Third Sunday of Easter, Cycle C
A major unifying factor for each of the texts selected for Easter 3 in Series C is the theme, “The Redeemer Revealed.” The Lord (Adonai) is, of course, the Redeemer revealed to the distressed psalmist in Psalm 30. The Lord (Jesus) raised from the dead is the Redeemer revealed to Paul in Acts 9:1-6 (7-20), the Redeemer revealed as the Lamb who was slain in Revelation 5:11-14, and as the Host in a shared meal in John 21:1-19.
Psalm 30
Psalm 30 is a good example of an Individual Hymn of Praise. The close escape of the psalmist from death is attributed by faith to the action of Adonai, the Redeemer from death. The grateful psalmist calls upon the members of the community of faith to join in praise and thanks to the Lord.
This is not a resurrection psalm, but it is close to being a resurrection psalm. It is stated that Adonai could have chosen to permit the psalmist to die, to be buried in Sheol (the grave, pit, arroyo), and his body to return to the clay from which according to the Genesis 2:4b-25 account Adonai Elohim had made the first man. The psalmist had cried to Adonai for healing, had used the logic that it would be to the advantage of Adonai to restore the psalmist to health, and restoration had been granted. This is an appropriate psalm, therefore, for use by Christians on Easter 3.
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Since the Apostle Paul had written in 1 Corinthians15:8 that “last of all, Jesus as the resurrected Christ had been revealed” to him and in Galatians 1:13-17 that God, who by God’s grace had called him, had been pleased to reveal God’s Son to Paul, it is likely that the inspired Lukan playwright used what Paul had written in 1 Corinthians 15:8 and in Galatians 1:13-17 creatively in composing the series of scenes that became Acts 9:1-20. The Lukan playwright was apparently so pleased with these scenes that the playwright used them again with only slight elaborations in Acts 22:4-16 and 26:9-18. For us on Easter 3, the significance of Acts 9:1-20 is that in this text it is said that Jesus the Redeemer was revealed to the Apostle Paul.
Revelation 5:11-14
This segment from the conclusion of the Revelation 4:1–5:14 throne scene is another excellent example of the best of the apocalyptic literature in the book of Revelation. Again, as last Sunday, it is appropriate to comment briefly about the apocalyptic imagery of the account. Then the text should be read with emphasis on Jesus as the Redeemer revealed as the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
John 21:1-19
It may be helpful to provide a few comments selected from Raymond E. Brown’s extended discussion of this text in his The Gospel According to John (Anchor Bible 29a, pp. 1066-1130). According to Brown, John 21 is best classified as an Epilogue, most likely supplied by a redactor of the work of the Evangelist. It is probable that two separate stories lie behind 21:1-19. In one of them Jesus was recognized through the (Eucharistic?) symbolism of the meal (v. 12). In the other Jesus was recognized by “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (v. 7). The Epilogue was attached to the main body of the Fourth Gospel by use of the typical redactional Greek words meta tauta (“After these things”). There are numerous close similarities to the Lukan account of the call of Peter and the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11). Brown concluded, therefore, that the Third and Fourth Gospels preserved variant forms of the same miracle story. The primary purpose of this miracle story in each of its accessible forms is to show that Jesus revealed himself, which is emphasized both at the beginning (v. 1) and near the end (v. 14) of the John 21:1-19 account. The catching of fish almost certainly symbolizes the catching of people. According to Brown, the 153 fish signify the all-embracing character of the mission of the followers of Jesus. The unbroken net means that in spite of the inclusion of such a vast diversity of people, the community represented by these disciples is not torn by schism.
It may be added that John 21:1-19 does not indicate that Peter and the others were giving up on Jesus after the crucifixion and after other resurrection appearances and were returning to their earlier occupation of commercial fishing. Peter and the others are fishing here for people. Until Jesus from the shore directed them to cast their net on the right side of the boat, they caught nothing. Since in Mark and in Matthew there is considerable evidence that there was during the first century a Jewish west side of the lake and a non-Jewish east side of the lake, it is possible that the Johannine Jesus was said to have been directing his followers to fish for people on the other (east) side of the boat where there were more non-Jewish people rather than on the west side facing Galilee where there were more Jews. At any rate, the account is not merely telling us that if we obey Jesus we shall certainly be successful and prosperous in our business. It is not a “Prosperity Gospel” text.
For our homiletical purposes, the primary consideration here is that Jesus is said to have revealed himself as Risen Lord and Savior in the catching of a multitude of people and in the shared meal of his community of followers just as the Risen Christ continues to be revealed among us in our time. Within that community of “caught people” then and now there is a basic unity in spite of great diversity.
