Fisher of Jesus

Easter Sunday

Acts 10: 34a, 37-43; Colossians 3: 1-4; 

John 20: 1-9

I have one brief announcement before I get started. The Archdiocese of Louisville is now accepting applications for the Deacon Class of 2014. For any of you men who might be inclined, it’s a wonderful ministry and I encourage each and every one of you to consider it. It has brought many blessings to me and my family and the best part is – on Easter Sunday you will always have a seat!

In the gospel that we just proclaimed, the Lord is risen but Mary Magdalen and the two apostles do not understand what is going on. Mary assumes that Jesus’ body has been taken from the tomb. We don’t know what Peter is thinking at this point, but the other disciple, the one that Jesus loved, saw and believed. He did not yet understand but he believed.

We all know the rest of the story. A few minutes later in that same garden, Mary comes upon a man whom she believes is the gardener – and she begs him, “Show me where you put is body.” She doesn’t know who she is talking to – until he looks her in the eye and whispers her name – and then it is made clear.

This is a trait that is common in all of the resurrection stories. Whenever Jesus appears to anyone, he is not recognized at first. Another example of this would be the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus walked with them for miles discussing the events that had transpired and discussing the scriptures. But it wasn’t until that evening, when he broke bread with them, that they realized who it was that they had been with all afternoon.

I used to envy those early disciples. To have walked with Jesus during the three years of his earthly ministry must have been incredible. But to have a face-to-face encounter with our risen Lord and Savior – it must have been more than words could imagine. And so I used to envy them. But Jesus is with us today. We believe as Catholics that Jesus is present in the Word that we proclaim at the ambo. We believe that He is present in the Eucharist. We believe that He is present in the gathered assembly. But I wanted to go a step further. I wanted that face-to-face contact with Jesus – like Mary had – like the disciples of Emmaus had. I tried to figure out a way to do it and so I came up with a quest of sorts. Do you remember what Jesus said when he called the first apostles? “Come with me and I will make you fishers of men.” Since I was doing something similar, I called myself a “Fisher of Jesus.”

Now, how to get started?

If you want to go fishing, the first thing you have to do is get up out of the recliner and go to the place where the fish are! You have to go to the pond. You have to go to the lake. You have to go to the stream … to the river … to the sea. And if you want to be a Fisher of Jesus, you have to get off the couch and go to the church. You have to go to the hospital. You have to go to the prison … to the homeless shelter … to the asylum.

But going there is not enough. When you go to the river, you’ve got to do more than just be there. You can’t hold the net over the water and hope that a fish will jump in. You have to bait the hook. You have to cast it into the water. You have to check the line every so often to make sure that the bait has not fallen off or been stolen. You have to be patient. You have to be watchful. If you want to have a face-to-face encounter with Christ, you have to do the same thing. You have to be watchful. You have to be diligent. You have to be engaged. But most importantly, you have to try and reach Jesus on His level. Now what do I mean by that? I stand here before you and I can see all of you and you can see me. But if I wanted a new perspective, I could climb on top of this altar and you would see me from a different point of view. Now, before Father has a heart attack or tries to wrestle me to the ground, I want to assure him that I will not be climbing onto the altar today! But to be a Fisher of Jesus, you must try to reach him where He is. We go through life and we look at the world from here. [Indicate line of sight] But that is not good enough. If you want to have a face-to face encounter with Jesus – if you want to be close enough so see your face reflected in His eyes – you can’t do it from here …

[Kneel]

You have to do it from here! This is where you will find Jesus, serving those who need him. This is where you will find Jesus, tending those whom we fail to care for. This is where you will find Jesus. If you do these things, you can be a Fisher of Jesus as well.

[Stand again] [Try not to fall flat on your face]

A couple of final thoughts – You can do everything right and still not catch a fish – but if you don’t catch one on Sunday, go back on Monday and try again … go back on Tuesday and try again …

By the way, my quest worked. I met him. It was at a time when I was questioning my role in the Diaconate. I was questioning if I needed to leave the Catholic Church completely. Jesus came to me and spoke four words … that’s all … four little words – and all of fears vanished. All of my doubts went away. Someday, not today but someday, I will share that story with each of you.

Deacon Darryl J. Diemer

Easter

April 12, 2009