So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. John 21:11-13
At a recent Catholic Study Group meeting at which we were finishing up our study of the Rosary, we briefly delved into the number “153”, the number of Hail Mary’s prayed in a Rosary of one set of five Mysteries. One member said that Catholic exorcist and evangelist Fr. Chad Ripperger links this number to John 21:11, where the apostles miraculously catch 153 fish after our Lord’s resurrection.
But what is the scriptural significance of “153”?
St. Jerome hypothesized that 1st century Greek zoologists had classified the known fishes of the world into 153 species:
“Fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: Why were there exactly one hundred and fifty-three? S. Jerome gives (in Ezek. 47:9) the literal reason; because there are just that number of different kinds of fish. This is what he says, “Those who have written about animated nature say that there are an hundred and fifty-three kinds of fish. One of each of these kinds was caught by the Apostle, and more remained uncaught. For noble and ignoble, rich and poor, all sorts and conditions of men, are drawn out of the sea of this world to salvation.” You must, however, understand the matter thus, that only the chief genera of fishes are included in this number, for, speaking strictly, there are many more kinds. Therefore by this number, or symbol, Christ signified that all nations were to be gathered up into the net of the Church, whose head and prince is Peter, and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs.”
St. Jerome’s interpretation allows us to see this story complement the words of Our Lord in the Gospel of Matthew:
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:16
The apostles were to gather all men into the Kingdom.
Sources
The Great Commentary Of Cornelius À Lapide. Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide (Cornelis Cornelissen van den Steen) was a Flemish Jesuit priest and bible scholar (1567-1637).
