Third Sunday of Easter Year C: ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Christ at the Sea of Galilee, Tintoretto (painted 1575-80)

Readings

New American Bible (Philippines, USA)

Jerusalem Bible (Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland)

Gospel (NAB)                                Jn 21:1-19 or 1-14

At that time, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
He revealed himself in this way.
Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus,
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee,
Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
They said to him, “We also will come with you.”
So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore;
but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”
They answered him, “No.”
So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat
and you will find something.”
So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in
because of the number of fish.
So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad,
and jumped into the sea.
The other disciples came in the boat,
for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards,
dragging the net with the fish.
When they climbed out on shore,
they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread.
Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”
So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore
full of one hundred fifty-three large fish.
Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.
Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.”
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?”
because they realized it was the Lord.
Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them,
and in like manner the fish.
This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples
after being raised from the dead.
 
(When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
Jesus said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time,
“Do you love me?” and he said to him,
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,
you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go.”
He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.
And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”)

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I would hope that the full version of this gospel will be read as the second part is immensely rich. It bring out so clearly that Jesus calls each of us into an intimate relationship with him. We're not hired workers. It's as an intimate friend that he sends each of us to love and serve others so that, through us, they will come to know that he calls each of them into a similar intimate relationship.

This weekend I will be in Iloilo, about an hour by fast craft west of Bacolod City on the island of Panay, to be part of a team giving a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend. One of the things that I have acquired a deep conviction about through my involvement with WWME is that the primary vocation or call from God to married people is to be spouses, not parents. It's as loving spouses that they become loving parents. If a son or daughter becomes more important for a married person than the spouse, then the marriage is in danger.

Jesus asks Simon Peter three times 'Do you love me?' the first time adding 'more than these'. In that great musical, Fiddler on the Roof, set in a Jewish community in Czarist Russia where Jews were often persecuted, Reb Tevye asks Golde, his wife of 25 years, 'Do you love me?' Theirs, like all marriages in their community, was an arranged one. Golde thinks that this is a foolish question but her husband persists: 'Do you love me?. She then goes on to list everything she has done for him and their children. Finally, she's able to say out straight to Tevye that she does love him - anmd they both find a new freedom in being able to say this to each other.

Jesus is as persistent with Peter as Reb Tevye is with Golde. He asks us the same question, as he draws us into a deep personal relationship with him. It is in that relationship that we find the strength and courage to do whatever he will ask of us, as the lives of the saints show us.

You can watch the extract with the song Do you love me? from the movie version of Fiddler on the Roof here.
 
Peter's Rehabilitation and Ours

Biblical Reflection for 3rd Sunday of Easter

By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 13, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Today's dramatic Gospel story (John 21:1-19) is set against the backdrop of the Sea of Galilee. Much of Jesus' ministry took place along the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias (John 6:1) and the Lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1).

This "sea" is really a fresh-water lake in the shape of a small harp that is 12-13 miles in length and 7-8 miles wide. Fish and fishing played an important role in the New Testament and in the early Church. Fishing eventually became an important symbol of the church's missionary task, since Jesus had invited his earliest disciples to "fish for people" (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17; Luke 5:10). There is something "fishy" about the origins of Christianity!

Full article here.

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The Mission of Easter

Robert Gay OP

In today's Gospel we hear that when Peter recognized the Lord, he got out of the boat and 'sprang into the sea'. At this point in time we still have that elation of the Vigil, of the Easter alleluia, and it's easy to identify with Peter's excitement. Perhaps we too felt a similar giddiness in the early hours of the morning after the Vigil. Perhaps we felt that somehow the news that Christ is risen had made just a little more impact this year.

After Peter's elation comes the calm, a certain normality resumes, even in the presence of the risen Lord. The disciples and Jesus have breakfast, just as we have gone on doing the normal things of life, mundane things that seem somewhat removed and unaffected by the elation of Easter. But of course, this is no ordinary breakfast.

Full article here.