The meaning of 153 ?
It may be simpler than you think
In many sacred writings numbers mean more than just numbers! For example, in Christianity the number 7 is often treated as a symbol of completeness and there are 7 spirits of God burning in front of his throne. Most of these symbolic numbers are small, and it is rare to find large ones. Perhaps the best known large one is the "144,000" in the Book of Revelation. For the larger numbers sometimes the interpretation can be complicated and seems more like a game than serious information. Today’s symbolic number, 153, is not a game or something abstract, but quite practical.
What is 153 a symbol of? The number is mentioned in the Gospel of John. Jesus appears to his disciples after he has been crucified but has risen from the dead. On the shore of the Lake of Galilee he stands and tells some of his disciples in a boat to throw their fishing nets out and they will catch fish. And they do – 153 of them - and even then the net is not torn. .
Ever since that number appeared in the Bible it has been seized upon by those who delight to interpret things as symbols, but no single interpretation has grabbed Christian imagination as obviously correct and unique. For example, it does not correspond to the number of known species of fish in lists of the time.
Jerome, Augustine and Pope Gregory the Great are among those who have wrestled with the question, and by the late 1950’s the number of possible interpretations had risen to at least 18. This is another symbolic number – perhaps of confusion!
Some of the interpretations are mathematical. 153 is the sum of the first 17 integers, which is called a “triangular number”. Other interpreters say it is a combination of a triangular, square and circular number – but these are obscure technical mathematical definitions.
I assert the answer is so simple and obvious that we tend to miss it. It has to be describing an actual count of fishes. After a night of catching nothing the disciples were so amazed that they counted every one. In fact the number is so boring it's evidence that the event actually happened.
Most people today, including me, say it is merely a record of a bumper catch of fish by a group of amazed fishermen, and if it is a symbol, it is that Jesus will captivate many people and they will become his disciples.
Boring numbers are an evidence of truth! Let us give thanks for the accountants! I would want to change the jokey proverb attributed to UK Prime Minister, Disraeli, to read instead: there are lies, damned lies, and accountants who (usually) provide the truth.