Sermon: The Third Sunday of Easter

May 4, 2025

The Rev. Paul LeClair

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

May the words I speak, be right in your eyes, O Lord,

And the words we hear, be a worthy message of your love,

So, we may follow you and share your love with all whom we meet.

Amen.

~ ~ ~

As I was studying the scripture selections that are appointed for

the Third Sunday of Easter, three words seemed to jump off the page and grab my attention. I was struck by how those words have more than one meaning and how those different definitions all still applied to the interpretation of those readings.

The three words are: right, follow, and worthy.

~ ~ ~

In today’s readings we heard about some Bible characters

who were involved in misdeeds that just couldn’t be undone.

The focus in today’s selections, however, isn’t on those transgressions, but rather on how those wrongs were made … right. That brings us to the first of today’s multi-faceted words. Right?

“Right” can be used to describe something.

To be right, means to be correct, appropriate, suitable,

or on the starboard side of a boat.

“Right” is also an action. When something is crooked or leaning to the side, we can right it, by restoring it to its normal or upright position.

And … “Right” is a noun, as in the Bill of Rights.

In this case, rights are things that, by their nature, are simply

just, proper, and morally correct.

Today we heard about Paul, who got knocked off his high horse

and was blinded in order for him to see right.

Not mentioned in today’s reading from the Book of Acts,

is that Paul had aided and abetted in the killing of Stephen,

the first Christian martyr.

Murder is an act that has finality to it.

It is so out-of-kilter, we cannot right it.

It’s a wrong that cannot not be undone.

However, Paul, the self-righteous Pharisee, who was in pursuit of Christians, with the intention of arresting them, was not beyond redemption. God saw Paul as being like a crooked sapling, that is able to be righted with the aid of some ropes and wooden stakes. In Paul’s case, that assistance came through Ananias

and his community of believers.

~ ~ ~

Many of us are aware of the time when, on three occasions,

The disciple, Peter denied knowing Jesus or that he was one of his followers.

Once that rooster crowed, Peter realized that his denial couldn’t be unsaid.

Like Paul, Peter was a man whose path was so off-course that it needed righting.

In Peter’s encounter with the resurrected Jesus,

he was given three opportunities by which he could do the right thing by affirming that he did, indeed, love Jesus.

Feeding and tending God’s lambs and sheep;

in other words, serving the needs of others,

is how Peter (and each of us) can demonstrate our love.

~ ~ ~

Our Gospel selection ended with Jesus’ instructions “Follow me.”

The word “follow” can mean: to come later,

or … not to be in the lead, and … not to put ourself first.

To follow can be to pursue (such as a trail of clues)

or to obey (say, a set of instructions).

Following also means respecting, comprehending, or understanding.

Being a follower also means supporting and admiring.

Today we heard how Jesus’ disciples had spent much time fishing

without making a single catch.

They were tired and frustrated. The day seemed to have been wasted to them.

The hours they had spent, was time they would never get back again.

Then Jesus appeared on the scene with a new set of instructions to follow.

“Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some,” he told them.

Now Jesus could have meant, to fish from the starboard side of the boat, instead of the port side.

But I’m pretty sure that in those many hours of fruitless fishing,

the disciples had already tried fishing from both sides.

I believe, “Fish from the right side,” really meant, “Follow me.

When you think you’re at the end of your ropes and your nets are empty, turn to me.”

When the disciples let Jesus take the lead, they quickly saw what followed.

~ ~ ~

That brings us to the third word I’m focusing on today; worthy.

Among worthy’s many meanings are: admirable, blameless, deserving of respect, valuable, precious, suitable for recognition, full of meaning, and meriting praise.

In his revelation, John looked and heard the voice of many angels, living creatures, the elders; myriads of myriads singing with full voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!"

Understanding that the Worthy Lamb, is the resurrected and ascended Christ, let’s consider those definitions again: admirable, blameless, deserving of respect, valuable, precious, suitable for recognition, full of meaning, and meriting praise.

This may not be a myriad of descriptions of Jesus but all of them certainly are right and worthy characterizations of the one whom we have chosen to follow.

~ ~ ~

Before she became the author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, J.K. Rowling's life was a train wreck.

Seven years after completing university, her short-lived marriage imploded. She was an unemployed single parent, and was as poor as one could possibly be, without being homeless.

In her 2008 commencement address at Harvard, she explained

that there were actually benefits from failing.

There was wisdom to be gained from facing such dark hopelessness.

For J.K. Rowling, "failure meant a stripping away of what is inessential.” She told the new graduates, “I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and I began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

If I had succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena, I believed I truly belonged. I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized and I was still alive, I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way."

Having a worthy dream to follow, set J.K. Rowling on the right path to overcoming her challenging circumstances.

~ ~ ~

Unlike J. K. Rowling, Cynthia Rios-Myers is not a world known celebrity. In fact, her intensions and her actions are primarily unknown. She prays for one hour outside of an abortion center near her home in San Diego. Cynthia carries no sign, nor any visual expression of protest.

Un-noticed by anyone passing by, she simply and silently prays.

This is deeply personal to her because many years before

she had been one of the women she was now praying for.

In an article in Commonweal Magazine, Cynthia wrote,

"I knew that, in their own minds at least, the girls entering the clinic were not doing any evil; they were frightened, and perhaps desperate. I know these things, because many years ago, I visited an abortion center. . . Twice . . .

I was eighteen and involved with a bad man whom I could not say no to. I didn't yet know, that abuse is not always delivered by punches, kicks and slaps. All I knew was that my relationship with him was devouring my soul, and I had to end it.

I terminated my first pregnancy, and that should have been lesson enough. But it wasn't.

I stayed with the man and got pregnant again.

He blamed that one on me.

After my second abortion, I got away from him, but the damage was done. The guilt and horror of what I'd done, turned part of my soul black; I'd carry that forever.

Standing outside the abortion clinic, I pray for specific things.

I pray for the souls of the babies who lives are ended.

I pray for the women who had the abortions.

I pray for women in relationships that cost them their happiness, their safety, and their sense of self. I pray for myself, too.

I can't undo what I did, but I can at least share my story,

and stand for an hour, and pray, for whoever needs my prayers.

So that is what I will continue to do."

~ ~ ~

Although it may feel like it at times,

no one is beyond forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

Today's Bible readings are specific accounts of God’s redeeming forgiveness.

The Risen Jesus asked Peter three times –

the same number of times that Peter denied him –

to do what was right; to profess and demonstrate his love for Jesus.

Jesus paved the way for Paul to become a follower of Christ

and even a worthy apostle, instead of being a persecutor of Christians.

Cynthia and those of like mind and heart, mirror, not the judgment of Jesus, but the forgiveness of Jesus that empowers us to move beyond the past, and to experience the possibilities for resurrection and restoration.

The Easter Christ now is calling all of us to follow him

and to take on his work of reconciliation.

Despite our present doubts and regardless of past disappointments; the heart of the Risen Jesus is assuring us that we are worthy to seek forgiveness; That it is right for us to forgive and for us to strive to be the means by which God's mercy is realized in our own families, our neighborhoods and our communities.

Amen.

Sources:

The New Interpreters Study Bible, NRSV with Apocrypha, Abington Press, Nashville, 2003

The Vigil, Cynthia Rios- Myers, Commonweal Magazine, February 12, 2016

Connections, March 2016, MediaWorks, Londonderry, N.H.