In this
morning's first reading Saint Peter and the apostles are told not to preach in
the name of Jesus. Naturally, it is impossible for them to do this; they have
to tell the world about him and his resurrection. They do this so that the
gospel may be proclaimed: the gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins
through him. To be a Christian is to turn away from the ways of sin, the ways
of the world - we are obedient to God, we hear what he is said in Christ and we
obey him. The church then must always be on its guard lest it ceases to be
obedient to God and turns instead to the ways of the world, the ways of humanity.
As St Paul says in his Letter to the Romans ‘be not conformed to this world’.
It is a difficult thing to do, it is hard, it takes strength of character and
confidence, and it will not be popular. But just as the apostles rejoiced that
they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name, and did not cease
teaching and preaching Jesus Christ, so the church is always called to do the
same: to risk persecution, to speak the uncomfortable truth which the world
does not want to hear.
In this morning's gospel the risen
Lord gives an invitation to his disciples: ‘come and have breakfast’ he feeds
his disciples before asking Peter if he loves him and commanding him to feed
his lambs. He asks him the same questions three times, something which clearly
looks back to Peter’s denial on the night of his arrest. Peter is upset: it's
his conscience at work reminding him of his failure. But Jesus does not condemn
him, he simply reminds him so that he may be encouraged in his task: to feed
Christ's sheep, to be a shepherd, a good Shepherd, and to lay down his life for
his sheep after the example of his Lord and Master. This is how Peter is to
fulfil his command ’Follow me’.
Peter is fed by the Lord before he is
called to go and feed others, and to care for them. We too have come here today
to be fed by the Lord, to be fed with the Lord, with his body and blood, under
the outward forms of bread and wine, to share in his divine life, so that we
may become what he is, and have a foretaste of heaven. We are fed so that we
may go out and feed others, so that we may follow the example of the apostles
and not cease teaching and preaching Jesus Christ. When we do this we will give
honour and worship to God no different from the heavenly worship we have seen
described in this morning's second reading. This is the heavenly glory of which
we have a foretaste here on Earth. We are to bear witness to our faith in the
world so that it may believe. We are called to be witnesses regardless of the
cost. We may not face persecution in this country; we are more likely to be
faced with indifference, a coldness of heart, which denies the fact that what
we are and what we say is important or has value. Yet we are to live lives
which proclaim the fact that our life and death have meaning and value through
Jesus Christ, who loves us, who died for us, and rose again so that we might
have eternal life in him. It is a gift so precious that we have to share it, we
cannot keep it for ourselves. In sharing it, it becomes a greater and more
wonderful gift. In sharing it we are preparing for that moment seen by St John
when all of creation will sing the praise of God, filled with his love, healed
and restored by him.
We are preparing for that moment here
and now preparing to be fed by him, to be fed with him, looking forward to that
time when we and all creation will sing the praise of God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as it most right and just,
all might, majesty, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment