RENUNGAN – 3rd SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR C
Reflection: “Called to Witness, Called to Love”
In the Gospel reading (John 21:1-19), the disciples return to the Sea of Tiberias. Perhaps uncertain, perhaps lost after the Resurrection. Peter, the once-fallen but now forgiven disciple, leads them. Jesus meets them on familiar ground, not with grand displays, but in a simple meal and a deeply personal conversation.
“Do you love me?” Jesus asks Peter three times. It echoes Peter’s three denials. Each time, Peter answers, and each time Jesus entrusts him: “Feed my sheep.” This is not just restoration but it is also commissioning. Love for Christ must overflow into mission and care for others.
In Acts 5, we see the result of such love. The apostles, once afraid, now boldly witness to the Resurrection despite being arrested and threatened. They say clearly: “We must obey God rather than men.” Their obedience is not rebellion but fidelity because they have seen the Risen One. And even after being flogged, they rejoice at being “considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.”
This courage is only possible because of transformed hearts, hearts that truly know the risen Jesus.
The vision in Revelation pulls back the veil and shows the cosmic consequence of the Resurrection. The Lamb who was slain is now glorified in heaven, praised by angels, elders, and every creature. The Lamb is not only victorious but worthy — worthy of “power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
Therefore, Jesus meets us in our failures, not with condemnation, but with a call: “Do you love me?” True love for Christ must lead to service, witness, and sometimes suffering and our earthly obedience and trials are part of a much bigger, heavenly picture: the Lamb reigns. May we, like Peter, respond with humility and love, and like the apostles, boldly bear witness. May our lives proclaim: “Worthy is the Lamb!”
– Fr. Jerry Joseph-
