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3rd
Sunday of Easter (cycle c) 
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Texts & Discussion:

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Psalm 30
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19

Other Resources:

Commentary:

Matthew Henry,    Wesley

Word Study:
Robertson

This Week's Themes:

Love of God
Revelation and Conversion
Christ's Reign & Majesty

 



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 Texts in Context | Text Commentary - First Lesson; PsalmEpistleGospel
Prayer&Litanies
|  Hymns & Songs | Children's Sermon | Sermons based on Texts

  

Sermons:

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Sheep Don’t Eat Fish
A sermon based on John 21:1-19
by Rev. Randy Quinn

Several years ago now, Ronda and I took a short vacation in Washington, DC where we have some family friends.  Larry and Eleanor served as wonderful hosts for us, giving us guided tours of the area and taking us to their favorite restaurants.

One day we went to visit their daughter in a suburb of Washington.  On the way, we drove along what was obviously a new freeway.

Larry explained that it wasn't really new; it had ­been expanded and had only recently been reopened to traffic.  He went on to explain that the purpose of the expansion was to add an “HOV Lane”, you know, one of those carpool lanes for "high occupancy vehicles."

That's when I noticed the signs.

The diamonds were painted on the roadway with that paint they use that raises them; but they were covered over with black paint.  There were also signs on the median that were covered over with black cloth.

Larry explained that because the construction had taken so long, drivers ran a protest of the HOV lanes and ignored it.  So many people ignored the HOV signs, in fact, the state patrol couldn't enforce it.  So they covered the signs.

I was reminded of those signs this week when I read about Peter.

Peter had been one of the first disciples (Jn. 1:35-42).  He was, by most accounts, the leader among the twelve.[1]  Jesus had called him "Peter", the Rock, because of his insight into who Jesus was (Mt. 16:13-19).  But Peter was also the one who would specifically deny Jesus (Jn. 18:15-18, 25-27).

On Easter Sunday, Peter comes to believe in the resurrection; but here he is, some time later, returning to what had been familiar:  fishing.

Had he covered over the signs of Christ in his life?

Had Jesus made no impact on him?

Did the resurrection mean nothing?

After a certain period of time, Peter seems to return to 'life as usual.'

Three years with Jesus had made no apparent difference in his life.  He goes back to fishing, the very thing he had been doing when Jesus called him to follow him the first time (Mt. 4:18-19).

I suspect we're all a little like that, though, so I shouldn't give Peter such a hard time.  After any life-changing event, we are all tempted to go back to our normal routines.  It's safer.  It's familiar.

What's new may be exciting, but it's also frightening.

We do that when we go to classes and learn new ways of doing old things, for instance.  We come back all excited and then find it so difficult to employ what we learned that we return to our old habits.

On more than one occasion, I’ve heard new mothers talking about going back to work within a month of giving birth.  They see no reason to change what they had been doing just because there was a baby in the house!  (They learn later how difficult it really is to maintain a good balance between work and home.)

Unfortunately for most people becoming a Christian, or being a Christian, generally has little impact upon our lives.  There isn't much differ­ence between how we live and how our neighbor lives.  We try to be good.  We try to be honest.  We try to care for each other.  We even try to be generous.

But statistically, surveyors cannot tell the difference between people who go to church in our society and those who don’t.  We all experience the same likelihood of [continue]