Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter, May 1, 2022. Gospel – John 21:1-19. Theme: Never the Same Again
In today’s Gospel we see seven of the Apostles returning to how they were before they had been drawn to follow a charismatic preacher named Jesus of Nazareth. Trying to process and make sense of all that happened to him and to them over the first Easter weekend overwhelms them. And so, they try to go back to how they lived. They try to act as if their lives had never been deeply touched and changed by him. But inside each one of them is a nagging realization that things can never ever be the same again.
Sometimes I think we can be just like them. We have personal religious experiences or moments of enlightenment that boost our faith in Christ and increase our devotion. But then we also have the concerns and responsibilities of everyday life, with times of difficulty or confusion when the Lord seems so far away. And so, like those disciples, life goes on for us and it's back to our daily routine. Yet, inside the hearts of we who believe, there is that same deep down nagging feeling that things can never ever be the same again.
Like those disciples at the seashore we cannot just dismiss all that we have learned about Jesus. We are unable to simply write off his death as one of those things that happen under cruel Roman oppression. We can’t just ignore the eye-witness testimonies of those who saw Christ after the Resurrection and consider them fairy tales. They touched him. They ate with him. They spoke with him. And yes, they even fished with him. And as much as we might want to just move on with our lives and not be bothered by the moral demands of Christianity, we just can’t do it. Somehow, we’ve been deeply touched by him and are forever marked as his. Something keeps calling us back.
But just as Christ knew the struggle to believe that was going through the minds and hearts of the disciples, so he knows what is going on within us as well. Moved by the compassionate love of friendship, he comes to us as he came to them and he holds out to us what he held out to them: a way to move forward. He points us to a pathway out of confusion and doubt that is paved with faith.
Christian faith isn’t wishful thinking or just hoping something is true. It is trust in a real Person, Jesus of Nazareth, crucified Savior and risen Lord. It is a faith based upon historical facts and personal witnesses, not on fabricated stories. It is a faith that is confirmed by the lives of the Apostles and the powerful testimonies they gave as changed men and eventually, as martyrs.
But they weren’t originally such heroic men! After the Last Supper they abandoned their Lord and two of them even denied or betrayed him. From Good Friday on they lived as cowards, hidden away and locked in a house in Jerusalem, shaking with fear whenever someone knocked at their door. Judas the Betrayer had killed himself. Thomas the Doubter had temporarily left their company and adamantly refused to believe. And the others? Well…as today’s Gospel tells us, they went fishing and tried to forget.
But then something happened, everything changed!
Suddenly, these same men are seen going through the streets of Jerusalem, praising out loud the Name of Jesus and calling all who heard them to repent! We heard all about this in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which is the Church’s first history book. They are no longer afraid. They are no longer unbelieving. What happened? Why this sudden 180 degree turn in their lives?
They had experienced a series of encounters with Jesus, no longer dead but totally alive…and even more alive than he had ever been before! No longer limited by the earthly parameters of his humanity, the Risen Lord was now able pass through solid walls and locked doors, yet he had a body that could be seen and touched. Being heavenly and glorified, he could travel at the speed of thought - being seen in several places at the same time - yet was also able to sit with them around a charcoal fire on a beach and eat breakfast. This was no ordinary mortal man. This was no everyday religious teacher.
The Resurrection showed the disciples - and shows us today - that Jesus of Nazareth was precisely who he said he was: Son of God, Savior of humanity, Lord of Eternal Life. And it confirms that his teaching is more than simply human wisdom, but the very Word of God. The disciples began to learn all of this and so much more, sitting on that beach around that fire and sharing a meal with Christ.
And he does the same thing for us today as we gather as a community around the fire of the Holy Spirit, to hear his Word and eat his Heavenly Food at the Sacred Meal of the Eucharist. It is these encounters with the Risen Christ at Mass that will enable us to process and make sense out of all that we have heard and learned about him. If we come to Mass with this awareness, with hearts eager to worship, lives desiring to follow Christ, and minds open to his Word, then our faith in him will be enlightened, our trust in him will be deepened, and our love for him will grow.
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