THE LAST SIGN

 

The evening of the first day of the week, on the same day of the resurrection, the risen Lord presents himself among the apostles. The evangelist John with special attention shows this presence of the Risen Lord among his own. A gesture of breathing characterizes it. The risen Christ breathes upon his disciples, imparting the Holy Spirit, transmits his life, the life of God, to the disciples. With this, Jesus entrusts them the mission of forgiving sins, i.e., to fill that vacuum of human beings to enter communion with God’s life. Only one disciple, John, who took note of this detail, was not present on the day of resurrection: Thomas, one of the twelve, called twin.

The tradition has kept Didymus, preserving the Greek term. The usage is not very clear to the reader. He may take it for a surname. Didymus in Greek is equivalent to ‘Tomá’ in Aramaic, meaning twin. When the evangelist translates a proper name of a person, it means that he considers it is vital for the reader to understand that Thomas means the twin. This detail is important. Thomas was not present. The others said to him: ‘we have seen the Lord,’ and he wants to see him personally. If he does not see the sign of the nails and does not put his hands in them, he is not willing to believe.

Eight days later, when all the disciples were together again, Thomas also was with them. Jesus satisfies Thomas because his demand was correct since a disciple, the witness, and the foundation of the apostolic witness must have a personal experience of seeing the risen Lord to assure others of the truth of the resurrection. The risen Lord does not convince Thomas in private, to him alone. It is in the company of others he has the possibility of encountering the Risen Lord.

This encounter happens eight days later. The method of meeting is determined in this way, every eighth day. Sunday after Sunday, and not to forget that Sunday is the first day of the week, not the last. The Jews call Sunday, even today Arishon, the first day. It is the first day of work in Israel; the feast is Saturday. Shabbat (Saturday) is the end of the week, the conclusion. We have changed the structure of the week celebrating the first day because it is the day of the resurrection of Christ. The theological attitude is reversed. There is a celebration in the beginning because, in the front, it is the work of God.

The resurrection of Christ is a decisive event of the salvific work. We celebrate all that the Lord has done. While the feast as rest at the end makes us think that since I worked all the six days, I take a day off because I deserve it. I worked for six days, now I rest. The new and theological implication is that for us Christians, the rest precedes the work. God’s work is more important than our actions.

Eight days after the resurrection is the second Sunday, the disciples gather as a community, and it has a eucharistic tone. Thomas is also present, and by being available to the possibility of an encounter with the Risen Lord, he was able to see the hands and feet and side, signs of his mortal wounds. Jesus invites the disciple to become a believer and not an unbeliever. It is not said that Thomas put his hands and touched his wounds, but simply he proclaims his faith. The formula that John places on the lips of Thomas is the highest Christology: “My Lord and my God.” Thomas calls Jesus God. ‘Lord,’ corresponds to the Hebrew ‘Adonai.’ It is the common term used to substitute the proper name of God, the sacred tetragrammaton, non-pronounceable, ‘Kyrius’ – ‘Dominus.’ Thomas recognizes in Jesus God himself. At the same time, he underlines it twice with a possessive adjective indicating a personal touch, ‘my Lord and my God.’ The disciple became mature and a believer. He experienced the Risen One, and it is here that we can reflect the meaning of the ‘twin.’

Twin is the double, and twins are very similar persons. There is a difference and a similarity. Double is the same word as a doubt with a bit of phonetic difference. Doubt is a dual reality. I can doubt the way when I am at a road junction. Facing two tracks and two possibilities, I am in doubt as to which path to take. A twin is a double person, a split personality. It is the image of a doubtful person who commits to Jesus. He had said: “Let’s go die with him” and then runs away; he is not present on the day of the resurrection. He is divided in himself. But the twin is also the one who is like his brother. We can consider him the twin of Jesus; the disciple becomes like the Master; by totally recognizing him becomes the ‘alter ego’ of Christ.

John also could be indicating to us, the readers of his Gospel, we are the twins of Thomas. Or this person is our other part (double/twin). We are those disciples in our turn who can see the Logos, of touching the Word. How is it possible? We have the book in our hands; we have the Gospel; we have the written testimony of the disciple eyewitness. Reading this text, we can see the Risen One. What happened to Thomas can happen to us also, unbelievers and believers, who struggle in our faith and are seeking and capable of fully professing the faith.

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” The Gospel narrative ends with this beatitude for the readers. We were not present as eyewitnesses of all these events, yet we can believe. This a great grace that is given to us through the text of the Gospel. At the end of chapter 20, he ends his discourse by saying Jesus has performed many other signs but has selected some of them to narrate so that we may believe and by believing we may have life in his name.

The two conclusions that the author put forward: that we believe and that we live. The final climax is life and not faith. Faith is at the service of life. Our faith in Jesus offers us the fullness of life. At this point, the narration seems to have come to an end. But there is one more chapter. Chapter 21 is an important part but is an addition. It is kind of crowning of the entire narrative synthesizing all that was said. In a certain sense, it is a powerful symbolic presentation of the story of the mission after Christ.

It seems that the apostles return to their previous job at the sea of Tiberias. We know that the apostles, after the resurrection remained in Jerusalem. At Pentecost, 50 days later, they were still in Jerusalem. From then, they began another kind of life, becoming preachers and no longer fishers. Therefore, during the time of the resurrection, the disciples did not return to Galilee to undertake any type of fishing work at the lake of Galilee.

This narration using the metaphor of a great catch is a reference to the apostolic mission. The apostles have become fishers of people. But this appears to be a very scanty way of narrating. One episode tells what always happens. Seven disciples were together. The evangelist underlines they were not 12 but only seven.

Here is an allusion to universalism. If 12 is the reminder of the number of Israel, 7 is the nation’s number enumerated. Simon Peter, Thomas (the one that means ‘twin’), Nathanael (the one who came from Cana, in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee (two: John and James), and the other two disciples reach the symbolic number of 7, a perfect number. They go fishing and catch nothing that night. In the morning, Jesus presents himself at the shore and asks for something to eat. When they said they have nothing, Jesus suggests they throw the net at the right side, and they would catch some.

All the details of this narration must be reread symbolically. The right side alludes to the right side of the temple. This is an eloquent image in Ezekiel, from where flows the spring of water that makes the desert fertile and the Dead Sea full of fish. The reference to the Dead Sea at the end of the book of Ezekiel chapter 47 says that the Dead Sea will be full of fish, and there will be fishers who spread their nets along the shore.

This miraculous catch must remind this ancient prophecy where the temple gushes out miraculous streams from the right side. The Holy Spirit is this stream. The right side is the side of Christ which is the new temple, and the Spirit of God, which makes possible the catch, which is the salvation of people. Fishing people is different from fishing fish. The fish fished die, but the people who are fished are saved.

The beloved disciple is the first to identify Jesus. This is the fourth time he appears in the narration. We have seen him at the Last Supper, at the foot of the cross, at the empty tomb on the resurrection morning, and here at the universal mission of the Church. It is always the beloved disciple who is first. He arrived first at the tomb; he was first to recognize Jesus.

Peter, hearing that it is the Lord, puts on a cloth and jumps into the sea. He is naked and clothes himself to jump into the sea. It is a contradiction of such a situation. It is symbolic. The gesture of Peter, who is naked and putting on clothes, is a reminder of the nakedness of Adam, the sinner, and the gesture of Jesus at the Last Supper, who puts on a waistcloth to wash the feet of the disciples. Peter, the sinner who denied Jesus, the Master, recognizes his nakedness, assumes the attitude of service of the Master, jumps into the water and reaches the shore through the water. And emerges from the water.

The text says: “Peter climbed back into the boat “… it is the ignorance of the translator who does not know how to fish and does not know how the nets are pulled out; the fishermen get out of the boat… remaining with one foot on the boat, they could not make any push; the net cannot be pulled. But, with little experience of the practical way, the translator found the word ‘got out,’ he translated ‘climbed back into the boat.’ He climbed to the shore; those who swim in the sea know what it means to emerge from the water.

Peter coming out of water is the emergence of a new man. It is a baptismal image. He entered in water, jumped in, emerged, came up, and was invited by Jesus for a meal. They had caught an abundance of fish, but the fishes are already ready. Jesus had already prepared (cooked) them and invited them to eat. It is a eucharistic image. The disciples follow the Master, and if they do what he says, their works will be fruitful. He is the one who fills their nets and offers them food. The food is his word and his body.

At this time, being at the table of the risen Lord, Peter can make up for the damage caused by his three denials. Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Peter insisted three times in his reply that he loves Jesus, and each time, Jesus entrusts him custody of his sheep. As if to say: ‘If you love me, be interested in them.’ This is the task entrusted to Peter as the primacy of love. For the head of the apostolic community to love Jesus becomes a commitment to love those who belong to Jesus.

The last prophetic word is about the end of Peter. When he was young, he went wherever he wanted, ‘when you are old, others will take you where you wouldn’t want to go.’ You will be taken to the cross. This is an announcement of the fulfillment where the head lets himself be led. ‘Follow me, come after me, imitate my life concretely.’

There is also the other disciple, the beloved disciple. Peter turns and asks Jesus, ‘what about him?’ Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” The narrator, at this point, says that there was a saying among the disciples that he wouldn’t die. Or that the Lord would come in his glory before this disciple die. If it says something like that, it means that when this chapter was written, the disciple that Jesus loved is already dead, and the writer corrects that false opinion, and clarifies: ‘He did not say that he would not die; he said: if I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow me.”

Now John, the beloved disciple, remains in his writing; his written testimony remains until its fulfillment. The eyewitness who has seen has given testimony, and the community recognized him and wrote down his testimony till the end. The text concludes with a second epilogue. “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” The Gospel ends with one ‘we.’ ‘We know’ that the disciple’s testimony is true.

Note the change in the tense—the disciple witnesses to the present, but ‘and who wrote them’ in the past. The action of writing the Gospel is completed centuries ago, but the witness is valid today, and we are that community founded on the testimony of the beloved disciple.

Thus ends the fourth Gospel. But we still have one crucial section—the prologue, the opening symphony written at the end. The prologue begins with ‘we.’ We have seen his glory. This is a perfect inclusion. In the subsequent encounter, we will return to the beginning to read the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel.