"It is the Lord!" - Jn 21:1-14
A remarkably interesting question was asked by St. Gregory the Great in his sermon on today's Gospel: "Why did the Lord Jesus, who walked on the waves of the sea before his resurrection, now, when he has risen, waits for his disciples on the shore?" Well, according to St. Gregory, the sea symbolizes temporality; the sea waves and storms are a picture of our present passing and the various storms of our present life, such storms in which one can break spiritually and perish forever. The disciples worked at sea, explains St. Gregory - because they were still in the waves of the present life that is subject to death. But the risen Savior stood on the shore because he was no longer subject to passing and death.
This symbolism is in perfect harmony with the evangelical image of the apostolic work which the Lord Jesus compared to us with fishing. "From now on you will catch people" - he once said to Peter. For common fish, the sea is the natural environment. We, humans, are the kind of fish that can endanger their lives in the sea with eternal death, so being fished out of this sea is our salvation.
Well, even the Apostles would not save anyone from eternal death by their own power. This is symbolized by the all-night empty catch described in today's Gospel. Only the catch undertaken at the command of the risen Jesus turned out to be not only successful, but even overabundant. For we can be saved from the sea of death only through the sacrifice of Christ, who died and rose for us.
Also, the number of 153 fish found in Simon Peter's net is certainly a symbolic number. It turns out that if we write this number in Hebrew letters, we get qehal ha-ahabha, which means "Church of love". Yes, because that is exactly why the Lord Jesus died and rose to gather us into the Church of love.
At Lake Tiberias, not only does Jesus appear to his disciples, but also their identity as the Church is revealed - a community built on Christ, his work, whose purpose is to preach the gospel to the world. In the event described by John, we see a message that the Risen Christ addresses not only to his disciples but also to their successors - to us. Jesus shows what his church should look like. It is a community of brothers and sisters with unity in teaching, faith, and action, united around the mission of preaching the gospel. The external expression of which is the joint breaking of bread and drinking wine as a symbol of the new covenant that God made with people through his Son.
This event tells us about the Eucharist, where Jesus invites each of us to come and eat the Word of Life and the Bread of Life, which is himself, his body given up for us, his blood shed for us. It is in the Eucharist and through the Eucharist that he makes himself recognized and remains with us until the end of the world.
Let us pray to the Holy Spirit that in our daily life we may personally experience the encounter with the Risen Jesus. Because He comes every day, only our eyes are "tied" and do not recognize the time of His visitation and His grace. Let us ask Him for this personal encounter with Him as our Lord and Savior, let us ask that we recognize His presence in our lives through the signs and wonders He works in our daily lives, through His Providence that guides our every step, and that we may love the Eucharist in a special way, where HE gives himself to us, the whole, living, true God! That we may, with John, cry out, "It is the Lord!" The same Jesus, yesterday, today and forever! Alleluia! Jesus, I want to adore You!
Until Tomorrow
fr. george