LECTIONARY READINGS
First reading: Acts 5:27-32, 40-41
Responsorial psalm: 29(30):2, 4-6, 11-13
Second reading: Apocalypse 5:11-14
Gospel: John 21:1-19
Link to readings
The Gospel for this third Sunday of Easter describes at length an appearance of the risen Lord to seven of the male disciples in a scene by the Lake of Galilee, John 21:1-19. Apart from Jesus himself, Peter is the leading figure – and indeed there are several echoes in this account of St Luke’s version of the call of Simon Peter early in his Gospel (Luke 5:1-11): the fruitless fishing all night, the miraculously abundant catch when they follow the instructions of Jesus, a subsequent moment of deep conversion for Peter, followed by a specific commissioning of him for a new pastoral role.
FISHERS OF PEOPLE
The scene starts with a reversion on the part of the disciples, led by Peter, to their old trade of fishing. In the wider sequence of the Fourth Gospel, following on from their solemn commissioning and empowerment with the Spirit (20:19-23), this seems to be something of falling-away from their high calling. Perhaps we are meant to take it as such. But in the gospel tradition generally fishing for fish (i.e., ordinary fishing) is a symbol of the mission of the Church. Fishers of fish are transformed into fishers of people. The present narrative describes how an encounter with the risen Lord works this transformation and so ‘re-founds’ the core community of the Church around the pastoral role of Peter.
The arrangement of the graveclothes in the empty tomb of Jesus had served as a sign for the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ (13:23; 19:26-27), sparking off his faith in the resurrection (20:6-8). Now the superabundant catch of fish, where previously there had been none, functions again as a sign for his attuned faith. In the distant figure on the shore he recognises the presence of the risen Lord.
Simon Peter’s spontaneous and extravagant response – jumping into the sea to swim to shore – shows the ardour of love and devotion. But this is a love that is soon to be probed and tested.
ONGOING HOSPITALITY
On the shore, Jesus has already prepared breakfast: bread and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. The meal to which he invites the disciples takes on eucharistic overtones in the phrases ‘he took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish’. What we have in this scene is a nucleus of the Church, which, in the coming time of the physical absence of her Lord, will celebrate and experience in the Eucharist the ongoing hospitality of God that the disciples have received from Jesus.
The number of fish caught – one hundred and fifty-three – has long puzzled commentators. The best explanation is probably that which sees it as a reflection of an ancient belief that the sum total of separate nations in the world amounted to 153. The number, then, foreshadows the worldwide mission of the Church.
ROLE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
With Jesus soon to depart in a physical sense, someone else is going to have to take the role of the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep entrusted to him by the Father (John 10:11, 14-16). The role will fall to Simon Peter but first his qualifications must be probed and tested. By an earlier charcoal fire (18:18) he had denied Jesus three times. Hence the triple interrogation in which his love is gently probed: ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ (21:15-19). Only if Simon loves Jesus ‘more than these others’ will he be suitable to up the pastoral role which Jesus has exercised to the point of death. The interrogation goes on until Simon is moved at the depths of his being. There is no explicit censure of his denial, no demand for apology – just a sense conveyed that the triple protestation of love will more than adequately compensate for the past failure and show that Peter is ready and equipped to feed and tend the sheep, as Jesus had done. In fact, as Jesus goes on to foretell, Peter too will end his pastoral office by laying down his life in imitation of his Lord.
FIRST AND SECOND READINGS
The First Reading, from Acts 5:27-32 40-41, describes the leadership of the Church getting under way in its task of giving witness to the saving events associated with Jesus’ death and resurrection, and courageously confronting the opposition that is beginning to arise. Warnings and threats cannot shut down this enterprise begun with the power of the Spirit. Peter’s statement, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men’, has set the policy that heroic Christians have followed down the ages.
The Second Reading, from Revelation 5:11-14, lifts the eyes of the persecuted, suffering Church to the heavenly triumph of Christ (the Lamb), the impulse and guarantee of its mission. The triumph is not restricted to heaven. Fulfilling the vision of Phil 2:9-11, all living creatures on earth join in the worship and praise.