Giovanni 21:5

5 E Gesù disse loro: Figliuoli, avete voi alcun pesce? Essi gli risposero: No.

Giovanni 21:5 Meaning and Commentary

John 21:5

Then Jesus saith unto them, children
And still they knew him not, though he used this endearing and familiar appellation, and which they had been wont to hear from him; and he had called them by a little before his departure from them, ( John 13:33 ) and which he uses here as expressive of his tender affection for them, their relation to him, and that he might be known by them:

have ye any meat?
that is, as the Syriac renders it, (oelml Mdm) , "anything to eat"; meaning fish that they had caught; and whether they had got a sufficient quantity to make a meal of for him and them.

They answered him no;
they had got nothing at all; or at least what they had was far from being enough to make a breakfast of; for so a meal early in a morning may be most properly called, though it is afterwards called dining. Christ's children, true believers, are sometimes without spiritual food; there is always indeed enough in Christ, and he has an heart to give it; but either through prevailing iniquity they feed on something else, or do not go to him for food, or go elsewhere; but he will not suffer them to starve; for as he has made provisions for them in the ministry of the word and ordinances; and he himself is the bread of life; if they do not ask him for food, he will ask them whether they have any; will kindly invite them to the provisions he himself makes; will bid them welcome, and bless them to them.

Giovanni 21:5 In-Context

3 Simon Pietro disse loro: Io me ne vo a pescare. Essi gli dissero: Ancor noi veniam teco. Così uscirono, e montarono prestamente nella navicella, e in quella notte non presero nulla.

4 Ma, essendo già mattina, Gesù si presentò in su la riva; tuttavia i discepoli non conobbero ch’egli era Gesù.

5 E Gesù disse loro: Figliuoli, avete voi alcun pesce? Essi gli risposero: No.

6 Ed egli disse loro: Gettate la rete al lato destro della navicella, e ne troverete. Essi adunque la gettarono, e non potevano più trarla, per la moltitudine dei pesci.

7 Laonde quel discepolo che Gesù amava disse a Pietro: Egli è il Signore. E Simon Pietro, udito ch’egli era il Signore, succinse la sua veste perciocchè egli era nudo, e si gettò nel mare.