Jesus said unto them,
Come and dine.
And none of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? knowing that it was the Lord.
All Commentaries on John 21:12 Go To John 21
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
The fishing being over, our Lord invites them to dine: Jesus says to them, Come and dine.
The bodies of the just, when they rise again, shall need neither the word of life that they die not of disease, or old age, nor any bodily nourishment to prevent hunger and thirst. For they shall be endowed with a sure and inviolable gift of immortality, that they shall not eat of necessity, but only be able to eat if they will. Not the power, but the need of eating and drinking shall betaken away from them; in like manner as our Savior after His resurrection took meat and drink with His disciples, with spiritual but still real flesh, not for the sake of nourishment, but in exercise of a power.
No one dared to doubt that it was He, much less deny it; so evident was it. Had any one doubted, he would have asked.
Mystically, the fried fish is Christ Who suffered. And Heis the bread that came down from heaven. To Him the Church is united to His body for participation of eternal bliss. Wherefore He says, Bring of the fishes which you have now caught; to signify that all of us who have this hope, and are in that septenary number of disciples, which represents the universal Church here, partake of this great sacrament, and areadmitted to this bliss.
Which has reference not to manifestations, but to days; i.e. the first day after Hehad risen, eight days after that, when Thomas saw and believed, and this day at the draught offishes; and thenceforward as often as He sew them, up to the time of His ascension.
We find in the four Evangelists then occasions mentioned; on which our Lord was seen after His resurrection: one at the sepulcher by the women; a second by the one omen returning from the sepulcher; a third by Peter; a fourth by the two going to Emmaus; a fifth in Jerusalem, when Thomas was not present; a sixth when Thomas saw Him; a seventh at thesea of Tiberias; an eighth by all the eleven on a mountain of Galilee, mentioned by Matthew; a ninth when for the last time He sat at meat with the disciples; a tenth when He was seen no longer upon earth, but high up on a cloud.
