3rd Sunday of Easter
May 3-4, 2025
Gospel: John 21:1-14 or John 21:1-19
In almost every culture in the world, even the most primitive, meals are seen as a SACRED EVENT. At a meal, people come together to share life. Physical life is given through the food that is eaten. Inner life is fostered by the acceptance and sharing of those at the meal. All hungers are satisfied with a good meal. What makes a good meal good is usually, not the food, but the company. The hunger of being accepted and loved, is as real as the hunger for the food and the drink itself…
Meals play a very important role both in the Hebrew Scriptures and in The Gospels. The meal (often pictured as a wedding banquet) is the symbol of the end time when God’s Kingdom will come to fulfillment, when people will come to know God as God is. Nothing will remain fuzzy. Subsequently, loving each other will cause people to become one family with God in the lead.
It is no surprise at all that in The Gospels, Jesus is frequently associated with meals. He used mealtime to teach and, even more, to draw attention to God’s rule. He would gladly eat with the rejected people and honor them by accepting them and bringing them into the center of God’s care. He ate with His opponents hoping to move their hearts toward God. Sometimes, Jesus even threw the party like when He fed 5,000 plus with what began as table scraps…
In the Gospel this day, Jesus nourishes His followers in a meal. He prepares a simple breakfast of fish and bread (not Cheerios, a banana and some yogurt) for His disciples. His food is real and it does nourish their bodies. The risen Christ is also real and comes to share His life with them. By means of touch and the sharing of a meal the Risen Jesus establishes direct contact with His people. He invites them to understand that He is not a ghost and He shows them evidence that the body from which He speaks is the same one that had been tortured just days before…
The meal becomes an occasion for forgiveness and reconciliation. Jesus indicates that He forgave His disciples’ desertion and Peter’s denial: by preparing an eating a meal with them. At the end of the meal, Jesus asked for an acknowledgment of Peter’s love, THREE TIMES HE ASKED! Is it possible that Peter did this to counteract his three-time denial of even KNOWING Jesus? Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to reconsider his commitment and profess his faith again. Only after Peter gives his word does Jesus then commit His people to Peter’s care. Peter, as we know, is to be a shepherd in the place of Christ… the first of many… and one for whom we are looking again with the death of Francis.
Jesus has prepared a meal for us in thisEucharist. The spiritual nourishment in this banquet must be repeated over and over and over again. Just as the food we eat becomes a part of us, so to; Jesus becomes more closely entwined with our daily living.
Jesus lives. He is always present in our daily activity, calling us to take the higher road when necessary and forgiving us when we fail to recognize Him in others. The Risen One promises us life, not only here, but eternal life with Him in the heavens.
He made this possible, no one else ever could or will.
Today’s Eucharist is our Easter meal which really never ends. With eyes of faith, we see Him in the breaking and pouring. With eyes of faith, we take and eat, take and drink. With eyes of faith, we see that we are different than those who cannot trust. Jesus assures us that He is with us until the “end of our days”. Not only do we want to believe this, we need to believe this. The Eucharistic liturgy is not something we watch but rather something we do. The word liturgy itself means “the work of the people”.
A retreat master once told a story that could well be the story of anyone here. It seems that a neighbor found Kevin crawling around on his hands and knees. It appeared that Kevin was looking for something. “What are you searching for?” asked his neighbor. “My key, I lost my key”, replied Kevin. So, both men crawled around on their knees in search of the lost key. Only after some time did the neighbor think to ask Kevin, “And where did you lose the key?” “At home” came the answer. “GOOD GOD! Then why are we searching for it here?” “Because there is more light here,” replied the neighbor. The retreat master then asks, “what use is it to search for God if I have lost Him in my heart?”
Some people think that they have already found God and that is all that needs to be done. Finding God is lifelong work. Being reminded of this is the master KEY that is sometimes lost…
We will not lose Him if we eat and drink in His name.
Ever…. ever…
