John 21:14 Commentary and Bible Study

‘This is now the third time,’ says John, ‘that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples.’ If we count every occasion, it was not literally the third time, because on the first day that Christ appeared to the disciples, he showed himself seven times in one day, but it is the third time that he showed himself to the gathered disciples, a plurality of disciples. John is probably referring to the appearances to the assembled disciples which he has recorded in John 20:19-23, 24-29, and now here in John 21.