Memorial of Saint John Vianney, Priest

 Lectionary: 408

Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.”

Lately I have been asked to provide a brief memorial service for Catholics who would otherwise not be honored by any ceremonies of our faith. For the Gospel reading I often choose a passage from the fifth chapter of John, verses 25-26:

Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself.

In the same Gospel, in chapter eleven, Jesus fulfills his own prophecy when he calls his friend Lazarus out of the grave. But I like to tell the story with a question: "What if Lazarus had replied, 'That's okay, Lord. After four days of lying here, I'm good. But thanks for stopping by, and have a nice stay in Jerusalem?'" 

Of course, Lazarus didn't do that. He heard the voice of his friend, a voice that you and I know from our prayers with the Church and in solitude; and he immediately came out. He might have been comfortable in his grave, but the Lord was recalling him to life with its problems, complexity, and threats, and he obeyed.  

In today's Gospel, Saint Peter, from the relative safety of a boat on a stormy sea, calls out to Jesus, "“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” And since he had asked for it, the Apostle must obey the Lord's one word command: "Come!"  

Jeremiah also speaks of obedience, in today's first reading. He remembers the dire consequences of the nation's disobedience, 

Incurable is your wound,

grievous your bruise;

There is none to plead your cause,

no remedy for your running sore,

no healing for you.

But, unexpectedly. the prophet announces the Lord's plan of mercy: 

See!  I will restore the tents of Jacob,

his dwellings I will pity;

City shall be rebuilt upon hill,

and palace restored as it was.

From them will resound songs of praise,

the laughter of happy men.

I will make them not few, but many;

they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them.

Those who attend the service for the deceased Catholic might suppose that sin must be savagely punished, and that is the only way for an all-powerful God to get obedience from his people. 

They also presume that obedience and freedom are opposites. That is the popular American belief. But the story of Lazarus recalls the courageous, generous, and eager obedience that brought a dead man back to life and to his grieving sisters.  

Jeremiah and all the prophets agree that obeying the Lord and walking in his way is life and freedom. And that's because Jesus is both human and divine. Perhaps we should hesitate to obey anyone who commands without the authority of God. But Jesus, by his obedience to God his Father, has  proven his worthiness to be obeyed as a man and as God. Because, when the Father called Jesus out of his grave on that first Easter Sunday, he came! 

Sometimes, when people die unexpectedly, their loved ones say, "It was God's will." That may be, but I'd rather think of God's will as something we love and want to know. We should be willing to climb every mountain and ford every stream to get knowledge of God's will! Peter shows us an easier way: ask for it. He might even call us to walk on water; and we'll do it.  

Jesus has proven his worthiness to be our God, and we find our freedom in obedience to Him.