Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 5, 2019: Cast the net over the right side of the boat...

Cast the net over the right side of the boat...

How are we to act, now that Christ is Risen?

  Long after having witnessed the Risen Jesus in the upper room, the disciples are still at a loss, so they turn to the one activity they know:  they go fishing.  In John’s Gospel, when the disciples fish alone, they catch nothing.  This is not how their lives have been defined; they see failure no matter which way they turn.  But when a man the disciples do not recognize as Jesus tells them, Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something, the disciples pull up so many fish that they cannot even haul them into the boat. It is the Lord who shows the disciples that they need to go further, to stretch the boundaries of what they know, to expand their horizons, to explore how they understand themselves now that Christ is risen.  They have been radically changed, and they need to move forward.  Peter offers the clearest example.  Having denied Jesus three times, Peter must repeat three times, Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.  It’s not enough simply to say so, however; Jesus then tells him, Feed my sheep. 

  The Acts of the Apostles chronicles the disciples’ efforts to do just that, teaching in Jesus’ name, obeying God rather than men.  The apostles are witnesses to salvation, but the Sanhedrin are not open to that revelation; indeed, the Sanhedrin are at a loss as to how to confront this ongoing profession of faith, because they cannot believe in Jesus as God.  But the Holy Spirit is at work in the apostles, who give thanks to his holy name (Psalm 30), their mourning changed into dancing as they are dismissed by the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they have been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.  In the Book of Revelation, the Risen Lord will be referred to as the Lamb that was slain, a symbol of salvation always depicted as alive in that text.  The angels and living creatures and elders who witness the Lamb recognize that God’s power and plan are unfolding in the Lamb; they give witness to God’s immense love as embodied by the Lamb and all that he can accomplish in us… so long as we cast our net over the right side of the boat!

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 10, 2016: You have rescued me...

  You have rescued me…  

The Lord is ready to change you:  are you ready for to be changed?  

   Although the singer of Psalm 30 tells us that his lack of energy has been draining him of life, he can now, thanks to God’s intervention, report that his mourning has been changed into dancing, giving him all the energy necessary for new life.  We too are called to be changed, radically changed, this time by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

   In this week’s Gospel from John, Peter knows what it feels like to be changed:  his metanoia comes when, having met Jesus on the shore after the Resurrection, he is given the opportunity to assure the Lord, not once but three times, that he loves him – Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you – thereby negating his triple denial of Jesus during the Passion.  He and his fellow disciples are ready to do what Jesus tells them, ready to throw out their nets after a night of fruitless fishing, ready to fish for men by proclaiming the Good News.  They are ready to be changed by the Resurrection.

   The fruits of this changed position are evident in our reading from Acts, where we see Peter and the disciples healing and prophesying and being imprisoned for their activities:  they have indeed been radically changed by their encounter with Jesus, unlike the Jewish authorities, who resist any such change and stubbornly deny the miracles taking place before their very eyes:  We gave you strict orders, did we not, to stop teaching in that name?  They have failed to acknowledge the power of the Jesus in their lives, failed to note, as John does in Revelation, that To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb is given blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever. They are not changed.

   Resurrection calls us to be changed, to allow our very identity to be changed by Jesus, alive and present in and among us.  Are you ready? Then shout out your response, like the psalmist who cries, I will extol you Lord, for you drew me clear, or, like the four living creatures of Revelation, Amen!

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

Image source: Wordle

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 3, 2016: These are written so that you may come to believe...

These are written that you may come to believe…

How did the Good News spread?

Our first Gospel after Easter is a familiar one:  John tells the story of Jesus’ first appearances to the disciples in a locked upper room where they are hiding out of fear for their lives.  Peace be with you, he says, not once but twice.  Peace – the Peace of God, Peace they will need to be ready for their mission.  The following week, although the greeting is the same – Peace be with you – Thomas wants further proof, and simply seeing Jesus’ wounds is enough to cause him to offer a profound testimony of absolute faith:  My Lord and my God. But Jesus knows there will be many to come who will not have this opportunity to see him:  Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.  We might count ourselves among that number… so how do we come to believe?

The Word of God first came to us in the body of Jesus; it was carried forth by the disciples in the form of healings done in Jesus’ name, the signs and wonders done among the people at the hands of the apostles as described in Acts.  Their profound faith in the power of Jesus’ name, the power of God among them, allows the apostles to manifest all that they believe, and through them, God’s power is made manifest – even in the very ephemeral nature of a shadow – such that great numbers of men and women were added to them.  It was the faith of these individuals, living in the peace of God, who gave testimony, both in words and in deeds, that caused the Church to grow, and that caused the people of their time to say, echoing Psalm118,  His mercy endures forever – a call to praise that becomes their own testimony, meant to light the fires of belief in others as well. 

The Word of God remains with us, among other ways, in written form. The Book of Revelation gives further testimony to Jesus in the writings of John, whose visions inspired faith and offered consolation, encouragement, and peace to a church under persecution.  Like Thomas, Peter, and John, we too are called to give testimony to the power of God’s love at work in our lives, and to sing the praise of God whose work (and Word) is wonderful in our eyes… May your Easter season be filled with peace and inspire you to just such testimony, so that all may be glad and rejoice, and so that the entire world may come to believe!

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle