The Miraculous Draught of Fishes
48" x 48" oil
by Rosemarie Adcock
After Jesus died, the Apostles were devastated, and their hopes and plans were shattered. Although Jesus told them He would die and be raised again after 3 days, they didn’t fully understand what He was talking about, and it would come as a shock to them all.
Peter decided to go fishing again, and some of the disciples went out with him, but that night they caught nothing.
“Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, do you have any fish?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” John 21:4-7
The painting depicts the moment at dawn when Peter realizes that everything Jesus promised was true. The moment of shock, of joy, of disbelief, yet here were all the fish after they had exhausted themselves working all night and caught nothing at all.
The disciples then went to the shore and ate with Jesus, but they didn’t dare ask who He was, even though somehow they knew. Jesus then called Peter to service, asking him three times, “Do you love Me?” It was an important moment for Peter because of the three times Peter denied even knowing Jesus when He was arrested and crucified. At the dawn of this new day after the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the disciples had a new purpose for their lives, to be “fishers of men.”