Bairbre Cahill
“What would you have done if you were there?” That is a question that has been posed many times in our house over recent weeks. The commemoration of the 1916 Rising has engaged us all and challenged us to think, to reflect and to explore our beliefs and attitudes.
My daughter’s class have been involved in a play, written in Irish by a teacher in the school, which they will perform in the national final of the Féile Scoildrámaíochta at the end of April. The play is about a young boy of 15, Charles D’Arcy who fought and died in the Rising.
Being involved in the play has engaged Méabh in history more effectively than anything she has done before. She has identified strongly with Charles D’Arcy and the empathy she and her fellow students have felt, has drawn them into powerful conversations. They have come to realise the conflicting perspectives that exist and the complexity of the situation.
Journey
Entering into a situation has that effect. On Palm Sunday this year I was working with children who are preparing to receive the Eucharist for the first time. We took the children out during the Liturgy of the Word at Mass and used that time to explore the journey of Jesus from the gates of Jerusalem to the cross.
I encouraged the children to think about the atmosphere and the emotions of the crowd, of Jesus and of his followers and how those changed over the days between Palm Sunday and Good Friday.
Looking at the situation of Simon Peter and his denial of Jesus I asked the children: “What would you have done if you were there, if you were asked were you a friend of Jesus?”
I was struck by the response of one of the young boys who replied: “I would want to say ‘yes’…but I wouldn’t want to be crucified… but I would want to be honest.”
That young boy captured perfectly the complexity of the situation, the desire to stand with Jesus and the fear of consequences.
In last Sunday’s Gospel we heard about the dilemma Thomas faced, wanting to believe but struggling, even when he came face to face with Jesus and had the opportunity to put his hands into Jesus’ wounds.
This Sunday – if we read the full Gospel and not only the shorter version – we find ourselves on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias with Simon Peter and some of the other disciples. Simon Peter has decided that he is going fishing. Why? Has he just given up and decided to return to his old profession? Does he just need to clear his head? Or is he very aware that he was fishing the first time he encountered Jesus?
Now perhaps his loneliness and sense of confusion have brought him back to a time and a place that were so significant in his life and his relationship with Jesus.
They are out in the boat when they see someone on the shore. Could it be Jesus? It looks like him, but really, could it be? Simon Peter, wearing almost nothing, wraps a cloak around himself and jumps into the water in his haste to get to shore, convinced that it is indeed Jesus.
There is no denial of Jesus here, no fear, no thought to the consequences.
Jesus however pushes Peter even further, asking him three times: “Do you love me?”
Three times Simon Peter denied Jesus, now three times he asserts, ever more forcefully: “You know I love you.” Jesus is clear, Simon Peter is putting himself in a vulnerable position by loving Jesus. But just as in the resurrection life proved stronger than death so now love proves stronger than fear.
What would I have done? What would you do? It is a conversation worth having around the kitchen table.