When I read that passage from the Acts of the Apostles,
my first thought
is
that things haven't changed a whole lot in 2,000 years.
Religious
authorities are still telling people—
telling laypeople and theologians and
clergy
and especially women—
to obey them instead of obeying
God.
Fortunately, as with those first disciples,
some folks these days
stay faithful to God
by keeping on:
proclaiming the word,
gettting
excommunicated,
and staying in the church speaking out.
Others stay
faithful to God by walking
away.
__________________________________________
Then I read that passage
from Revelation
and hear that those voices crying out in praise are
“every
creature in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and in the
sea,
everything in the universe.”
But our Catholic hierarchy
continues
to excommunicate the divorced who remarry
and LGBT folks who live in
committed relationships.
They continue to require Mass prayers in antiquated
language
unrelated to the spiritual experience of 21st century
Christians.
And there's a long list of people they have silenced
for
applying Vatican II teachings
to theology and ecclesiology and
spirituality.
__________________________________________
And then there's
that passage we hear from John's Gospel.
Scripture scholars agree that this
chapter, Chapter 21,
was written later and added on to John's
Gospel,
which really ended at Chapter 20.
They agree that just about every
detail in this appearance story
creates difficult problems
and leads to
speculative adjustments.
For example, scholars notice that this passage
says
it's Jesus' third appearance,
but it's really the fourth one in
John's gospel.
Some of them think the author left out
Jesus' first
appearance to Mary of Magdala
because she was a leader in the early Christian
movement
and the Johannine community
was arguing for Peter as the
leader.
Others think they didn't count Mary of Magdala
because, in that
culture, the witness of women didn't
count.
__________________________________________
Many scholars think that
this fish story at the end of John's gospel
comes from the same
experience
as the story of the miraculous catch
at the beginning of Luke's
gospel.
In that light, it's significant that both gospel writers
use the
incident to teach about Jesus' call to follow his way—
the call to
discipleship.
__________________________________________
And scholars
agree
that the meanings in this passage are deeply symbolic.
Peter decides
to go fishing, and his friends go along.
They catch nothing and they're
calling it quits.
Someone on the shore calls out to them: “Catch
anything?”
That's a commonplace experience
for anyone who's ever gone
fishing.
Back home in Fremont
in the hunting-fishing-trapping family I
grew up in,
we were regularly out on the water or on the ice
catching
supper.
When we arrived at a spot,
we'd call out to the fishers already
there, “Catch anything?”
Or we'd get there first,
and the newcomers would
call out to us, “Catch anything?”
We were talking about catching fish,
but
Jesus is talking about catching people,
being “fishers of men,” as the
synoptic gospels put it.
And the disciples, without Jesus, catch nothing on
their own.
When he tells them to throw the net on the RIGHT side of the
boat,
they take in a huge catch.
Those 153 fish are symbolic,
too.
Historians say that 1st century folks
believed there to be 153
species of fish.
Jesus' way catches
everybody.
__________________________________________
What follows the
breakfast on the beach
is the dialogue between Jesus and Peter,
crafted to
be parallel to Peter's three denials in Chapter 18.
Peter professes his love
for Jesus three times,
just as he had denied him three times.
Jesus'
response is to call Peter to discipleship:
Keep on feeding and tending my
flock,
keep on following my
way.
__________________________________________
The call of the disciples,
like all calls—all vocations—
is a call to love.
It's a call to keep
on.
Never stop.
Keep on learning and teaching and loving and
serving.
It's like people in love—
people with a vocation to companionship
and commitment.
They never stop thinking about and talking about
and
caring for their beloved.
It's like the spouse of a victim of
Alzheimer's,
willing to suffer whatever is required
for the sake of the
other.
It's like Pope Francis
and the growing mass of people
who see
earth as our common home
and will not be silent about our
responsibility
to change our selfish and wasteful habits.
It's like the
prophetic voices within our Catholic Church:
following the way of
Jesus;
following their consciences
in holy disobedience to unjust
rules;
obeying God, not humans.
It's like us, here, a gathering of Vatican
II Catholics
serious about discipleship
and living lives of commitment to
peace and justice,
the way Jesus
taught.
__________________________________________
We're not
alone.
Everywhere we go Jesus is with us.
Thanks be to God!
--
Holy Spirit Catholic Community
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m./Sundays at 5:30
p.m.
at 3925 West Central Avenue (Washington
Church)
www.holyspirittoledo.org
Rev. Dr. Bev Bingle,
Pastor
Mailing address: 3156 Doyle Street, Toledo, OH 43608-2006
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