The Church Endures – 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C

Third Sunday of Easter, Year C
Acts of the Apostles 5:27-32, 40b-41
Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13 (2a)
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
May 4, 2025

Jesus had been crucified and laid in the tomb.  Jesus did not remain in the tomb.  God has power even over death.  God raised Jesus on the third day.  Jesus appeared to his disciples.  Yet, the disciples still didn’t fully understand what had happened.

They needed to eat.  Peter and some of the others had been fishermen by trade.  To provide for their families, they did what they knew best.  They went fishing.

While they were fisherman by trade, that night, on their own, they caught nothing.  When we try to do things on our own we don’t always succeed.

Then they see Jesus on the shore but do not recognize him.  He tells them to cast the net over the right side.  They didn’t know it was Jesus but something made them listen.  When they did as Jesus commanded, they caught a huge number of fish.  Good things happen when we listen to Jesus.

When they reached the shore, “they saw a charcoal fire with some fish on it and bread.”  Jesus did not need them to give him fish but He did want them to help feed others.  He invites their participation in his ministry when He said, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”

Jesus invites us all to share in his ministry of caring for those in need and to share the gospel He has given us.  This is part of what it means to follow him.

The apostles quickly found that sharing the gospel wasn’t as easy as it should be.  They would be arrested multiple times by the same people who had Jesus crucified.  The Sanhedrin would repeatedly order them to “stop teaching in that name.” 

The apostles did not stop.  They replied, “We must obey God rather than men.”

Many in the world tell us to be silent about our faith.  This makes no sense.  Why do they get to talk about what they think but we are supposed to be silent?

The Sanhedrin wanted the disciples to be silent because Jesus didn’t say what they wanted the Messiah to say.  They liked things the way they were.  They also didn’t like the way the apostles’ preaching were stirring people up.  They didn’t want to upset the Romans (strange since they wanted a Messiah who would rid them of the Romans).

We have a right to speak what we believe.  The First Amendment of our U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of religion. 

Not only do we have right to speak what we believe.  We have a calling from God to proclaim the gospel.  We receive this calling from Jesus when He says, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). 

Jesus teaches that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor.  There are those who think loving our neighbor means not saying anything bad to them.  This would be like a parent who never says “no” to their children.  If we truly love someone, we will want them to enter their place in Heaven.  This means that, in a spirit of mercy, we must point out their sins to them (see Ezekiel 3:17-21, John 8:11, my article “How We Treat Sinners”).  We need to help them become better people and we need friends who do the same for us. 

The Sanhedrin once again order the apostles “to stop speaking in the name of Jesus.”  The apostles did not stop.  Instead they rejoiced “that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.”  When you face ridicule and/or persecution for proclaiming your faith, do you stop or you rejoice?  If you know that those who tell you to be silent and ridicule you are not following Jesus, should we not take their attempts to silence us as evidence that we are preaching what Jesus wants?  Our willingness to suffer strengthens our witness of how important our faith is to us.

I would like to turn the verses that are skipped in today’s first reading (Acts 5:33-40).  Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin, sends the apostles out for a moment.  He then tells his fellow Sanhedrin they should let the apostles go.  He points out that if the Christian movement is from human origin, it will die out on its own just like all the movements before it.  He then continues, “But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.” 

Are you on God’s side or are you fighting against God?

The ministry of the apostles was not of human origin.  It came from Jesus who is the Son of God.  The Catholic Church was born as the blood and water flowed out from Jesus’ side on the Cross (John 19:34) and, led by the Holy Spirit since Pentecost, it has endured for 2,000 years.  The Catholic Church is of Divine Origin. 

Today we see the numbers of people who come to Mass declining and even fewer are living as Jesus teaches.  The Catholic Church faces struggles but the decline is not because the Catholic Church is of human origin.  It is not. 

The decline is because more and more people are listening to humans instead of obeying God.  People speak in favor of what makes them feel good in the moment.  God speaks of what is good for us.  Human beings speak to get what they want.  God speaks to save us from our sins.

Without faith, human beings act for their own good.  God sent his Son to die for us on the Cross.  Jesus willingly sacrifices his life for us because He loves us.

We have many voices speaking today (see my article, “Many Voices:  Who Should We Listen To?”).

Who do you listen to?

Peace,

Fr. Jeff