3rd Sunday of Easter

Fr James McTavish, FMVD

“If you love me, feed my sheep”

This week we were invited to celebrate mass in a women’s prison. More than 500 inmates attended. The mass was in Tagalog and I had to prepare a homily. I experienced the great desire of the Risen Lord to nourish the members of his Body, the Church. I asked if it is possible to enjoy freedom in any situation. They enjoyed to hear how many holy men and women had spent time in prison – the first Pope (Peter) and the apostle of the Gentiles (Paul) to name but a few. They also enjoyed to hear that I had spent a night behind bars sobering up after a noisy night out with fellow students 20 years ago. Now maybe you have never been in prison, or maybe you were just never caught, but it is fascinating to see the boldness of the apostles inspired by the desire of the Risen Christ to nourish his people.

Now what happened to Peter? Before he followed the authorities and denied Jesus. Now he is saying “Better to obey God than human authorities”. What can these human authorities be? Well they include MY opinion and even the desires of the flesh. Like one woman who was asking me in a consultation if it was wrong for her to have an affair with a married man. She knew the answer already, that it is better to obey the voice of God speaking in her conscience than to obey the voice of the devil. Whenever we follow our flesh, whenever our God is our belly, when we find that we never inconvenience ourselves to pray, that leisure time, movies, internet and TV have priority over spiritual things then it is time to ask ourselves sincerely “Do I obey God or just human authorities?”

What is worse is when we teach others to obey us and not to obey God. For example many children want to attend mass but are prevented because the faith of the parents is weak and has been neglected. Or when a young professional of 26 felt that the Lord was calling her to do an Easter retreat – “Jesus wanted me to go”, she said, “but my parents said no”. Even how many marriages suffer because the in-laws behave like outlaws and won’t let the couple make their own decisions. 

To really obey the Lord we need to come to him to receive the necessary grace. This is why we pray. As many of the Saints attest, including St Alphonsus Liguori, the one who does not pray is lost. In the reading from the book of Revelations the multitudes fall prostrate before the Lamb of God. He is worthy to lay down one’s life for. Many today will sacrifice their life for the stock market, for sporting glory but He alone is worthy to give your whole life for. A sign that all comes from him, that our existence depends on God’s grace and the gifts associated with the Lamb – power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and praise – are 7 in all. All good things come from God to those who ask. When we do not pray we cannot be effective messengers. Here in Philippines it is election time and many candidates go around blasting out their campaign message with catchy tunes attached. At times you wonder whether it is an election or a disco. One candidate came and many tunes were being blasted out. At the end I did not catch the name of the person or the message only the disco tunes. We can make a lot of noise but what remains? One priest I know, a scholar from the Biblicum institute for bible studies in Rome gave very learned homilies. Another brother, very simple, would spend time on his knees in front of the tabernacle preparing his preaching. After the former spoke, many would say “A wise man spoke to me today” and after the latter “God himself spoke to me today”. The sharing of God’s presence cannot be improvised. Intimacy with God and knowledge of him cannot be faked.

For this reason Jesus in the gospel today (John 21,1-19) invites the disciples into this intimate communion with him – “Come and eat breakfast”. The disciples have just made a big catch but Jesus does not want them to just remain in the successes. He knows there will be hardships to come, sufferings, hardships and imprisonment. What will allow the apostles to endure and overcome is not their record of successes but their union with the Risen Lord. “Come and eat, come and dine with me. For the food I give my body, to drink I give you my blood”. After they had eaten Jesus asks the famous question, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Here Jesus makes a specific link between love for him and love for the mission. Jesus does not say “If you love me, sing for me”, “If you love me, tell me so”. He makes his salvific will very clear, “If you love me, feed my sheep”. Jesus asks Peter to become a shepherd. Not always to be the lost sheep. It is a step of maturity, not always to receive but to give. It is interesting the wording of the Greek text. There are two words used for love, agape which is a perfect, selfless love and philo which is the love of a friend, perhaps with some self interest involved. Jesus asks Peter if his love is agape? Peter responds twice that it is philo. The third time Jesus asks “Do you love me” but this time asks if the love is philo. Peter becomes disappointed with the realization that his love is not as perfect as he would like. But still Jesus responds “Feed my sheep”. Love with the love you have and do not be disappointed.

We too experience disappointments when we see our response is not up to standard. We can become disappointed by others, our loved ones, disappointed by the Church and its members but in all this the Risen Lord invites us to keep going, to keep loving and responding. Our little love can never match the great love of Christ, or as St Bernard would note “Can the bee match the honey for sweetness? Never.” But we are not discouraged as nothing is lacking where everything is given. Christ only asks Peter to feed others when he himself has been nourished. Don’t live anymore like a sheep. You are a shepherd now. When you were younger you used to go where you wanted to. Now you are growing in a mature love I will take you by the hand and lead you where you do not want to go. The grace and strength of those words of Christ fired up Peter and the rest of the apostles. Where he went the others followed. We too need this strong encounter with the Risen Christ or we remain prisoners. Lord help us to be free! Help us not to obey the princes of this world, but to obey your voice of love in our hearts. And may we be inspired like Peter to show our love for you by feeding your sheep and being responsible in our daily mission. Amen