Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus ... Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord.(John 21:4, 12b)

Now wait a minute! Either they knew it was Jesus or they didn't. Why would it even occur to them to ask who he was if they already knew who it was? The answer is that the editors of the gospel of John (and many scholars think that John went through at least three major revisions) are using this story to show once again that the full impact and meaning of the resurrection of Jesus dawned upon his followers progressively, in stages, over time. By saying that this was the third time Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead (v. 14), by combining it with an element o…