THIRD SUNDAY OF THE EASTER - YEAR C

THIRD SUNDAY OF THE EASTER – C (Acts 5:27b-32, 40b-41; Rev 5:11-14; John 21:1-19) Theme: Let us throw ourselves into the sea of death in order to rise up with Jesus Reflection: Risen Jesus manifests himself to his beloved ones - Risen Jesus continues to manifest himself: We are in the third week of the Easter season. In all these days and the days to come, we continue to be in the joy of risen Jesus. He is risen. We rejoice with the hope because we will be also resurrected one day. Jesus himself appears and testifies his resurrection with his coming to his disciples in the glorious form in order to increase in them the faith. He does not ascend immediately. He has two important things to do before ascension: rising the ground-fallen disciples with the desperation and sending them on the mission of God’s love. It is for this that Jesus visits his disciples often after his resurrection. His visit has a purpose. He manifests himself as truly risen so that the disciples can overcome the darkness of doubt and enter into the light of faith. It is with this purpose that Jesus has come to encourage his twelve dear ones. - To lead his disciples in the mission: Jesus continues to reveal his resurrected glory to lead his followers in the mission. Though he appears to all the twelve, every time he entrusts a particular mission to a particular disciple. Last Sunday we have heard of the example of Thomas. In fact, Jesus appears to him and asks him to be a faithful and thus entrusts to him the mission of faith. With the Thomas we have also learnt to recognize and acknowledge the risen Jesus as “Our Lord and Our God”. Jesus comes to visit his disciples for the third time. Today we have the third visit of Jesus in which he entrusts “the mission of feeding the sheep” to another disciple, Peter. Indeed, every visit of Jesus is a mission-oriented manifestation. Readings: Jesus entrusts to Peter the mission of Feeding the Sheep - Disciples break open the closed doors and come out: The resurrected Jesus comes to meet his disciples for the third time. This time, not in the closed doors of the room but in the open space. By now, the disciples have opened their doors and have come out. By now, their fear did disappear. By now, they have received the grace of the Risen Jesus. By now, they have wide open their eyes of faith. Once they have reached to such a spiritual enrichment with the power of resurrection, they need not sit in the house worried and depressed. They are no more closed people but risen ones. As the risen ones they move out. First among them to go out is Peter and following him the others: “I am going fishing” and others immediately respond, “we will go with you” (Jn 21:3). They have come out and worked hard but that night they have not caught anything. - Human capacity ends and God’s grace begins: The disciples have tried for the whole night. They worked hard. They have put in all their strength. But there is a limit to the human power. There is a confines to the human capacity. Human fatigue may face failures. But the story is not over for the Christians and Christian faith. At the end of all this human abilities, after the night of human failures, certainly there enters the divine presence and power. At the end of the night there is a light. At the end of the struggle there is a success. At the end of human loss, there is a divine intervention. This truth is revealed in the gospel of today: the disciples have failed to catch the fish and there enters Jesus to lead them to the enormous quantity of the fish. Only thing needed is to have faith that there is always one who stands by us and to have confidence in the words of Jesus. Jesus tells his disciples to throw the net on the right side of the boat and “they do it” and their positive and faithful response to his word made the miracle possible. With the miraculous fish, there is also a recognition of the Risen Jesus. - The exclaim of joy – “It is Jesus!”: The one disciple, most loved by Jesus, by name John realizes suddenly after the miracle that it is Jesus and he exclaims it with the joy. The attitude of Peter is quite different: when he heard that it is Jesus, he jumped into the sea. There are two important elements to understand here: o First – Peter’s nakedness in the presence of the Jesus’ Greatness: The similar incident takes place when Jesus calls Peter for the first time (Luke 5:1-11). There also Peter finds himself in the helplessness after the night of a great struggle for the fish and Jesus tells him to put the net on the right and there is a great fish. When seeing this, Peter realizes his sinfulness: “go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Lk 5:8). In front of the wonderful presence of Jesus, Peter knows and accepts his own powerlessness and incapacity. It is only after he has kept open his life before Jesus that he receives the mission of fishing the men. Even the risen Jesus want to make Peter realize once again his mission of fishing the world and feeding the sheep and he does this today once Peter jumped into the waters. He jumps into the water, not because he is afraid of Jesus’ presence this time, but with the hope of reaching his risen Lord as early as possible without waiting for the boat to arrive at the shore. This shows the eagerness and readiness of Peter to be with the Lord and to witness his great act of love. o Second – The gesture of Baptism: The jumping of Peter into the waters and getting up at the feet of Jesus reminds us of the gesture of baptism. In the baptism we are immersed in the waters of death and rise up with Christ into the new life. This places the truth unveiled: we need to pass through the waters of suffering, passion and death and only then we can enter into the life of divine grace. If we do not immerse ourselves, there is no possibility to rise up. This also gives us the hope of enduring our daily difficulties. We can endure them because at the end of them there awaits for us the joy. Only when Peter does this immersion and thus participates in the life of Christ, he also the possibility of rising with Christ in the glory. This is the hope we need to have in the face of impossibilities we think of. - Jesus entrust his mission to Peter: Jesus has seen the attitude of Peter who is prepared to immerse himself into the faith in Him. Jesus wishes to confirm this still further. For this he asks Peter three times the question: Simon Peter! Do you love me more than these? (vv. 15-17). Prior to his Passion, Peter has rejected to acknowledge Jesus for three times. Jesus must have surely been offended very much with his attitude. Forgetting this, Peter feels offended when Jesus asks him the question for three times. Jesus asks the question, indeed, not to offend him, but to restore Peter in the faith and love. Peter has to overcome his human fragility and fear to witness the truth. Peter has to affirm his ultimate love for the one who calls him, for Jesus. When Jesus has understood that Peter is now ready and only then he transfer his mission to his care by commanding to him: “feed my sheep”. How much love Peter has poured into the mission of Jesus can be observed in the way he has offered his life. He accepts with joy the crucifixion but with the up-side-down. In fact, the first reading narrates the testimony of Peter. He is no more frightened to talk of Jesus in public. Three things are evident in the testimony of Peter. Firstly, he courageously responds to the Sanhedrin: “we must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29). Secondly, he bravely revives his mission: “we are witnesses to these things” (Acts 5:32). And thirdly, above the words, their witness is confirmed by bearing the persecutions for Jesus: “they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name” (Acts 5:41). The same Peter who has negated the knowledge of Jesus, has become his ardent testimony. This is possible only because he has allowed himself “to be transformed” in the faith of resurrection by throwing himself into the waters of love of Jesus. Conclusion: Only the one who undergoes pain for Jesus is worthy of glory - The risen Jesus is in his perpetual glory, not because he has proclaimed beautiful things of the Kingdom of God, not because he has worked wonders and miracles of healing and restoring the sick, but because and only because he has accepted and endured the suffering that has come on his way. He has lived his passion with utter obedience and with ultimate love. It is this pain borne that brought him the glory. The Book of Revelation, the second reading of today, makes the point clear. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12). The lamb is glorified, but the glorified lamb is not an ordinary lamb. It is a lamb that is slain. It is lamb that accepts slaughtering. This manifests the truth once again why Jesus has carried with him the wounds even after his resurrection and within his glorious body. They are the sign of entering into glory. The lesson is here for us: we need not worry when we need to face the tribulations, accusations and incomprehension in life. They are only, and the only means that make us worthy of glory. Bearing upon ourselves the wounds of the cross of suffering and living our pains with joy is the only Christian way to reach to the heights of God’s ultimate blessing. Jesus is the greatest of all examples. Following him, the Apostles and number of martyr-saints have entered into the glory by witnessing Jesus even at the cost of their blood and life. The Christian truth remains the same for ever: the pain for Jesus leads us to the glory in the same Jesus. - Seen from the view point of the gospel the lesson can be learnt in this way: we need to immerse ourselves in the ocean of suffering in order to rise up with Jesus. The path we have received with the baptism has to continue until the end. We need not lose heart when we encounter difficult moments. The night will be over and the day will come. The weakness will pass away and the divine power will replace it. The empty boat will be refilled with the great quantity of fish only if we listen to Jesus and throw our life nets in the place where he indicates, in the Church. The joyful word and the rejoicing smile are to be the answers for the senseless comments that are made on us and about us. We lose nothing if only we follow Jesus. Indeed, we will gain more honor and glory, a honor that is authentic and the glory that lasts forever. Therefore, let us throw ourselves into waters of death in order to rise up with Jesus.