BACK TO THE PAST.

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER. Year C.
April 22, 2007.
(First reading: Acts 5:27-32, 40-41) (Second reading: Revelation 5:11-14)
(Gospel: John 21:1-19)

BACK TO THE PAST.

"Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going
fishing'. They said to him, 'We also
will come with you'" (John 21:3).

It is not uncommon in human behavior that whenever life gets rough, we tend to go back to the past in search for better times, for ways where life was easier, less demanding.

However, every regression is detrimental to human development, every evasion of our responsibility to grow is a disservice to ourselves and our fellow human beings.

The gospel shows us how quickly the apostles forgot everything they had learned from Jesus, how simple it was for them to just go back to their former ways of life as fishermen. It seems as if the apostles felt compelled to ignore the life they had experienced when Jesus lived with them. Furthermore, the apostles were ready to ignore what Jesus had commanded them to do. They had forgotten the promise of the Lord: "I will make you fishers of men".

By their decision to go back to their former way of life, the apostles were hindering human progress, for true progress is the leap from death to life for there is no greatest progress than the resurrection. Therefore, who would lead humanity toward its greatest progress if the apostles were no longer engaged in the work of the Lord Jesus?

If no one is to follow Jesus in his resurrection then there will be no leap from division to unity, from war to peace, from injustice to justice, in summary there will be no liberation for humanity.

Going back to the past is, therefore, tantamount to denying the Lord. Peter was thus about to deny Jesus again. Peter had decided to go back to his life as fisherman. But Jesus intervened again and by asking him three times: "Peter, do you love me?" the Lord is preventing him from incurring in another denial. And by his answer: "Lord, you know that I love you", Peter demonstrates the courage to remain loyal to the Lord. This time there was no denial.

The command of the Lord "tend my sheep" constitutes the commissioning of Peter as the head of those who will continue the resurrection among the human race.

Our present day world is on the road to denying Jesus and the human race.
Such denial is observed in the world's inability to move from war to peace, from injustice to justice, from division to unity, from death to life. There cannot be true resurrection as long as human beings keep going back to the grave of war, injustice, division and death.

Today as in many times in the past, powerful individuals, groups and nations choose to resort to wars of aggression, divisions, dispossession and abuses instead of moving forward onto the road of peace, understanding, respect, unity.

This Third Sunday of Easter we must celebrate the resurrection of the Lord by "tending his sheep" , by making progress along the road to peace, justice, mutual respect, unity and life. Today we must renounce to going back to the past.