The meeting of the Risen Jesus with his disciples has a clear catechetical intent. The central symbolism of fishing in the middle of the lake underlies the story. Its message could not be more timely for Christians today: only the presence of the Risen Jesus can make the evangelizing work of the disciples effective.
To begin with, the story describes the work which the disciples carry out in the darkness of the night. It all begins with the decision of Simon Peter: “I’m going fishing.” The other disciples are game to go with him. “We’ll come with you”. They are together again but Jesus is missing. They go fishing but they embark without being called to do so by him. They only follow the initiative of Simon Peter.
The story writer makes it clear that this work takes place at night and is unsuccessful.? They caught nothing that night.” “Night” means, in the language of the evangelist, the absence of Jesus who is light. Without the presence of the Risen Jesus, without his inspiration and his guidance, there is no fruitful evangelization.
Jesus appears with the light of dawn. From the shore he communicates with his people by calling out to them. The disciples are unaware that it is Jesus. They will only recognize him when following his instructions with docility, they haul in an amazing catch. They owe that only to Jesus, the prophet who one day called them to be “fishers of men”.
The situation of not a few parishes and Christian communities is critical. Their resources are getting depleted. The most committed Christians have to take on multiple tasks and it’s always the same people who are called upon to do everything. Have we to intensify our efforts and look for results at any cost, or have we to be more careful to maintain the living presence of the Risen Jesus in our work?
To spread the Good News of Jesus and to work effectively for his project, it is very important not to “do many things”, but to improve the human and evangelical quality of what we do. The determining factor is not the activities we conduct, but the witness we are called upon to give as Christians.
We cannot restrict ourselves to living a superficial faith. It is time to care for, above all, what is essential. We burden our communities with words, books and writings but what we most need to do is to listen together to Jesus. We have a lot of meetings, but the most important meeting is the one that gathers us together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. He alone can keep filling us with the power to evangelize.