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As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play
in the traditional lands
of the Cowichan Tribes and Coast Salish People.
We continue to commit ourselves
to the work of reconciliation and relationship-building
with our First Nations neighbours.
Call to Worship:
Lord Jesus, open to us the scriptures;
make our hearts burn within us while you speak.
See Luke 24.32
Collect of the Day
O God,
Your Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread.
Open the eyes of our faith, that we may see him in his redeeming work,
who is alive and reigns with you,
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
The Proclamation of the Gospel:
John 21: 1-19
Sermon: The Venerable Brian Evans
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of
our hearts be ever acceptable to you, O Lord. Amen.
“From Certainty, to Blindness, to Believing”
We open our readings, today, with ‘Certainty’.
Except, it is not the certainty we would expect, or the new reader of the Holy Scriptures might think.
It is a certainty in the denial of Jesus being ‘the Son of God’.
Possibly not in denial, more in fear, of Jesus being the Son of God.
History is about to take a serious turn. There is a new “power” entering on to the landscape.
There are 2 camps: those who are quite happy with the old way, and those who are now following the new “Way”. ‘The Way’ was the original term used to identify the followers of Jesus.
Paul, to this point, is certain Jesus and his followers are about to disturb the power of the authorities of the day.
In the midst of this turmoil, Jesus visits Paul, who is on the road to Damascus.
Imagine the scene, as Paul falls to the ground in, what I am sure was, a moment of disbelief.
As Paul begins to recover from this incident, he is told to continue on to Damascus, “enter the city and there you will be told what to do”. At the same time, Paul has been struck blind.
Now, Ananias is called by the Lord to go to the place where Paul is staying.
Let us stop for a moment, and picture the scene.
I think: if it was myself, and someone has arrived in Duncan who has a reputation of opposition to the Church, and the bishop says, “Archdeacon Evans, I want you to go visit this person, and advise he/she is to go out on the streets and preach to all the people”.
The clincher is vs.16, “I’ll show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
To be clear, I have never felt I have suffered for sharing the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. At the same time, I can say, not every conversation has been in my comfort zone.
One of the life-savers comes to us, in the assuring words of Psalm 30 today:
- You did not let my foes rejoice over me.
- I cried for help and you came along.
- vs.3- O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the pit.
- Weeping lingers in the night,
but joy comes in the morning.
AND, there is the believing, or the witness to belief, as has been recorded in vs. 17-20:
17 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.”
18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized,
19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,
20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
One of the shortest seminary-trainings recorded in history!
"From Certainty, to Blindness, to Believing", in our gospel for today.
To experience this scenario in our Gospel reading for today, we need ‘to have been along for the ride’ since the disciples came into Jerusalem with Jesus, on what we now claim as Palm Sunday, and to have been riding along, in a side car. (Note we have moved from donkey’s to motorcycles.)
Our experience tells us, Peter has denied his friendship with Jesus 3 times.
We pick up the story on the seashore. While the disciples have been out fishing, Jesus comes along.
He asks if they have been successful in catching fish. The answer is, ‘no’. He tells them to cast their nets to the right side. Of course, they catch an abundance of fish.
I love this part: Jesus knows there are fish near shore, as he already has a fire going with fish roasting on the hot embers.
Jesus invites them for breakfast.
This followed by Jesus’ investigation of Peter’s commitment as a disciple.
To fully grasp this part, one needs the Greek text. Thankfully, we have some great lexicons today to assist us.
Although we know the scenario, it is good for us to reminded again. [As this is the 3rd time Jesus has appeared to the disciples, for us it may be the 101st time.]
The 1st time Jesus asks, Peter, “do you love me”, with the Greek word, Agape, more than these.
The 2nd time, once again, do you love me, Agape.
Then, the 3rd time Jesus says, “do you love me”. This time, he uses in the Greek, “do you love me”, Phileo. This time, the question goes deeper than Agape.
Agape: volitional, self-sacrificial love.
The interesting word here is ‘volitional’.
It means, ‘it is of your own free will’.
Hence, the other part of the 1st time Jesus asks, “do you love me more than these”.
Are you here, just because your friends are here?
This, I believe, leads to the 3rd time, and Phileo love.
Phileo: Signifying affection, affinity, or brotherly love.
It is not unlike the bishop's inquiring of the young, enthusiastic lay-person standing before him: ‘Are you prepared to do this 24/7, the rest of your life?’
I think, it was only in the 1hour drive back home, just what I had committed myself to when I said, ‘YES!’
I digress, for this moment in the history of the Church, is not just about me, and it is not just about Peter.
It is about all of us.
Jesus could not be more unequivocal in his questioning, and we must not be more unequivocal in our answer.
Jesus cuts to the very core of just what it means to say, ‘I am Christian’.
Each one of us, like Peter, have to face our true feelings and motives, in being a part of this large, international, tribe of disciples, ready to answer when Jesus asks, “Do you love (phileo) me?”
Am I his friend?
What we, who do not have language skills to read the Greek, with the ability to translate instantly into English, or, as they say in music, ‘skills to sight-read’, is:
each time Jesus asked Peter, ‘do you love me’,
each time Peter responds with the Greek word, phileo.
This movement of, “From Certainty, to Blindness, to Believing”, repeats itself regularly throughout our lives:
- each time we come rejoicing, singing,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and wealth, and wisdom, and honour, and glory, and blessing!”
And,
“to him be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” - in the breaking of the bread, we experience the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.