Another Lenten season has concluded with the joyful celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. Lent provided an opportunity for us to reflect on our deepest identity as human beings, as children of God, and particularly as Catholics.
It reminds us that though we are dust, formed from the clay of the earth, we have been created by God in his own image and likeness. We have dignity. It also reminds us that we are fallen creatures in need of redemption and healing. It helps us recognize that because of sin we have become misshapen vessels. Throughout Lent we prepare for the joy of Easter by placing ourselves in the hands of the potter yet again that he may set things right.
As Jeremiah says, “the vessel came out wrong … and he shaped it into another vessel, as he thought fit” (Jer 18:4). If the season of Lent gave us an awareness of our brokenness, the Easter season will renew our joy in knowing that we can be made anew in the hands of Jesus Christ, the master potter.
One of my favorite Easter episodes is in the last chapter of the Gospel of John (Jn. 21). The risen Jesus encounters a group of his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
After they had fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus revealed himself to them through a miraculous catch of fish. Coming ashore they found Jesus himself tending a charcoal fire and cooking breakfast for them.
This image of a charcoal fire is only mentioned twice in the gospels. One is in John chapter 18 immediately following Jesus’ arrest in the place where Peter denied Him three times. The second is in this account of the disciples’ encounter with the Risen Lord after the resurrection on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (Jn. 21).
In some sense, our Lenten journey is a walk through the first charcoal fire where we acknowledge the many ways we have failed in following Jesus and acknowledge our sinfulness. We embrace our need for forgiveness because, just as Peter denied Him three times, we have denied Jesus many times through our sinful actions and omissions. Lent puts us around the first charcoal fire and confronts us with our sins.
Thankfully, there is the second charcoal fire that the risen Lord had ignited Himself, and where he wants us to join Him. As we gather around the Easter fire on Holy Saturday to begin the Easter celebration, we are reminded of Jesus’ invitations of love, commitment and discipleship.
Jesus asked Peter three times beside the charcoal fire, “Do you love me?” This would have been a heart-rending reminder for Peter of his three denials at the first charcoal fire.
This question sounds straightforward in English, but in Greek, the language in which the gospel was written, its meaning and purpose are quite significant. Jesus uses the word “agape,” which is one of the ways to express love in Greek. Agape is a particular type of love. It’s not erotic love, or even the love of friendship. It is a sacrificial love involving a total gift of oneself.
During the Easter Vigil, we gather around the Easter fire to ponder God’s total and even sacrificial love for us. What is our response? Encountering such love, we, like Peter, are invited to deepen our commitment to go and make disciples. He is waiting to love us just as we need to be loved. He awaits as he awaited Peter. His question is the same: "Do you love me?"
May the Lord give us the grace, after having gone through the fire of Lent, to respond with renewed faith and fervor to his question, “Do you love me?” Our answer will shape the way the potter forms us anew during this Easter season.