Homily for 3rd Sunday of Easter Year C 2019
Acts 5:27b-32,40b-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19
Introduction
For Catholics, the undisputed head of the Church is the Pope, the successor of St. Peter. And we can draw this understanding of the Pope's role from today's gospel passage, among others, in which Jesus entrusts Peter with responsibility for the Church. But why would Jesus entrust Peter, the guy who denied him three times a few weeks earlier, with such a great responsibility?
Scripture and Theology
Three elements in the story we have just heard help us to understand what Jesus is doing here: he is starting all over again.
You might remember that Galilee was where the Lord first met Peter and some of the other disciples. Matthew's gospel tells us that as Jesus "was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen".” (4:18-19). After the resurrection, what better place to serve as a symbolic reset. And so, the Lord meets his disciples in Galilee, Ground Zero, where it all started, to send them off again on a new mission.
The second element of the story is the fishing. Like every man from South Louisiana, Peter and his friends were avid fishermen. After returning to Galilee from following Jesus, perhaps they resumed their previous jobs, after all they had mouths at home to feed. But on that night they caught nothing; perhaps having been away from fishing for three years, they had lost their touch. Now the Lord appears to them and suggests: “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” Putting their fisherman pride to the side, they obey the stranger and indeed they catch a boatload of fish.
Just like the return to Galilee, the fishing context also symbolizes a return of the disciples to their beginnings. Not only had Jesus chosen them in Galilee, but even the first time, it was after another miraculous catch of fish (Lk. 5:1-11). At that time, Jesus had told them: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt. 4:19). Now after the resurrection, with another miraculous catch, he has the same message for them, that they are now to become fishers of men during his absence. John's gospel even gives the small detail of how many fish they caught – 153. Because 153 was thought to be the number of types of fish in the sea, it suggests universality of their mission; the disciples are called upon to catch men and women of all nations, races and languages.
Besides Galilee and the fishing, the charcoal fire is the third significant element of the story. Do you recall another fire in the gospels, the charcoal fire at which Peter denied the Lord, not once, not twice, but three times (Jn. 18: 15-18, 25-27)? Now at a different fire, one on which Jesus is making breakfast, the Lord gives Peter a chance to retract his threefold denial, asking him three times: "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these [other disciples]?" As we heard, three times, Peter responds that he loved the Lord. And each time, the Lord entrusts Peter with a task: "feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep."
And so after setting the reset button, Jesus entrusts Peter and his successors with two jobs: fishing and shepherding, quite different but complimentary jobs.
I am no fisherman, especially since I fear water, but I understand the basics of the job. It involves catching fish and bringing them into the boat. And so when Jesus tells Peter in today's gospel, "Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something," this is an image of bringing people into the Church.
Shepherding on the other hand is an entirely different job. Unlike most Ugandan boys I never had the opportunity to be a shepherd boy, since my family did not own any goats, sheep or cattle. But like you I baby-sat my siblings. And so I understand shepherding to involve the protecting and feeding those sheep that you already have and preventing them from getting lost or being taken away, much like I had to do for little rascals that are my siblings. That is the second task that Jesus gives to Peter when he tells him: "Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep," essentially take care of the Church. When my mother gave me virtually the same instruction, all I had to do was bathe my siblings, cook for them and put them to bed. In the case of Peter, he is responsible for the salvation of all the disciples, for the whole Church. Peter thus became the first Pope, the first papá or father of the whole Church, for that is what pope means.
Christian Life
Since Peter, Popes have carried on that same task of feeding and tending the lambs and sheep of the Church. To be honest, some did a terrible job at it. But most have done a great job, like the last three popes that we have had. Let me share with you briefly how these successors of Peter have affected my life.
When Pope John Paul II he visited Uganda in 1993, I was in college seminary. I was fortunate to attend one of his Masses and see him from about five feet away, as he walked to the altar. Perhaps like every other 21 year-old, I was more interested in a photo opportunity with him, than listening to what he had to say. But I still remember his message to Ugandans, which was "Be the light of the world." And as I continued my seminary studies, I was to read a lot of what he had to say. But his greatest influence on me was at his funeral in 2005, when from the media coverage I heard about his charisma, his numerous world travels to catch all 153 types of fish, and his constant message of "Do not be afraid" to a world caught in fear of nuclear war and recovering from the effects of the 1960s.
As for Pope Benedict XVI, I was fortunate that my time of graduate studies in Rome began when he had just been elected Pope. While in Rome, I often saw him at the Wednesday General papal audiences and the Sunday Angelus. I was even once within five feet of him at a private audience, together with a thousand of my best friends, other priests studying in Rome; I saw close up how humble and shy a man he was. But his greatest influence on me was that virtually in very class I took, we read his work, both what he wrote as Cardinal Ratzinger and his work as Pope Benedict. Pope Benedict had a lot to teach. He used his great intellect, always clear, precise and insightful, to remind us to return to the truth and avoid relativism.
And now we have another Peter, Pope Francis, the first non-European Pope in modern times. Five years ago, I attended a Mass presided over by him in St. Peter's Basilica. Since I was seated right behind the altar, with a clear line of sight, I saw how reverently he celebrated the Mass. The biggest contribution of Pope Francis is that he always preaches a message of love and mercy. He wants God's love and mercy to be fed to all God's sheep in the house, but also those who are outside waiting to be fished: children and elderly, the sick and the disabled, prisoners and immigrants, people with same-sex attraction as well as the divorced and remarried. That is why he visits even countries with very few Catholics: today he is visiting Bulgaria and North Macedonia – two countries with Orthodox majorities, and a few months ago Morocco and the United Arab Emirates - Muslim-majority countries. Without forgetting the sheep, he also casts the net wide, to catch the fish out there and bring them into the boat of Peter.
Conclusion
People will often ask me: "So who is your favourite pope?" I usually think to myself: "What a stupid question? Would you ask a child which parent they preferred, or a parent, which child?" But being the nice guy that I am, I simply say that I like them all, since Peter and the popes are not celebrities or politicians to be liked or disliked. In fact, theirs is often a thankless job, one wrought with persecution, in Peter's case with death on a cross as Jesus indicated in today's gospel.
Let us pray for Peter to do his job of catching fish and feeding the lambs and for ourselves, to be fish ready to be caught and sheep ready to be fed and tended.
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