Saturday, April 09, 2016

III Easter, April 10, 2016



Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter
Year C  ~  April 10, 2016

Holy Trinity & St. Anskar

Follow me.

+In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity

It is interesting that there is another story like this in Luke, that resembles it in form:
boat on lake
unsuccessful fishing
command to try again
then a great haul
That other story is about the Apostles’ first encounter with Jesus, in which Peter and John and others have been out all night fishing, to no avail. Then the Stranger appears, commandeers their boat so that He can sit down while speaking to the crowd, and then tells Peter to try again. With some exasperation Peter agrees and gets so many fish that the net starts to break. They have to call for more boats and all of them are full of fish to the point of sinking. Peter is frightened and says to the Lord, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful person.”
Today’s story is formally the same and it occurs as the LAST of the Apostles’ encounters with Jesus – after the Resurrection. These two stories of boats and fishing and human recognition of Jesus FRAME, as it were, the whole Gospel proclamation. Maybe it would be worthwhile to notice what is different in them. In the first, the fish are hauled into the boats as the nets are breaking and the boats almost sink. In today’s the nets don’t break, but neither is there any mention of fish being hauled into the boats. Instead, the young John recognizes Jesus. Then Peter throws on some clothes, jumps into the water and runs to shore. Meanwhile, the other disciples pull the fish NOT into the boat, but straight to shore, and the Evangelist – John himself, according to the text –  makes a point of recording that the net DID NOT BREAK, and even specifies the precise number of fish. Jesus instructs them to bring some of the fish to the charcoal fire and have some breakfast.
If we imagine that the author of the Fourth Gospel was familiar with Luke’s account, then it would seem that the differences are deliberate and intended to tell us something, something about the difference in the world before and after the Resurrection.
Maybe  it’s something like this: don’t worry if you can’t get all the fish into the boat. That is a mistake. If you try, the net will break and the boat will sink – even if you get more boats, they will sink too. This is not merely a figure for the great success of evangelical activity in terms of numbers – it means that Bagging souls for Jesus is not the point. And if you think it is, then let me remind you of what happens to the fish in the end! Let’s accept the ancient typology that says the Apostles’ boat represents the Church. But look! In the second story, Peter GETS OUT OF THE BOAT and runs to Jesus. What are we to make of that? The aim of their activity is not to get fish into the boat but to bring them to Jesus. We can’t carry that too far, because Jesus then roasts them and serves them to the Apostles!  No, I think we had better leave the fish in the net and concentrate on the Apostles. The stories are really about them. Specifically, about Peter and John.
John and his brother James appear in both stories. Several more appear in today’s, later account, including, Thomas the Twin, of whom we heard last week. Thomas who saw and was faithful. Now we turn to Peter and John, who represent, respectively, fidelity and vision. It is John whom Jesus loved, who recognizes Him from the boat. He sees Jesus clearly and conveys the news to Peter, the leader, who is naked. A practical man, Peter is undressed for hard work and he has to put something on before he can see the Lord. Notice the difference: in the first story, Peter falls at Jesus’ feet and asks Him to go away. In this story, Peter prepares himself and runs to Jesus. This time instead of trying to get out of it, because he recognizes himself as inadequate to the call, he jumps out of the boat and into the water and runs up to Jesus.
The rest of the story we just heard is about Peter. After receiving bread from the Lord, Peter must then reaffirm his love for Him three times – undoing his threefold denial on Good Friday. Peter must affirm his faithfulness and love. Then Jesus commands Peter, as He did in the other story, follow me. The rest of the passage, which we did NOT hear today goes on to conclude the whole Gospel in the voice of the John:
Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” 
St. Augustine comments that Peter symbolizes action, while John represents contemplation – like Martha and Mary of Bethany. Peter’s faithfulness in leading and feeding the sheep is the path of disciples in this life. John’s vision of Jesus as He is represents eternal life in the Age to Come. Augustine assures us that both disciples, in their actual lives, worked in faith and went on to the heavenly vision forever, but in the Gospel accounts they symbolize for us the two aspects of Christian life: active faith in this life, and vision in the Age to Come:
All of the first [kind of] life is lived in this world, and it will come to an end with this world. The second [kind of] life will be imperfect till the end of this world, but it will have no end in the next world. And so, Christ says to Peter “Follow me”; but of John He says: “If I wish him to remain until I come, what is that to you? Your duty is to follow me.”
Augustine observes that Christ’s words should not be taken to imply that John would never  die but that the kind of life he symbolizes can be fulfilled only when Christ comes again. Meanwhile, the kind of life Peter symbolizes in following Christ and feeding His sheep CAN find fulfillment in faithful action here and now. That life of action – the life of faith – leads to the life John symbolizes, the perfect vision that never ends. The vision that led him to end his Gospel by saying
This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

ALLELUIA!
CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD,
TRAMPLING DOWN DEATH BY DEATH,
AND BETOWING LIFE ON ALL IN THE TOMBS.

ALLELUIA!

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