April 10, 2016
3rd Sunday of
Easter
Acts 5:27-32.
40-41; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19
In a few hours
from now, many people around the world will witness the long awaited fight between
Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley. These past days, I have heard in the news
that after this fight, Manny is planning to retire from his career in boxing.
What could be some of the reasons for his retirement? Aside from politics, he said that this can give
him more time to be with his family. I think we find this same dilemma in the gospel
today. The apostles, led by Peter might have felt the need to already “retire”
from following Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is no longer with them. Yes,
Jesus has risen from the dead. But things became different after His resurrection.
They miss and long for the physical presence of Jesus. Perhaps they also thought
this could be the right time look after their own families. That is why in the gospel today they went back
to Galilee. They were back to the fishing business as usual. Back to what they
have been doing before Jesus called them. Then all of a sudden, the Risen Jesus
appeared to them. Why did the Risen Jesus appear to them this time? What was the invitation of the Risen Jesus to
his disciples? What was the response of his disciples to the invitation of
Jesus?
Let
us reflect on these questions in three points:
THE
RISEN LORD APPEARED TO THE DISCIPLES AT THE SEA OF GALILEE. Part
of the command of the Risen Lord is for his disciples to go to
Galilee. Why Galilee? Galilee is a very significant place for them. It
is the place where Jesus called his first disciples. When they reached Galilee and
went on fishing, the disciples perhaps remembered that when they said yes to
the call of Jesus 3 years ago, they left everything and followed him. But this
time, when Jesus appeared to them, He is inviting them to leave behind their
doubts and frustrations. Jesus is Risen. The presence of the Risen Lord filled
them with hope. My brothers and sisters, just as the apostles experienced the
Risen Jesus in a very ordinary way, we can also experience the Risen Jesus coming
to us in the ordinariness of life. But in order for us to recognize His
presence, in order for us to imitate John saying, “It is the Lord”, we need to open the
eyes of our faith. If like the disciples we find ourselves in doubt and
frustrated, we need to go back to our Galilee experience – remember the moments when you
really felt the presence of God working in your life. This will stir our faith.
Hold on to faith because this will help us recognize the presence of the Risen
Lord.
THE
RISEN LORD INVITED HIS DISCIPLES FOR A MEAL. This detail in the
gospel is also important. Eating signifies that the one who eats is alive. Eating is a manifestation of life. So when
Jesus invited his disciples to have breakfast He is telling them, “Look I am
really alive. Come let us eat together.”
Whenever we host a meal, it is unusual to invite enemies to our homes.
We usually invite people who are close to us – our close friends and family members.
Look at those whom Jesus invited for a meal? Yes they were his disciples but
remember that these disciples had not only forsaken Jesus at the moment of
suffering. They also denied being associated with Jesus. They ran away from
Jesus in order to save their own lives. But still Jesus invited them for a meal
and used this as an occasion to reconcile with his disciples. This is the challenge
of the Risen Jesus for us: to share a meal with an enemy, to share a meal with
someone who have hurt us, not for the purpose of poisoning our enemy but to
initiate reconciliation. What happened after the disciples encountered the
Risen Lord?
THEIR
ENCOUNTER WITH THE RISEN LORD TRANSFORMED THEM TO BE COURAGEOUS PROCLAIMERS OF
THE GOOD NEWS. In the first reading, we see how the disciples were transformed from being cowards
to courageous witnesses of Jesus. If before, they denied and ran away from
Jesus in order to save their lives, now we see them filled with confidence and
courage to spread the good news about Christ. If before they would do anything
to avoid suffering, now they are happy to embrace suffering and be identified
with Jesus. This is how the Risen Jesus
transformed them. In the same way, our encounter with the Risen Lord invites us
to be courageous proclaimers of the Good News not only in words but also in our
actions.
My brothers and
sisters, when the Lord appeared to his disciples at the Sea of Galilee, John recognized
Him with the eyes of faith. When Jesus invited his disciples for a meal, Jesus
initiated to offer reconciliation. In this mass let us pray that our encounter
with the Risen Jesus may also transform us to be courageous witnesses of the
good news. Amen.
