Lord, to Whom Shall We Go?

Homily for Saturday in the Third Week of Easter

The apostle Peter figures prominently in both readings for this Saturday in the third week of Easter. In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, written by St. Luke as a parallel text to his Gospel, we see Peter healing and raising the dead to life just as the Master had done before him. The story of the healing of Aeneas reminds us of the story in the Gospel of Jesus who heals a paralytic and also tells him to take up his mat and go home. Again, just as Jesus raised to the daughter of Jairus, Peter raises Tabitha. Even the setting is the same as Peter dismisses the onlookers from the room where the body had been laid. The mission of Jesus continues in the person of Peter and the other apostles.

The story from the Gospel for today is perhaps one of the most poignant in the entire Gospel. At the beginning of chapter six, the evangelist tells us that Jesus fed the multitude of more than 5,000 people. After crossing the Sea of Tiberius, Jesus is met by a crowd of people to whom Jesus explains the living bread that has come down from heaven in his person. We are told that as the explanation continues, the crowd grows smaller until the only ones who are left are the Twelve. As I listened to the question that Jesus asks them, “Do you also want to leave?”, I can almost hear the sadness in his voice. Jesus must have been so disappointed!

At this point Peter steps forward and answers the question with a resounding statement of faith in Jesus and in his mission. The human emotion that floods the story is palpable.

As we gather around the table of the Lord today, let us echo the words of Peter in our prayer. We, too, have come to believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God.