Had they been too macho to take advice, they would have ended the night s fishing in vain. But they heard something worth trying, and it worked remarkably well. We finish the night with tired backs and empty nets. Life doesn t work out. Meaning is lost.
Frustration is the name of the game.
Having caught nothing on our own, when we finally hear something different, we need to respond to what we hear. Not just any old advice is worth following. But John was perceptive. John, the gospel writer, didn t want to brag, but it was he who recognized in the growing light the enigmatic figure of Jesus, their Master. And just like at the tomb, when John was the first to arrive but Peter was the one to charge on into the empty tomb, Peter impulsively acts on what John has discovered.