His resurrection. He had told them to meet Him
in Galilee. And now they were waiting for His coming. They were within
sight of a boat from which perhaps some day they had fished. Peter, ever
active and ready to do something, said to his companions, "I go
a-fishing." As John had followed him into the tomb, he and the others
followed him to the boat saying, "We also come with thee." Let John
himself tell what happened. "They went forth and entered into the boat;
and that night they took nothing. But when day was now breaking, Jesus
stood on the beach: howbeit the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus therefore saith unto them, Children, have ye aught to eat? They
answered Him, No. And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side
of the boat, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were
not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."

Once more we are to find Peter and John the prominent figures, and see
the difference between them, John being the first to understand, and
Peter the first to act. When John saw the multitude of fishes he
remembered the same thing had happened before at the beginning of
Christ's ministry. Looking toward the land, and whispering to Peter, he
said, "It is the Lord." "So when Simon Peter heard that it was the
Lord, he girt his coat about him"--out of reverence for his Master--"and
cast himself into the sea," and swam or waded about one hundred yards to
the beach. The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net
with the fishes. John remembered their great size, and the number "an
hundred and fifty and three." He says, "When they got out upon the land,
they see a fire of coals there." Did it not remind him of another "fire
of coals" of which he had already written, kindled in the court of the
high-priestly palace where "Peter stood and warmed himself," and near
which he denied his Lord three times? If he did not recall that scene
immediately, he did very soon.

Jesus invited the disciples to eat of the meal he had prepared. As they
did so they were filled with awe and reverence, "knowing that it was the
Lord." In the light of the palace fire, "the Lord turned and _looked_
upon Peter"--that only. But in the morning light on the seashore, "when
they had broken their fast, Jesus _saith_ to Simon Peter, Lovest thou
Me?" Three times, with some difference of meaning, gently and solemnly
He asked the question as many times as Peter had denied Him. On Peter's
first as