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III Easter, Year C
Table of Contents
Main Text
Gospel Anthropological Reading
Gospel Historical/Cultural Questions
Gospel So What?
Epistle Anthropological Reading
Epistle Historical/Cultural Questions
Epistle So What?
Ps 30
Rv 5:11-14
Jn 21:1-19
(Acts 9:1-6)
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of
the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues
at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women,
he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching
Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the
ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute
me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I
am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you
will be told what you are to do."
(Acts 9:7-20)
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the
voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were
open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into
Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in
a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The
Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at
the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he
is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay
his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered,
"Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done
to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests
to bind all who invoke your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go,
for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles
and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much
he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias went and entered
the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord
Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain
your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something
like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up
and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For
several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began
to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."
to you forever.
(Revelation 5:11-14)
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne
and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads
and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice, "Worthy is the Lamb
that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and
honor and glory and blessing!" Then I heard every creature in heaven
and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them,
singing, "To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing
and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living
creatures said, "Amen!" And the elders fell down and worshiped.
(John 21:1-19)
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea
of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were
Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons
of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, "I
am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you."
They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just
after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that
it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?"
They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net to
the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it,
and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.
That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!"
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he
was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat,
dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about
a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there,
with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish
that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the
net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though
there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and
have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who
are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the
bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the
third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the
dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon
son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes,
Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."
A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said
to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon
son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him
the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord,
you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed
my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten
your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will
stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and
take you where you do not wish to go." (He said this to indicate the
kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow
me."
Gospel Anthropological Reading
In John’s version (probably the original location of this pericope) the enormous catch leads immediately to a re-union over a meal at the sea-side. In this version, the miraculous catch functions not to show Jesus as wonder-worker, but as inaugurator of the heavenly banquet foreshadowed in the earlier feeding of the multitude.
This image of the children feasting at God’s banquet table has strong implications for us as preachers of peace. If mimetic violence finds its origins in rivalry over commonly desired “goods,” then the reign of God inaugurated by Jesus must offer a solution, and the banquet imagery does just that. Only in God are inexhaustible, indistinguishable “goods” to be found. It is the demonstration of this new reality in God that shows Jesus’ identity to the apostles who are too frightened to ask Jesus who he is.
The challenge for preachers in the United States is that we are struggling with a “paradigm shift” that our parishioners are loathe to make. The country known as the United States has always represented a humanly created version of limitless potential akin to the kingdom promised in the Gospels. We have believed in this falsehood because of the enormous quantity of resources (in materials and labor) available here. Horatio Alger could sell the Rags-to-Riches lie, where everyone can climb from poverty to wealth because there were so many “free” acres and mineral rights to be acquired. (The word free is in quotes because of the reasonable claims of the indigenous peoples to the land “acquired” by European settles moving across North America.)
Being a human invention, the image of the United States as the place of limitless opportunity had to end. We are gradually coming to grips with the reality that no one prospers here except at the expense of another. Rivalry will gradually increase as we lose hope in the American myth, and we will need to offer solutions other than all-on-all violence or the creation of another class of scapegoats. As preachers, we need to name this process as our congregations struggle with it.
The Risen Christ offers us a way out
of the downward spiral that hangs over us as we switch from a paradigm of
abundance to one of scarcity. With the help of the Comforter, we will be able
to see through the lie of scarcity that leads us to hoard the resources available
to us, and move toward the banquet God intends.
Gospel Historical/Cultural Questions
We need to confront the commonly accepted lie that says, “You can accomplish anything if you just try hard enough.” It simply isn’t true.
Yes, some people have emerged from situations so fearsome and depressing that their success seems to suggest that such miracles may be available to anyone. But the logical jump required to go from one person’s success over poverty and degradation to “You can accomplish anything if you just try hard enough,” is no less illogical than concluding from the presence of one four-leaf clover in a patch that every other clover will also have four leaves if we simply will it strongly enough.
Real abundance is gift, and only gift,
and it is always given for the sake of the other, not the recipient. As preachers,
we will probably only be able to convince our congregations to let go of the
American Lie to the extent that we also convince them to place their trust
in the true Giver of goods.
Epistle Anthropological Reading
Epistle Historical/Cultural Questions