3rd Sunday of Easter

All the Marian Pilgrims of the Resurrection of Hope and Mercy 
Three Embers of Denial, Three Sparks of Love-by Galilee’s Shore: 
The Shepherd Rekindles the Heart of the Lost Lamb 

The Third Sunday of Easter, John 21: 1-19, (04 May 2025) 

Peter, conscious of being “the greatest sinner among the Apostles” going so far as to have “denied the Lord” but also aware of being chosen “to feed the people with love”, asked to be crucified “upside-down”. 

“This dialogue between the Lord and Peter”, Pope Francis points out, “is a calm dialogue, between friends, a peaceful, subtle dialogue on the shore of the lake where Peter had been called at the beginning”. As the conversation unfolds, the Pope explains, Jesus uses words like “love, feed my sheep, follow me: peaceful words, words arising from the atmosphere of the resurrection” that “the Lord is carrying forth”. It is “a dialogue of friends and service, since it is taking place after the breakfast which Jesus himself prepared”. And it is a dialogue, the Pope continues, “in which Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd, entrusts his sheep to Peter”. Thus, “a dialogue between friends”. And in fact, Jesus asks Peter: “Do you love me? Love. And do you want to be my friend? Are you, my friend?”. This, the Pope continues, “is the atmosphere of this dialogue, of this page of the Gospel so clearly peaceful, so clearly subtle”. 

(Pope Francis, Morning Meditation: We are Servants, 2017) 

Dear parishioners, the Gospel of the Third Sunday of Easter invites us to walk along the peaceful shore of the Sea of Tiberias, to sit quietly by the fire Jesus has prepared, and to listen — to a dialogue between two friends: Jesus and Peter. 

It is a quiet moment, but one filled with deep meaning. Peter is conscious of being “the greatest sinner among the Apostles.” He carries within him the memory of his terrible denial — how, out of fear, he said three times that he did not even know Jesus. And yet, here Peter stands, not cast away, but called closer. Not shamed, but trusted. We can note the following: 

It is a Calm Dialogue of Healing 

Pope Francis beautifully describes this as a “calm dialogue, between friends.” There is no anger in Jesus’ voice. No accusations. No “I told you so.” Instead, the Risen Lord speaks the language of resurrection: love, trust, mission. He does not pretend Peter’s sin didn’t happen — but He shows that Peter’s love is greater than his failure. Each time Jesus asks, “Do you love me?”, He is not reopening the wound but healing it. 

Love Transforms and Sends 

“Feed my sheep.” Jesus takes the one who failed Him most dramatically and entrusts him with the greatest task: to care for His people, to be a shepherd like Himself. Love, not perfection, is the foundation for service in the Church. It is not our flawless record that makes us fit to serve Christ — it is our love for Him, born from the experience of His mercy. 

True Friendship with Christ 

Jesus asks Peter — and He asks each of us — not, “Are you strong enough?” or “Have you earned it?” but simply, “Are you, my friend?” Friendship with Christ is the heart of Christian life. From that friendship flows everything else: our work, our witness, even our willingness to suffer. Indeed, Peter, the one who denied Christ, would later ask to be crucified upside-down — feeling unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. His love, his friendship with Jesus, became the reason for his ultimate sacrifice. 

The Atmosphere of the Resurrection 

Notice the setting: after breakfast, by a gentle lakeside, in the early morning light. The atmosphere is peaceful because this is the world Jesus’ resurrection creates: a world where sin does not have the final word; where failure can be redeemed; where friendship with God is offered to sinners, not to the perfect. 

Today, Jesus looks at each of us with the same tenderness He showed Peter. He does not ask: “Have you never failed?” He asks, “Do you love me?” If we answer yes — even with a trembling voice — He calls us to “feed His sheep,” to serve others in humility and love, knowing that it is His grace, not our strength, that sustains us. Let us then sit by the shore with Peter. Let us allow the peaceful words of Jesus — love, friendship, service — to heal us, to call us, and to send us out. 

Dear Epiphany, Pope Francis chooses to “point out three things” about “this dialogue”. The first was the phrase: “follow me”. Jesus, the Holy Father explains, “chose the greatest sinner of the Apostles: the others had also run away, but this one denied him”, saying: “I do not know him”. And yet “Jesus asks him: ‘Do you love me more than these?’”. Thus, the Pope affirms, “Jesus chose the greatest of sinners”. In this regard, the Pope recalls: “there comes to my mind a dialogue between Jesus and a saint for whom Jesus had done many, many favors. It was a woman, a holy woman: ‘But Lord, to me who am so small, and so great a sinner”. And the Lord said: “Had I found a greater sinner than you, I would have given it to him”. Thus, the Pope continues: “the great sinner was chosen to tend the People of God, to ‘feed’ the People of God: it makes us think”. 

The second point by the Pope is “the word ‘love’” being used in this dialogue: “‘feed’, because you love me, ‘feed’, because you are my friend, ‘feed’”. And thus, “feed with love”. And “Peter takes this up in his first Letter: he has learned”. We should not “feed with our head held high, as a great dictator, no: feed with humility, with love, just as Jesus did”. And “this is the mission that Jesus gives to Peter: yes, with his sins, with his mistakes”, such that “right after this dialogue, Peter slips, makes a mistake: he is tempted by curiosity and he says to the Lord: ‘But this other disciple, where will he go, what will he do?’”. It is “with love, amid his mistakes, his sins, but with love”. Because “these sheep are not your sheep, they are my sheep”, says the Lord”. Thus, “love: if you are my friend, you must be their friend”. 

The third point that springs from the dialogue between Jesus and Peter is exemplified by “two images”. There is the one “from Holy Thursday”, the Pope explains: “when Peter, sure of himself, with that same self-assurance with which he had said: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God’, then says to the servant of the High Priest: ‘I don’t know the man, I am not from his group’”. In other words, the Holy Father points out: “Peter denies Jesus and then their eyes meet: when Jesus goes out, He looks at him, and Peter, courageous, even courageous in his denial, is capable of weeping bitterly”. And “then after all of his life in service to the Lord”, Pope Francis adds: “he ends up exactly like the Lord: on the cross. But he does not boast”, saying: “I shall meet the same end as my Lord!”. No, he asks: “please, hang me on the cross upside-down, because at least in this way all can see that I am not the Lord; I am his servant”. 

Dear friends, each one of us is also reassured as we look at Peter: Peter lived a life that could easily follow the pattern of a roller coaster. He at times was at the very bottom (after his three-fold denial of Jesus, or when Jesus scolded him for tempting Him to choose any easier way). At other times, Peter was flying high (at the Transfiguration, on Easter Sunday evening, after receiving the Holy Spirit on Pentecost). Peter manifested in his life that following the Lord Jesus can entail both moments of intense joy and revelation, and also times of having to suffer for the name of Jesus. 

Yet the key point we ought to remember is that Jesus is asking me as He asked Peter: “Do you love Me?” I must respond not just in words, but with my very existence: “You know that I love You.” And may the meaning of the word “love” be “unconditional, unwavering, and always enthusiastic total commitment to the Lamb of GOD and to the One seated on the Throne.” It is then that we will be able to join the psalmist and pray: “Sing praise to the LORD, you GOD’s faithful ones, and give thanks to the holy name of LORD GOD.” 

Fraternally, 
Fr. John Peter Lazaar SAC, Pastor