first is ‘upw’ which can denote secrecy. The
second is ‘agw’ which means ‘I go’. Together it
is used to denote the final departure of one who ceases to be another’s
companion or attendant. Wuest’s expanded
N.T. translation reads, ‘Simon Peter says to them, I am going off, breaking my
former connections, to my former fishing business.’ Here is Peter’s formal announcement that he
was abandoning his preaching mission and going back to his former
occupation. The word translated
‘fishing’ is a present infinitive meaning the action is durative, progressive
and constant. It refers to the fishing
as an occupation. Here then is a
crisis. Peter, perhaps still not over
his failure when he denied the Messiah, is returning to his old life, and
leading the others to join him.
Jesus
the Messiah meets the crisis with a double miracle, the first
part of which was
negative. This team of fisherman worked
all night yet their nets were empty. Firstly, the Messiah demonstrated that
fishing was not their future. Then, in
the morning he stood on the shore incognito and instructed them to cast their
nets again, this time on the other side of the boat. They caught 153 fish. This exceptional, miraculous draught of fish
bore a remarkable similarity to that which they had experienced three years
earlier. Accordingly, they understood
the stranger to be the Messiah. On
bringing the catch to shore, they were invited to a breakfast of bread and fish
that had already been prepared. Thus, on
obeying their Lord, their needs were met abundantly.
Some of the detail of the narrative is very
illuminating. To emphasise the negative
aspect of the miracle, Jesus enquired, “children, have you any food?” (KJV) In
the NASB it is, “children, you do not have any fish, do you?” with the extra
note, “literally, something eaten with bread”. The disciples answered, “No.” The
enquiry, “Children, have you any food?” was very usual among the Rabbis of that
day, and could mean, ‘have you sufficient for one meal?’ (in this context,
breakfast), or, ‘I have bread – have you something to go with it?’ (Bread is
the other symbol of the Melchizadekian blessing).[7] The
disciples who had returned to their old occupation did not have enough for one meal.
On the other hand, the Messiah had a meal of bread with fish already cooking. And in consequence of the second, positive
aspect of the miracle, Jesus invited them to bring the recently caught fish.[8]
John now isolates the name of
Peter for his next statement: “Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land,
full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many,
the net was not torn.”[9] This is in contrast with what happened at the
almost identical miracle when Peter received his call to service.[10] Then
the net broke. But that was when Peter
was a fisherman. Since then the Messiah had
changed Peter’s career: “… from now on you will be catching men”.[11] While Peter follows his commission as a
fisher of men, the net of the gospel will not break.
In this, the last sign in John’s
gospel, the principle of table fellowship is re-emphasised. They ate with the
Lord. In the first sign in John’s
gospel, table fellowship was prominent. There, He provided wine. Here at the lakeside
He provided bread. Significantly, table fellowship is placed at the heart of
the Church’s activities, where bread and wine symbolically represent the body
and blood of Christ.[12]
‘The cup of the blessing that we bless—is it not the fellowship of the blood of
the Christ? the bread that we break—is it not the fellowship of the body of the
Christ?’[13]
[1] John
11.1 ff
[2] John 11.4
[3] John 1.4
[4] 1 John
5.12
[5] John
21.1ff
[6]
Matt.28.16
[7]
Gen.14.18
[8] John
21.10
[9] John
21.11
[10] Luke
5.1-11
[11] Luke
5.10
[12]
Matt.26.26-28; Mark 14.22-24; Lk.22.19,20;
[13] 1
Cor.10.16 (Young’s literal translation)
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