Easter 3C - Acts 9:1-6, (7-20), Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19
Would you do it again?
We ask that question after something has ended and we’re looking back, seeing the great moments, the less-great moments, the joys and sorrows and the different choices we might have made. We wonder if we would we do it again.
Paul might have been thinking about his past and his choices in Sunday’s first reading, after an encounter with the Risen One left him knocked down and sightless.
Ananias, the believer, is the hero of this story. It took courage to do what God had asked: to go to Paul. Ananias knew who Paul was. He knew that if Paul could see again, he might arrest Ananias and have him thrown in prison. Fortunately, Paul had had a change of heart. We’re not sure why. Maybe it was because he had been knocked down. Or maybe it was because someone had lifted him up.
There is evidence in the New Testament that Paul was never fully accepted by the early Jerusalem church. Peter and the original remaining eleven always seemed to hold Paul and his gospel at arm’s length. In the view of some he was not really an apostle.1 And yet, it was Paul’s “gospel” that shaped so much of Christianity as we know it.
Both relationships — Ananias/Paul and Paul/Peter — are good reminders that the work of building community is not easy even among believers. It requires patience and generosity. And because the Risen One appears not only to friends and believers, but to persecutors and people who frighten us, it can even require courage. Next Sunday we’ll hear that the Good Shepherd gathers his own. But the Good Shepherd also searches out the lost. People like Paul before his change of heart.
Theologically speaking, the Risen One is the first-born of the new age – the inaugural citizen in the realm of God for which we pray. Even in our frightening times, we are called to remember that in that Realm, one day, all will be welcome. Everyone.
And in this Sunday’s gospel the Risen One answers the question: Would you do it again? The answer is “yes.” We need to hear that and trust it. Just as the disciples remembering their early lakeshore days with Jesus also heard the Risen One speaking to them in the present, despite all that had happened since the early days, saying again those precious words, “follow me.”
Peace.
Spring has sprung! I am taking a week off to enjoy it. Sermon Starts will be back on May 16, the Friday before Easter 5. As always, thank you for reading.
Photo by Delphine Ducaruge on Unsplash
In the Acts accounts, Paul heard the Risen Lord but did not see him. For the author of Luke-Acts, that meant that Paul was a lesser apostle than the Twelve, each of whom had seen the Lord. Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan, The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon, (HarperCollins e-books, 2010) at 69-73.
Choosing to do the hard right thing, bracing ourselves, getting through it and then later, reflecting back and realizing that you would do it all again…. The stuff of champions and great big loving, …. and such an important reminder/lesson for all of us. Thank you Lily!