Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, New York
Br. Robert James Magliula
The Third Sunday of Easter, May 4, 2025
John begins today’s gospel (John 21:1-19) by telling us that Jesus “showed himself in this way.” He sets the third appearance of Jesus to his disciples amidst ordinary circumstances. The disciples have returned to their old routines: the same boats, the same nets, the same water, the same work. John gives a lot of small, seemingly unnecessary and even strange details in which Jesus showed himself. I suspect we’ve all returned to the routine of our lives since Easter Day. Perhaps John is pointing us in the direction of where we might recognize resurrection in the small details and routine rhythms of everyday life.
John tells us that they fished through the darkness, but their nets were empty. The darkness, however, was not just about the night. The darkness was also in the disciples. In the same way, the empty net is not only descriptive of their fishing nets, but also of the disciples themselves. They are as empty as their nets. We all know what it’s like to experience darkness and emptiness especially in the wake of loss. Those are the times when we come to the limits of our own self-sufficiency, with nothing to show for our efforts and nothing left to give. I suspect that Peter, whether he knew it or not, was fishing for answers more than fish, when he returned to his routine. All the others were quick to join him. We can leave the places and even the people of our life, but we can never escape ourselves or our life. Peter may have left Jerusalem, but he could not get away from three years of discipleship, the last supper, the arrest, the denials, the cross, the empty tomb, the house with locked doors. In the context of the failures, losses, and sorrows we have all struggled with the same questions as Peter, looking for some sense of understanding and meaning. When life gets difficult, when we become lost, confused, and afraid, when the changes of life are not what we wanted or think we deserve, we tend to run away. We try to go back to the way it was before, something safe and familiar. Often, we revert to old patterns of behavior and thinking. Even when we know better and do not want to go backwards it seems easier than moving forward. That’s when and where we can expect Jesus to show himself to us. Resurrection doesn’t happen apart from our life but in it. Resurrection is not about escaping life but about becoming alive.
Nets cannot be filled unless they are first emptied. In the same way we can never be filled with Jesus until we are first emptied of ourselves, until we come to recognize our limits. Emptiness is not the end or a failure but a beginning. The miracle begins when the nets are empty. That’s when Jesus, still unrecognized by the disciples, says, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” That’s not so much a question as it is a statement, naming their reality of emptiness.
As soon as Jesus is recognized by the beloved disciple who tells Peter, a naked Peter gets dressed and jumps in the water. Peter’s nakedness is a strange detail, telling us more than that Peter wasn’t wearing any clothes. In our stripped and naked state is when we are most available to respond to Jesus, Peter clothes himself in a hopeful urgency and rushes in toward Jesus.
What places or circumstances of your life need to be clothed with urgent hope today? What new possibilities would be open to you? How do you need to enliven your outlook on life and the world? Whatever your answers might be they are the places in which Jesus is waiting to show himself to you. John offers us another detail which is important to remember. He says that Jesus is “only about a hundred yards away,” reminding us that wherever we find ourselves, he is always within reach.
When Peter went ashore and saw a charcoal fire, I wonder if he recalled the one where he warmed himself in the High Priest’s courtyard when he denied Jesus? Was he overcome again with regret as we often are with our guilt and betrayals. Whatever Peter might have been thinking or feeling was interrupted by Jesus saying, “Come and have breakfast.” Jesus invites and sustains us even in our guilt, regrets, and betrayals.
Peter and Jesus then share a conversation about love, freedom, and moving forward. “Do you love me?” Jesus asks Peter, not once but three times. One question for each of Peter’s denials. Three times Peter gives the same answer, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” I have no doubt that Jesus knew that Peter loved him, but I think that Peter needed to know that he loved Jesus. He needed to understand that he was not bound to his past. How many of us also need to hear and experience that again and again? With each question and answer Jesus drew Peter from his past and freed him to become himself and more fully alive. That’s what today’s gospel is about.
Jesus showed himself in the empty nets that were filled with 153 fish, darkness gave way to light, nakedness was clothed with hope, betrayal gave way to welcome, and three denials were forgiven with three affirmations of love. In resurrection we discover that we have a future. It’s a commitment to hope and being reborn. It’s a commitment to creativity, to the Spirit who “makes all things new” (Rev. 21:5). The resurrection event isn’t the end of the story but a new beginning.
As with the other evangelists, John leaves the resurrection as a story to be continued with something left to do, something more to happen. It’s a call awaiting a response, insisting you and I give existence to more life, for ourselves and others.
To be resurrection for another we need to first be resurrection for ourselves by listening deeply, to the hopes, needs, and pain of our own lives and then act to create life for others. We are the ones to continue the story of resurrection. That’s the way John describes it in today’s gospel with Jesus saying, “Follow me.” +Amen
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