Lectionary for May 4, 2025
Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:1-6; Psalm 30;
Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19
One of my wife’s favorite songs to blast on the speakers in our kitchen is Andrew Peterson’s “Is He Worthy?” The song adapts the words of this week’s reading from Revelation and a few others in a Christ-hymn that sends shivers down my spine and goose bumps to my arms no matter how many times I hear it. The music video (those still exist!) is a slow, single shot of a congregation filling up with more and more people coming to praise Jesus and extol him as worthy of blessing, honor and glory. That is also what happens in our lectionary readings this week—increasing numbers of people come to recognize Jesus as worthy of praise.
The fullness of the reading from Revelation 5 includes worship of all the species of the heavens. When Jesus—the Lion of Judah, the Root of David and the Lamb of God—is found worthy to open the scroll in God’s right hand, the heavens erupt in praise. The living creatures, the human elders, the angels and all the spirits of heaven unite in proclamation: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” The heavenly creatures agree with “Amens,” and the humans present bow down and worship. Jesus is worthy to open the scroll of God’s word for all!
While all in heaven agree on Jesus’ worth, not everyone on earth sees him the same way. In his eagerness to prosecute and persecute those who followed Jesus, Saul/Paul demonstrated that he didn’t really know who was in charge. Paul sought permission from the high priest to arrest Jews in Damascus who followed Jesus. But he didn’t ask Jesus’ permission to go after his followers, and Jesus felt some kind of way about that! Saul/Paul was struck down. Interestingly, he didn’t question the light from heaven but only asked who struck him down. Jesus identified himself and told Saul/Paul to await further instructions. In an instant, Jesus repositioned himself from Saul/Paul’s target to his lord (Acts 9:5). And he recognized that Jesus was worthy of that title and addressed him thusly.
We are called to recognize who Jesus was to the disciples and who he is to us.
After Jesus’ resurrection, he set up an encounter with his disciples to reveal more of the fullness of who he is to them (John 21:1).
Jesus was risen, to be sure, but the disciples still had to eat. So, Peter led a fishing trip that proved to be unsuccessful. At dawn, an unrecognized Jesus called out from the shore to ask if the fishermen had caught anything. Hearing that they had not, this “stranger” suggested they cast their nets on the right side of the boat. Upon doing so, they caught a vast number of fish.
The disciple who Jesus loved instantly remembered an earlier, similar miracle (recorded in Luke 5), and he told the others that the stranger on the shore was, in fact, their risen messiah and master. Peter, recognizing his lord, did the opposite of what most of us do—he put on his clothes before he jumped into the water to swim to Jesus. The rest of the disciples were left to pull the catch to shore.
When they all arrived together, they saw that Jesus had prepared a charcoal fire that would have been inviting for men who had spent a cold night on the water in an open fishing boat. Even better, Jesus had baked bread and had begun grilling fish, to which he instructed the disciples to add their recent catch. The disciples then all recognized Jesus.
We are called to recognize who Jesus was to the disciples and who he is to us. Jesus is worthy of all blessing, honor and glory because he conquered sin and death. He is worthy of praise because of his grace and mercy, redeeming Saul/Paul from baseless sectarian hatred of fellow Jews. And Jesus is worthy of trust because he meets his disciples’ needs, not just for proof of his resurrection but also for warmth in a cool morning and for fresh bread and grilled fish after a long night of work.
One of the spiritual practices that I’ve taken up in the last couple months is practicing daily gratitude reflections to God for the good that is going on in my life and in the world. It’s easy, at least for me, to be consumed with terrible news. To practice self-care and not burn out in long struggles, I’ve found that worship and gratitude have become increasingly important. Joining with the heavenly assemblies in reflecting on Jesus’ worthiness for praise has helped liberate my heart from despair.
