Today’s Gospel includes the third and final appearance of Jesus to the apostles as recorded by the Gospel of St. John. Sometimes referred to as the “Last Breakfast,” the scene recounts how Jesus revealed himself by reminding the apostles of a similar event at the beginning of his ministry. Peter, James and John had been fishing and had encountered Jesus one morning after a failed night of fishing. On that occasion, Jesus used their boats from which to preach to the crowd and then asked Peter to put out the nets. Reluctantly Peter did as Jesus asked and was rewarded with a catch that threatened to tear their nets.
That scene from the synoptic Gospels is included in the Gospel of St. John as a post-resurrection story. In the synoptic Gospels, the story is used as a means to commission the first apostles as “fishers of people.” In St. John’s Gospel, it is used as a not too subtle reminder that they had been commissioned to preach forgiveness to the people. However, they seem to have reverted to their former occupation. This scene then serves as a reminder to them that they have been chosen to continue the mission that Jesus started.
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, he see them fulfilling their commission. Rather than fishing, they are preaching in the Portico of Solomon in the Temple and then before the Sanhedrin. Peter, who often fails to say the right thing in the Gospels, has now become the orator which God has chosen to spread the Gospel to the children of Israel and to the Gentiles. He is joined in that work by the other apostles.
Those who preach are often reminded that they must first be evangelized themselves before they can bring the Gospel to others. This certainly seems to be the case with the apostles. Even after the resurrection, they display a tendency to return to their former way of life. However, Jesus persists in inviting them to apostles, sent by the Lord to preach the good news. We have been similarly commissioned; having been evangelized, we are now to be evangelists. Faith comes through hearing, but unless we speak the Good News, it cannot be heard.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator