According to the Johannine post-Resurrection timeline, the first appearance of Jesus was to Mary Magdalene. She did not recognise Him at first and instead assumed that He was the gardener. The second manifestation, Jesus stood in the midst His Apostles gathered in the Cenacle or the Upper Room. Thomas, who was not with the other 10, refused to believe. But finally, Jesus showed Himself to all of them, including Thomas, who occasioned for us the sublime confession: “My Lord and my God”.
The initial refusal of Thomas to believe could be explained from the oft-repeated adage that “seeing is believing”. But it is more than just the necessary “seeing in order to believe”. Why? We can be spoilt and selfishly short-sighted, like the Israelites in the desert. But what makes our present generation even more myopic is that like hostages suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, we are prisoners of progress who seem to worship technology as our saviour.
What does that mean?
Imagine the movie “Avatar” which is based on the principle of transhuman enhancement. Perhaps you can appreciate how our mechanical mindset coupled with our self-absorption facilitate our fascination with technology. We may have unwittingly embraced a vision that life should imitate the smooth running of machines. Technical evolution supports such a myth so much so that even a tiny problem can very quickly overwhelm us and we slide into a pit of despair. In desolation we easily forget the blessings we may have had. In trials, we are tempted to doubt and when we forget, we will not recognise. Modern man mindlessly loses consciousness of God’s faithfulness when troubles arise.
Maybe it makes sense that many of Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances took place within the setting of a meal. The most famous one was the Road to Emmaus which ended with the Breaking of Bread. Only then did they recognise Him. Now, by the seashore, again we witness both a recognition and a reconciliation set within a “Eucharistic” meal and this is reminiscent of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish. The Disciple whom Jesus loved recognised Him from the haul they caught and after Jesus gave them bread and fish, a restoration of friendship took place between Him and Peter.
This meal context for the rehabilitation of relationship teaches us an important reality in our friendship with Jesus. Healing takes place at the Eucharist, in Holy Communion. The strength of their relationship was built upon the memory they have of Christ. The Apostles were all missioned with an important task and at a time most confusing, they forgot the mission and they returned to the routine which they were most familiar with. From fishermen, He had called them to be fishers of men but now they have reverted back to their previous profession as Peter announced. “I want to go fishing”.
For them, it was a case of familiarity as in “better the devil you know than the devil you do not know”. Frequently, in our journey of conversion, we easily revert to old habits like drunks to drinking, gamblers to gambling, junkies to doping, adulterers to adultery, etc. We mistakenly believe that sin we have been trying to shake off is a viable source of life. Returning to what they knew best, they caught nothing. Their portion or destiny lay with Jesus and His way or path and not with what they had been familiar with. Conversion requires leaving behind sinful ways and the forgetfulness of Jesus opens the door for a return to old sinful ways.
One could consider that the amnesia and the subsequent rehabilitation of Peter as a recovery of love, a return to love. To recognise Jesus, we need love. Without love, the Truth whom Jesus is, is harder to get at. But the relationship between love and truth is a little more complicated than we realise.
To illustrate, we generally cannot see the weakness of those whom we are partial to. Remember how when your children fight and one will accuse you of being unfair because you have taken the side of your favourite child whom you can see no wrong? Or you might wonder why sometimes a person can be so blind to the obvious faults of his or her beloved. When we are partial, we cannot see the full truth. Not everything loving is true love. Hence, the relationship between love and truth is nuanced when we see what demands will be made of Peter. When asked three times if he loved Jesus, Peter answered in the affirmative. Then Jesus reminded him to feed His lambs and His sheep. For all his impulsiveness, Peter needed to grow in love and the three questions of Jesus were to help Peter clarify his love.
The fuller picture of love for Jesus reveals that love is more sacrificial than it is sentimental. For Peter, love for His Lord and God will express itself in laying down his life in due time. Likewise for many of us, only true love for Jesus makes it possible to embrace the discipleship of self-sacrifice even if it does not, in the process, smoothen its path. True love for Jesus is forged in the furnace of suffering. This we observe in Peter’s courageous stand in the face of opposition and persecution.
Finally, to love and follow this Crucified and Risen Christ perfectly requires that we know him better. How can we do that? As Jesus gave them bread and fish to eat by the shore, He continues to give us down the centuries His Body and Blood to eat and drink. Our love for Jesus, like Peter, will always be imperfect. But again like Peter, healing of that imperfect love takes place in the Eucharist. To deepen our love for Jesus, love the Eucharist (and also the other Sacraments) because the most perfect memory of Christ comes from the Eucharist.
What does that mean?
Imagine the movie “Avatar” which is based on the principle of transhuman enhancement. Perhaps you can appreciate how our mechanical mindset coupled with our self-absorption facilitate our fascination with technology. We may have unwittingly embraced a vision that life should imitate the smooth running of machines. Technical evolution supports such a myth so much so that even a tiny problem can very quickly overwhelm us and we slide into a pit of despair. In desolation we easily forget the blessings we may have had. In trials, we are tempted to doubt and when we forget, we will not recognise. Modern man mindlessly loses consciousness of God’s faithfulness when troubles arise.
Maybe it makes sense that many of Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances took place within the setting of a meal. The most famous one was the Road to Emmaus which ended with the Breaking of Bread. Only then did they recognise Him. Now, by the seashore, again we witness both a recognition and a reconciliation set within a “Eucharistic” meal and this is reminiscent of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish. The Disciple whom Jesus loved recognised Him from the haul they caught and after Jesus gave them bread and fish, a restoration of friendship took place between Him and Peter.
This meal context for the rehabilitation of relationship teaches us an important reality in our friendship with Jesus. Healing takes place at the Eucharist, in Holy Communion. The strength of their relationship was built upon the memory they have of Christ. The Apostles were all missioned with an important task and at a time most confusing, they forgot the mission and they returned to the routine which they were most familiar with. From fishermen, He had called them to be fishers of men but now they have reverted back to their previous profession as Peter announced. “I want to go fishing”.
For them, it was a case of familiarity as in “better the devil you know than the devil you do not know”. Frequently, in our journey of conversion, we easily revert to old habits like drunks to drinking, gamblers to gambling, junkies to doping, adulterers to adultery, etc. We mistakenly believe that sin we have been trying to shake off is a viable source of life. Returning to what they knew best, they caught nothing. Their portion or destiny lay with Jesus and His way or path and not with what they had been familiar with. Conversion requires leaving behind sinful ways and the forgetfulness of Jesus opens the door for a return to old sinful ways.
One could consider that the amnesia and the subsequent rehabilitation of Peter as a recovery of love, a return to love. To recognise Jesus, we need love. Without love, the Truth whom Jesus is, is harder to get at. But the relationship between love and truth is a little more complicated than we realise.
To illustrate, we generally cannot see the weakness of those whom we are partial to. Remember how when your children fight and one will accuse you of being unfair because you have taken the side of your favourite child whom you can see no wrong? Or you might wonder why sometimes a person can be so blind to the obvious faults of his or her beloved. When we are partial, we cannot see the full truth. Not everything loving is true love. Hence, the relationship between love and truth is nuanced when we see what demands will be made of Peter. When asked three times if he loved Jesus, Peter answered in the affirmative. Then Jesus reminded him to feed His lambs and His sheep. For all his impulsiveness, Peter needed to grow in love and the three questions of Jesus were to help Peter clarify his love.
The fuller picture of love for Jesus reveals that love is more sacrificial than it is sentimental. For Peter, love for His Lord and God will express itself in laying down his life in due time. Likewise for many of us, only true love for Jesus makes it possible to embrace the discipleship of self-sacrifice even if it does not, in the process, smoothen its path. True love for Jesus is forged in the furnace of suffering. This we observe in Peter’s courageous stand in the face of opposition and persecution.
Finally, to love and follow this Crucified and Risen Christ perfectly requires that we know him better. How can we do that? As Jesus gave them bread and fish to eat by the shore, He continues to give us down the centuries His Body and Blood to eat and drink. Our love for Jesus, like Peter, will always be imperfect. But again like Peter, healing of that imperfect love takes place in the Eucharist. To deepen our love for Jesus, love the Eucharist (and also the other Sacraments) because the most perfect memory of Christ comes from the Eucharist.
