The Servant of the Servants of God – 3rd Sunday of Easter – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; May 4, 2025

The Gospels not only tell us about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, but they also give significant information about certain disciples, especially St. Mary Magdalene, St. John the Beloved disciple, and St. Peter. This information is not merely incidental but teaches us much about the Church and the relation of the disciple, the Christian believer, to Christ the Lord.

Much of the information about Mary Magdalene is hidden and needs to be pieced together by context; so also the Beloved disciple is not named and is identified with John, the Apostle, first of all by the title of the Gospel. Both Mary Magdalen and John are found together with the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross and both, in different ways, exemplify the intimacy of communion with Christ to which the Christian is called. Yet, neither of them can compare with the prominence of St. Peter.

The information about St. Peter also teaches us much about the path of discipleship, but something else is going on here, for St. Peter is clearly first among the disciples and first among the Apostles. We have just passed through Holy Week and Easter and we can review some key moments involving Peter.

When Jesus washed the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper, in preparation for the Holy Eucharist, Peter tried to refuse, saying, You will never wash my feet. To which Jesus replied, Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me. (Jn 13:8) After the supper, when Jesus announced that the disciples would all have their faith shaken by his coming suffering and death, Peter, declared his readiness to die with Jesus, only to meet with a warning from Jesus, that he would deny him three times. (cf. Mt 26:31-35) Significantly, Jesus’ announcement to the disciples about their faith being shaken contained a special message for Peter: Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift you all like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brethren. (Lk 22:31-32) All are to suffer scandal in face of the brutal reality of the Cross, but Peter is to have a special role in the recovery.

We can then skip over the Garden of Gethsemane and Peter’s well known denial and come to the day of the resurrection, when the two disciples who had met the Risen Lord on the road to Emmaus and recognized him in the breaking of the bread, return to Jerusalem and enter the room where the Apostles and disciples are gathered and, before they can say anything, meet with the declaration: The Lord has truly risen and has appeared to Simon. (Lk 24:34) Here we see Simon Peter beginning to fulfill the task entrusted him by Jesus, the task of strengthening the brethren, strengthening their faith. They did not believe the report of the women, but they did believe the word of Peter; moreover, the disciples returning from Emmaus had their own experience confirmed by the testimony of Peter, rather than vice-versa. The faith of Peter confirms our faith and measures our faith.

Then we come to today’s Gospel. John, the beloved disciple, recognizes the Lord standing on the shore, Peter plunges into the water to go and meet him. Then after breakfast at the charcoal fire – a breakfast that symbolizes eucharistic communion, in which we are joined to Christ risen from the dead, standing upon the shore of eternity – Jesus puts to Peter a threefold question, that he might atone for his threefold denial, entrusting him with a threefold office, that will be continued in the ministries of priest, bishop, and Pope. Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. St. Augustine comments: “Let it be the office of love to feed the Lord’s flock, if it was the signal of fear to deny the Shepherd.” (Tractates on John, 123.5) Jesus then concludes with the command, which is also a command to love, when he says, Follow me.

Peter is first of all a disciple, who, like all disciples, must believe in Jesus, be delivered from his sins through the Cross of Christ, and follow him on the path of sacrificial love. Yet, Peter must not do this merely for his own salvation, but on behalf of the other disciples, the whole flock of Christ, the whole Church. He must not only lead by example, but he must feed with word and sacrament. Feeding with word and sacrament, he must also govern and guide the whole Christian community, the whole Church, the whole of the mystical Body of Christ on earth. This includes not just the laity, but also the priests and even the other bishops. This office did not end with the death of Peter, his martyrdom in Rome in the circus of Nero, which is the Vatican, but has been continued through 266 successors, the Popes, and now awaits the election of the 267^th successor.

The Conclave to elect a new Pope begins on Wednesday this week. None of us has any vote among the Cardinals, but we each have a vote, that is a prayer, that counts with Almighty God, in whose hands are the hearts of the Cardinals. We should not pay much attention to all the media “gossip” – that is what it is – about who is likely to be elected or not. The old saying is that the Cardinal who enters the Conclave as Pope, comes out as a Cardinal. Historically, there have been good Popes and bad Popes; Popes who have fulfilled the mission of Peter and Popes who have fallen short to one degree or another. We should then pray that the Cardinals choose a man who will truly fulfill the office of Peter, a man of deep faith in and love for Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior, a man who will set an example for all the faithful, a man endowed with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to teach the whole Church with clarity and courage, indeed a man endowed with such courage that he will not fear the mighty of the world, but will be ready to proclaim the truth even at the cost of his own life.

Later, Peter would write and exhort the priests of the Church, saying, To the elders among you, I, your fellow elder and witness of the suffering of Christ, and sharer in the glory that is to be revealed, beseech you: feed God’s flock that is in your midst, providing for it not under compulsion but gladly, not for the sake of base profit, but willingly, not as lording it over the Lord’s inheritance, but by being an example for the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive an unfading crown of glory. (1 Pe 5:1-4) May the Lord in his mercy grant us such a Pope.

In these words of Peter, we can detect a memory of the words that Jesus had directed to the Apostles when they were arguing over who was the greatest among them: The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever, wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. (Mt 20:25-28) Pope St. Gregory the Great would be inspired by these words to refer to himself, as Pope, as the “servant of the servants of God”, a title that has since been employed by the Popes for almost a millennium and a half.

This teaching is not a denial of authority, but an exposition of the true meaning of authority, which when exercised rightly is exercised with the readiness to lay down one’s life on behalf of those who are served.

We can turn our attention again to Mary Magdalen and the Beloved disciple to understand the purpose of the service, but first let us consider the charcoal fire, from which both Peter and John eat, sharing communion with Christ. That charcoal fire on the beach, the shore of eternity we can say, stands in contrast the charcoal fire in the courtyard of the high priest, by which Peter, while warming himself, had denied Christ out of fear. The one fire is the fire of worldly pleasure, kindled by emotional desire; the other is the fire of divine love, kindled in the Heart of Christ, which kindles in us the dedication of a will that is committed and surrendered to God. Peter’s ministry derives its strength and motivation from the eternal flame of love, and it serves our participation in that eternal flame.

If Mary Magdalene is the sister of Martha, she chose the one thing necessary, sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to his words, an image of the contemplative life. Peter’s ministry serves that we might all be able to share in some measure in the contemplation of God here on earth, so as to behold him face to face in eternity. Mary’s choice of the one thing necessary, the contemplative life, lies at the heart of every Christian life, every one of the baptized is called to the contemplative enjoyment of God in Christ, at least, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion, which is extended through the practice of Eucharistic adoration. It is as a contemplative reality, a taste of the world to come, that the Holy Eucharist is called the source and summit of Christian life.

The relation between Peter and John, in the final chapter of John’s Gospel, has also been seen in terms of the relation between the contemplative and active life. Peter says, I am going fishing; John recognizes the Lord. Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep, then after the conclusion of today’s passage, after Jesus announces Peter’s coming martyrdom, there is a further curious exchange between Peter and Jesus. Peter asks a question about the Beloved Disciple to which the Lord replies, If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me. (Jn 21:23)

St. Augustine comments:

“There are two states of life, therefore, preached and commended to herself from heaven, that are known to the Church, whereof the one is in faith, the other in sight; one in the temporal sojourn in a foreign land, the other in the eternity of the [heavenly] abode; one in labor, the other in repose; one on the way, the other in the fatherland; one in active work, the other in the wages of contemplation; one declines from evil and makes for good, the other has no evil to decline from, and has great good to enjoy … This one was signified by the Apostle Peter, that other by John. The whole of the one is passed here to the end of this world, and there finds its termination, the other is deferred for its completion till after the end of this world, but has no end in the world to come. Hence it is said to the latter, ‘Follow me’; but of the former, ‘Thus I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you?’”  (St. Augustine, Tractates on John 124.5)

The priestly ministry, of which the Pope is the chief representative, under whom all bishops and priests serve, belongs to this passing life and serves the faithful that they might attain to the life that has no end. John was an Apostle, and so also a priest, but Peter embodies the priestly ministry, while John represents the common vocation and inheritance of all the faithful, including the priests, the common inheritance that we all can taste now, in the feast by the charcoal fire that is already kindled on the shores of eternity, the charcoal fire of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.