Restoration “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” Jorge Cocco Santángelo, Cast the net and ye shall find (2016) Prayer Almighty Father, who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord: give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life and serve you continually in righteousness and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Scripture Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. John 21: 1-23 Reflection Having read comics when I was a kid, I was eager to be among the millions who thronged to see the latest Marvel superhero movie, Avengers: Endgame, on its opening weekend last year. Avengers: Endgame is the culmination of a story arc that ran through 21 Marvel movies, going back to the first Iron Man movie a decade ago. One of the surprising features of this latest movie is that, unlike previous Marvel films, Avengers: Endgame had no post-credit scene. In the movies before this one, after the movie ends and the credits roll, there’s been a short scene added on that acts as an epilogue, often setting the stage for the next Marvel movie to come out. At the end of the most recent movie before this one, for example, after the big disaster scene caused by the villain, we see Nick Fury, the head of a CIA-type agency, sending out a distress call to a person unknown. We find out who the signal is for in the next movie, Captain Marvel, when we see in the post-credit scene of that movie, Captain Marvel arriving at Avengers headquarters in response to that call. And so Captain Marvel is teed up, ready to join the fray and save the day in the next movie, Avengers: Endgame. In each of these movies, the post-credit scene gets us excited for the next chapter in the story. The reason I’m bringing this up is that the account of the beach-side breakfast with the Risen Christ in John 21 is a kind of “post-credit scene” for the Gospel. At this point in John’s story, the action is over, the hero—Jesus—sacrificed himself and three days later was resurrected, victorious over death. There was even a denouement, where the resurrected Jesus meets with his disciples again, cementing the reality of his resurrection. But then the story effectively ends there. The credits are rolling but we are left wondering about what happens to the disciples, and in particular to Simon Peter, who had been a leader, for better or worse, among the disciples. In breaks John’s post-credit scene… According to John, it’s been some time since Jesus was resurrected, after he appeared to Mary Magdalene and then to the disciples huddled in fear in the upper room and again to Thomas. With all these appearances, Jesus had made it pretty plain that even though he had died, he had conquered death, that the movement he started wasn’t over like they thought. Nevertheless, John says that Peter up and decides to go fishing. "I'm going fishing," he said, and bunch of the other disciples go with him. Why had they gone fishing? It’s a puzzle, and it may well have been a puzzle for them too. On one level, we can imagine that the disciples went fishing…because they didn’t know what else to do. Peter and several of the other disciples were fishermen by trade. It was what they knew. They had spent the past three years or so following Jesus around, learning from him, seeing his miracles. And even though Jesus is alive again—that’s super, sure—Jesus is not around anymore; he’s taken off again. So, not knowing what else to do, these disciples went back to the life they'd lived before Jesus called them, back to fishing. Maybe it was that simple. Or maybe there was more to it than that, more to it for Peter at least. Peter, you’ll remember, was the one who was always making boastful claims. He was the one who insisted loudly and emphatically, that even if all the others deserted Jesus, he would not, he would remain loyal. He wouldn’t let Jesus down. He’d follow him wherever he went: to prison, to death, wherever. He was prepared to lay down his own life on Jesus’ behalf. But then when time came for him to prove himself, he fumbled, he muffed it. You can imagine that after that, after such an egregious failure, Peter probably felt his days as Number One among Jesus’ disciples were over, that he had disgraced himself , disqualified himself, that he had no place among the other disciples. What is there left for me to do, he thought, but to go back to my previous life? It sounds like a failed business venture, doesn’t it? As the partners shut down the computers for the last time, they say to one another, "It was great while it lasted. We gave it our best shot. There's nothing left to do but try to get our old jobs back." Only Peter's effort to get back to his old job wasn’t very successful either. He and his friends spent the night fishing and hadn’t caught a thing, John tells us. Now, Peter was a double failure! He had botched it both as a disciple and as a fisherman. You can imagine the shame, the self-recriminations. Then, just after daybreak, a stranger appeared on the shore and told the weary fishermen to cast their net on the other side of the boat. Desperate, they did as he directed and suddenly hit a catch so big they couldn't pull it in. For Peter and his fishing companions, and for any of us who have read the gospels, this miraculous catch should remind us of another fishing miracle. Of a night not too long ago when Peter (then called Simon) and his partners had been casting their nets in vain throughout the night. Then Jesus appeared, got into their boat and told them to "let down your nets." They decided to humor the stranger, and did as they were told, and to their amazement the nets suddenly filled with fish. Simon shrank back in fear, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" Jesus responded, "From now on you will be fishers of men, you’ll be catching people" (Luke 5:1-11). And just like that, Jesus turned a night of failure into the dawn of a new calling. Now Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and was again calling out to Peter. This time, when Peter recognized the man on the shore as his Lord, he tried to cover himself up, again stricken with shame. After scrambling to shore, he joined Jesus beside a charcoal fire Jesus had made. A charcoal fire. This was the same kind of fire around which Peter had denied his Lord after Jesus was arrested. And the smell of that fire, wafting through the chilly April air, brought Peter immediately back to the night of his betrayal, the night Peter fled in fear, in shame, in anger at himself, knowing that Jesus knew, surely knew, how he failed him. And hearing the next day what happened to Jesus…not even the resurrection could wave a magic wand and get rid of that memory. Nothing could, it seemed. But the smell of that charcoal fire started something in Peter, something profound, something that we see worked out in the conversation that followed. After passing out the fish and bread to the seven, Jesus turns to Peter and asked him, "Simon, do you love me?” Three times Jesus asks. And three times Peter replies, "Lord, you know I love you." It probably seemed to Peter like Jesus didn’t believe him. But then the truth dawns on him: Jesus was giving him three times to affirm his love for him, after he had denied him three times. Jesus was giving him a chance to redeem himself, or rather to be redeemed. This is one of the most touching interchanges in the whole Bible, and personally it’s one of my favorite scenes in the gospels. The redemption, this reinstatement of Peter. And the site where this supposedly happened, which is marked by a small stone chapel on the rocky shore of the Sea of Galilee, was one of the most special sites to me on my pilgrimage to the Holy Land a few years ago.