By the Numbers
Robert Seiple Tuesday, 1 March 2005
The man on the beach asked the disciples to defy the existential reality of the night before—namely, fishing all night without making a single catch—and try casting their nets on the other side of the boat. Gratification was immediate, as another miracle was in progress; their nets filled with so many fish they could barely haul them to shore, and in an instant they recognized that they were being reunited with their risen Lord.
But not before someone felt the need to count the fish. The biblical account of this incident in John chapter 21 includes a peculiarly specific detail: the precise number of fish in the catch was 153. This number is not necessary to the story. Yet interestingly, someone felt compelled to count. I suspect it was Peter. Of all the disciples, Peter is the one who is the classic Type A personality. He is competitive; he lives life aggressively; he is prone to rashness. He is sometimes wrong but never in doubt. I believe that in the midst of such a moment Peter would already have been thinking about how he was going to communicate this amazing night in his life. For him, the precise number of fish would have been an irresistible data point to track.
To continue reading this free sample article, please visit this article's page at informaworld, the web platform of our publishing partner Routledge.