Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year C, 2022

“Do You Love Me More Than These?”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year C

St. Bridget Catholic Church, Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Our beautiful Gospel (John 21:1-19) for today is about Jesus’ third appearance to his disciples after his resurrection. The setting is the Sea of Tiberias, which is also called the Sea of Galilee or the Sea of Gennesaret. What are the disciples doing at the sea? For three years, they have been Jesus’ disciples. For three years they have given up their livelihood, given their entire lives to him. At the climax of his ministry, they saw him arrested. They saw him crucified and died. Three days after his death, he rises from the dead, and has appeared to them twice. So what do they do now? What comes next? Unsure of what next to do, they decided to return to their previous occupation, “I am going fishing,” Simon Peter said. “We also will come with you,” replied the disciples with him. After an all night hard work, they caught nothing. Not even a single fish. By morning, they were getting ready to go home in disappointment. Then they saw a strange man standing on the shore and asking, “Have you caught anything to eat?” Their simple response of “No,” suggests they were not happy at all. And they have every reason not to be. No one is particularly happy when hard work does not produce the desired result of success. 

But how come the Apostles, Jesus’ best friends did not know it was him at first? The same thing happened in every other post-Resurrection appearance. At the tomb, Mary Magdalene mistakes him for the gardener, until he calls her name, “Mary” (John 20:11-18). In the upper room, the Apostles mistake him for a ghost until he eats some fish to prove that he is the one and that he has a body (Luke 24:36-43). On the road to Emmaus, the two disciples don’t recognize him even as their hearts burn as Jesus explains all the messianic passages that refer to him in the Scriptures. They only recognize him when he breaks the bread (Luke 24:13-35). In today’s Gospel, the Apostles don’t recognize him immediately at the beach; it is only when the miracle of 153 fish happens that they finally realize that it is the Lord. So, why did his closest friends not recognize him right away? I don’t really know. May be he changed in a real way. How were they able to identify later that he is the one? They recognized him by what he did. The Resurrection appearances give us hints of what kind of bodies we will have in heaven. They will certainly be different and more beautiful. In 1 Corinthians 15:44, St. Paul calls them, “spiritual bodies” rather than “natural bodies. 

In this final appearance, Jesus performs four significant miracles before his Apostles. They worked all night and caught nothing. But by acting on the instruction of Jesus, they caught plenty of fish. That’s the first miracle. The second miracle is that “even though there were so many (fish caught), the net was not torn.” The third miracle is that Jesus serves them a meal of fish and bread. Where did Jesus get the fish and bread? Where did he get the charcoal? Who made the fire for him? If he could feed a multitude of five thousand with just two fish and five loaves, he could certainly do anything. He is God in human flesh. The fourth miracle that occurred at the Sea of Tiberias is the restoration of Simon Peter. 

During the Passion of Jesus, Peter denied Jesus thrice before a charcoal fire. After his Resurrection, Jesus sets another charcoal fire and offers Peter a threefold opportunity to re-commit his love for him. In the exchange Jesus says to Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” The word Jesus uses for “love” is agape, which is the strongest form of love, an unconditional love like God’s own love for us. It is the kind of love that Jesus exemplifies, the totally self-giving love that is willing to die for the beloved. Peter is honest enough to say that he does not have that kind of love, the agape love that Jesus lives and demands of us. So, he uses the word philia (philes te): “You know everything, you know that I love you,” which is the love of friendship. Philia love is a much weaker love but a true and sincere love nevertheless. It is a natural and human love, not the divine and supernatural love that the Lord exemplifies and demands from us. For the second time Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” (Agapes me?). Again, for the second time Peter replies, “philes te” (I love you in true friendship). In his third questioning, Jesus now adopts Peter’s kind of love, the friendship love, “Simon, philes me?” (Do you love me as a friend?”) At this time Peter is grieved. Why? Because twice Jesus asks if he Peter has agape, and twice Peter replies he only has philia, a lower and weaker kind of love. Yet, even on that level, Jesus is still questioning Peter’s philia, Peter’s friendship, Peter’s natural love. Is Jesus doubting Peter’s love? Not at all! Is he rejecting Peter’s love? Not in the least! He is giving Peter a threefold opportunity to redeem himself and to re-commit his love for Jesus. He is also meeting Peter in his own terms, that is, I accept you in your weakness, but I call you to a love that I alone can refine and perfect and purify. Here are the two points: No matter how strong our love for Jesus is, it is always weaker than we realize. But no matter how weak our love for Christ is, the Lord is willing and able to take us as we are and lead us to where he alone can bring us. Peter’s profession of love for Jesus at the Sea of Tiberias was a weaker and natural love, but he eventually responded and accepted the kind of love Jesus was demanding from him. Peter was crucified in Rome for his unyielding faith and love (agape) for Jesus. Today, Jesus asks you and me, “Do you love me more than these?” Do you love me more than power, more than pleasure, more than wealth, and more than honor? Do you love Jesus more than your job, your career, your politics, your social group, your sports, your entertainment, your religion, your culture, your beliefs, notions and views? Do you love Jesus more than your life itself? Here’s the good news: there will be eternal and incomparable reward for those who love Jesus more than the highest goods in life.