A Second Re-Creation

Gospel: John 21: 1-14

At the resurrection of Jesus we saw how John recreated the drama of Eden in various images to suggest that the death and resurrection of Jesus is our re-creation and restoration back to our original innocence before the fall.  In today's Gospel portion, John again recreates two scenes and molds them into one story in order to demonstrate the same idea of  restoration and renewal that takes place in an encounter with the risen Jesus and the ritual meal.

First, we find ourselves reliving the multiplication of loaves with the miraculous catch of fish, wherein the disciples recognize the presence of the Lord.  Then, when they arrive on shore, they find Jesus preparing a meal of fish and bread on a charcoal fire, the very place of Peter's denials on the night of Jesus' arrest.  The meal is a Eucharistic one, a meal designed to restore the broken relationship of the disciples who abandoned him and the one who denied him.  

It is only after the meal is finished when Peter and Jesus then have the exchange of love where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loved him.  The meal has provided the way forward in the relationships. It has enabled the healing to proceed fully.  Imagine if we regarded the Eucharist in the same way rather than some prize for the perfect.  The very power of the Eucharist is the fact that it is the vehicle of reconciliation, not a reward for it.