SERMON FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

TEXTS: 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.”

 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.”

TITLE: "Too Personal"

PREACHED BY: the Rev. Stuart R. Tucker at Carter Memorial United Methodist Church, Needham, MA on April 22, 2007.

I visited Israel some years ago. One of the highlights of that tour was visiting the Sea of Galilee. One thinks of Israel as being all desert but in fact the Sea of Galilee is really a large lake surrounded by mountains and hills and fed by mountain spring waters. Consequently the water is gin clear. Walking out on a fishing dock I could see the stones on the bottom. The Jordan River flows out of the lake and ends in a very different body of water, the Dead Sea. In contrast to the Sea of Galilee, where fisherman still makes a living, the Dead Sea earns its name by being totally dead, due to the high salt content. The difference between the living Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is one thing: Galilee has water flowing both in and out. The Dead Sea has water flowing only in. There is no outflow. It’s basically one huge stagnant pool.

Our spiritual life is the same. The love of God must flow into us through the various means of grace: corporate worship, the sacraments, personal devotions and Bible study. And God’s love must also flow out of us, through acts of love, giving, forgiveness, witness and service. If we receive God’s love without sharing it with others we risk having our spirits becoming stagnant and dead.

John Wesley the founder of Methodism understood this as he sought to train his followers in the craft of being Christian. He organized them into classes of twelve or so people, who would meet weekly to help one another in their spiritual journey. One of the questions would be whether each class member had been faithful in attending to both the public and private worship of God. In other words, had they been to church, and had they spent time in prayer at home alone and with their families. Wesley understood the importance of both and the danger of favoring one to the exclusion of the other. We understand the danger of our faith being only on the outside. No one wants to be a Sunday Christian, going through the motions but lacking the spirit. But is it not also a danger if we exclude ourselves from the fellowship of other Christians and have a religion that is utterly personalized? The portrait of what it means to be a person of faith in the New Testament, or in all of Scriptures for that matter, is to be a participant in a community of faith. The Bible knows nothing of private religion. That is entirely a modern invention. One needs a personal relationship with Christ but there is such a thing as being too personal. If that’s all one has, if one denies oneself the means of grace that can only come from Christian fellowship: that road leads to stagnation.

Today’s scripture readings proclaim Christ’s resurrection, as do all the readings on the Sundays of Easter. Each reading reveals the basic New Testament teaching that faithfulness means being part of a community of faith. In the first, we read the familiar story of the conversion of Saul. Saul was a hard driving special prosecutor. He was doing good work stamping out that heinous bunch of criminals called Christians. He was on the road to Damascus to clean out a local cell of them when he got knocked off his horse by a blinding light. Then he heard the voice of the resurrected Christ. The Lord said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Now this was a loaded question because it revealed a lot. First, it revealed that Saul had let himself in for a lot more than he bargained for when he stared messing with the followers of Jesus Christ. Saul thought he was dealing with a disorganized pack of heretics who followed a dead, discredited, would-be messiah. Now Saul could see that the rumors of Jesus’ death had been greatly exaggerated.

Second, the risen Lord asked him, "Saul, why do you persecute me?" The natural question to ask should have been, "Why do you persecute my followers?" The Lord’s question revealed to Saul, and to us, that the risen Lord lives in the living church. Anywhere two or more are gathered in his name he promised to be there. His life, and our life together as the church are so closely entwined that they are one and the same. So when Saul persecuted the church he was in fact persecuting Christ. Saul’s personal encounter with Christ lead him directly to joining the movement he had been persecuting, and ultimately leading the church in proclaiming the gospel to the world. Only then we would know Saul as the apostle Paul.

The second reading is from the book of Revelation. Revelation is without a doubt the most misinterpreted book of the Bible. It was never meant to be a puzzle to figure out. It wasn’t meant to be a timetable for the distant future. The letter’s purpose was to encourage Christians during a time of severe persecution, when it seemed as if the world was coming to an end. Using poetic language John of Patmos assured his churches that as dark as their days seemed to be in fact they had already won the victory in Jesus Christ. The book is a victory hymn. It wasn’t secret code to be deciphered. It is a statement of faith to be sung. George Friedreich Handel got it exactly right when he used the words to today’s reading as the climax of his oratorio, "The Messiah." "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing," Those words are worthy of being sung, and throughout the book of Revelation they are sung in chorus, not by individual soloists. The portrait of the saved is a portrait of a faithful community.

In the gospel of John we read today of the third and final appearance of the resurrected Jesus to his disciples. There is a conversation between Jesus and Peter where Jesus asked the question, "Do you love me?" Peter answers, "You know that I love you." Then Jesus commands, "Feed my sheep." If we love the Great Shepherd we will love his flock. The two cannot be separated. Jesus puts the question to Peter again, and then a third time, "Do you love me?" The message to us is that the question whether or not we love Jesus is not one to be answered only once. We must answer the question each day through acts of love and caring for those Jesus calls his flock. Loving Jesus, how can one do anything else? What would possess one to deny oneself the constant fellowship of those who share with us our faith in the risen Lord?

Two Saturdays ago at our Easter vigil service we confirmed ten of our youth members: Kristi, Anna, Alec, Tobe, Ryan, Taylor, Mandy, Terry, Scott and Becca. On behalf of the whole congregation, those present made the following promise: "With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their service to others." This promise is an expression of today’s gospel lesson: if we love Jesus we will feed his sheep. This morning this congregation shows that commitment to its youth through the current mission work trip among Native Americans in Washington state. In a few years these same youth will be graduating from high school, many going off to college. How then can we remain true to the promise we made at their confirmation, and obey Christ’s command to feed his sheep? We have always known this would be a spiritually challenging time for them. As the tragic events this week at Virginia Tech have shown it can also be physically perilous.

Thank God, the Virginia Annual Conference funds a United Methodist presence on that campus. Reverend Glenn Tyndall is campus minister of the Wesley Foundation at Virginia Tech. Minutes after he heard about the shooting he did what a shepherd is supposed to do, he guarded his sheep, putting the Foundation building into lockdown mode and providing protection for students in the area. He offered the facility to provide comfort, safety and hospitality until the danger was over. Again, like a shepherd he immediately went about determining that all of his 100 active students were safe and accounted for. During the day land phone lines were provided for those who needed to communicate with their families. Reverend Tyndell was flooded with phone calls and emails from the home pastors of students seeking word on their safety. That night there was a dinner and prayer service. The building stayed open all night providing a place to sleep for a dozen students.

This, well as the vital work that campus ministry is about every day, should convince all of us Methodists of the New England Annual Conference that we should restore our funding of campus ministers like Preston Fuller at Plymouth State in New Hampshire. Doing so would be a powerful way of being true to the promise we make when we confirm our young people, and we shall be obeying Christ’s command that if we love him we should feed his sheep, and not fail to surround them with a community of love and forgiveness. Carter Memorial has endured one hundred and forty years because those who came before us kept that promise to us. Our being true to this promise is just one of the ways that committing ourselves to a faith community saves our spirits from stagnation, and keeps our faith alive and overflowing.