We talk a lot about call language in the church! Whether that is in terms of our current setting and how God is calling us both individually and communally, the fact that the position of clergy is spoken of using this language of call, or the stories we share from Scripture like the call stories of the prophets to speak on behalf of God to the people. This language of call is so embedded in the church that we don’t often spend much time talking about what it means. Yet, at the heart of our stories today is the notion that calls from God are transformational. A call is a sign of trust between God and humanity; we are invited into the work that God is already doing and that which is still to come. When people are called, whether they accept that call or not, they are shaped by the experience.
I want to first look at the story of Saul in the Acts today. It’s a story that many of us are familiar with to varying degrees. The overarching narrative is about this powerful man Saul, who spends much of his time and influence persecuting anyone who is connected with this fledgling community following Jesus’ death and resurrection. It’s not really a church yet, and Saul is intent to keep it that way. That is, until he is walking the road to Damascus and is blinded by this light from heaven, while he hears the voice of Jesus saying: ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ (Acts 9: 4b). There are a lot of interpretations about what this means and whether it is truly a calling, a transformation, or some other similar word that invokes the spirit of what happened in this story. But what is important, no matter what we name it, is that Saul is impacted by the experience.
And, while I know we aren’t reading all of the additional optional verses this morning, I do want to point out a few things because it drastically changes the story from how it is if we just end it where we do today, with Jesus telling Saul to go into the city (Acts 9:7). Because, once Saul is in the city, the Lord tells Ananias to go to Saul and restore his sight, and we can practically hear Ananias shaking with fear and questioning the Lord because he has heard about what Saul has done to others, and he is afraid that Saul will persecute him as well. You can hear him wondering, if they have been trying so hard to stay away from Saul, why would I willingly go bring myself into his presence?! Now there is more to these verses that are worth looking at another time, but I want to highlight Ananias in this story too because it is not just Saul that is being transformed by the way God is calling him. This story will inherently shape the lives of both Saul and Ananias, as they are both pushed to do something that they otherwise would have thought unimaginable before. While there may have been someone else who could have restored his sight, in at least this telling of our story, if Ananias had refused to go, we would not have seen the change of heart in Saul, which led to him changing his name and becoming one of the most prolific writers and preachers in our Scriptural tradition. Ananias then becomes one of the first witnesses to this transformation of Saul; a testament that then shapes his faith and his understanding of what God is doing in the world.
While those two are off figuring out what it means to live into their new calls, we wouldn’t even be able to have these fledgling faith communities testifying to the death and resurrection of Christ, of who this Jesus guy actually is, without the disciples first being sent out by the Risen Christ. Yet, from our story last week in John Chapter 20 where Jesus appears to the frightened disciples and gives them peace, the Holy Spirit, and their sending calls, we somehow end up in John Chapter 21 with the disciples back on the water fishing. Now our story says they are fishing on the “Sea of Tiberias” (John 21: 1), which I will remind us, is another name for the Sea of Galilee. The disciples may have left Jerusalem, but they haven’t made it very far in their journey before they are right back where Jesus first called to them to become his disciples. In a very intentional manner, this 21st chapter of John’s Gospel recalls both the calling of these fishermen to be Jesus’ disciples in the first place, but also the stories of the signs that Jesus performed within their midst, like making their nets full and feeding the 5000. It’s a reminder of what they have been called to…and it’s not just fishing on a lake!
We don’t know if they had been doing teaching and preaching in the area, but from what we glimpse here, it really does seem like the disciples just went right back to the way of life that they had before they witnessed Jesus’ teaching and healing, before they watched him be crucified and then appear among them again, and before they were given the new Commission to share what they have seen and heard. Remember, they were just given the Holy Spirit and some really heavy responsibilities regarding the binding of or forgiveness of sins (John 20: 22-23). Yet, the Risen Christ meets them again on the lakeside, as they have gone back to fishing.
I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, that they were trying to secure things for their families and gather supplies for their journey, but at the same time I can’t help but wonder if they were just afraid to answer this call because they knew how much it would continue to change their lives. I also wonder if they were content sitting there in the boat, or if they had a voice in the back of their head reminding them that they have been called to so much more than this. And, I wonder if this appearance of the Risen Jesus was unexpected to them, as they maybe thought they could slip back into the way things were before unnoticed, back when things were simpler, and their lives weren’t constantly at risk. Either way, the reality is that the Risen Christ appears to them for a third time while they are out fishing.
While this is important for all of the disciples, the call in today’s Gospel is specifically for Simon Peter. You know, the rock on whom the church would be built, the same one who denied knowing Jesus three times when asked about it by others during the trial period (John 18: 15-27) That guy, who is supposed to be building the church, but instead is sitting naked in a fishing boat! I still have a lot of questions about that too, but I don’t want us to get derailed… In this story, instead of denying Jesus three times, Peter is offered a chance at redemption, as Jesus asks him three times if he loves him (John 21: 15-18). Each of these responses is followed by a command from Jesus: “Feed my lambs” (John 21: 15), “Tend my sheep” (John 21: 26), “Feed my sheep” (John 21: 17). These are the commands by which Peter will be transformed from a fisherman into the rock on whom the church will be built. These commands are calling Peter to the inherently relational work of what it means to love and care for others, just as the shepherd cares for the wellbeing of the sheep. In these commands, Jesus makes clear that the church isn’t going to be built just by sharing stories about what happened, but by carrying on and embodying the love of Christ for the people he encountered. This call isn’t just transformational for Peter but will also transform the lives of those he ministers along the way.
These transformational calls that shaped the way the church began and grew continue to impact us in this way. When we are called by God, we are called to follow as disciples who embody the love of Christ for the world. Like Peter and Ananias, these calls might be incredibly challenging at times, and we might want to tell God that we can’t possibly be asked to do that. We might be like the disciples who want to go back to the things they knew and were comfortable with because that was less risky than saying yes to this new venture. Yet, the call that exists in the world is still a call to transformation: of ourselves, the church, and our communities. They are calls to pursue peace and justice, to love others as Christ loved them, to create space for people to explore their faith and how that changes throughout our lives. It is calling us to be open to the transformational and recreating work that God is doing in our midst. The call isn’t just for people we think deserve it. That is part of the transformational nature too, that God continues to work in and through the people and things that we think should be impossible. As scary and as frustrating as that might be, it also gives us grace as we go out into this world to love God and love one another, if we may be so bold as to listen to where God is calling us to transformation.
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Sunday April 20th, 2025 Worship