Then Jesus said unto them,
Children, have you any fish?
They answered him, No.
Read Chapter 21
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Jesus therefore, &c. As though He said, 0 fishermen, have ye any fish to sell Me? For Christ here appeared to His disciples in an unknown form, like a grave merchantman, wishing to purchase fish. So S. Chrysostom. Wherefore He addresses them as boys (pueros), as though they were labourers. Or "little boys" (παίδια), addressing them as His children out of love.
Any meat: Greek πζοσφάγιον, Vulgate pulmentarium, meaning any food which is eaten with bread, as we use seasoning. Also by this word pulmentarium, Christ meant fish. For, as Plutarch says, although there are many sorts of seasoning, fish is especially so called, because by the nutriment which it affords, and the facility with which it can be cooked, it surpasses other kinds. Also because most of the ancients, indeed all men before the Deluge, as I have shown upon Gen. ix, fed not upon flesh, but upon fish.
For a time He speaks rather after a human manner, as if about to buy somewhat of them. But when they made signs that they had none, He bade them cast their nets to the right; and on casting they obtained a haul. But when they recognized Him, the disciples Peter and John again exhibited the peculiarities of their several tempers. The one was more fervent, the other more lofty; the one more keen, the other more clear-sighted. On this account John first recognized Jesus, Peter first came to Him. For no ordinary signs were they which had taken place. What were they? First, that so many fish were caught; then, that the net did not break; then, that before they landed, the coals had been found, and fish laid thereon, and bread. For He no longer made things out of matter already subsisting, as, through a certain dispensation, He did before the Crucifixion. When therefore Peter knew Him, he threw down all, both fish and nets, and girded himself. Do you see his respect and love? Yet they w...
