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. Talking to other clergy, I understand that I’m not the only one who felt that.

As moving as this scene is, the most remarkable thing about the scene is that, as a sign of forgiveness, Jesus gives Peter a job to do. When Peter professes his love, Jesus doesn’t say, “Well, that’s all right, then.” He says, “Well, then feed my lambs. Look after my sheep. Tend my lambs.” A fresh challenge, a new commission. It’s not just that Peter is forgiven, he is restored— a sign of true forgiveness—restored to his former place of honor. Jesus is trusting him to get back to work, to turn his wobbly love for Jesus to good account, by caring for Jesus’ flock.

Like the post-credit scenes in the Marvel movies, this scene ties up a loose end—Peter’s denial— and it also begins a new chapter, begins the first day of the rest of Peter's life. Following Jesus’ death, Peter had returned to his life as a fisherman. But after this reunion with Jesus, Peter goes on to be a faithful servant of the risen Christ. In the book of Acts, we see the reinstated Peter boldly proclaiming Jesus’ life and resurrection, preaching, teaching and leading the early Church, healing people in Jesus’ name, serving as a living witness to the redeeming grace and power of Jesus. No longer is Peter simply the one who denied Jesus, the rock that crumbled under pressure. He becomes the rock upon which the church was built following Jesus’ death.

And just as Jesus redeemed Peter, took Peter’s shameful denial and turned it into a proclamation of love, Jesus wants to do the same for you and me. You see, no matter how inspiring our first experience with Jesus, no matter how strong our sense of calling, we all end up denying our Lord one way or another. When that happens, we're tempted to say. "It was great while it lasted, but I might as well go back to fishing." But then morning comes and the risen Christ shows up where we least expect him. We come face to face with our naked failure, but we discover that the love of God is deeper than our denial, and the calling of God is stronger than our failure to live up to it.

No matter what we’ve done, no matter our failures, our betrayals, our denials, no matter how we have let down those we love, let down the God we love, Jesus still longs to forgive us, to heal us, to reinstate us. He wants us to rediscover our love for God—or discover it for the first time—to give us a chance to express it, to heal the failures of the past, to restore us to a place of honor, a place of love, and finally also to give us new work to do, to bring us into the mission that he has begun.

That is what Jesus offered Peter that morning as he and his disciples shared breakfast on the beach. And that is what Jesus offers each of us. When we’ve messed up, when we’ve failed, failed God and each other, and we think it’s over, there’s no coming back, don’t give up! Don’t give in, because it’s not over, it’s not the end of the story. It wasn’t for Peter, and it’s not for us. Like in the Marvel post-credit scenes, it’s just a launching pad for what comes next. Jesus can redeem us, has redeemed us. We have been restored, reconciled, and entrusted once again with the great treasure of God’s love, a love that cures the sick and heals the broken-hearted, a love that reaches out to the untouchable and restores the estranged. This is the love that was on display on Easter morning, and again on the beach that morning, and it is the love that is at work in our own lives still today. For Further Reflection

1. When have you felt like something you’ve done is unforgivable? How has Jesus restored you?

2.

Jorge Cocco Santángelo, Do You Love Me More Than This (2016)

This painting by Argentine Cubist painter Santángelo depicts the second part of this passage, the re-commissioning of Peter. It is interesting that in this depiction, when Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these?”, Santángelo has Jesus indicate that Jesus was referring to fish, perhaps a symbol of his previous occupation or, more encompassing, his former life. But in the dialog in John, it is unclear as to what Jesus was referring to when he asked Peter of his love— more than fishing, more than his fellow disciples, more than sitting on a beach eating breakfast? It is as if John leaves the object of the comparison open, inviting believers to insert their own object, to allow Jesus to challenge each of us to love him more.

French painter James Tissot, completed four paintings of the early morning appearance of the Risen Christ between 1886 and 1894.

Greg Olsen, Cast Your Nets on the Right Side

In both of these paintings, a new day is dawning, as Jesus hails the disciples, reminding them how to catch “fish”, that is to say, that they can do nothing without Jesus—neither as fishermen or as “fishers of men.”

Raphael, Christ's Charge to Peter (1515)

Raphael’s depiction of Jesus’ re-commissioning of Peter is problematic, from both a historicl and theological perspective: First, Jesus is clean shaven and long haired, which would be unusual for a Near Eastern Jew but common on Renaissance Italy (he also bears an uncanny resemblance to the artist himself). The disciples, furthermore, are clothed in bright, bold colors, not befitting 1st century Palestianians, and they are too numerous—John lists only seven, not all eleven, as depicted here. Sheep are unlikely to be grazing so close to shore, though one supposes they are depicted here because Jesus refers to sheep in his dialog with Peter. Most troubling, though, is the position Peter takes here—a position of kneeling like a medieval knight, which is not indicated by the pasage.

Compare Raphael’s depiction of the scene to the scene depicted in the 2014 film, The Gospel of John (below), where Jesus literally comes down to Peter’s level. This physical condescension echoes the way Jesus verbally meets Peter in his choice of words for love, starting with agapao, sacrificial love, before lowering the challenge with phileo, friendship love:

“Do you love (agapao) me? I love (phileo) you. Do you love (agapao) me? I love (phileo) you. Do you love (phileo) me? I love (phileo) you.” .

“Feed my Sheep” statue at the Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter, a Franciscan church located in Tabgha, Israel, the site where traditionally Jesus held his beach-side breakfast.

Here Jesus stands with hand outstretch over a kneeling Peter, the pose suggestive of the laying on of hands at an ordination. Peter at the same time grasps a shepherd staff offered by Jesus, as a symbol of his charge and authority as pastor to Jesus’ flock.