Sermon on the 3rd Sunday of Easter May 1, 2022 Wijk bij Duurstede

It goes without saying that during the Easter season we hear the gospel stories about the appearances of Jesus as the risen Lord. The purpose of these apparitions is that Jesus shows his disciples how he is always with them now that death has been defeated, through his infinite love. Jesus doesn’t play hide-and-seek with his disciples, to put it a bit disrespectfully. He just wants to show that he is always with them, although we sometimes feel that they are left alone. Of course, what applies to the relationship of Jesus and his apostles after Easter, also applies to the whole Church, and also to us as Christians who believe in the Resurrection of our Lord.
What is striking about this Sunday’s Gospel is that some of the apostles went to Lake Tiberias. That is the place where Jesus called his first disciples. So now that Jesus is no longer with them in the usual way, they begin at the beginning of their encounter with Jesus and their calling when they first heard the promise, “I will make you become fishers of men.” Perhaps this also contains some good advice for the church today and for us as believers. That if we don’t know how to proceed as a church and as believers, we start at that beginning. That we remember where and how Jesus first touched and called us. Do we remember that? Do we still cherish that? The moment when our faith was no longer a matter of upbringing and of our environment, but that we felt personally addressed and in what phase of life and under what circumstances. Sometimes we just have to start over from that beginning.
As did Peter and his fellow apostles. For look, who is standing there on the shore of the lake? A man who calls to them, “Friends, do you have some fish?” Are we hearing that right? He calls out “friends”. At the last supper, Jesus said, “I have called you friends, for a servant does not know what his master does, but I have made known to you all that the Father has said to me. It was not you who chose me, but I chose you.” That unknown man on the bank calls them friends. It is the one who called them. It’s him again. Nothing changed yet. “Do you have some fish for me?” “No” they say.
“Just cast yourself out on the other side.” The next moment the nets are filled with fish as if attracted by a magnet. Wasn’t that also true at the time when Jesus commanded them to cast their nets? “It is the Lord,” says the apostle Jesus loved to Peter.
When we have the courage as church and believers to return to the beginnings when the church or our personal faith was still in its infancy, we will also begin to hear the voice of the Lord again. And that starts with listening. Listening to the Lord calling us “friends”. How wonderful, how promising. Also listen to each other: “It is the Lord” says the apostle, whom Jesus loved very much. Peter in charge listens to him. And he steps into the water to be the first to be with Jesus.
Starting at the beginning, doing when faith and church are still in their infancy, that is what Pope Francis means by “towards a synodal church”. Peter listens to John. “It’s the Lord!” The ministry in our church is important. It is an order that Jesus himself established. But the church is also full of persons, men and women, whom Jesus loves very much. Ordinary believers, who precisely because of this intuitively sense where the Lord is at work and which way he shows us. Let’s listen to each other. Let us look forward with prayer and sincere interest to the outcome of the synodal process in the parishes, the dioceses, our country, Europe, the whole world. But above all, let us also continue with the conversation of faith as Christians among each other and with our fellow human beings. The net that Peter and his followers have cast threatens to tear, it is so full. There were a hundred and fifty-three pieces. Would they have counted the fish one by one? Or is this a wink for the good listener. For 153 is a singular signifying a fulness number, the number of all the nations united that should come to serve God.

“I promise you that you will become fishers of men.” Where they previously felt alone and powerless, they now know that Jesus is always with them to reinforce His promises. We always have to go back to that beginning. Then we will trust again that church and faith do not depend on our success, but on the Lord who calls us. In the end, it’s about countless people. One hundred and forty-four thousand keeps the vision of the Revelation. That is not our arithmetic number, but a number that tells us that what begins with the twelve apostles is multiplied ad infinitum. A net that threatens to burst so full. Who knows if your faith in the risen Lord has touched anyone, perhaps without even knowing it. Who knows that that person has reached others again, and so without end.
Jesus Christ, the risen, the living, is with his church. In a nutritious community. He needs no food of his own, but he is really present in that simple food that He hands out. It is the reference to the Eucharist in which Christ nourishes us with himself and gives us part in his resurrection body. That is the basis of all our lives as people of faith and of our entire mission as Christians. In each Eucharist, as John nudged Peter, may nudge and nod one another and say, “It is the Lord.” Amen

(c) Martin Los pr
1) Gospel of this Mass: Johannes 12:1-14
2) second reading: Revelation 5:11-14
Picture: The miracle of the catch of the 153 fish. By Duccio