What does John 21:12 mean?
When Jesus first rose from the dead, He passed along a message telling the disciples to meet Him in Galilee (Matthew 28:9–10). He then made at least two appearances to groups of disciples (John 20:19, 26). This time, He appeared on shore while the men were out on the water in dim light (John 21:1–4). The miraculous catch of fish confirmed that it was Jesus (John 21:5–11).The disciples lack of questions about Jesus' identity can be taken in several ways. One possibility is John emphasizing the lack of doubt, as if saying, "there's no need to ask, since it's clear."
The other option is that the men believe this is Jesus, but they're tempted to ask, just to be sure. This would be like someone asking a close friend, "is it really you?" Or, as when seeing someone wearing new clothes with a new hair style, Jesus' resurrected form might have been subtly different (Luke 24:13–16, 31; John 20:14). This would cast John's remark as reassurance: even though Jesus' appearance was not exactly as it had been, there was no valid reason to think it was someone else.
