May 4 – Sermon
O God of time itself, please grant us the faith to accept the many mysteries we cannot understand. Please give us the courage to seek answers in Christ and to follow in His example. Though we are feeble and our bodies temporal, we praise Your sustaining and life-giving Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
After Jesus was raised from the dead, He kept appearing to the disciples, in all sorts of different ways.
Last week, we heard that Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room. He went through locked doors, offered them peace, showed them the scars on His hands and side, that they might believe. Today, we hear how Jesus appeared to the disciples, this time by the Sea of Galilee.
The Gospels teach us that Easter is not a one-time event, but something that keeps happening. The resurrection is not just about an empty tomb – it is about a risen Jesus. A risen Christ who appears to us, in many and various ways, when we have the eyes of faith to see Him.
Interestingly enough, there’s one consistency in all the resurrection appearances: people did not recognize Jesus right away. Something had to happen before they recognized Him.
Even after Jesus was raised from the dead, He was hard to recognize. If that was true then, it’s just as true now.
In today’s Gospel reading some of the disciples had gone back to their ordinary everyday lives–fishing. They didn’t have much luck. Jesus appeared on the shore, but they didn’t recognize Him until He suggested they try casting their net on the other side of the boat. When they did, they caught so many fish their nets were breaking.
That’s when John, recognized Jesus. Some people might say Jesus had a lucky guess that fish were on the other side of the boat. We can recognize the risen Christ in our midst through a miracle, but to see the miracle requires the eyes of faith. Faith itself is a miracle.
The disciples also recognized Jesus when He called them by name.
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early that morning and found it empty. She spoke to two angels, and then turned around to see Jesus standing there. But she thought He was the gardener. It was only when Jesus spoke her name that she recognized Him.
There is something very powerful about knowing someone’s name. John’s gospel tells us that Jesus is the good shepherd who calls His own sheep by name. It is amazing to think – that the Creator of the universe knows our names. And He does it, most obviously, when we are baptized.
When we are baptized, we are named and claimed as a child of God. We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. When God calls us by name, we are able to recognize Jesus at work in our lives. Every baptism is a miracle, as great as birth itself.
The disciples also recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
When the disciples who had been walking back from Jerusalem, to Emmaus that first Easter evening, they only recognized Jesus when he was at the table with them; Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. So it is for us, too. In Holy Communion, our risen Lord and Savior joins us on our journey. Each and every time we gather for worship Jesus is present with us and blessed are we when we see Him in our midst.
Jesus was also recognized by His scars.
Mary Magdalene had recognized Jesus already and gone to tell the disciples that she had seen the Lord. Then later that day, Jesus came to the upper room and stood among the disciples. He showed them His hands and side, His wounds from the cross. It was then the disciples rejoiced when they recognized the Lord Jesus.
Thomas, of course, wasn’t there, and said: “Unless I see the scars, I will not believe.” A week later, Jesus came again and invited Thomas to put his finger in the mark of the nails, and his hand in Jesus’ side. Thomas recognized Jesus by His scars, and confessed Jesus to be his Lord and his God.
Sometimes we recognize Jesus through the cross. Through our own suffering and pain, we see His suffering and pain. We see Him on the cross, and we see the God who loves us enough to let His son die for us. The cross can be a sad reminder of our sin. But it can also be an incredibly powerful reminder of God’s love. When we see God’s love on that cross, we recognize Jesus in the midst of our own suffering and pain.
The recognition of Jesus is a miracle, being called by name, in the breaking of the bread, and through His scars –are all ways the disciples recognized Jesus after He was raised from the dead. But there is one final way in today’s gospel reading. Peter recognized Jesus when John declared: “It is the Lord!” Then Peter recognized Jesus. Later in this reading Jesus will ask Peter to feed His sheep. But Peter only recognized Jesus by John’s declaration.
Peter trusted what John said was true and that’s an important message for us today. There are times when we won’t recognize Jesus until someone else points Him out to us. That’s one of the blessings of being in a church community—to be in the company of believers–so that others can point Jesus out to us when we have difficulty seeing Him.
And, finally, there are those times when we need to point Jesus out to someone else, saying: “It is the Lord!”
Jesus is risen, and He keeps His promises. He appears to us, just as He appeared to those disciples, in many and various ways. Blessed are all who believe. Christ is risen! Amen
