It’s been awhile since I last attended a live concert.

It’s been awhile since I last attended a live concert.  However, from what I recall, there’s a little ritual that takes place at the end of every concert.  What usually happens is that the performer leaves the stage before the audience is quite ready for the concert to be over.  This causes the audience to rise to its feet, clapping and whistling, and everyone starts chanting, “Encore!  Encore!”  After several minutes, the performer returns to the stage and launches into the finale—those last few songs that the audience has been waiting the entire evening to hear!

Some scholars suggest that one way of understanding the 21^st chapter of John is as an encore.  In other words, if you look at the last verses of the 20^th chapter, it seems as if the gospel has concluded.  “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).

The End, right?  Well, not quite; because the story continues.  The 21^st chapter opens with the disciples gathered—no longer in Jerusalem, but near the Sea of Galilee.  Why they wind up there is anyone’s guess.  However, they don’t seem to have a clue as to what to do.  Finally, Peter stands up and announces to the others, “I’m going fishing.”  And with a sigh of relief—or perhaps resignation—they offer to go with him.

It’s almost as if, with no real reason to go forward, Peter decides to go back to the thing he knows best—fishing.  There’s nothing wrong with fishing, of course.  It’s honest work, and it will pay the bills.  But Peter has been to the mountaintop with Jesus, and now he’s back down at sea level again.  Plus, he’s not very successful at it.  John simply states, “That night they caught nothing.”  So you can imagine what Peter was thinking, “What’s the point?  The one thing I thought I was good at, and I can’t even do that anymore.”

At daybreak, a stranger appears on the beach.  “Caught anything, boys?” he calls out.  They shake their heads.  Not a thing.  “Try casting to the other side of the boat,” the stranger suggests.  Just to humor him, they do; and suddenly their nets can barely contain all of the fish!

Peter instantly recognizes that it is the Risen Christ and, impulsive as ever, he leaps from the boat and starts swimming toward shore.  After breakfast, Peter and Jesus get to spend some time together one-on-one.  Most scholars see this scene as Peter’s opportunity to redeem himself.  Three times he denied Jesus; three times he will affirm his love.  The scholars are probably right.  After all, there’s a certain symmetry here.

However, I think there may be more to it than that.  The reason for the 21^st chapter—John’s encore, if you will—is not merely to allow Peter to correct a past mistake; it’s also to keep him moving forward.  And when you think about it, we need to do the same thing.  We, too, have come down from the mountaintop of Easter Sunday, and now find ourselves back at the sea-level routine of day-to-day existence.  So maybe the message here is that, if our nets keep coming up empty, it’s because the Risen Christ keeps calling out to us, “Try something different.  Don’t just exist … live!”