In today’s Gospel Reading (John 21:20-26), we see Peter’s struggle in accepting Jesus’s last commandment to follow him to death.
When Peter said that he would lay down his life for
Jesus at Last Supper, it was rather his
protest to Jesus saying that he could not follow him where he was going at that
time (John 13:36-37). And Jesus foretold that Peter would rather deny him three
times before the cock crows, instead of following him to die with him (John
13:38).
Peter was not spiritually strong enough to follow
Jesus to death yet at the time of Last Supper. Not only he denied Jesus three
times but even went back to fishing in Galilee with other disciples, even after
their encounters with risen Jesus (John 21:1-3). Knowing not just Peter but all
the other disciples, Jesus said, citing Zechariah 13:7:
This
night all of you will have your faith in me shaken, for it is written: “I will
strike the shepherd, and sheep of the flock will be dispersed; but after I have
been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee
(Matthew 26:31).
On the night of Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples
were in fear of being found by those who had put Jesus to death for their
association with him (John 20:19a). It was rather dangerous for them to remain
in Jerusalem. For their safety, they must have “sneaked out” of the holy city
and “scattered” back in Galilee. And Peter went back to fishing with other disciples,
unbeknownst that risen Jesus would appear to them and commission him.
It must be God’s will that Peter and other disciples
did not catch any fish until their encounter with risen Jesus in Galilee. This
way, they learned a lesson that they could not scatter away from Jesus as he is
the Good Shepherd who makes sure that none of the sheep is taken away (John
10:29) and will bring any scattered sheep back to his fold, which he refers as
the Kingdom of God (Matthew 18:10-14). So, rise Jesus came to the Sea of
Tiberius (Sea of Galilee) where his scattered “sheep” were back in fishing as
they used to before they had met Jesus.
In redeeming his disciples from fishing in Galilee
back to his discipleship in Jerusalem, risen Jesus did not say, “You need to come
back to me”. Rather, he convinced them by performing a sign: enabling them to
catch not only net-full of large fish but 153 of them, to symbolically point
them to what Jesus had called them to be: their apostolic mission as fishers of
people (Matthew 4:19), in making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), as
the number 153 symbolically represents the number of all nations at the time of
Jesus. For this, Jesus called them to follow him, when he first met and
recruited them as his disciples by the same sea (Matthew 4:19a). And they left
their fishing career and followed Jesus to become his disciples (Matthew 4:20).
But, it was like saying that an old habit is hard to
break, Peter and other disciples were back in fishing in Galilee, even though
they had met risen Jesus in Jerusalem more than once. And risen Jesus came to
Galilee, while they were at the see with empty net, to bring them back to the
discipleship before his departure from the earth, so that he could make sure
that they would be sent out to all nations to “fish” people and bring them into
the Church, precursor to the Kingdom, by the power of the Holy Spirit upon
Pentecost.
Obviously, the disciples were drawn back to Jesus,
risen Jesus, as they came to him on the shore, bringing some of the fish that
they caught, as Jesus asked, and Jesus invited them to have breakfast with him (John 21:10-12).
With his sign of enabling them for a great catch and
breakfast fellowship, Jesus “redeemed” his disciples back to him from
scattering in Galilee.
And, after the breakfast Jesus zeroed in on Peter
(John 21:15a), not only because he was the one who said to lay down his life
for Jesus in following him to death (John 13:37) but also because Jesus had
appointed him as the head of the disciples by giving him the keys to the
Kingdom (making Peter as Pope among the original bishops of his Church, by
giving special authorities to him, symbolized with the keys)(Matthew 16:19).
For Peter to be the head to lead the rest of the
disciples after his departure, Jesus had to make sure that Peter would be able
to truly follow him to death, as he had said, to be the holder of the keys.
So, risen Jesus asked Peter if he loved him on the
level of “agape”, as John recorded
with the Greek verb of “agapas”,
which indicates to love a person to the point of laying down one’s own life,
twice (John 21:15, 16). But, Peter’s responses to all of these two questions
were on the level of “phileo”, which is highly affectionate, dearly love, as Peter answered
with, “philo”,
rather than “agapas”. So, when Jesus
asked Peter again, he simply asked him with “philo” this time, and Peter responded with some irritation for
thinking that Jesus had already asked him if Peter loved Jesus with “philo”, though Jesus actually asked with
“agapas” (John 21:17), indicating
that Peter was not yet ready to love Jesus on the level of “agape”, still on the level of “phileo”, even risen Jesus came to get
him back not only to the discipleship but to commission him as the one who has
his authority on his behalf among all the disciples. But, Jesus did not press
Peter any further at that time, because he knew that the Holy Spirit, which he
had already promised during Last Supper as another Parakletos (Advocate) (John 14:16) would empower him to grown in
his love from the level of “phileo”
to “agape”, enabling him to truly lay
down his life, for him and his Church.
So, Jesus
reiterated to Peter of his intent to have asked him if he loved him that
it was because he wanted to know if Peter was truly ready to follow him to
death so that God would be glorified (John 21:18) and called him to follow him
(John 21:19).
However, Peter was not resolved to follow Jesus in
the way of “agapas”, laying down his
life, as he reacted with some hesitation, asking him, “What about John?”(John
12:20-21). To this, Jesus pressed Peter that he must follow him, indicating
that Peter had no other choice, upon implying that he had a specific plan for
John (John 21:22). Furthermore, this resulted in the rumor among the disciples
that John would not die, though Jesus was only testing the level of Peter’s
readiness by saying if he would want John to remain alive until Parousia (John
21:23).
Though Peter had been a great and unshakably
resolved apostle, always ready to die for Jesus, maintaining the level of “agape”, upon Pentecost, as we can see
from the Acts of the Apostles, yesterdays and today’s Gospel Readings (John
21:15-19, 20-26) remind us that Peter was not yet ready to follow Jesus to
death, even after the resurrection, as he had promised during Last Supper. In a
way, this tells us the power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, which made Peter
able to follow Jesus to death without fear. Upon Pentecost, Peter never looked
back, though he was still looking back
and even turned back to his old life, after Jesus’ resurrection.
What about us, especially those who have received
the Sacrament of Confirmation? Those who have been baptized with the Holy
Spirit, the power? If your faith unshakable and are you firmly resolved and do
you remain so to lay down your life for the sake of Jesus and his Church?
Remember, if not, even you have received
Confirmation and been baptized with the Holy Spirit, it could be a serious
offence against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:32).
In today’s First Reading (Acts 28:16-20, 30-31), we see how Paul spent his days in Rome. Remember, it was Jesus, who told Paul that he would give powerful testimony about him also in Rome, as he did in Jerusalem (Acts 23:11). So, he did, as Jesus wanted him to.
Upon arriving in Rome (Acts 28:11), as his request
to appeal his case to Caesar (Nero) was granted by Governor Festus (Acts
25:12), Paul gave a powerful testimony to the Jews in Rome, while waiting for
the day to make his appeal to Caesar (Acts 28:17-20). The audience of Paul’s
testimony in Rome took a great interest in Paul and what he has to say, as well
as, his case, while he took advantage of this to expound on his testimony to
the Kingdom of Jesus’ teaching (Acts 28:21-23). To Paul’s continuous
testimonies, some agreed but others did, and those who did not began to disassociate
themselves from Paul (Acts 28:24-25). So, Paul said, in reference to Isaiah 6:9–10,
to these Jews, who refused to believe Paul’s testimonies that the Jesus’ Good News
of salvation to be given to the Gentiles rather than to the Jews whose eyes
were blind and whose ears are deaf because of the hardened heart (Acts
28:26-28). And Paul continued to give testimonies of Jesus to those whose
hearts were open for his remaining days in Rome – until his martyrdom, thus,
fulfilling his apostolic mission, as Jesus’ chosen instrument (Acts 9:15) and as
commanded by Jesus (Acts 23:11) (Acts 28:30-31).
So, Paul left these words to one of his trusted
successor of apostolic mission, Timothy:
I
have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now
on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will
award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his
appearance (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
And both Peter and Paul gave their ultimate
testimony of their abilities of “agapas”
– to love Jesus to the point of laying down their lives, through their blood in
Rome. Though the ways Jesus drew these
two powerful apostles to his work and the ways the Holy Spirit empowered them
were different, both of them remained firmly resolved as they were always
filled with and driven by the Holy Spirit.
Remember, “phileo” is not good enough to follow Jesus to death. You need to love Jesus with “agape” to be ready to die for him. To transcend from the level of “phileo” to the level of “agape” , you need to receive and be baptized with the Holy Spirit, the power, on Pentecost! And this feast of the Holy Spirit is tomorrow, on the 50th day from the day that Jesus became the firstfruits of the dead by his resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20), to mark the birth of the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, the one holy catholic apostolic Church of Jesus. So, this is Shavout (Exodus 34:22), the feast of the firstfruits (Yom ha-Bikkurim – Numbers 28:26).
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