Jesus said unto them,
Come and dine.
And none of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? knowing that it was the Lord.
Read Chapter 21
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
1. With this third manifestation of Himself by the Lord to His disciples after His resurrection, the Gospel of the blessed Apostle John is brought to a close, of which we have already lectured through the earlier part as we were able, on to the place where it is related that an hundred and fifty-three fishes were taken by the disciples to whom He showed Himself, and for all they were so large, yet were not the nets broken. What follows we have now to take into consideration, and to discuss as the Lord enables us, and as the various points may appear to demand. When the fishing was over, Jesus says unto them, Come [and] dine. And none of those who sat down dared to ask Him, Who are You? knowing that it was the Lord. If, then, they knew, what need was there to ask? And if there was no need, wherefore is it said, they dared not, as if there were need, but, from some fear or other, they dared not? The meaning here, therefore, is: so great was the evidence of the truth that Jesus Himself ha...
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 say...
And none of them who were at meat, durst ask him, who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. It is likely he appeared to them with a countenance different, and brighter than before his death; yet they were presently so convinced it was Jesus, that they were ashamed to ask or doubt of it. (Witham)
By holding this last feast with seven disciples, he declares that they only who are full of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, shall be with Him in the eternal feast. Time also is reckoned by periods of seven days, and perfection is often designated by the number seven. They therefore feast upon the presence of the Truth in that last banquet, who now strive for perfection.
For they no longer had the same boldness, nor were they so confident, nor did they now approach Him with speech, but with silence and great fear and reverence, sat down giving heed to Him.
For they knew that it was the Lord.
And therefore they did not ask Him, Who are You? But seeing that His form was altered, and full of much awfulness, they were greatly amazed, and desired to ask somewhat concerning it; but fear, and their knowledge that He was not some other, but the Same, checked the enquiry, and they only ate what He created for them with a greater exertion of power than before. For here He no more looks to heaven, nor performs those human acts, showing that those also which He did were done by way of condescension. And to show that He remained not with them continually, nor in like manner as before, It says that,
John does not say that He ate with them, but Luke does. He ate however not to satisfy the wants of nature, but to show the reality of His resurrection.
He means that they had not confidence to talk to Him, as before, but sat looking at Him in silence and awe, absorbed in regarding His altered and now supernatural form, and unwilling to ask any question. Knowing that it was the Lord, they were in fear, and only ate what, in exercise of His great power, He had created. He again does not look up to heaven, or do anything after a human sort, thus strewing that His former acts of that kind were done only in condescension: Jesus then comes, and takes bread, and gives them, and fish likewise.
Inasmuch, however, as He did not converse with them regularly, or in the same way as before, the Evangelist adds, This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead.
