WHAT HAVE
YOU CAUGHT?
The title of my homily for this Easter Friday is, “What Have
You Caught?”
Someone sees someone getting out of their car or coming off
a pier or a boat with a fishing rod in hand and they ask, “Caught anything?”
People turn on TV or their computer or phone - in mid-morning and/or 4 in the
afternoon to see how their stocks are going or went that day. “Caught anything?
People come home from work to each other and say, “How was
your day?”
People come home from golf and someone says, “How did you
do?”
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel story - John 21: 1-14 - Jesus is standing on the shore of the lake and
they think he’s gone forever - and they were fishing all through the night -
and he yells out, “Have you caught anything to eat?”
And they tell him, “Nothing! We have fished the whole night
long and caught nothing!”
And Jesus tells them to cast their nets over the right side of their boats and
they do and catch a lot of fish.
At that they realized it was Jesus - the Lord!
And they come to shore with their catch - 153 fish to be
exact - and they see Jesus there with bread and fish on a charcoal fire - and
the celebration begins.
They have recaught Jesus - whom they had considered the
catch of their lives.
FISH
They were fishermen. Jesus was a carpenter.
In the beginning of the gospels Jesus caught the first four
of his disciples at the shore: Peter and Andrew, James and John and told them
from now on you’ll be catching people.
Fish - became the early Christian symbol: Christians here.
Fish - in Greek IXTHUS - I standing for Jesus
- There is no J in Greek - X for CHRISTOS
- Christ, the Anointed one - TH
standing for Theos in Greek -
the word for God - becoming Deus in Latin - the word for God - becoming Deity
in English or God - U - for UIOS - Son - and S for SOTER - Savior.
Fish - IXTHUS - seen today on many cars.
This person is a Christian - or trying to be a follower of Jesus.
THREE GOSPEL SCENES
There are three scenes in the gospels about “What have you
caught?”
In Matthew 13: 47-48 - Jesus tells about the kingdom of
heaven being like someone who throws their net into the sea and they catch all
sorts of stuff. Then they sit on the shore and pick out the good stuff -
and put it in a basket - and the stuff not wanted is put on a pile to burn.
In Luke 5: 1-11 we have the call of Simon Peter - who is washing his
nets at his boat at the Lake
of Gennesaret. Jesus
gets into Simon’s boat and tells him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then Jesus preaches to the crowd from Simon’s boat. Then after speaking, Jesus
tells Simon to launch out into the deep waters and lower his nets for a catch.
And Simon says that they had been working hard all night long and have caught
nothing - but he adds, "At your command I’ll do it."
He does and their
nets were tearing because of all the fish they caught. They called to their
partners for help and they filled the other boat - along with his own boat -
till they were in danger of sinking.
At that Peter says to Jesus - "Depart from me for I am a
sinful man."
And Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you’ll be
catching people.”
Our first pope happened that day!
The third story was today’s gospel: the Resurrection Repeat
of that second story
WHAT HAVE YOU CAUGHT?
Down, down, down deep in the deepest part of the lake called
my soul - every human being thinks about this question: "What Have I Caught?" What Have I Done With My Life?
If we make it to old age - that question sits there on the
shore of our life.
If we are a Christian - we might fear Jesus at the last Judgment looking at our
life: what have you done with your life? Are you a sheep or a goat? Have you
loved your brothers and sisters? Have you fed the hungry? Have you visited the
sick? [Cf. Matthew 25:31-46.]
We know, we have heard, the gospel stories about how nice
Jesus is - how forgiving is the Father of the Prodigal Son. We know of God’s
unconditional love and understanding of us poor suckers - poor sinners - but
down deep - that fear question lingers at our lake.
What have I caught?
We know we go into eternity - naked as we came into this
life.
We go without net worth, size of house, number of children,
name of car, degrees, where we’ve been, whom we met?
We go with an empty feeling - an uh oh! feeling.
Everyone…..
Albert Camus once wrote something that hits me at the age of
73. “I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the last
judgment. It takes place every day.” [The Fall (La Chute), 1956].
CONCLUSION
Erik Erikson is famous for his 8 Stages of Life. I’m sure many of you studied them in college
or read about them somewhere. They are really worth studying at any time.
The first stage of life is very significant. The little
baby, the little child, their first task in life is to learn Basic Trust. When I cry, I’m held. When I’m afraid, mommy or daddy are right there as my strong support.
The opposite is Basic Mistrust. Imagine going through the whole of life with
the inability to trust anyone? I don’t
know if it’s true, but I’ve heard several times the statement, “The bigger the
problem, the earlier the problem.”
I’ve also heard the comment: "If you want to heal someone, you have to
start with their grandmother."
Thank God for grandparents who sometimes make up for horrors in the minds of
little children.
Erikson’s other stages really hit me - but the 8th, the one I’m in
now, really hits me.
It’s Ego Integrity vs. Despair.
When I look at my life - as I walk my old age walks - or when
I sit in my chair at the wedding banquet and see all those young people and old people dancing the
Chicken Dance - or what have you - I ask Shakespeare’s question: what stands
for my life? What have I done? [Cf. Sonnet 2]
I love Jesus right there - he says we can enter the garden at
the last hour. He tells the thief on the cross he can come into paradise with
Jesus that Friday - so it really is a good Friday.
Looking at today’s gospel, I hear Jesus saying, "Lower your
nets into your life - and see what you have caught?" Some good stuff and some
bad stuff.
Celebrate a meal with Jesus enjoying the Good Stuff of one’s
life. Celebrate with fish and bread. Even if we have caught nothing or very little, Jesus will feed us.
Do we believe that?
I do!
