GOSPEL REFLECTION, FRIDAY IN EASTER OCTAVE, 25 APRIL 2025

John 21:1-14.  Christ is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  The third  time that the resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples was on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee).  The disciples had returned to their work as fishermen after that first Easter.  Jesus had told them in a resurrection appearance in Jerusalem to go back to Galilee and they would see him there.  Someone was standing near the shore as the disciples were fishing in the early morning while it was still a bit dark, having caught nothing all night.  The man shouted to them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat.  They did so and caught a multitude of fish so that the nets were almost bursting.  They did not know at first who the man was, but it was John the Evangelist who first recognised that it was Jesus.  When he heard this, Peter leapt into the water, rushing to shore to be the first of them to greet the Lord.  There they had breakfast with Jesus, who offered them bread and fish.

The way that the gospels tell of Jesus’ resurrection is to make absolutely clear the experiences of the disciples when they had encountered the risen Lord.  Jesus appeared only to his disciples, but there were rumours in Jerusalem and in Galilee that this had occurred.  The gospels seek to make absolutely clear that it is the risen Lord himself bodily present to the disciples, not a vision, not a ghostly appearance, but it was Jesus himself.  It was urgent for the apostolic generation to make sure that all we who have followed are absolutely clear that Jesus had risen bodily, for this is the paschal mystery at the very heart of  the faith of Christian life.  It is first of all the faith of the Church, then of each of us in our turn.

Most of the resurrection appearances were to the disciples gathered together.  St Augustine commented that whenever we hear of the disciples together in a boat, which we do several times, we must recall that this is the gathered Church.  It is to the Church that the risen Lord appears.  The Church in turn hands on knowledge of that experience to all of us who follow so that we may recognise the Lord whenever we hear or read the Word of God or meet him fully present to us in the Sacrament of the Altar.