Easter 3C

Darkness may endure for a night
Joy cometh in the morning.
Psalm 30:5b

John 21:1-14

¹ Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he showed himself in this way. ² 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. ³ 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.

⁴ Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵ Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." ⁶ He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some."

So they cast the net, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. ⁷ That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the sea. ⁸ 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.

⁹ When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." ¹¹ 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.

¹² 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. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Christ is Risen Indeed! [Luke 24:34]

This is the fifteenth day of Easter! Fifteen moving up to fifty. Easter is a week of weeks, roughly one-seventh of a calendar year.

Despite this being Luke's lectionary year, during the Great Fifty Days of Easter the gospel reading is from John, the outlier, rogue gospel that – true to form – doesn't have a separate year to call its own.


Endings in John's Gospel

There's some controversy over whether or not chapter 20 originally concluded John; if it did, that would mean chapter 21 was a later addition. After all, John 20 ends by saying:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31

Yet recent scholarship recognizes that many literary works in that era contained a second ending or epilogue to hint at some future direction the main character or characters might take. Wouldn't readers be interested? Unlike the clearly added-on resurrection account in Mark, evidently language in chapter 21 is consistent with the rest of John's gospel. And we even get another passage that feels like a solid The End:

But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:25

What's Going On?

Peter is there together with seven of the remaining eleven. We've learned a lot about Peter from the gospels, though he hasn't ventured into the audacity and Holy Spirit-inspired confidence he'll reveal in the Acts of the Apostles. The sons of Zebedee and possibly other disciples fished to earn a living. After the day of resurrection, it made sense to return to their usual employment.

We don't have a good chronological grasp of everything, but Jesus was some weeks away from his charge to baptize and make disciples along with his promise to be with us always that marks his presence in the Church as the body of the risen Christ (Matthew 28:19-20), and there weren't any formal church structures.

From the wedding at Cana in John 2:1-11 and feeding 5,000+ in John 6:1-13 we especially know John as the gospel of overflowing abundance, but 153 fish in John 20:11 has no apparent symbolic meaning. Known species of fish at the time? Noooo! Diversity and inclusion? Maybe. But does everything have to mean something? One commentator pointed out they needed to keep track of their haul because of taxes. This is post-resurrection, yet the disciples are back to their usual activities and they need to function within society's economic and practical constraints.


A Eucharistic Event

In 20:4 the group didn't know the man standing on the beach was Jesus. In 20:6 he advised them to cast their nets on "the other side," a location especially common in Mark's gospel.

20:13 Jesus took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. By 20:12 they hadn't asked about Jesus' identity because suddenly they knew who that man on the beach was.

Do you remember on Easter Sunday evening in Luke 24:30-31, how travelers along the Emmaus Road recognized Jesus when he broke bread and gave it to them? Three days later, they recalled Jesus breaking bread and blessing wine on Thursday in the upper room on the night before his death. Neither this beachside account nor the Emmaus Road narrative specifies wine, but there's no reason to imagine there was none.

Two millennia later we variously name the sacrament of bread and cup Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, Eucharist; technically a eucharistic feast of thanksgiving is a meal with the risen Christ, so technically (again, does it really matter?) we weren't there on Maundy Thursday. But on Easter Sunday evening and alongside the Sea of Tiberias the risen Christ is with us. Every day and everywhere in this year 2025 we live in his presence.

Jesus Christ Savior

For words rendered "fish" in English, the Greek text alternates between fish and snack. You may have seen the initialism with the first Greek letter of the words Jesus Christ God's Son Savior – ἸΧΘΥΣ – (fish) enclosed within two curved lines. During the early days of the Church when following Jesus could mean danger (or at least overall uncertainty), if two strangers encountered each other, one might draw a curved line in the sand. If their conversation partner reciprocated with the other curve to form a fish, each knew the other person was safe.

Breakfast on the Beach by Peter Winfried (Canisius) Koenig

Easter 2C

"They found the stone rolled away." John 20:1

John 20:19-31

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." ²⁸ Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

²⁹ Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." ³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Easter is 50 days

Easter is 50 days, 7x7, a weeks of weeks; Seven is the number of perfection in Hebrew numerology. The day of Pentecost is the 50th day of Easter. The prefix "pent" means 50: pentagram, pentagon, etc.

The Day of Resurrection is:

• First day of the week, the day after the Sabbath, therefore, the first day of creation.

• Eighth day of the week = the first day of a new week; therefore, the start of a new creation

Especially Orthodox churches celebrate the seven days from Easter Sunday through Easter Saturday as Bright Week, and consider the entire week a single day, the first day of the new creation.

Some baptismal fonts have eight sides (octagon) and illustrate our baptism into the new creation, our baptism as a new creation into Jesus' death and resurrection.


Every year on the second Sunday of Easter…

we hear John 20:19-31. There are two separate events in this passage; in both of them Jesus comes to his followers through closed doors. The first happens on the evening of the day of Jesus' resurrection; the second a week later. John's gospel doesn't have its own lectionary year, but the gospel reading comes from John every Sunday during the Great Fifty Days.

Jesus bestows the gift of peace, enlivens the disciples with the Holy Spirit, grants them the office of the keys or forgiveness/retention of sin, sends them out, and there's that famous incident about Thomas.

The peace Jesus brings is not what the English language calls irenic peace, or simple absence of conflict. From Jesus we receive the fullness of shalom, a radically grounded, expansive peace that's redemption, integrity, wholeness for all creation. However, (ironically) we get our English irenic from the Greek word the gospel-writer John uses. During the liturgy we extend peace to one another before we approach the Lord's table.

The new creation is not pristine; it carries scars from our old, deadly pasts. Both parts of today's gospel reading shows us Jesus' scars.


Receive the Holy Spirit

John 20:21 "As the Father has sent me, so I send you," is Jesus' second calling-sending of the Apostles. God sends them – and us – in the power of the Holy Spirit. After twice speaking peace on the gathered assembly, Jesus breathes on them (20:22). The only other instance of this Greek word for breathe in the Bible is in a translation of Genesis 2:7 “And God formed the man (a-dam) of dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living being.” Humans carry the breath, spirit, wind (Greek words have the same root) of the divine within themselves.

The gift of the Holy Spirit includes the office of the keys – loosing and binding – forgiving and retaining sin. (20:22-23).

We have both this Easter evening account of the gift of the Spirit and the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-21 because John brings us a different worldview from synoptics Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It's interesting that the Holy Spirit is prominent throughout Luke's gospel, yet in Acts Luke still brings us a detailed account of the coming of the Holy Spirit.


Thomas

On Easter evening and on the following week, the doors were locked. The Greek word for closed, locked, shut is the same and means it's hard to get in. Locked gates, hearts, minds, churches? The risen Christ seeks us out and finds us where we are. "Fear of the Jews" probably refers to those who killed Jesus.

Thomas sometimes gets called "doubting," but un-abiding or not abiding is closer to the perspective of John's community that recorded this gospel. In John's gospel, sin is not so much "transgression of or lack of conformity to the law of God" as the Westminster Catechism describes sin, but a lack of abiding in trusting relationship with Jesus. And it's not only relationship and abiding with Jesus, but also with one another.

Thomas doesn't believe in the scandal of the crucifixion! It's not lack of belief in resurrection from the dead. Remember how John brings us Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead for the last story prior to Jesus' trial and execution? Also, gnosticism with its disbelief in the realness of human flesh was making rounds around that time.

Maundy Thursday

Psalm 116

What shall I render to the Lord
For all his benefits toward me?
I will take the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.

I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows unto the Lord
Now in the presence of all his people.
In the courts of the Lord's house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Psalm 116:12-13; 17-19


• John 13:1-17; 31b-35 is the gospel for Maundy Thursday every year.


The Apostle Paul recorded the chronologically earliest account of Jesus' Last Supper.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

²⁵ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

love one another :: Paul L. Hammer

Jesus, how common can you get? Foot washing, bread, wine!
If you're going to be religious, at least use something special.
No, my friend, I came not to perform special religious rites
But to touch the daily life of everyone
With God's love in the commonest of things.

O.K., water, bread, wine.
But isn't foot washing a bit ridiculous?
And what about "this is my body"?
And "this cup is the new covenant in my blood"?

Foot washing is the work of the commonest servant—I came to serve.
But it points beyond to the "washing" of the cross—
God's self-giving service in me to cleanse away estrangement
And heal the distortions in people's lives.

The bread points to nourishment in that same self-giving of God
At work in my body, that is in me.
And the cup points to the new community drawn together and nourished
In my blood, that is in God's total self-giving in my death.

Do you mean that this common stuff of water, bread and wine
Becomes in you the very focus of God's love for me and for the world?
That there is no excuse for my not loving my common neighbor?
Because you have shown the depth of God's love for me?

You've got it!
But it isn't a love for special occasions.
It has to be that daily love that's as common as water, bread and wine!


Closely related to Maundy Thursday, here's the handout from the last of four Summer Conversations I developed and facilitated during [summer] 2009.

• Summer Conversation 4: A Eucharistic Community

Lent 6C

The Sixth Sunday in Lent: Palmarum

Introit

Be not far from me, O Lord!
O you my help, come quickly to my rescue!
Psalm 22:19

Save me from the lion's mouth!
You have rescued me from the horns of the unicorns!
My God, my God, look upon me!
Psalm 22:21

Why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
from the words of my complaint?
Psalm 22:1

Luke 19:28-40

²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹ When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, ³⁰ saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt [Matthew and John: "donkey"] that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" ³² So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" ³⁴ They said, "The Lord needs it." ³⁵ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

³⁶ As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, ³⁸ saying,

"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." ⁴⁰ Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

Palm Sunday

The sixth Sunday in Lent is Palm Sunday with Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Jerusalem the center of religion, of commerce, of imperial Roman colonial rule. Jerusalem, the location of the Temple, the destination of Jesus' trial, conviction, crucifixion, death—and resurrection. In Luke's gospel, Jesus' journey to Jerusalem and the cross is especially incessant. Luke particularly emphasizes the role of the Jerusalem Temple in Jesus' life and ministry.

This is one of the events recorded in all four gospels:

• Mark 11:1-11
• Matthew 21:1-11
• John 12:12-19

We expect hosannas and palm branches on this sixth Sunday in Lent, but Luke has no palms and not a single hosanna! Just as we interpret scripture (and everything else) for our own context, so did Luke the gentile writing mostly to gentiles. His original readers wouldn't have had much interest or understanding of leafy branches that evoked Succoth / Sukkot booths to represent the minimal yet sufficient shelter of God's provision during the Exodus. However, when I assembled my header image with only stones and rocks in the background, it looked messy and confusing. Besides, most churches celebrating the sixth Sunday in Lent will include palm branches or similar greens, so—"poetic license" and contemporary context.

With fewer and fewer people at Holy Week services, for the past few decades many churches have celebrated Palm/Passion Sunday. That moves too swiftly from Jesus' praise-surrounded triumphal entry to the walk with the cross, on to the actual place of crucifixion, but everyone gets an overview.


Donkeys in the Bible

Many of Jesus' actions were upside-down versions of what conventional political, religious, and economic authorities – the establishment – did. At first it may feel as if Jesus' entering the geographical center of power on a humble donkey subverted the return of the victorious general on a galloping steed. However, there also was a tradition of a military victor astride a donkey in order to present himself as servant of the common people.

Jesus riding a donkey echoes Zechariah 9:9 that some scholars consider a Messianic prediction:

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."

Matthew and John both quote Zechariah; Luke almost definitely remembered it. You well may know it as a soprano aria in Handel's Messiah!

Other donkeys in the bible? Balaam's talking donkey in Numbers 22:15-35. Joseph's donkey who carried Jesus' pregnant mother Mary into Bethlehem in Luke 2:1-5, and probably into Egypt, as well. Donkeys illustrate the servant God's call for us to live as servant people.


Some Rocks in Scripture

These are some I easily remembered. Maybe you can add to this list, or you might enjoy a word study research and journaling project.

• If Jesus' disciples were silent, stones would shout praises! Rocks would cry out! Luke 19:40

• Genesis 28 – Genesis 31
At the place Jacob names Bethel or House of God, he first uses a stone as a pillow for his head and then as a pillar of witness.

• The Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant were engraved in stone

• Joshua 24:26-27
Covenant renewal at Shechem and the stone that witnessed the people's resolve to serve YHWH "This stone has heard all the words the Lord has said to us and will be a witness!"

• 1 Samuel 7:12
Ebenezer, "Stone of Help"

• Ezekiel 36:26
Hearts of stone changed into hearts of flesh

• 1 Peter 2:5
We are living stones God is building into a spiritual house or temple.

• Matthew 4:3 and Luke 4:3
The devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread

• A stone at Lazarus' grave and at Jesus' tomb

• St. Francis of Assisi slept on rocks in order to be close to creation and close to Jesus, our rock of faith.


Palm-Passion Sunday into Easter

"If these disciples were silent, the stones would shout praises!" Luke 19:40

Jesus death and resurrection overthrows the death-dealing, established powers that be to liberate the entire cosmos from slavery to sin and death. We still spend much of our time downwind, but the day of the fully accomplished New Creation will happen.

Recent science tells us rocks and stones sing. All Creation Sings is the title of an ELCA hymnal. Like the morning stars who sang at the dawn of creation. Like Isaiah's trees that clap their hands because… no more clear-cutting! And Isaiah's seas rejoicing because there's no more pollution!

What other examples of creation rejoicing, grieving, or otherwise reacting can you describe?

Lent 5C

The Fifth Sunday in Lent: Judica

Introit

Vindicate me, O God,
and defend my cause
against an ungodly nation;
from wicked and deceitful men deliver me,
for you are my God and my strength.
Send forth your light and your truth;
these have led me and brought me
to you holy mountain
and to your dwelling place.
Psalm 43:1-3

John 12:1-8

¹ Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ² There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. ³ Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus's feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ⁵ "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" ⁶ (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) ⁷ Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. ⁸ You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

Women who anointed Jesus

Today's gospel reading from John takes place at the Bethany home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. The three synoptic gospels offer accounts of a woman anointing Jesus: two are in the town of Bethany, but at the house of Simon the Leper; in Luke it's a "sinful woman" at Simon the Pharisee's place.

• Matthew 26:6-13

• Mark 14:3-9

• Luke 7:36-50


Anointing; Stewardship

Except in Luke, Jesus says the anointing is for his upcoming death. But in addition to the deceased, kings, prophets, and priests were anointed in that time and place. We know Jesus of Nazareth as Christ or Messiah—anointed one. King or monarch of all creation; the king of our hearts. We recognize his prophetic role in the traditions of Moses, Elijah, and others. The book of Hebrews especially articulates Jesus as ultimate high priest, and we perceive hints of his mediating between heaven and earth throughout his ministry.

Commentaries sometimes contrast Mary's extravagant, aromatic gift and the stinginess of Judas as examples of stewardship, though as the comment within John's text itself says, Judas wanted to take the money for himself.

In John 12:8, relative to ours and their (the word "you" is plural) care for the gifts we receive, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 15:11, Since there will never cease to be some poor upon the earth [I therefore command you, "open your hand for the poor and needy neighbor in your land."] and he reminds them he won't always be with them.

Stewardship and finances play a part in this pericope, but given its position in John's gospel and because the lectionary also schedules this reading for Monday in Holy Week every year, we need to focus on life amidst impending death.


Death and Resurrection; Breaking Boundaries

The previous chapter 11 includes Jesus raising this same Lazarus from death to life in a dramatic proof of "I am the resurrection and the life!" [John 11:25] Lazarus in the company of his sisters, of Jesus, and of other pre-Passover guests brings a sense of full circle with his being in the presence of the one who restored him to life, who soon will experience his own very real death, and then rise from death to new life to mark the end of death and dying for all.

You may remember from scriptural and other accounts that with most streets dusty and unpaved, when a person entered a residence their feet would need washing. Although back then and there women and servants were in charge of washing guests' feet, Mary "letting down" her hair and wiping Jesus' feet with her hair was as outrageous and risqué´as it sounds. It probably wasn't explicitly erotic or sexual in such a mixed setting, but it still broke norms and boundaries. Besides, the high priest usually anointed kings and prophets. Mary was female, not a temple priest, and almost definitely a working class "regular person." Jesus told everyone to back off; Mary's gift of precious ointment – and the gift of herself – was for the day of his burial.


Next Sunday is Palm-Passion!

Have you made plans for Holy Week and Easter? If you have, is it your usual traditional or are you going for something different? How have your Lenten disciplines transpired? I'm just wondering and asking!