Reflection on the gospel of the third Sunday of Easter (Year C)
In the Gospel story of today, we read that Jesus showed himself for the third time to His disciples after He had risen from the dead. But, the disciples didn’t recognise Him when He called out to them. Just like the story on the road to Emmaus, the disciples didn’t recognise Jesus although He was well known to them. Why then didn’t they recognise Him ?
The answer to that question is hidden in the Mystery of the Creation. In the beginning of time God created Man in His own image and God saw that His design was very good. Through the Fall of Man in Paradise, however, the appearance of Man changed to only a reflection of the perfect created being.
In the victory of the Cross, Jesus reversed His human nature to the timeless perfection of the original design. In this miraculous phenomenon, He elevated His humanity into the nature of God. That made it impossible for the disciples to identify Jesus on appearance. But, at the scene on the shore by the Sea of Tiberias, it was truly Him standing there in the flesh but as the divine Lord and Saviour of the Creation. Through the Mystery of the Cross, Jesus the Son of God, became the new Adam sitting as a human being on the right hand of God the Father.
Gabriel Doll