It is often true in a crisis such as a death or a tragedy of the likes of this weeks that the familiar becomes very important; family, close friends, community, simple rituals, food and above all the routine of daily life and work. In the face of chaos the more familiar and routine becomes attractive. And so it was for the disciples in the face of the crisis of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Today’s gospel passage from John begins with the leadership among the disciples at the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias returning home to their familiar occupation of fishing. In a sense they had escaped Jerusalem and all its unhappy associations; they had gone home and back to their familiar work, the work from which Jesus had called them. But the return move did not bring success for we are told “they caught nothing”. Into that situation, back home fishing, comes the Risen Lord. Jesus reveals himself to them in the midst of the daily round. And with reminders of an earlier scene in the Gospels the disciples’ obedient response to Jesus’ command brings an immediate result, an abundant haul of fish. Recognition of the Risen Christ comes in that moment rather like at the Emmaus Supper when Jesus is recognized in the breaking of the bread. The disciple whom Jesus loved, presumably John, cries out “It is the Lord!”

The focus of the Gospel then turns to the breakfast on the shore. This meal brings to mind so many meals and feedings in the gospel including the Supper at Emmaus. Here again recognition is linked to the hospitality of the Risen Lord. Like all the Gospel meals there are eucharistic overtones present. “Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them.”

So important was the account of the Conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus to the early church that there are four versions of the event in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistle to the Galatians. While not a resurrection appearance mentioned in the Gospels for Paul it was undoubtedly an encounter with the Risen Christ. So in the great Resurrection chapter 15 of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he writes after listing the major Resurrection experiences “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” In this well-known passage we hear of Paul the zealous persecutor of the early Jewish Christians, simply known as “followers of the Way” and of his encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul undergoes a sort of death/resurrection experience and then receives the laying of hands, the gift of the Spirit, baptism and a good dinner. The latter once again could also be seen as a eucharistic reference. In other words the ministry Paul receives at the hands of Ananias has all the hallmarks of later liturgical forms for baptism/confirmation/ordination. In all this Paul is given his mission, “to bring my name before the Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.” Paul’s energies and enthusiasm for God are given new focus and direction. Like with Peter and the fishermen the Risen Christ meets Paul in the midst of his daily round and gives him his missionary task. In the Gospel the mission follows today’s reading.

The Revelation reading by contrast speaks not of Resurrection appearance as such but rather a vision of heaven at the center of which stands the throne of heaven before which the image of the Risen Christ as the “Lamb which had been slain.” This if you like is the end result of the Resurrection, that is the Exaltation of the Risen Christ into heaven itself to stand before the throne of God as our great high priest and intercessor as described in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Here in Revelation is the wonderful imagery of the whole court of heaven offering worship and praise and thanksgiving to the One upon the throne and to the Lamb.

These three readings are a rich source for reflection on the implications of the Resurrection. For the moment I want to relate them to the eucharist which itself is a model for the whole Christian life.

At the heart of the eucharist is worship and praise and thanksgiving to God for all that God has done for us. The very name eucharist which is the ancient Greek name for the mass means thanksgiving. The Eucharist Prayer begins with “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God” and then proceeds with a recitation of the things for which we thank God: for creation, for the redemption of the world through Jesus Christ and for our sanctification in the spirit. We do all this in a space which recalls the very courts of heaven mentioned in the Revelation passage. As we come to worship God in this eucharist so we are entering the very courts of heaven and worshipping the Risen Christ, the Lamb upon the Throne. All this is anticipatory because we are not there yet. But liturgically and sacramentally we receive a foretaste of what lies before us. Each time we celebrate eucharist we touch upon eternity, we enter into God’s future for us.

In the gospel reading and in the passage from Acts I mentioned the meals as possible eucharistic references as well as the mention of Paul receiving the laying on of hands and baptism. While on one hand we need be careful not to read back too much of later church development nevertheless it is important to say as catholic Christians that one of the contexts of the writing of the New Testament was a liturgical one. The New Testament was not written in a vacuum but is the product of a living, worshipping Christian community and bears all the hallmarks of it. And central to this early tradition of the church was being baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus and celebrating that in every eucharist in the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup of wine. So our eucharist today is revelatory: by making eucharist together we “show forth the Lord’s death until he comes.” Or to put it another way in the eucharist we enter into the reality of what Christ did for us on the Cross and its consequences in his being raised by God from the dead. By remembering in the sense of anamnesis, we not only remember as past event, but also we remember by making the events present reality. In other words we encounter the Risen Christ, the living God each time we come in penitence and faith to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

That and more for the Acts and Gospel passages remind us that people’s lives were changed by encountering the Risen Christ. In the next verses in the Gospel Peter the one who denied his Lord is challenged to “Feed my sheep.” Paul the persecutor is transformed in his encounter to become the Apostle to the Gentiles, to take the gospel beyond its Jewish bounds to the ends of the known world. So for us as we come to eucharist today we are not encouraged to passivity but rather to “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” In the resurrection narratives there is a common element of “Go and tell”. Go and tell others what God has done for you; Go tell others of God’s love; of the promise of abundant life; that the future belongs to God.

The eucharist is intended to be a transformative experience, one that makes a difference; that challenges and empowers us do the work God would have us do. Alleluia, Christ is Risen.   Amen

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