Today's Gospel in Art - They caught 153 fish

Miraculous Draught of Fishes, by John Reilly 1978 © John Reilly artist

Gospel of 17th April 2020 - John 21:1-14

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, 'I'm going fishing.' They replied, 'We'll come with you.' They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night.

It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, 'Have you caught anything, friends?' And when they answered, 'No', he said, 'Throw the net out to starboard and you'll find something.' So they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could not haul it in. The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord.' At these words 'It is the Lord', Simon Peter, who had practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak round him and jumped into the water. The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land.

As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, 'Bring some of the fish you have just caught.' Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, 'Who are you?' They knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.

Reflection on the Painting

John Reilly, who painted today's canvas, frequently based his works on a central circle (the sun here) from which facets of colour emanate, like ripples on the surface of water… like ripples on the Sea of Tiberias mentioned in today's reading. The overall composition consists of these kaleidoscopic facets making up the overall patterning of the painting. The circles here link Christ to the right, with the apostles on the left, through the sun and the fishes. The fishes are most prominent and don't just make for an interesting composition, but they are actually part of the bodily compositions of the apostles and Christ.

Fish are of course very central to Scripture. Fish in the seas represent people that have yet to be 'brought ashore' to receive the 'breath of life' and encounter Christ, depicted standing on the shore. Today's reading tells us they caught 153 fish. The number 153 is the total of all numbers from 1 through to 17. 1+2+3….+16+17=153! The number 17 is also the symbolic prime number representing the Messiah. It is also believed that, at the time John wrote his Gospel, there were 153 nations in existence. So, coming to the point of all these numbers, it shows that Christ came to unite ALL people and all nations… but this can only be achieved through the process of one-to-one discipling… fish by fish… And just as Jesus did in today's passage, so we can stand at the water's edge of people's lives to try and bring them (back) to God.

LINKS

Today's story - https://christianart.today/reading.php?id=393

Christian Art Today - https://christianart.today

and Holy Week through 100 paintings - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/39289