The Third Sunday of Easter
18th April 2010

Following our Lord

Last week we were looking at the appearance of Jesus to his disciples on the evening of Easter Sunday. We saw how even at that early stage Jesus was empowering them with his words and with the gift of the Holy Spirit to become no longer disciples but apostles - those who follow would become those who are sent out.

This is a really crucial part of the narrative. There were and are and always will be people who count themselves followers of great men and women; called to live by their ideals and maintain their work. There is an absolute distinction between this kind of movement and Christianity. The people who cowered in that upper room after Jesus' death were not working out how to maintain his legacy: they were working out how they could avoid arrest themselves, how long it would be before it was safe to venture forth and make their way back to Galilee. The appearance of Jesus changed all that and they became people filled with his presence and confident to go out and make him known in the world.

Yet they return to Galilee and take up their previous work. Here they meet him again and here the process of their formation as Apostles continues. After a fruitless night of fishing, Jesus appears on the shore and commands that they put the net down on the other side of the boat. They don' t argue and when they obey him the net is full of fish. Returning to the shore they find the Lord already preparing their breakfast. What can be understood by these events? First, that the call to love and serve the Lord will take place in the context of our ordinary lives, doing the things we usually do. Secondly, we should be prepared to persevere even in the face of failure; it was after Jesus had spoken to the disciples that their efforts proved worthwhile; similarly after prayer things can change. And clearly God is mindful of our human needs - for food, for affirmation, for fellowship, for love.

There are two other significant things in today' s readings: the presence of Peter and Paul. Peter is enabled to come to terms with his repeated betrayal of Jesus and is given his own special command with a warning that it will one day lead to his own arrest and trial. And already we are reading about someone who is also being called to serve the risen Lord in the future and whose first encounter with the new Christians is as their persecutor.

The elements of the history of Christian experience are all here. Times may sometimes seem difficult to us today, but it was never going to be otherwise. Reading these accounts of the resurrection of Jesus we can see not only the assurance that Christ is risen but a message that holds true today as it did then: be prepared for trouble, but persevere, listen to the voice within, be affirmed and know that you are called to serve him in the world.

Amen

© PCC St Martin's and St Paul's Canterbury 2008 - 2010