Third Sunday of Easter Year C (Homily) 10/04/2016 Fiddler on the Roof is a musical by Sheldon Harnick which had 3000 Broadway performances. It is based on the book Tevye and his Daughters by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. The story centres on Tevye, the father of five daughters who owned a milk business, and his attempts to maintain his family and Jewish religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. Finally, he had to move out of his village because of the edict of the emperor Tsar who evicted the Jews from their village. There is a very tender and moving scene in the play, Fiddler on the Roof.
Tevye and his wife Golda are being forced to move from their home in Russia. One day Tevye comes into the house and asks his wife, “Golda, do you love me? ” “Do || what? ” “Do you love me? ” Golda looks at him and then responds: “Do I love you? With our daughters getting married and this trouble in the town, you’re upset, you’re worn out, go inside, go lie down, maybe it’s indigestion. ” Tevye interrupts and asks the question, “Golda, do you love me? ” Golda sighs as she looked at him and says, “Do I love you? For 25 years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house, given you children, milked the cows.
After 25 years, why talk of love right now? ” Tevye answers by saying, “Golda, the first time I met you was on our wedding day. I was scared, I was shy, I was nervous. ” “So was I,” said Golda. “But my father and my mother said we’d learn to love each other, and now I’m asking, “Golda, do you love me? ” “Do I love him? ” Golda sighs. “For 25 years I’ve lived with him, fought with him, 25 years my bed is his! If that’s not love, what is? ” “Then you love me? ” Tevye asks. “I suppose I do! ” she says. “And I suppose I love you too! ” he says. “It doesn’t change a thing, but after 25 years it’s nice to know.
“Do you love me? ” is the same question Jesus is asking Peter in the closing scene of the Gospel of John. Today’s gospel narrative shows us the rehabilitation of Peter who denied Jesus three times in the courtyard of Caiaphas, and Jesus’ conferring of Primacy in the Church on him. The Gospel also shows us God in search of man, even when man tries to evade Him. The first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, tells us how the Spirit of the Risen Lord transformed Peter, whom Jesus appointed head of his Church, from being a coward into serving as a brave witness to His Resurrection.
The gospel tells the postResurrection story of our merciful Saviour who goes in search of His band of disappointed and dejected disciples. John presents this as the third of Jesus’ post-Resurrection apparitions. The incident proves that Jesus’ post-Resurrection appearances were not mere hallucinations. In the first part of today’s gospel, the risen Jesus appears to His disciples and gives them a symbol of their mission in a miraculous catch of fish followed by a grilled fish breakfast prepared by Jesus.
Chapter 21 of John’s gospel shows Peter returning to his old way of life, trying, perhaps, to forget the disastrous events of the crucifixion of his master. Six other apostles join him: Thomas the doubter, the two hotheaded sons of Zebedee, the faithful and loyal Nathaniel, and two others who are not named. The second part is a dialogue between Jesus and Simon. Three times, Jesus asks Simon Peter, “Do you love me? ” as if in reparation for his triple denial of Jesus. The two metaphors used in the story, namely fishing and shepherding, are duties of the Church referring to her missionary work.
Peter, as a forgiven sinner, is chosen as a leader in a community of friends, for the quality of his love. As his primary mission, he is given the care of the vulnerable lambs and sheep, and he is told that the fidelity to this mission will lead him to martyrdom. One of the features of the stories about the appearances of Jesus after his Resurrection is that they nearly always end up with Jesus commissioning someone. Jesus appears for a purpose. The presence of Jesus is strongly linked with the sense of calling.