キリストって実は森田療法を施した！（私の勝手な持論ですが）
復活後のキリストはガレリアに戻ったペテロとダチが漁をしているときに突如出現！それまでまったく魚が獲れなかったのに、キリストが現れてからあらら！網いっぱいはちきれそうになるまでの大漁！ここでいう魚とはキリストによる神からの恵みの比喩的象徴だといえる。つまり、キリスト教の教えでは、私達凡人（仏教では凡夫）がいくら”偉い”、”なんでも自分でできる”と”思い込んでいても（森田療法でよくあつかう事象）、やはり、キリストなしでは無力なもんである。ペテロはキリストに出会うまではガリレア一の漁師だった。だから、彼の網に魚がまったくかからないことなんてあり得ない。でも、この夜、ペテロとダチの網には魚一匹もかからない！おかしい！しかし、キリストから離れたペテロは無力なもんであるということ示す教訓であると考えられる。こうしたキリスト教の教えは浄土宗、浄土真宗で教える他力本願とどことなく相通ずるところがる。
ペテロとダチが魚いっぱいの網を引きながら岸にたどり着くと、キリストはすでに”火鉢”で魚を焼いており、ペテロをはじめとする弟子たちにさっき獲った魚をちょっと持ってきて、一緒に朝食（トーストと焼き魚）を食べようと誘う。 その後、ペテロと和解。ペテロはキリストが逮捕された時、キリストを見捨てて逃げた。そして、”お前、確か、キリストのダチだろ？”と聞かれても、シラきって知らん振り。逮捕されることを恐れていたから。だから、ペテロにはキリストへの”借り”があった。でも、和解したとはいえ、ペテロにはまだキリストの一番弟子として、キリストの救世事業のボスとしての資格を得るにはまだ不安が残っていた。そこで、キリストは、短期決戦型の森田療法をすることでペテロの不安を治癒し、ペテロはその後、もう振り返ることなく、勇敢にアガペの愛でもってキリストに尽くした。これが最初の教皇の姿である。
The Risen Lord – the Best Fishing Advisor! No Jesus Means No Fish, No Matter How Good You Think You Are Good at Fishing!
During the very first Easter season, the
risen Christ laid the solid foundation for the Church through the disciples. Otherwise, we would not have the Acts of the
Apostles, from which Easter season’s first readings are drawn, written. One of this ground work s that Jesus did to
prepare for the Church was to reinstate Peter and other disciples when he
appeared to the disciples in Galilee.
The disciples, including Peter, returned
to their place of origin, Galilee, from Jerusalem, after the death and
resurrection of Jesus. They met the
resurrected Jesus in Jerusalem, as described in the last Sunday’s Gospel
reading (John 20:19-31). Even though
they had received the Holy Spirit from the risen Lord (20:22), they must have
thought that their special time with Jesus was over, as they went back to their
home region, Galilee, and returned to their old living – fishing. Otherwise, they would have stayed in
Jerusalem and carried on the mission of Jesus, overcoming fear of being killed.
Today’s Gospel (John 21:1-19) tells that
the disciples were not quite ready to take risks and proclaim the Good News
yet, though they have met the risen Lord more than once in Jerusalem. So, the risen Christ had to show up to them
for the third time.
Imagine if the Gospel story had ended
simply with the narratives of Thomas’ amazement of touching the wounds of the
risen Lord. Imagine that the disciples
simply went back to their old business – fishing after Jesus left but the resurrected
Jesus had never appeared to them. There
would not be the Church at all – because until Peter had completely transformed
himself, through reconciliation with Jesus, he could not lead other disciples
to build the Church. Unless Peter did
not build the first Church in Jerusalem, Paul’s mission could not establish the
seven Churches in Asia (see Revelation ch.2 and 3 about the seven churches).
Back in his home region, Galilee, Peter
seemed to have grown bored. He had to do something to take his mind off, to
kill this uneasy feeling without Jesus, after all these eventful three years
with him. Peter did not know what to do. So, he simply decided to go fishing –
just as he used to before he had met Jesus for the first time. And, the rest of
the disciples followed unanimously.
Peter and his fellow fishermen
(disciples) were not getting any fish without his Lord, Jesus, even though he
was a proud fisherman of Galilee. It was
a frustrating fishing endeavor, spending all night of hard work for no catch.
But, once Jesus appeared on the shore and gave an instruction, they got
net-full of fish. This tells us that our efforts could be futile if we were not
with the risen Christ – even though we were experts on whatever we think we
are. The frustrating fishing story of
today’s Gospel reading really reminds us that our efforts without Jesus could
only frustrate us.
If you identify yourself as Christian
and often feel frustrated as your honest hard work is hardly rewarded, it could
be the case that you are not fully in touch with the risen Christ. In Christian understanding, we are not able
to make our very best without Christ. We cannot become our best solely through
our own efforts. In order for Christians
to grow into the fullness, grace from God is indispensable. This important
teaching of Christianity echoes the teaching of “Tarikihongan/他力本願”
(necessity of Amitabha Buddha’s mercy) in Pure Land School of Japanese
Buddhism, including the Shin Buddhism of Japan.
It is also to remind of our need of humility: acknowledging that we
cannot take all credits for our accomplishments and our salvific experience.
Since the disciples were not Buddhist,
instead of Gautama (Shakamuni) Buddha, they needed to be reunited with Christ,
in order for them to be their best and to make their efforts fruitful.
Once the disciples met the risen Lord,
though they did not yet recognize him as the Lord, following his command, they
got miraculous catch, with net full of fish. Then, they realized that the man
standing on the shore, giving the fishing tip, was the risen Lord! From that moment on, they have never gone
back to fishing but to begin following the Way of Jesus. They have never looked back! This echoes
Isaiah 43:18, “Remember not the events of
the past, the things of long ago consider not”, which we read on the 5th
Sunday of Lent.
Jesus Hosting
Fish and Bread Breakfast for His Disciples – Is It Eucharistic?
On the shore, Jesus hosted fish and bread
breakfast with the disciples, charcoal fire ready (John 21:10-14). Jesus asked
the disciples to bring some of their fresh catch, which is an outcome of their
following of his command to put the net in the right place(John 21:6). He must
already have had bread.
This fish and bread breakfast must be a
great way to bring disciples, who abandoned Jesus at the time of his arrest
(Matthew 26:56, also see Matthew 26:31), back together with him. This also reminds that a good meal brings
people together in harmony as such is the essence of table fellowship.
Though the scripture does not say
whether Jesus broke the bread to distribute to the disciples or not on the
shore, it is obvious that he raised the bread to give thanks and broke the
bread to distribute. What else would
Jesus do with his disciples when he has a loaf of bread?
As the two disciples realized that a man
who gave thanks and broke the bread was the risen Christ in Emmaus (Luke
24:30-32), remembering from Jesus doing the same at the Last Supper (Luke 22:19,
Mark 14:22, Matthew 26:26), there was a Eucharistic value in the breakfast that
Jesus hosted for the disciples as he shared his bread with them. Also, this fish and bread breakfast Jesus
hosted for his disciples has some resemblances to Jesus feeding the hungry
multitude with fish and bread (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark
6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:5-15). Although when Jesus fed the multitude, he
multiplied more than enough food to feed such a large crowd out of a scant
amount of fish and bread, there were more fish than they could eat this time,
because the disciples caught net full of fish – thanks to Jesus’ command. Jesus asked to bring only some of the fish
they caught to host the breakfast. So, obviously, there were far more fish than
the amount to fill everyone’s stomach.
Regardless, there is something about having fish and bread with the
Lord.
After all, the fish and bread breakfast
on the shore that Jesus had with the disciples must be a nice reunion.
Jesus Practices
Morita Therapy (a Japanese Psychotherapy) to Cure Peter’s Anxiety Upon
Reconciling with Him, to Commission Him as the First Pope
This breakfast reunion was followed by
Peter’s reconciliation and reinstatement.
In my yesterday’s (April 13, 2013)
entry, I put a detailed reflection of
transformative conversation between Jesus and Peter, consulting the original
Greek text.
Just to sum it up, Peter was not really
answering the Jesus’ three-fold questions
of inquiring Peter’s level of love for him as he had expected. Jesus wanted
Peter to show his “agape” for him.
Jesus wanted Peter to commit to him with “agape”.
But, Peter kept showing only “phileo”
in his answers to Jesus’ inquiries.
Unfortunately, an English translation bible cannot show this because
both “agape” and “phileo” are
translated as “love”. As I pointed in my
previous blog entry, “phileo” should be
translated as “affection” instead of “love”.
Because of this gap between Jesus’
expectation on Peter’s commitment of love for him and Peter’s response, Jesus
had to preach Peter a bit more – telling Peter, “when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will
dress you and lead you where you do not want to go”(John 21:18). This means that Jesus was metaphorically
telling Peter that he wants Peter to show his love strong enough to die for
him. This level of love – love strong
enough to enable Peter to give his own life for Christ – is the very “agape” that Jesus kept asking
Peter. This level of self-sacrificing
love is what was required for Peter to tend and feed the Lord’s sheep.
It seemed that Peter began to understand why Jesus kept
asking him if he love Jesus with “agape”
when he heard this metaphor of his own future crucifixion. But, Peter’s heart was not yet quite solid in
accepting Jesus’ invitation to take care of his sheep because he looked back
and saw John, the disciple Jesus loved (John 21:20-21) and asked Jesus, “What about him?” This clearly came out
of Peter’s residual anxiety.
To snap Peter’s anxiety, Jesus said, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You
follow me”(John 21:22). This is Jesus playing a great psychotherapist to
Peter. It’s obvious that Jesus’ kind of
psychotherapy modality is a brief therapy.
Jesus did not allow Peter to delve into his own anxiety. Instead, Jesus
prompted Peter’s attention from others to what he has to do – to mind his own business
rather than another person’s (John’s).
As a psychotherapist, I often see that anxious clients and
patients tend to see themselves only in comparison to others. Because of this habit they have, they are
more likely to suffer from anxiety, frustration and inferiority complex.
Because of this, they often complain about their lives, feeling that life is
not fair. In fact, life is never fair!
Those who have a healthy sense of self-esteem do not define
themselves in comparison to others. Even though life is never fair to them,
they just do their best with what they can do. Those with healthy self-esteem
just mind their own business with their best.
This was the last psychological hurdle that Peter had to
overcome in order to be qualified to be entrusted by Jesus to take care of his
sheep – the followers of his way, the Christians.
Obviously, Jesus, the “psychotherapist for Peter”, felt that
Peter had enough therapy session for the day, following the fish and bread
reunion breakfast. So, he told Peter to
follow him – to follow his way – way toward giving up his own life for the sake
of Christ, as Jesus did for the Father’s will to save the sinful humans.
Though Peter might still have had some anxiety in becoming
Jesus’ trusted shepherd to follow his way, taking care of his sheep, Jesus
decided that it is best that Peter just overcome his remaining anxiety by
actually following his way. Jesus must have believed that the best way of
curing anxiety is to let Peter begin to do what he was still afraid of doing.
This way of Jesus’ psychotherapy for Peter echoes Morita
Therapy’s emphasis on doing rather than just thinking and talking. In Morita Therapy, this important clinical
principle is called “taitoku/体得”, literally meaning that learning
through a whole body experience, putting the body into the very action.
Morita Therapy, a great psychotherapeutic method developed
by Japanese psychiatrist, Shoma (Masatake) Morita (森田正馬),
emphasizes practicing what a client or patient can do even though the
client or patient may still feel anxious or not so confident or ready to do yet. Morita Therapy believes that it can be a
waste of time and energy to keep talking about how anxious a client or patient
feels to do what he or she has to do now.
It is because talking about anxiety can allow the client or patient to
get obsessed with the anxiety itself.
The most effective way to detach the anxiety is to face the very anxiety
by doing what he or she feels anxious to do, step by step.
This application of Morita Therapy is what Jesus applied to
Peter to finally cure his anxiety so
that he can demonstrate his “agape”
for Jesus.
Though it was not easy for Peter to accept Jesus’ invitation
to love him with “agape”, Peter was
no longer anxious to follow Jesus’ way, taking care of his sheep. He was not concerned about himself and afraid
of his death as he was commissioned to be the shepherd for the Lord’s people
(his sheep). That is why Peter, together
with other disciples, was “rejoicing that they (persecutors) had been found
worthy”(Acts 5:41), as in today’s first
reading .
In fact, his “agape”
is what is required for Pope to shepherd the estimated 1.2 billion Catholics
worldwide as a successor of Peter.
Today, “Peter” is Pope Francis I. May God always bless Pope Francis I to keep
his “agape” for Christ.
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