Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus
As the Indian Orthodox Church, which follows the Gregorian calendar, is celebrating its Third Sunday after the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, the Gospel portion that was read today is a continuation of the portion that was read last Sunday, i.e. Gospel of John 21:1-14. Today we continue onto verses 15-19. You may read the account from the Gospel of St. John on the link here – John 21. I would like to break the whole chapter into two portions for ease in understanding and to convey my thoughts.
When we read this Gospel account, we are able to understand that this meeting which is described in John Chapter 21 is the third encounter of the disciples with the Resurrected Christ. Twice before the disciples have met Christ in the closed upper room and during the last meeting, we learn of how Thomas believed in Christ’s resurrection and declared “My Lord, and my God” (John 20:28). The disciples have met Christ in His glorified body and touched His wounds and ate with Him, and were able to verify the physical presence of Christ among their midst.
To be fishers of men through Christ
But even after encountering with the resurrected Christ twice before, we see a group of disciples who seem to have lost their purpose in life. When these disciples were first called by Jesus at the beginning of His public ministry, they were called from their profession of being fishermen to be “fishers of men”. And through the years when they followed Christ, they found themselves surrounded by people, who searched for them and followed them so that they could get closer to Jesus. So when Jesus was betrayed and crucified, they had lost their sense of belonging in the society and they were afraid to meet the people around them.
But suddenly, on the third day, Christ appears in front of them in His glorified state, such that He was able to appear amidst them within closed rooms. They witnessed a person who was killed and died not three days before, risen from death and touched His wounds, verifying His physical presence among their midst. But He would later disappear from their midst and they didn’t know when He would appear next. In such a situation, they didn’t know where to go and how to go about the commission that Jesus had given them, when He said,
As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
John 20: 21
The next time Jesus appeared amidst them, again within a closed room, He allowed one of their fellow followers, Thomas, to touch Him on the side of His chest. He dined with them. When Thomas exclaimed Christ as “My Lord and My God”, their hearts would have resounded in resonance to the exclamation. They would have also declared along with Thomas that Christ was indeed their Lord and God. And after this brief encounter, Christ again disappeared from among them.
The disciples, though they now knew that Christ had resurrected from death, they were not able to enjoy His presence as they had before His death. Though Christ had breathed the Holy Spirit upon them (John 20:22), they still missed the physical presence of their Master in their midst. Though they would have started to understand some of the teachings of Christ, they still were not able to comprehend His teachings in entirety. They would have felt lost without the presence of their Master in their midst. They did not know what course of action to take up when they waited for the next appearance of Christ.
While they waited for Jesus to make His reappearance, they would have thought back to the reason why they started following Him in the first place. They were fishermen, and they started following Jesus, believing that He would make them ‘fishers of men’, to become political rulers and overcome the Roman rule. They lost all hopes of being political rulers on account of Jesus’ death. But now when Christ had resurrected, they were not able to comprehend their roles in His kingdom.
Hence, when they were not able to find Christ amidst them and as they were not able to comprehend their role, they started to go back to their old profession of fishing. Thus, Peter and the others go to their old fishing location to catch the fish in the sea. But what do we find there? We find that they toiled the whole night, but were not able to catch any fish. The trade which they had practiced and honed over the years was not able to help them catch any fish in the sea.
But Christ (unknown to them) appears at the shore and tells them to cast their nets on the right side of their boats and He says, “You will find” (v.6). Christ does not instruct them to catch the fish, but that they will find the fish in their nets. And truly so, when they cast the nets on the right side of their boats, they found that their nets were filled with fish such that they were not able to draw the nets back in the boat.
Early Church Fathers teach us that the fish signify the people all around the world.
The Gospel writer through his account of the life of Jesus tells us that during the public ministry of Christ, the Heavenly Father was drawing the people to Jesus (6:44) and Jesus draws all the people to Himself (12:32). But now, post His resurrection, Christ was preparing the disciples to be responsible in drawing and hauling the people from all across the world. However, when the disciples try to draw and haul the fish by themselves, they catch nothing. But it is only through their response to the instruction and guidance of Jesus that they were able to catch more than they could handle.
The risen Christ is the source of their action. Without Jesus, they disciples were not able to catch any fish, than people can produce faith in themselves or anyone else. But it is in response to the words of Christ, that the disciples were able to draw an enormous catch of fish towards Jesus.
In the same manner, we too have been blessed to be in the presence of the resurrected Christ through our baptism. We are also sent out in the world, just as Christ sent our His disciples. Many a times, though we know that we are baptised and are called the children of God, we do not find the presence of Christ within us and we may find ourselves lost in the pleasures and anxieties of this world. At times, we become so over burdened with the worries and anxieties this world throws at us, that we are not able to delve deeper in our hearts and have a constant and steady relationship with Christ. Many a times, we go about our ministry and our jobs with all the selfish intentions and not have Christ in its midst.
And on account of this attitude, we are not able to become the fishers of men that God intends us to be and we draw out nothing (or no one) towards Christ, even in spite of all the hard work we may do all through the night. But we need to realize that it was only through the direction of Jesus that His disciples were able to gather the fish and bring it towards Him. In the same manner, it is only when we have Christ in our lives and directing our steps that we will be able to live out the calling He intended for us.
Just as the disciples were sent out as fishers of men, we too are called to be the fishers of men. But let us not strive for self gratification of wealth, stability and peace in our life, but let us strive towards attaining the goal that Christ has set in our lives by depending upon His directions for our life.
Finding solidarity in like-minded individuals
Another point that I would like to share with you is with regards to the number of fish that was gathered up in the net. When the disciples, at the instruction of the stranger, cast their nets on the right side of their boats, they were not able to draw the net back in on account of the multitude of fish they found. The catch was so bountiful and heavy that it could not have been drawn in by just a single person, but everyone in the boat had to struggle in unison to bring the fish towards the shore.
This image of a group of fishermen struggling to bring the fish to the shore is very important for us as well. If they were acting in their own accord with no unity among themselves, they would have lost the catch by tearing up the nets and come to the empty handed. It was important for them to work in unison, with one mindset, to not try and bring onto their boats (which would have resulted in the tearing of nets), but drag the fish to the shore in unison.
In our individualistic worldviews, we tend to work out the ministry that Christ has set for us all by ourselves. We fail to realize that the harvest and the fish in the sea is such a large quantity that the completion of the ministry is not possible by one single individual. Also, if one person is acting by himself/herself in the ministry, it becomes easier for the evil one to entice him/her in the sins of the eyes, body and pride. Hence we need to surround ourselves with like minded individuals, who have the same passion in drawing in the fish from the sea towards Christ, with the same zeal that we would have.
These fellow individuals also become our support in times of difficulties that we would face in our ministry. They also become fellow prayer partners, who are able to uphold each other through the warfare of prayer. They also help us to turn our minds from sinful thoughts that may haunt us, without even us knowing about it.
I guess this would be one of the reasons that the disciples, after Pentecost, always chose to go about their ministry in pairs of like minded individuals.
The seashore signifying the Body of Christ – the Church
Lastly, my thoughts go towards the action of the disciples of drawing the fish to the shore where Christ was standing. When the disciples caught the fish in their nets, what would have happened if they had drawn the fish onto their boats? The Gospel writer states that the catch was of such a large quantity, that if they had forcefully drawn the fish onto the boats, the nets would have torn and they would have lost their catch. Even if they were able to draw the fish into the boats, there was a plausibility that the boat would have sunk under the burden of the fish. Hence what did they do?
They dragged the fish towards the shore where Christ was waiting for them. And it is at the shore, at the foot of Christ, they were able to count the fish they had caught and marvel at the huge variety of fish they were able to catch that morning. In our life, where is this shore where we can find Christ waiting for our return?
This shore is the Body of Christ, the Church, where Christ dwells. It is to the Church where we as disciples of Christ need to draw the people who follow us. For it is in the community of the Church that the new born believers are able to encounter Christ. Today, we find that many ministers draw the catch towards themselves which end up in them either losing the catch because their net was torn or on account of their sins, their boat suck under the burden of holding the catch in and taking care of the catch. But the Church as the body of Christ, is meant to welcome all the influx of the faithful in her fold, without discriminating on grounds of sex, nationality, race or creed.
The role of the Church is to not only provide a respite from the labours of the faithful, but also provide nourishment to the souls of all the faithful through the breaking and distribution of the body and blood of Christ. The Church should engage in exhorting and encouraging the faithful to fight the good fight and to keep on the right path. The Church is where the faithful engage in honing their talents so that too can become fishers of men. The Church, in effect, is not restricted to a building where the faithful gather, but the Church is the fellowship of the living body of Christ. This body is comprised of all the faithful from different walks of life coming together with one mind.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, as we move along the year from the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and draw closer to the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord and during most of the days of our life, we find that we are lost and we lack Christ in our midst. And seeking Christ, we try to go out into the world and toil away the whole night without bearing much fruit. Dear brethren, we need to realize that Christ is always ready to be present in our midst and is always willing to be with us, but it is we who are moving away from Christ.
We can find the fruits of our toils in this world, only when Christ is there in our midst and our toils bear much fruit only through His directives. Also, we need to find individuals who are like minded to the need of the ministry in and outside the Church. We find our burdens lessened and our duties worked out in a responsible and timely manner when we have hands who share in managing the load. Lastly, as fishers of men, we are called to bring the faithful to the shore, that is the body of Christ, the Church.
May our resurrected Lord have mercy upon us so that we are able to become fishers of men.
Your brother in Christ Jesus
Jobin George
