Easter 3C25: Playing with numbers...in the Bible! (John 21:1-19)

A reflection on John 21:1-19, written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA.

www.tarsus.ie

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane
D08 F8NW
4 May 2025
Playing with numbers…in the Bible
John 21:1-19

Welcome
Welcome again everybody. I would like to begin with a puzzle for everyone present. What do the following things have in common? A pineapple, the human body and a double spiral staircase? Once, I walked down a double spiral staircase, in the Vatican Museums. There are two ramps, one for going up, and one for going down. At the top the descent is level; at the end the steps get smaller and smaller. Also, the circle closes in towards the bottom — a kind of upside down cone. All a mystery until you realise that the stairs was designed using a special sequence of numbers called the Fibonacci sequence, which goes like this: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 etc. To get to the next number, all you do is add up the two previous ones.  This sequence of numbers has been detected in sunflowers and daises and also in pineapples. Not only that, but the spacial form of the Fibonacci sequence as it gets larger reflects more and more closely the Golden Ratio, an irrational number but a very pleasing proportion. In turn, the Golden Ratio was used, for example by Leonardo da Vinci, for his famous drawing of Vitruvius Man and in many, many famous buildings, ancient and modern. So, the stairs, the pineapple and the human body all share a mathematical secret.

Topic
All this means that numbers can be magical and fun. In today’s gospel there are three numbers 7, 153 and 3.

Steps
We can start with 153. It would be great fun if that were a Fibonacci number but it isn’t. The Fibonacci sequence jumps from 144 to 232. But there is a key. At the time of writing, some natural scientists had reckoned that the number of different kinds of fish came to 153. So, the number stands in the story as an image that all the fish are to be caught and that the offer of faith is for everybody on earth, ourselves included. As Pope Francis put it once, no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord. So, in a way, we are all the fish to be netted.

In the conversation which follows, Peter is asked three times, Do you love me? As you know, three is important in stories. In the Harry Potter books, Harry, Ron and Hermione are often called the Golden Trio. There are three Unforgivable Curses. There are three Deathly Hallows. Harry has three “helps”: The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak and so on. So, in our Gospel, Peter is asked three times the same question. Of course, it annoys him but it also reminds us and him that he had denied Jesus three times, not coincidentally at a charcoal fire. The very same question is put to us: we do believe that Jesus loves us — that’s why we are here. And Jesus asks each one of us perhaps more than once: Do you love me? This is the foundation of faith, opening up the path of discipleship.

Our last number is the number 7. You remember the people present: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the two sons of Zebedee and two unnamed disciples, making seven in all. You will remember Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. When playing Quidditch Harry’s shirt is number 7. 7 is a universal number pointing to completion or a point of arrival. The seven disciples in our Gospel indicate a point of arrival: we are not alone as people of faith; we are part of team — a team brought together by the Lord, so that we can love him and help others to love him as well. We see this very well at this Mass every Sunday: the choir, the soloists, the readers — we are very much part of a team.

Conclusion
We’ve come a long way from the pineapple, the human body and the spiral staircase. But still, the numbers have their own magic: 153, 3 and 7. 

We are all invited to share the joy of the Lord. 
Jesus says to each one of us: do you love me?
And we are not at all alone.