God Supports Us. Always

Perhaps we do not always see the answers and the blessings that God sends in response to our prayers. This could be because we create an image of what these answers and blessings need to look like and we blind ourselves to the manner that God sends them. The White Robed Monks of St Benedict believe that Jesus never said no to anyone and try to focus on the lessons that Christ came to teach humanity - that of unconditional love.

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples.

It was by the Sea of Tiberias,

And it happened like this.

Simon Peter,

Thomas called the twin,

Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee,

The sons of Zebedee,

And two more of his disciples were together.

Simon Peter said,

I'm going fishing.

They replied,

We'll come with you.

They went out and got into the boat,

But caught nothing that night.

It was light by now,

And there stood Jesus on the shore.

Though the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

Jesus called out,

Have you caught anything,

Friends?

And when they answered no,

He said,

Throw the net out to starboard,

And you will find something.

So they dropped the net,

And there were so many fish that they could not haul it in.

The disciples Jesus loved said to Peter,

It is the Lord.

At these words,

It is the Lord.

Simon Peter,

Who had practically nothing on,

Wrapped his cloak around him and jumped into the water.

The other disciples came on in the boat,

Towing the net and the fish.

They were only about a hundred yards from land.

As soon as they came ashore,

They saw that there was some bread there,

And a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it.

Jesus said,

Bring some of the fish you have just caught.

Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore,

Full of big fish,

153 of them.

And in spite of there being so many,

The net was not broken.

Jesus said to them,

Come and have breakfast.

None of the disciples was bold enough to ask,

Who are you?

They knew quite well it was the Lord.

Jesus then stepped forward,

Took the bread,

And gave it to them.

And the same with the fish.

This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.

After the meal,

Jesus said to Simon Peter,

Simon,

Son of John,

Do you love me more than these others do?

He answered,

Yes,

Lord,

You know I love you.

Jesus said to him,

Feed my lambs.

The second time he said to him,

Simon,

Son of John,

Do you love me?

He replied,

Yes,

Lord,

Do you love me?

He replied,

Yes,

Lord,

You know I love you.

Jesus said to him,

Look after my sheep.

Then he said to him a third time,

Simon,

Son of John,

Do you love me?

Peter was upset that he was asked the third time,

Do you love me?

And said,

Lord,

You know everything.

You know I love you.

Jesus said to him,

Feed my sheep.

I tell you most solemnly,

When you were young,

You put on your own belt and walked where you liked.

But when you grow old,

You will stretch out your hands and somebody else will put a belt around you and take you where you would rather not go.

These words,

He indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God.

After this,

He said,

Follow me.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you,

Lord Jesus Christ.

What would you do if you promised your life to somebody,

If you put your faith and all your hope in a human being,

A human being in God as man,

And then this person turns out to be not what you expected them to be.

Instead of leading his people,

The Jewish people to victory over the Romans,

Jesus dies.

We see in this story,

In the narration of St.

John,

That Peter may be out of boredom,

Maybe out of sheer hopelessness,

Wants to return to what he knows.

Maybe he just couldn't stay cooped up in the house any longer,

But he says,

I'm going fishing.

How often do we want to put the apostles and the disciples on these pedestals of semi-holy men or holy men floating around on clouds with Jesus?

We read all of the beautiful,

And miraculous things that happened in their time with Jesus,

But we forget that the apostles were also human beings that needed to eat,

That needed to get sustenance from the earth.

They didn't get manna from heaven.

They didn't get manna from heaven.

I think maybe if they tried,

God would send it to them,

But they didn't,

They still had to eat.

And what's standing out for me in the gospel reading is exactly that,

That Simon Peter says,

I'm going fishing.

Something that sounds very arbitrary to them.

Why is it in the gospel?

So that we can see that Jesus,

The ledown,

Who has now appeared to them twice,

So they believe that he has been raised from the dead,

But now what?

We can see that sometimes we need another little nudge.

Interesting to note that Thomas went with,

And Thomas doesn't feature here because Thomas now believes.

And the night gives nothing.

They receive no fish for all their toils and all of their work.

And I can almost sense this ledown,

The double ledown,

Slightly different context,

But Christ came and we believe in Christ,

But Christ didn't save us from the Romans like we thought he would.

Now we're going out fishing and we're supposed to catch something.

We are fishermen.

And yet we catch nothing.

There on the shore,

We see somebody.

They don't recognize Jesus.

And this is quite mind-boggling because through this whole thing,

How do you not recognize Christ?

Man that you spent so long with,

So did Jesus maybe change his appearance?

Did he wear something over his face?

We don't know.

But what we see is Jesus calls them friends like he has done before the crucifixion.

You are not servants,

You are my friends.

And then Jesus shows them,

Tells them where to cast the nets and lo and behold,

Another miracle,

153 fish.

And there's meaning behind that number and unfortunately,

We don't know.

But we know that Jesus is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one in the land of the dead.

So that is the meaning of that number.

And there is meaning behind that number and unfortunately that evades me now.

But it is so full that one would have expected the net to tear,

Like it did in a previous miracle where the nets were so full that they tore.

Something that's quite symbolic to us that usually,

Or after Christ's resurrection,

That power is now complete.

I won't let anything slip through.

So this reading from the Gospel of John becomes much more than just a story about Jesus appearing to them.

There's so many layers that we can spend days on just this.

But what I want to highlight today is after they catch all these fish,

Jesus calls them and says,

Come have breakfast.

It was a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it and some bread.

So even after being raised from the dead,

Christ looks after our mundane,

Our earthly bodies.

Come and have breakfast.

And he gives the apostles the same food that he spread to the masses,

Fish and bread.

So we see then that the apostles also don't recognize,

Or the disciples don't recognize him,

Or they don't have the gall to ask him,

Who are you?

Yet they know.

How many times do we in life ask God to look after us?

How often do we ask for miracles out of sheer desperation?

Maybe if we start seeing the answers that come,

If we ask for healing,

We don't get better,

But somebody recommends a very good doctor.

Maybe then we should also not be so bold and ask who are you?

But we can start recognizing that Christ works through others because God is in all of us.

Because God,

The divinity that transcends religion,

Religious expression and spiritual expression,

The divinity is in all.

I think we must just become more and more aware of that,

Becoming more and more aware of Christ in all,

God in all.

So that when help comes,

We recognize it for what it is,

Help from God.

Sometimes we ask and the answers come in mysterious and funny ways.

And because we have our eyes dead set on saying,

Okay God must give me an answer from an angel with white dove feathers flying around me,

That is when I know the answer from God will be the true answer.

And we miss the bus with a sign with the answer that we need right in front of our eyes.

So as we go into this week,

I'm going to ask that we've been working on recognizing God in each other,

That this week maybe we start recognizing the answers to our questions that God sends in the form and in the disguise of others.

It is not only for us to recognize Christ and those in need.

I think it is really important that we also start recognizing the answers and the help that God sends us through others.

Amen.

Reviews

Thank you Father. This was exactly what I needed to hear at this time.

Everytime I listen to any of your tracks I find them so refreshing clear and simple - thank YOU

Kathryn