3rd Sunday of Eastertide (C)
(Acts 5:27-32, 40-41; Rev. 5:11-14; John 21:1-19)
These Eastertide appearances gave great joy to the Apostles
and disciples of Jesus and so they have continued to rejoice Christian souls
throughout the ages even to this very day, when, in our Gospel reading, we heard
of the Apostles on Lake Tiberias/Galilee -- after fishing all night without
success -- catching sight of the Risen Lord walking on the shore and guiding
them to a most remarkable catch of fish! John rejoiced on recognizing Jesus and
Peter immediately hitched up his fishing attire and, diving into the sea, hastened to greet their Lord while the others brought the boat heavy with fish
to shore.
Thereupon, Jesus invited them to share with Him a meal He
had already prepared:
As soon as they had come to land,
they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread,
and He urged them to:
Bring some of the fish
you have just caught.
What a joyful occasion and what a wonderful meal that was
on the shore of Galilee!!
You will recall that Jesus had promised His Apostles that
He would make them into fishers of men and here they are about to be taught – by
that very celebration -- about the essential nature and wonderful dignity of
the mission and ministry to which He was calling them.
Jesus had brought bread with Him – He told them He was the
bread of life … and this very fact was to be the key to their calling as His co-operators
in a truly sublime piscatorial work of salvation by their proclamation of Jesus
to all those of good will and despite those of ill will. As the Church of Jesus they were to gather into
their net an abundance of fish – believers in Jesus’ saving grace -- for whom
He, Jesus, would Himself become the true bread from heaven, the bread of
eternal salvation.
Moreover, the future Apostolic ministry of these His chosen
and faithful disciples would not only make them co-operators in Jesus’ world-wide
work of salvation, but also prepare them to personally receive a crown of
righteousness for having themselves come to know and proclaim world-wide the
One, true God and the Saviour of His sending:
The God of our fathers raised up
Jesus Whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be
Prince and Saviour, to give (the opportunity of) repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. And we are His witnesses to these
things (Acts 5:30-32); witnesses chosen by God … who ate and drank
with Him after He rose from the dead (Acts 10:41).
Jesus’ own choice food had always been to do His Father’s
will, as He said, and now the Apostles of His choosing would imitate their Lord
by themselves seeking to do the will of Jesus in building up His Church on
earth.
Let us, therefore, observe how those Apostles actually carried
out their mission; let us see them -- in the power of His Spirit – starting His
Church towards its world-wide fulfilment.
Notice first of all, People of God, that the Apostolic
proclamation was not a humanly persuasive message about themselves, saying:
"Come and join us; see how much we love Jesus and share the joy we find in
serving Him". Indeed, the Apostolic
proclamation was not, first of all, even a message about Jesus' love for us:
"Come to Jesus, Jesus loves you!"
The first, the most important, the absolutely essential content of the Apostles'
preaching was about God, what God, the Father, had done with, in,
and for Jesus:
The God of our fathers raised up
Jesus Whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be
Prince and Saviour.
And why, did the Apostles say, God had done this?
To give repentance to Israel and
forgiveness of sins.
God exalted Jesus ‘to give Israel an opportunity to repent’;
and then, after such repentance has been embraced, ‘to give forgiveness of
sins’.
Consequently, the first aim of the Apostolic proclamation
of the Gospel and its ultimate purpose was to proclaim, above all, the glory of
God ‘Who raised up Jesus’, while declaring the indisputable fact of human
sinfulness shown in all its horror by the crucifixion of the Son of God and Lord
of Life. By then highlighting the
forgiveness of sins, they were to intone a paean of praise for the fact
that by the unimaginable mercy of the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ humankind
are no longer subject to the power of sin:
we can now be FREE to live, love, and work henceforth with Jesus, by His
Spirit, for the glory of God and the salvation and better-being
of those of good will here on earth; in all things we are called to fight
with Him, by His Spirit, against the devil and our own former sinfulness, knowing
that we can overcome such trials and learn to love and live by the Cross of
Life.
We are His witnesses to these
things, and so also is the Holy Spirit Whom God has given to those who obey
Him.
No matter what violence was threatened or used against
them:
(The Apostles) day after day, in the temple courts and
from house to house, never stopped teaching and proclaiming the
good news that Jesus is the Christ.
Such, People of God, was the way the Apostles -- under the
guidance of the Spirit of Holiness and Truth given them by Jesus -- preached the
Good News. That was how Peter, restored
and confirmed as the Prince of Apostles, carried out the commission given him
when Jesus said:
Feed My lambs; take
care of, feed, My sheep.
Notice too, this time from our second reading, that, in
heaven -- as seen by John whilst banished to the isle of Patmos -- the song is
the same as the Apostles' proclamation, namely, a song, a celebration, of Jesus
as the slain Lamb, raised and glorified by God:
And every creature which is in
heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all
that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honour and glory and power
be to Him Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!"
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honour and glory and
blessing!
And why?
For You were slain, and have
redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and
nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on
the earth. (Revelation 5:9-10)
People of God, notice, LEARN, and take courage. The Catholic
Church proclaims truth, God's truth, to the whole world. She does not say, "Look at us Catholics:
how holy we are, how happy we are. Come
and join us, become holy like us, share in our happiness". No!
Mother Church has a message for all who are aware of sin in their lives
and who long to be freed from their bondage to sin; and to them her message is:
"This is what God has done in, through, and for, Jesus and what He wants
to do for all who will believe in Him: acknowledge and confess your sinfulness, embrace the new life
of baptism, and open -- Oh yes open! -- your mind and heart to the
Holy Spirit Whom God is offering you and all mankind in Jesus.”
Of course, Mother Church can point to many signs that help
to confirm her message: her own enduring of hatred and oppression throughout
the ages; the holiness of so many of her children's lives; the wonderful way in
which her truth understands, answers, transforms and fulfils, our human
condition; the miracles which have, throughout the ages, transfigured the
envelope of humble creation.
However, since all these are dependent on and secondary to
the fundamental message contained in Mother Church’s Apostolic proclamation of
the glory of God and the salvation to be found in Jesus through repentance and
faith, we, children of Mother Church and disciples of the Risen Lord Jesus,
should never, ever, be ashamed or embarrassed, to proclaim the Apostolic, Catholic,
truth about Jesus. Let no one disturb,
or frighten you with words such as, "Look at you!" or, "Who are you to talk?"; for when
we proclaim Jesus as Saviour we are acknowledging ourselves as sinners: we should be better, we want to be better, we will seek and strive to be better, but
we will never be found among those
who proclaim themselves, rather than Jesus.
Jesus came to call sinners, and that is precisely why we hope in Him,
because He came to call and to save us and all sinners. His message, the proclamation of Mother
Church, is not for those who deny the reality of sin; for, until they become
aware of the sin which is active in their own lives and corroding the society,
and indeed the world, around them, and until they conceive a fear of the
consequences of and punishment awaiting such sin, then they are and will
remain, deaf both to the saving truth proclaimed by Mother Church and unable to
receive the gift of the most Holy Spirit, Who alone enables all of us to walk with
Jesus along the way to eternal life.
People of God, join in the heavenly choir; join, in all
sincerity, your voice to theirs as they cry with a loud voice:
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honour and glory and
blessing!
For, by so joining your voice to that of the heavenly
throng, the final words of the prophet will be brought closer to their eternal
fulfilment:
I heard every creature in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe,
cry out: “To the One Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and
honour, glory and might, forever and ever.”
(2022)
