April 16, 2010
Sunday Scripture
Third Sunday of Easter
BY FATHER DONALD DILGER
The Gospel of John ended at 20:30-31. Chapter 21 is an appendix added either by the author(s) or a later editor. Something important had to be added to the gospel. The stage is set, “After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the Sea ofTiberias,” (another name for the Sea ofGalilee). The important issue that had to be added to the Gospel of John was the role of Peter and his successors in the Church. The story begins appropriately with Simon Peter deciding to go fishing. He says, “I am going fishing.” They reply, “We will go with you.” Already we see that Simon Peter will have the leading role in this fishing expedition. The other six disciples are in the same boat, have the same work, but it is Simon’s boat, and he is in charge.
The fishing symbolism continues until later in the story, when Jesus changes symbols from fishing to sheep-herding. The seven disciples fished all night. At dawn, they saw Jesus standing on the shore. He asked, “Did you catch anything?” The disgruntled fishermen answer with a curt “NO!” Jesus, using pre-electronic fish-location, tells them to cast the net on the right side of the boat. They took Jesus’ advice. The net was suddenly so full of fish, they could not take it into the boat. At this moment the so-called “Beloved Disciple” said to a still clueless Simon Peter, “It is the Lord.” Recall that this same disciple went with Peter to the empty tomb in the previous chapter. There his love of Jesus recognized that Jesus had risen from the dead. The author notes, “The other disciple saw and believed.” Peter had remained clueless.
Jesus had told Simon Peter at the Last Supper that he was not yet ready to follow him, “but you will afterwards.” The “afterwards” had arrived. This is a teaching moment for Peter and the Church. It is Peter’s final conversion following his public denial. John oddly inserts a note that Simon Peter was naked in the boat. Clothing cannot hide Peter’s denial of Jesus. Nothing is hidden from the Lord in the sense of Psalm 139, “Lord, you searched me and you know me . . . Even darkness is not dark to Thee.” When Peter heard from the Beloved Disciple, “It is the Lord,” he put on his clothes and jumped into the water. It took all seven of them to haul the net full of fish to the shore. Only at the command of Jesus was the fishing expedition of Simon Peter and companions successful. The other three gospel-authors recognized the symbolism of fishing and wrote, “From now on you will be catching people,” or “I will make you fishers of humankind.”
Not so John. He is about to change metaphors. He sets the stage. Jesus turned chef for the disciples. He prepared roasted fish. After breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter three times, “Simon Johnson, do you love me?” Simon solemnly affirms his love for Jesus, and receives the great commission, “Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep.” Thus Peter made amends for his triple denial with a triple affirmation of love for him whom he had denied. The ensuing command to Simon Peter, “Follow me,” recalls the words of Jesus to Peter at the Last Supper, “You are not ready to follow me now, but you will afterwards.” John intimates how Simon Peter will die by crucifixion, “You will stretch out your hands, and another will lead you.” Peter’s following of Jesus will be perfected by martyrdom.
Why was it important to add this episode to the gospel? John writes at the end of the first century. Peter died as a martyr thirty years earlier. Were the Christian communities falling apart because they had no center of unity? There is evidence to that effect in the New Testament and in letters of Bishop Ignatius ofAntioch at the beginning of the second century. Ignatius repeatedly insists on the centrality of the bishop, while at the same time upholding the centrality of the Church at Rome, “which was commanded by Peter and Paul,” and where Ignatius was happy to shed his blood for Jesus Christ. Those who deny the role of Peter in the Bishop of Rome build their house not on The Rock but on sand.
The high priestly clique had the Apostles arrested and imprisoned. An angel released them. They continued proclaiming Jesus and his resurrection. Word got to the high priest. He called a council to decide what to do. The priests were afraid of a riot and that they themselves might be slain in that riot. Gamaliel advises, “If this movement comes from God, you cannot stop it.” They took his advice, had the Apostles beaten, (out of sheer frustration?), and released them. Peter told them, “We must obey God, rather than men.”
In one phase of his ongoing vision, the prophet John, sees into heaven. There is a throne surrounded by angels, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders. All chant a hymn to Jesus Christ, a hymn that reveals that the “Lamb who was slain” has received “power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, blessing.” A further revelation is the equality of the Lamb with the one who sits upon the throne. They receive the same honor. Therefore Jesus is God. We respond in adoration with the twenty-four elders, “AMEN!”