Third Sunday of Easter, 4 May, 2025: Acts 9:1-6, (7-20); Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19; Psalm 30
What are the points of change in your life? For a man named Saul, the answer was easy. Everything changed when he was on the road to Damascus. A light from heaven flashed, and he heard Jesus voice asking why he was persecuting Christians. Three days later, one of the followers of Jesus in Damascus, Ananias, has a vision where he is told where to find Saul, and what to do. Ananias argues with Jesus: Saul is known for his persecution. But the Lord responded, “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 does as he was told, lays his hands on Saul’s eyes, and his sight is restored. Saul is immediately baptized, and starts to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue.
Saul is, of course, Paul of Tarsus, whose letters are a central part of the Christian scriptures. Paul did not just change, he essentially reversed his mission. The man who had previously persecuted Christians hit the road to convert them. Our sense of him through his letters is a man always on the move: once the congregation was established, he went to the next place.
Paul later noted that he was one of the small group who had seen the risen Christ, as the disciples did in this week’s reading from John’s gospel. Seven of the disciples, including Peter, had gone to the sea of Tiberias. Peter announces that he is going to go fishing, and the others join him. They are without direction, and sad. They might as well go fishing.
You can feel the heaviness. They catch NOTHING. At daybreak, they are heading back to shore and they see a man on shore. He suggests they throw the net to the other side of the boat. Suddenly it is full of fish, and they know it is Jesus. I think my favorite bit of this account is that Peter was naked and immediately put clothes on, and jumped into the water. He will not meet the Lord naked. And then, with the fish and some bread Jesus invites them to share a meal. Once again, Jesus centers his relationship with his followers with a meal.
After the meal, it’s a little less cozy. Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Peter says yes. So he is told to “feed my lambs”. The question is asked again, and again Peter responds, and Jesus says, “tend my sheep”. A third time the question is repeated (and Peter is by now annoyed) and Jesus tells him to “feed my sheep”. From this command the word pastor, the Latin for shepherd, has come to define the work of ministry.
This conversation in front of the fire was a do-over for Peter: before another charcoal fire only a few weeks before he had denied Jesus three times. Now, three times he affirms his love for Jesus, his willingness to go where it will take him. Jesus gave Peter the grace to start over. This breakfast shaped the rest of Peter’s life. He ended as the first Bishop of Rome, leading a clandestine and persecuted congregation. He is considered the first pope, but his life was not glamorous, and he is reputed to have died by crucifixion, hanging upside down.
Jesus gives both Peter and Paul, those very different apostles, a chance to change their lives. Together, in their different ways, they built the church. And he gives the same chance to us: we can always choose a new path. Every week we say the confession, acknowledging that we have fallen short. And every week we start over. Our changes may not be as dramatic as those of Peter and Paul, but they matter.
This is the promise of the risen Lord: in him we have forgiveness for our sins, and new life.
Alleluia! The Lord is risen.
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