am I stuck or am I free?

Homily

3rd Sunday of Easter C2

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

1 May 2022

AMDG

Am I stuck, or am I free?

What a dramatic Gospel for the 3rd Sunday of Easter. Good grief! So many different things could affect us at this turn of our lives.  John again recognizes Jesus first, before Peter, just like he did at the empty tomb.  Peter the impetuous one is up to his stunts again, losing his mind and jumping half-naked into the sea with abandon.  Peter then finds superhuman strength and like Popeye drags a net ashore, a net the other apostles combined could not move.

There's a ton going on here.

What's affecting me most is Jesus telling Peter he's gonna be stuck, led where he least wants to go.  This intimate conversation gets to me.  These two characters have been through a lot to get to this point of the story.  How many times has Peter over-promised and under-delivered?  Peter was the one remember who asked Jesus how many times one must forgive.  Ironically, Peter is the one who needs mercy 70x7 times.  Still, Jesus chooses Peter.  He trusts Peter to feed his sheep.  Today we arrive at the only promise that Peter will ever keep.  Lord, you know that I love you.  In response, Jesus says Peter will die with arms outstretched, where he least wants to be.  Powerful stuff!

Peter is finally able to respond, not from overconfidence, not from rash pride, but from that place where his fears and doubts have been redeemed by love.  At this point of the story, love as been fully revealed, fully poured out, and mercy delivered from the Risen Christ.  Finally, Peter is able not to betray, but to love.

Peter receives the news of his death in a place he least wants to go not as a challenge, but as an invitation.  Peter has failed every challenge to date.  From humiliation, Peter this time receives the invitation with humility.

Peter has a passionate desire to love to the end.  It's what he is made for.  It's something that Jesus never gives up on.  The final conversation between these to is about passion, about the love that Peter has to give.

Guess who else has a passionate desire to love to the end?  Yes, you do!  Jesus hasn't given up on your capacity to love either, and begs you this Easter not to be afraid of it.

As you look at the cross right now in light of this conversation between Jesus and Peter, at this turn of your Easter journey, ask yourself this question.  Is the cross before me a challenge or an invitation.

As Jesus asks me what He asks Peter - Fr. Mitchel, do you love me more than these?  I could receive it as another challenge to be stuck now but free later, to suffer through and offer the things I least want and can't change in case there's a resurrection later.  Or maybe there's a deeper invitation in the question - Fr. Mitchel, do you love me more than these?

Maybe Jesus is thirsting for me not to be afraid of my passion to love to the end.  Maybe He is inviting me to a place that I least want to go, but the place where my desire to love is fulfilled now, a place where I am not stuck but free to give my life now, a place where death is already giving way to new life.

Look at the cross again.  Do I have an answer to the question - am I stuck or am I free?