The disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday in the Octave of Easter | USCCB. 

In our gospel for today, we see another revelation of the risen Jesus appearing to the disciples. After a week of seeing their Lord brutally killed on Good Friday, and then not being able to find Him in the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, they weren’t sure what to make of things in their lives. So, they were attempting to try to get back to what they considered “normal.”

Peter invites the others to do what they have done for years before meeting Jesus: they went fishing. Something they considered to be normal activity and hopefully something that would help them to get back to the way things were before the disappointment and disaster of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Then Jesus appears on the shore, and still no one recognizes Him for who He was until He tells them to cast the net over the right side and they make a large catch of fish. John, the disciple Jesus loved, realizes it is the risen Lord, and Peter, in his anxiousness, swims to shore to see Jesus just so he can get there before anyone else. The sorrow from the previous week is turned into joy as Peter and the others encounter the risen Jesus on the shore doing something very ordinary: Jesus was preparing breakfast for them!!

We can learn from this encounter with the Risen Lord. The apostles were attempting to do what they were accustomed to do without realizing that Jesus was there, present to them. In our day-to-day activity, when things seem ordinary or we seem to not feel the Lord’s presence to us in these ordinary circumstances of our lives, the Risen Lord is truly present to us. He is there waiting for us to pray to him and to be grateful that he died and rose for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday morning.

As we go through our days beyond church and prayer, let us be grateful for the Lord’s presence to us in good times and bad times. Jesus is present to us ready to always feed us spiritually. All we have to say, when we realize He is present, is, “It is the Lord!”