5-4-25 Third Sunday of Easter

 

During Eastertide, that period between Easter and Pentecost, a number of our readings will focus on the early church and its development from being that tiny community in Jerusalem and then through the expansion to various countries in the Mediterranean area.  These readings are like a family album which contains within it snapshots, so to speak, of how the process of Christianity slowly spread and the issues that expansion brought for not only the young Church but, also for those who were the leaders of Judaism.                                                                                                                                                      The gospel last weekend and this weekend are very interesting in terms of how the disciples processed the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and what it meant for their lives.  Over the last couple of weeks, for example we encountered not only the joy of some apostles in personally witnessing the risen Christ.  But we also encountered the frustration and anger of Thomas that he was left out of those earlier encounters the other apostles shared with Jesus.   His doubt fueled within him a strong emotion that he was trying to deal with.  So strong was that emotion, that he required tangible proof before he could accept this experience of Resurrection and before he could believe in Christ again.  The gospel over the last two weekends comes from chapter 20 of John’s gospel beginning with Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdala in the garden beside the tomb and then moving on quickly to the upper room in Jerusalem that first Sunday evening where all the apostles except Thomas encountered the Risen Christ.  That chapter ends with John writing a conclusion to his  gospel and we would think that that was the end of John’s gospel or so it seemed in the text.  He writes a conclusion of that Chapter 20 by stating that Jesus did many other signs and wonders and John says that these final lines of his conclusion are written so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that through that belief you may life in his name.” (John20:30-31)                                                                                                              And then we turn the page and come to the gospel for this weekend, which is an additional Chapter to his gospel, Ch. 21.  It is like John is saying to us, even after he wrote his conclusion in chapter 20, “but wait there’s still more: still more surprises, more patience, more forgiveness, more wonder to behold.”    This weekends’ gospel, Ch. 21, opens with an account that takes us full circle, right back to where the journey of these apostles began (i.e., on the shore of the sea of Galilee).  They are again fishing all night, and again they catch nothing.  Then, someone, a stranger on the shore tells Peter to cast their nets to right-side of the boat just like what happened at the beginning of this gospel and suddenly they catch so many fish they can barely haul the nets in.  It is just like what happened when they first encountered Jesus 3 years before.    Suddenly it clicks, at least in John’s mind, who that someone the shore is.  When they get to shore, they find that Jesus has prepared a meal for them, a sort of cook-out.  They all seem to know it is Jesus, but they are reluctant to question him.    Next is the wonderful scene between       Jesus and Peter, a scene by which Peter is restored both in his own mind and in the minds of the others, as the leader.  That restoration is a form reconciliation between Peter and Jesus, because Peter needs to face the guilt he is carrying for his denial of Jesus in order for him to be freed from it and to be able to feed, tend, and guide the young church.  Guide it first in Jerusalem and then finally to the ends of the world, Rome.                                                                                                                                                          In our gospel reading this weekend are the final few lines of at the end of Chapter 21 where Peter is asked to physically follow Jesus away from the others.  We never learn what Peter discusses with Jesus during those minutes or hours maybe even days that they walked by themselves. But in this final chapter of John gospel, at the end, John writes yet another Conclusion in which he affirms that what he is writing is true.  He affirms that if he were to write down all that Jesus had done there would not be enough books in the world to contain everything.                                                                                      In this last chapter of John’s gospel, the apostles are going home to Galilee; they are going fishing again, and they do not recognize Jesus on the shore when he tells them to fish off the other side of the boat.  It seems like  in some ways John is explaining that faith, particularly faith in the life and resurrection of Jesus ; faith that Jesus is the Son of God; faith that Jesus  came among us as one of us and yet at the same times came as one is also divine; that such faith is a process and it doesn’t all happen at once.  Such faith takes time and experiences, and encounters.   Sometimes such faith begins in doubt and grows to assurance, not instantly, but rather in stages.  Sort of like when, in order for us to grow, we have to often take three steps forward and one step back. That proverbial “one back step” is often to ponder like the apostles, how will believing in Christ change our lives, and to ponder how willing are we to fully commit to what we now understand to be what Jesus is asking of us; asking of us, even though we still have questions we need answers to.                                                         The church itself over these next few days will be going through a very important process of faith in selecting our next Pope.   The church in concert with the cardinals in Rome is awaiting who the Spirit will choose as the next Peter?   While the Conclave of cardinals is sealed within the walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome in order to open themselves up to this discernment process, it needs the whole church, us, to join them in prayer for their deliberations; to join them in prayer for their capacity to discern what the Spirit is asking of them.   As people of faith, we must accept our role, our place in this election of a new Pope.  From these readings last week and, this week, and for the next few weeks of Eastertide up to Pentecost we are invited to ponder just like the early church did what our life and commitment of faith will be to our God, and to His Church.  It is a process we all are going through and it takes time and trust.                                                                                                                                                       Pierre Teihard de Chardin, who died in 1955 was a famous French Jesuit priest who was also a brilliant scientist, theologian and teacher.  He wrote and contributed much to the Church.  One of his famous works was a poem about how God works in our lives to bring about faith in Him. It is called-

Trust in the Slow Work of God.

“Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.

And so, I think it is with you,
your ideas mature gradually let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.”1.                                                                                                                         

As Jesus said to Peter, he says to all of us who sit here at his table and who will eat of his bread. 

                 “Follow Me.”                                                                                                                                

1.      Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. excerpted from Hearts on Fire