Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 1 May 2022

Michiel van der Borch_Rhimebible by Jacob van Maerlant Utrecht.The Hague Meermano Museum

Third Sunday After Easter

Sometimes the most insignificant, obscure or plain curious parts of a scriptural text will be the very instrument that opens up a huge chain of reflection and thought within us; that of course is part of the tradition of Lectio Divina, and one of the ways in which it operates. So for me, as I prayed about the readings for this reflection, it seemed a sensible decision to just be quiet, and simply let the Spirit choose the word. Here it is; 'And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."'(Jn 21:19) Jesus is of course speaking to Peter, he has just asked him if he loves him, and has given Peter the task of feeding the lambs and sheep of the flock, but he has also indicated the kind of death he will have and finishes off by this particular sentence.

You may of course find nothing odd about it, for in so many ways it is simply the command we hear to 'follow Christ', but Jesus is going to say it again, for we find a few sentences later, when Peter has seen John following them, and wants to know about his future. This time, avoiding an answer about John, Jesus says to Peter again 'You follow me'(Jn 21:22) . If we take a break there and cast our minds back, not only to that distant commissioning of Peter and the others at the beginning of Jesus' ministry to leave all and follow him, but also going to a darker place before the passion, where Peter denies him three times; then and only then can we begin to fathom just what is going on.

Many commentators call this passage in John the restoration, or re-commissioning of Peter. That's exactly what it is, from a place of shame, pain and denial, Peter is pulled out from the others to have love, great love demanded from him: 'He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." [Jesus] said to him, "Feed my sheep. (Jn 21: 17) The great liturgist, Romano Guardini, remarked that this passage shows clearly the message of transformative forgiveness, that in Peter's case, 'an event from the past is recalled, transfigured, and continued'. This is perhaps where I came to in my thoughts, the appearances and stories of the Risen Lord are to lead us into change, not necessarily radical change but as Peter shows, a healing of past which also allows us to continue on our faith journey as we always have been.

Can I explain? In religious faith we are often told stories of radical change and great transformation, Paul, Ignatius of Loyola, Augustine in the garden, the woman caught in adultery, Francis, Joan of Arc, Edith Stein, the list is endless, all for whom the call to Christ implied a real shift in their manner and style of living. Many of these have a very direct experience of Christ which is so striking it causes an immediate change of direction. But for me at least, Peter stands for the great majority of us who will not experience this Damascus moment , nor meet as so many do, the Risen Lord in a direct and equitable manner. No Peter is for those of us who struggle, for we can see in him a touch of ourselves, and above all we can identify with him as one of us, warts and all! What is more `Jesus seems to not to mind his denial, nor to chastise his infidelity, but to accept him as he is. Those two 'follow me's' that are addressed to him are not negative but positive, because Jesus already has a relationship with Peter, based deeply his impulsive love for Christ and his need of him, but conversely of the `Lords' need for Peter.

In our second reading from Acts we see what this re-commissioning by Jesus has done to Peter, knowing his weakness and now realising that Christ entrusts a gift to him, Peter is changed, not as Paul, but in that gentle building up, slow filling of gifts in him by the power of the Spirit. That is the way for many of us, but it does not depend on a rigourist attitude or obsessional Christianity, this isn't a faith where when we fall, all is lost, no we are forgiven our transgressions, and graced in that forgiveness are raised up to become the compassionate bearers of God's mercy: 'But Peter and the apostles said in reply, "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and saviour to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him."(Acts 5:29-32)

It is when we meet the Risen Lord that things happen, and this is what happens to Peter, but it is also a reminder that the journey with Christ is not necessarily always the same, some of us change and adapt to new circumstances, this too is good and it is at those moments that we are asked again to 'follow me!'. After all fidelity ton the Gospel is not about a slavish adherence to rules, but a living relationship to Christ through the Spirit so that we may know the Creator and understand the Triune One. With Christ our everyday is an encounter waiting to happen!

Lectio Divina

The follow up: The story of Gamaliel Acts 5:34-42

But a Pharisee in the Sanhedrin named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up, ordered the men to be put outside for a short time, and said to them, "Fellow Israelites, be careful what you are about to do to these men. Some time ago, Theudas appeared, claiming to be someone important, and about four hundred men joined him, but he was killed, and all those who were loyal to him were disbanded and came to nothing. After him came Judas the Galilean at the time of the census. He also drew people after him, but he too perished and all who were loyal to him were scattered. So now I tell you, have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavour or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.

But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God." They were persuaded by him. After recalling the apostles, they had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them. So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of the name. And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Messiah, Jesus.

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom's Conversion

'I expected nothing good from my reading, so I counted the chapters of the four Gospels to be sure that I read the shortest, not to waste time unnecessarily. And thus it was the Gospel according to St Mark, which I began to read.

I do not know how to tell you of what happened. I will put it quite simply and those of you who have gone through a similar experience will know what came to pass. While I was reading the beginning of St Mark's gospel, before I reached the third chapter, I became aware of a presence. I saw nothing. I heard nothing. It was no hallucination. It was a simple certainty that the Lord was standing there and that I was in the presence of him whose life I had begun to read with such revulsion and such ill-will.

This was my basic and essential meeting with the Lord. From then I knew that Christ did exist. I knew that he was thou, in other words that he was the Risen Christ. I met with the core of the Christian message, that message which St Paul formulated so sharply and clearly when he said, 'If Christ is not risen we are the most miserable of all men'. Christ was the Risen Christ for me, because if the One Who had died nearly 2000 years before was there alive, he was the Risen Christ. I discovered then something absolutely essential to the Christian message - that the Resurrection is the only event of the Gospel which belongs to history not only past but also present. Christ rose again, twenty centuries ago, but he is the Risen Christ as long as history continues. Only in the light of the Resurrection did everything else make sense to me. Because Christ was alive and I had been in his presence I could say with certainty that what the Gospel said about the Crucifixion of the prophet of Galilee was true, and the centurion was right when he said, 'Truly he is the Son of God'. It was in the light of the Resurrection that I could read with certainty the story of the Gospel, knowing that everything was true in it because the impossible event of the Resurrection was to me more certain than any event of history'.