Peter who experienced the Lord's forgiveness was chosen to be the leader of the Lord's church of mercy and forgiveness.

 

Third Sunday of Easter  C  2022

 

The Gospels for the first half of the Easter Season of 50 days focus on the Resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples.  The apostles did not come to an immediate Easter faith in the Risen Lord; rather it was gradual. 

In fact, they were ready to go back fishing -- get their old jobs back.  But once their hearts were touched as the disciples of Jesus, they were fearless proclaimers of the Word of God. 

What about us?  How much of our lives are shaped and determined by our faith in the Risen Lord?

From today’s Gospel the apostles were on a failed fishing expedition.  That night they had caught nothing.  The fish just weren’t biting.  This was an exercise in patience and asking themselves what is going on.

I invite you to imagine yourself in this Gospel scene.  As I say, the apostles were fishing all night and caught nothing.  What issue in your life leaves you with the feeling of fishing all night and catching nothing?   Perhaps it is parenting, and it seems that your child or children aren’t getting it.  Perhaps it is concerns about your own health or the health of someone you love.  Perhaps it is dealing with an addiction in your life.  What fear or anxiety continually gets the best of you?  Perhaps it is your job situation. Perhaps for you the institutional church doesn’t always reflect the gospel love of Jesus.

What would it take for you to snap out of your funk and to see your future is full of hope?

For the apostles, Jesus said:  “Cast your net over to the right side of the boat and you will find something.”  When we can trust in God’s guidance for our lives, we will experience the abundance of God’s grace as the apostles did in the great catch of fish.  Rather than giving up on a relationship or a project, we ask for the grace of persistence and to trust that God goes with us.

Plain and simple, just as a bad night of fishing can lead to a great catch; so too for us, dealing with our struggles in life can lead to a deeper experience of God’s love in our life.  God does not abandon in the midst of the challenges of our life.   Like Peter we are called to profess our trust in Jesus.  When that happens, the abundance of God’s blessing will follow.

The risen Lord then invites the disciples to join him for breakfast.  Then after the breakfast, Jesus asks Peter three times:  “Do you love me?”  He whose only concern was to announce the unconditional love of God had one question for his followers.  “Do you love me?”  Jesus had but one question, but it was so important that he asked it three times.

The background for this dialogue is the obvious:   Love is our greatest gift.

What is it children want from their parents more than anything else?   They want to be loved.

Considering the beauty of all of God’s creation, what is God’s greatest gift to us?  It is God’s love, made incarnate in Jesus.

Peter cannot truly be a pastor and shepherd like Jesus unless he loves like Jesus.  He must love Jesus, and therefore he must love the people whom he will serve.

Love is the foundation of good parenting.  Love is the foundation of a true shepherd.  Love is God’s greatest gift to us.  This great gift of God is to be shared.

Jesus helps us to know the heart of God.

In today’s Gospel, Peter is every person.  He who had vehemently denied his discipleship, as well as his association with Jesus, was now given his opportunity to renew his love for Jesus.  Message:  God never gave up on Peter.  The Lord never gives us on us.

Pope Francis again and again invites into the heart God -- a heart filled with mercy and love.  The Lord never gives us on us.  There is nothing we can do to stop God from loving us.  The Church is to do likewise.  The Church is reveal the merciful love of Jesus into the lives of people.

Going back to the Gospel when Peter responded in the affirmative in declaring his love for Jesus.  Jesus responded:  “Feed my sheep.”  Truly love is not just a feeling; it is not just experiencing a moment of ecstasy.  Love is shown in action.  We are to show our love for God by loving the people God loves.  This means everyone.  The heart of God reaches out to each and every person on planet earth.

We show our love for God by doing what Jesus did at the Last Supper -- by getting down on our knees and washing the feet of God’s poor.  As Jesus said on that blessed night of the Last Supper:  “By this all shall know that you are my disciples, by the love you have for one another.”

We who gather to celebrate the Eucharist Sunday after Sunday are to glorify God by the actions of our lives.  Our celebration of the Eucharist is radically incomplete if we do not share with others the merciful love of Jesus that has been given to us as we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus at Communion.

At the end of the day, the question Jesus asks of each of us is the threefold question asked of Peter:  “Do you love me.  Life gives us endless opportunities for that response.  In countless ways, we are called to feed, to serve one another in need.

When we come before the Lord, after we proudly list all of our achievements and accomplishments, the Lord is still going to ask us:  “Do you love me?”  What the Lord has in mind when he asks us this question is how have you shown your love to that person or to those people whom it is most difficult for you to love?

 

And our response will be….

Have a Blessed Day.