PETER'S CALL -- AND OURS

Third Sunday of Easter, Year C. John 21:1-19

AIM: To instill hope by showing the greatness of Peter=s vocation, despite his weakness. 

AHave you caught anything?@ Jesus calls out from the shore at dawn to his friends in their boat, weary from a night of unsuccessful fishing. What he really said was: AYou haven=t caught anything, have you?@ Jesus was having fun with them. In addition to the fun of surprising them by appearing at all, he was poking fun at their lack of success in the one thing they were supposed to be good at: catching fish. Not once in the gospels is there any record of Peter and his friends catching a single fish without Jesus= help. Here that help consists in the suggestion that they try again. As soon as they do, they feel the net heavy with fish. One of those in the boat tells Peter: AIt is the Lord.@ It is the unnamed Adisciple whom Jesus loved,@ as he is called in this gospel according to John. Peter and the others hurry ashore and find a charcoal fire with fish on it, and bread. What a beautiful human touch that is.  Knowing that they would be hungry after their long night=s labor, Jesus has made breakfast for them.

Did Peter recall another charcoal fire, not at daybreak but at night, in the courtyard of the High Priest=s house at Jerusalem, where Peter stood warming himself? We cannot know. It is clear, however, that he was soon remembering what he had done at that other charcoal fire. Jesus= thrice repeated question, ADo you love me?@ reminded Peter all too vividly of how he had done what Jesus had warned him, only hours before, that he would do C and what Peter had immediately boasted he would never do. Three times Peter had denied that he even knew his Master, even as Jesus was on trial for his life in a nearby room.

APeter was distressed,@ we heard in the gospel, because Jesus asked his question a third time. Of course he was distressed! The memory of that three-fold denial was painful. Peter=s thrice repeated assurance of love is his rehabilitation. In response to each pledge of love, Jesus assigns Peter responsibility: to feed Jesus= sheep. It is noteworthy, however, that the flock entrusted to Peter=s care remains the Lord=s: Amy lambs ... my sheep.@ Jesus himself is Athe chief shepherd,@ as we read in the First Letter of Peter (5:4).   

Why did Jesus give this responsibility to Peter, of all people? It cannot have been because Peter loved Jesus most. There was another present at that lakeside breakfast who clearly loved Jesus more; who never deserted him; who, alone of all Jesus= male disciples, stood by his cross as he died. If love were the basis for the office of chief shepherd after the Lord himself, the office would have gone to Athe disciple whom Jesus loved.@ 

Jesus gave the office of leader to the friend whose love was imperfect; whose impetuosity and weakness made the name Jesus gave him C Peter, the rock C as ironic as calling a 350-pound heavyweight ATiny.@ As long as Peter thought that he was strong; as long as he could boast that though all others might desert Jesus, he would remain faithful, Peter was not ready for leadership. For that Peter had to experience his weakness. He had to become convinced that without a power greater than his own, he could do nothing.

Part of that process was discovering that he could not even catch a fish without Jesus= help. Peter had to learn his weakness through the humiliation of failure: failure at fishing; failure in the face of Jesus= clear warning, failure despite his boast that he, at least, would never fail. And it was to this weak man, this boaster, that Jesus entrusted the care of his church.

Is there someone in this church today who feels weak? You have made so many good resolutions. Some you have kept. Many you have not. You have high ideals. Yet time and again you have compromised. You had so many dreams, hopes, plans. How many have you achieved? You wanted so much. You have settled for so little. If that is your story, you have a friend in heaven. His name is Simon Peter. 

If Peter=s story is yours C boasting followed by humiliating failure; impetuosity and then indecisiveness; pledges of loyalty no matter what, and then swift betrayal C if you see any of that in your life, or even all of that, then Jesus has a task for you. He is saying to you, as he said to Peter: AFollow me.@

If, like Peter, you have discovered that you are weak, that command is reassuring. Jesus does not ask you to be strong, for he knows your weakness. He does not ask you to be a pioneer or a leader. He knows that is too hard: that you would soon lose your way C or at least your nerve. He asks one thing alone. He asks you to follow him.

Speaking a few years ago in Rome about Peter, Pope Benedict XVI, said that we often think of Peter as weak before the resurrection, but afterwards B especially after the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost B as strong. The reality, the Pope said, is more complex. Despite the strengthening gift of the Holy Spirit, first given to Peter and the other disciples of Jesus at Pentecost, Peter retained to the end of his life something of his old weakness. Though remaining faithful to the Lord who had called him was sometimes easy for Peter, there were also times when it was difficult.  

For us too following Jesus Christ is not always easy, for he leads often through difficult ways. If you know your weakness, however, you have an advantage over those who still think they are strong. Then you will trust, as you try to follow your Master and Lord, not in any strength of your own, but only and always in the strength of Jesus Christ. His strength is always reliable; and it is always available. We have only to ask and Jesus is there.