Abundantly.
(a pondering on the Gospel of John Chapter 21: 4- 14)

There were 153 of them!
Fish, I mean.

They cast their net in obedience to the familiar stranger.
It was a futile gesture towards one whom they vaguely knew
from a past now best forgotten.

Wearily, bleary-eyed, minds dulled with a sadness
they could not describe,
they cast their nets.

Sudden movement beneath the waters
the sea swirling and churning with an activity
they had not expected.
Nets, recently mended after a disuse of three years,
strained, grew taut, threatening to burst.

Hard to haul it on board
even when arms and minds and hearts
instinctively took over.
Professional pride in a trade once learned
could not be forgotten.

Meanwhile, on the beach
the smoke of a fire curled lazily upwards.
He bent over the fish, gently cooking,
bread crustily browning.
How could they not now recognize him?

He called them children.
They belonged to him, now more than ever.

The fish were counted,
their number recorded.
153.

It would occupy the minds, debates, writings
and arguing of theologians  down the ages.

Literalists would ponder on so odd a number.
Biblical scholars would wonder on the significance
and write the odd thesis about symbolism
without knowing whatever it meant.

From the beach, he simply said, “Come and have breakfast.”
so ordinary, just as often before.
but somehow very different.
They knew now that they were in God’s presence
God was feeding them
and loving them.

As he would time and time again
in a future where they would touch others with His love.
Abundant love,
abundantly given and received.

153 ?

The number representing God’s abundance,
God’s outpouring of a grace and kindly love for all?

Why not?

[Mr G Eastertide 2025]

{ you can find more of my friend Kay’s art if you go onto Instagram.
kaygibbons_art.glass.sculpture}

[][][] The number 153 refers to the number of fish miraculously caught by the disciples in John 21: verse 11.