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Easter is behind us, and everything is back to normal. The resurrected Jesus is cooking fish for his friends.
We are not told how he got the fish or given details of the preparation, but we can imagine silver fillets laid out on red hot stones and the air fragrant with breakfast.
Was everything back to normal?
No. The disciples, emptied by fear and grief at Jesus’ crucifixion, are now being filled with something more than fish.
They are being moved to a larger, deeper place, and the Church, as we know it, will be born.
We meditate on that.
Earlier in the Gospels, we see the decimals as simple men attracted to Jesus, following him like someone would now follow a film star.
They squabbled amongst themselves as to who his favourite was, but they did not understand his teachings.
When their master was arrested, they fled.
His crucifixion found most of them in a locked room, afraid that they would be next.
But now, in the resurrection days, something different is happening.
The disciples, especially Peter, are being taken to a new place.
Jesus is handing over his ministry, promising that his Spirit will always be with them.
At Easter each year, we adopt this story and take it to ourselves.
We follow Jesus, seek understanding, sit by the cross on Good Friday and celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Is it then back to work?
No, not really.
If we sit still in contemplation, we realise that the Sacred Spirit is cooking something for us.
It is more than breakfast.
Deep down, there has been some change that we can’t describe, a call to come kind of newness.
I wait for it
My mind is concerned with looking after my body, so I need to go to my heart. It is filling with a sweetness that will eventually reach thought.
We all know this sweetness. We all connect with Gerard Manley Hopkins when he writes about the beauty in deep-down things.
In prayer, we can look at our own crucifixions and resurrections and realise that with Jesus, what is resurrected is always greater than what has died.
So now we are on the beach with Jesus. He has fed us and is moving us to some kind of ministry.
What is it?
I don’t know what he is asking of me, but one thing is sure.
Easter is not over.
- Joy Cowley is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and retreat facilitator.
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