Friday 29th May 2020
Seventh week of Easter
Acts 25:13-21, John 21:15-19
As we gradually come to the end
of the Easter season, we look into the future with hope. In the gospel reading
of today, we are presented with the person of Peter as the central character
among other disciples. We know that when the head is cut off, the other parts
of the body are more or less useless.
Peter who is the head of the
Apostles seemed to have been tired of waiting for the coming of the Holy
Spirit, he therefore decided to return to his fishing business, either for
pleasure or for gain. Whatever the reason, we see that the decision did not go
down well with Jesus, because when Jesus had called him, he had commissioned
him to become a Fisher of men. With his miraculous intervention, Peter had a
great catch of fish. Nevertheless, the question of Jesus to Peter; "do you
love me?" is very central. Scholars interpret this question in two ways:
1. Seeing the great catch of
fish, Jesus may have asked Peter if he loved him more than the fish and the
money he would make from selling the fish. This means therefore, that Jesus was
reminding Peter that he had called him to leave his lucrative business to
preach the gospel. In other words, if you love me more than this fish, business
and money, go back and preach my word.
2. Some other scholars believe
that Jesus was not referring to the fish, but to the other Apostles. Since
Peter was the head of the Apostles, Jesus was therefore asking him if he loved
him more than the other Apostles because he was the head. For some others also,
the fact that Jesus asked Peter three times and gave him an opportunity to say
he loved him three times, was an opportunity in form of a second chance for him
to atone for his denial of Jesus three times before his passion and death.
Whatever the reason Jesus asked
Peter if he loved him, one thing is very central which is the fact that in each
of the response of Peter, Jesus commanded him to love and feed his sheep. We
can therefore ask ourselves the question today: do we love God more than our
business, money and career? Do we love God more than our colleagues and those
around us? If our answer is yes, Jesus calls us today to love and feed one
another. Just as Jesus tells Peter today, we can only say that we love Jesus if
we love and strengthen the sheep, the people of God.
It is only this love that made
Paul to suffer all the persecutions in the course of his missionary works as we
also see in the first reading of today. When you love Jesus, pain and suffering
are nothing, in so far as his name is made known. May God help us to show that
we love him. Amen.
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP
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