3rd Sunday of Easter: 4-10-16
Peace be with You,
Last Sunday, we celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday, a celebration of the healing power of God’s Love. Today, we continue to see how Divine Mercy works in our lives in our gospel reading for today, where the risen Jesus encounters the fallen Peter.
The poetry of John’s gospel is on full display here! Notice first, the disciples had been fishing through the night, which was normal as net fishing was typically done at night. We also find the disciples a bit disoriented (what darkness does to our senses), they are having trouble figuring out what to do and momentarily return to their former way of life, they go fishing. But, as day breaks, so does their disorientation. A man, standing on the shore asks them to cast the nets one more time, and their catch is abundant! Who else could produce abundance from deprivation? John recognizes him, it is Jesus (the true light which dispels our disorientation)! And just as he had the first time Jesus walked to the shore and called out to him, Peter leaves his boat, and runs towards him, we are told, scantily clad. This is reminiscent of our baptism, where we enter the waters bare and arise to be united with Christ, which is what Peter is about to experience.
Next, John adds the count of the catch, 153. This happens to correspond to the number of different types of fish identified by Greek zoologists at the time, symbolic that these fishermen would now catch men from every people of the world. After they share a meal, Jesus and Peter remain by the fire, which we are told is a charcoal fire, the very setting where Peter denied our Lord (in front of a charcoal fire outside the court of the high priest). Now, the same eyes which pierced the heart of Peter after his denial look intently at him again. Peter had denied Jesus 3 times previously, now, Jesus asks Peter 3 times if Peter loves him, to which Peter answers, ’Lord, you know I love you.’ This is not Jesus’ way of reminding Peter of how badly he messed up, it is his way of picking Peter up right where he fell down! Peter’s threefold affirmation not only gives him another chance, but gives him the opportunity to grow in his resolve to love and serve the Lord. This is what Divine Mercy does, it meets us where we have fallen and transforms that fall into an opportunity for growth. My friends, let us seize this opportunity in all of our failures, for at every fall, grace abounds!
Your servant in Christ,
Tony
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.