Year C
Acts 9:1-20
Psalm 30
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We know that when Jesus taught\u2026 he often told parables\u2026 stories which centered on things that were part of daily life\u2026 and about which he knew\u2026 sheep and shepherds\u2026 vineyards and wine\u2026 sowing and reaping\u2026 lakes and fishing\u2026 stories that he either made up\u2026 or which he adapted\u2026 in order to make a point\u2026 in order to teach about God\u2026 like the parable of the seeds sown in the four kinds of soils\u2026 the parable of the Unforgiving Servant\u2026 the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard\u2026 and whether these and the many other parables which Jesus used to teach\u2026 were literally true\u2026 that is\u2026 whether you could have filmed them with a video camera\u2026 or whether they were made up\u2026 they still conveyed capital T truths about God\u2026 about us\u2026 and about the Kingdom\u2026 Grace\u2026 and Judgment\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Dominic Crossan\u2026 who’s a former Irish-American Catholic priest\u2026 a New Testament scholar\u2026 and a student of early Christianity\u2026 was a prominent member of the Jesus Seminar\u2026 organized in 1985\u2026 this group of 150 lay and ordained biblical scholars sought to renew the quest for the historical Jesus\u2026 that is\u2026 to review each of the sayings and deeds attributed to Jesus\u2026 and determine which of them were likely authentic\u2026 to feather out the underlying truths contained in these sayings and deeds\u2026 and to find more symbolic truths\u2026 especially in those things that Jesus really did say and do\u2026 and one of the things that Crossan said\u2026 and I’m paraphrasing here only slightly\u2026 is that it’s not that ancient people told literal stories\u2026 and we’re now smart enough to take them symbolically… which many of us are\u2026 but that some of the stories they told were symbolic stories\u2026 and we now take too many of them literally\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a modern example\u2026 if I say that my heart is bursting with joy\u2026 that’s not literally true\u2026 but it has a deeper truth that you can all understand\u2026 if I say\u2026 they were inundated with a tidal wave of data<\/em>\u2026 we know what that means even though there was no water involved\u2026 if I say that the Cirque de Soleil performance blew my mind\u2026 well\u2026 if that really happened\u2026 I would hardly be able to say anything about it afterwards\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So part of the discernment we’re called to do\u2026 part of our Christian journey\u2026 is to pay attention not only to what Jesus says and does\u2026 but to the underlying messages which transcend time and space\u2026 to the lessons which apply to all of humanity\u2026 so that it becomes easier for us to see that the Gospel stories weren’t only for\u2026 and aren’t only about\u2026 what happened to those people way back then\u2026 but that their message is also for and applies to all of us now\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If today’s Chapter 21 had not been written\u2026 if John’s Gospel ended with Chapter 20\u2026 it would have been enough\u2026 because Chapter 20 ends this way\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples\u2026 which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah\u2026 the Son of God\u2026 and that through believing you may have life in his name<\/em>\u2026 that would have been a good ending\u2026 but today’s passage is an epilogue\u2026 summarizing the previous twenty chapters to help ensure we get the message\u2026 there’s even sufficient evidence for some scholars to have speculated that someone other than John added it on after the fact\u2026 but regardless\u2026 as Thomas Troeger (Yale Divinity School) wrote\u2026 it awakens one flashback after another of what took place earlier in the drama\u2026 so that themes\u2026 insights\u2026 and scenes from the full story keep replaying themselves\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so as we read that Jesus appears at the Sea of Tiberias\u2026 and feeds the disciples with bread and fish\u2026 reminds us of John 6:1-14\u2026 when on the shores of the same lake he blessed five loaves and two fish and fed a crowd of five thousand\u2026 this reassures us that Christ’s abundant generosity doesn’t belong only to the past\u2026 but that he continues to bless and feed all of us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We read that that night they caught nothing\u2026 but then\u2026 when Jesus tells them to cast their nets over the right side of the boat\u2026 they caught one hundred fifty-three fish\u2026 and we might be reminded that in none of the Gospels do the disciples ever catch anything without Jesus’ help\u2026 but we may wonder\u2026 why one hundred fifty-three\u2026 is it literally true\u2026 did someone actually count them\u2026 or does this number represent something else\u2026 and I have to tell you\u2026 there are at least a dozen explanations for this according to esoteric numerology\u2026 for example\u2026 it was thought at that time\u2026 that there were only 153 species of fish in all the world\u2026 so the disciples’ catch signifies that people of every class and time\u2026 would be saved through the Gospel\u2026 alternately\u2026 and you’ll like this\u2026 the Greek philosopher Pythagoras was associated with catches of fish\u2026 and he had calculated\u2026 and I’ll go slow\u2026 that 153 is the denominator\u2026 of the closest known fraction\u2026 to the square root of three\u2026 and this was also the ratio of a fish shape drawn between two overlapping circles which are centered on each other\u2019s circumference\u2026 and the numerology explanations go on from there\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today’s text tells us that the disciples failed to recognize Jesus when\u2026 on the beach\u2026 he called out to them\u2026 and we may remember that Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener\u2026 and we may think\u2026 Oh\u2026 that was Mary’s problem\u2026 she was so overcome with grief<\/em>\u2026 but then we also need to remember that after being raised\u2026 Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room\u2026 behind locked doors\u2026 not once but twice\u2026 so we may need to ask ourselves\u2026 how confident are we\u2026 that we’ll be able to recognize Jesus when he appears to us\u2026 in the guise of someone else\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we’re reminded that Jesus invites them to breakfast\u2026 and feeds them bread and fish cooked over a charcoal fire\u2026 we may be reminded of Maundy Thursday\u2026 when they shared a meal at Table\u2026 and so this early morning meal reveals another truth\u2026 that what we call the Last Supper was not the final meal Christ ate with the disciples\u2026 and because of that\u2026 we realize that he continues to share in the fellowship of the church\u2026 and continues to nourish us in the Eucharist\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And finally\u2026 Jesus asks Peter three times\u2026 Do you love me<\/em>\u2026 the first two times that Jesus asks this\u2026 the Greek word that he uses is agape<\/em>\u2026 and the first two times that Peter replies\u2026 the Greek word that he uses is phileo<\/em>\u2026 now agape<\/em>\u2026 refers to love in a social justice or moral sense\u2026 phileo<\/em>\u2026 is simply to be a friend to someone\u2026 so the first two times\u2026 Jesus is asking Peter\u2026 if he loves Jesus enough to be transformed\u2026 to become deeply and morally motivated\u2026 to feed his sheep\u2026 to take care of them\u2026 maybe even to sacrifice something for them\u2026 the third time\u2026 both Peter and Jesus\u2026 use phileo<\/em>\u2026 perhaps Jesus realizes that Peter is struggling with getting there\u2026 and so Jesus loves Peter where he is\u2026 just as he loves us where we are\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But perhaps even more significant than this\u2026 is that Jesus invites Peter three times\u2026 to undo Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus which Peter did\u2026 also by a charcoal fire in the courtyard of the high priest\u2026 in John 13:38b\u2026 Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Troeger continues\u2026 that if what we remember from this Gospel more than anything\u2026 is Peter’s unfaithfulness\u2026 then this epilogue reminds us that far more important than Peter’s denials\u2026 is the grace of Christ\u2026 the divine willingness to engage and entrust the ministry to someone whose life so far\u2026 has been marked by impetuosity and denial\u2026 that we’re not to reduce Christ… and the wonders of his ministry\u2026 to a story in the past\u2026 something that happened long ago… and to others\u2026 this epilogue bookends John’s prologue\u2026 and reminds us about the vitality of God’s Word\u2026 the light shines in the darkness\u2026 and the darkness did not overcome it<\/em>\u2026 this epilogue reassures us\u2026 that our own darkness\u2026 will not overcome the light of Christ within us\u2026 and this Truth\u2026 transcends all of time\u2026 and all of space\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year C Acts 9:1-20 Psalm 30 Revelation 5:11-14 John 21:1-19 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 We know that when Jesus taught\u2026 he often told parables\u2026 stories which centered on things that were part of daily life\u2026 and about which he knew\u2026 sheep and shepherds\u2026 vineyards and wine\u2026 sowing and reaping\u2026 lakes and fishing\u2026 stories that he either made up\u2026 or which he adapted\u2026 in order to make a point\u2026 in order to teach about God\u2026 like the parable of the seeds sown in the four kinds of soils\u2026 the parable of the Unforgiving Servant\u2026 the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard\u2026 and whether these and the many other parables which Jesus used to teach\u2026 were literally true\u2026 that is\u2026 whether you could have filmed them with a video camera\u2026 or whether they were made up\u2026 they still conveyed capital T truths about God\u2026 about us\u2026 and about the Kingdom\u2026 Grace\u2026 and Judgment\u2026 John Dominic Crossan\u2026 who’s a former Irish-American Catholic priest\u2026 a New Testament scholar\u2026 and a student of early Christianity\u2026 was a prominent member of the Jesus Seminar\u2026 organized in 1985\u2026 this group of 150 lay and ordained biblical scholars sought to renew the quest for the historical Jesus\u2026 that is\u2026 to review each of the sayings and deeds attributed to Jesus\u2026 and determine which of them were likely authentic\u2026 to feather out the underlying truths contained in these sayings and deeds\u2026 and to find more symbolic truths\u2026 especially in those things that Jesus really did say and do\u2026 and one of the things that Crossan said\u2026 and I’m paraphrasing here only slightly\u2026 is that it’s not that ancient people told literal stories\u2026 and we’re now smart enough to take them symbolically… which many of us are\u2026 but that some of the stories they told were symbolic stories\u2026 and we now take too many of them literally\u2026 As a modern example\u2026 if I say that my heart is bursting with joy\u2026 that’s not literally true\u2026 but it has a deeper truth that you can all understand\u2026 if I say\u2026 they were inundated with a tidal wave of data\u2026 we know what that means even though there was no water involved\u2026 if I say that the Cirque de Soleil performance blew my mind\u2026 well\u2026 if that really happened\u2026 I would hardly be able to say anything about it afterwards\u2026 So part of the discernment we’re called to do\u2026 part of our Christian journey\u2026 is to pay attention not only to what Jesus says and does\u2026 but to the underlying messages which transcend time and space\u2026 to the lessons which apply to all of humanity\u2026 so that it becomes easier for us to see that the Gospel stories weren’t only for\u2026 and aren’t only about\u2026 what happened to those people way back then\u2026 but that their message is also for and applies to all of us now\u2026 If today’s Chapter 21 had not been written\u2026 if John’s Gospel ended with Chapter 20\u2026 it would have been enough\u2026 because Chapter 20 ends this way\u2026 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples\u2026 which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah\u2026 the Son of God\u2026 and that through believing you may have life in his name\u2026 that would have been a good ending\u2026 but today’s passage is an epilogue\u2026 summarizing the previous twenty chapters to help ensure we get the message\u2026 there’s even sufficient evidence for some scholars to have speculated that someone other than John added it on after the fact\u2026 but regardless\u2026 as Thomas Troeger (Yale Divinity School) wrote\u2026 it awakens one flashback after another of what took place earlier in the drama\u2026 so that themes\u2026 insights\u2026 and scenes from the full story keep replaying themselves\u2026 And so as we read that Jesus appears at the Sea of Tiberias\u2026 and feeds the disciples with bread and fish\u2026 reminds us of John 6:1-14\u2026 when on the shores of the same lake he blessed five loaves and two fish and fed a crowd of five thousand\u2026 this reassures us that Christ’s abundant generosity doesn’t belong only to the past\u2026 but that he continues to bless and feed all of us\u2026 We read that that night they caught nothing\u2026 but then\u2026 when Jesus tells them to cast their nets over the right side of the boat\u2026 they caught one hundred fifty-three fish\u2026 and we might be reminded that in none of the Gospels do the disciples ever catch anything without Jesus’ help\u2026 but we may wonder\u2026 why one hundred fifty-three\u2026 is it literally true\u2026 did someone actually count them\u2026 or does this number represent something else\u2026 and I have to tell you\u2026 there are at least a dozen explanations for this according to esoteric numerology\u2026 for example\u2026 it was thought at that time\u2026 that there were only 153 species of fish in all the world\u2026 so the disciples’ catch signifies that people of every class and time\u2026 would be saved through the Gospel\u2026 alternately\u2026 and you’ll like this\u2026 the Greek philosopher Pythagoras was associated with catches of fish\u2026 and he had calculated\u2026 and I’ll go slow\u2026 that 153 is the denominator\u2026 of the closest known fraction\u2026 to the square root of three\u2026 and this was also the ratio of a fish shape drawn between two overlapping circles which are centered on each other\u2019s circumference\u2026 and the numerology explanations go on from there\u2026 Today’s text tells us that the disciples failed to recognize Jesus when\u2026 on the beach\u2026 he called out to them\u2026 and we may remember that Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener\u2026 and we may think\u2026 Oh\u2026 that was Mary’s problem\u2026 she was so overcome with grief\u2026 but then we also need to remember that after being raised\u2026 Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room\u2026 behind locked doors\u2026 not once but twice\u2026 so we may need to ask ourselves\u2026 how confident are we\u2026 that we’ll be able to recognize Jesus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[118,110,119,120],"class_list":["post-1595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","tag-breakfast-with-jesus","tag-easter","tag-feed-my-sheep","tag-gods-grace"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1596,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1595\/revisions\/1596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}