John 21:5

5 Jesus, therefore, saith to them, `Lads, have ye any meat?'

John 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.

John 21:5 In-Context

3 Simon Peter saith to them, `I go away to fish;' they say to him, `We go -- we also -- with thee;' they went forth and entered into the boat immediately, and on that night they caught nothing.

4 And morning being now come, Jesus stood at the shore, yet indeed the disciples did not know that it is Jesus;

5 Jesus, therefore, saith to them, `Lads, have ye any meat?'

6 they answered him, `No;' and he said to them, `Cast the net at the right side of the boat, and ye shall find;' they cast, therefore, and no longer were they able to draw it, from the multitude of the fishes.

7 That disciple, therefore, whom Jesus was loving saith to Peter, `The Lord it is!' Simon Peter, therefore, having heard that it is the Lord, did gird on the outer coat, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea;