St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
May 4, 2025
Year C: The Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:1-6
Psalm 30
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
The Story of Jesus and Us Continues
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
If you were here last week, you may remember that we heard the familiar story of “Doubting Thomas.”
We heard how, in Jerusalem on the first Easter night, Thomas was not with the other disciples hiding out in the locked room, wasn’t there when Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” wasn’t there when Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon his friends.
Thomas wasn’t there but, soon enough, he heard the good news. He heard the good news from the other disciples.
And he did not believe a word of it.
Thomas refused to believe until he saw Jesus for himself.
Well, as we heard, a week later, Jesus gave Thomas what he wanted, what Thomas thought he needed, appearing again, showing his wounds, inviting Thomas to go ahead, and touch.
But seeing was enough for Thomas to know – Thomas now knew the best news of all time:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
I didn’t talk about it in my sermon, but at the end last week’s gospel lesson we heard this:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
And with that, it would seem that the story of Jesus and his friends has come to an end.
If this were a movie, the end credits would roll, accompanied by dramatic music.
Like a lot of people, I haven’t seen a movie in a movie theater in years but when I did, I usually stayed in my seat for all the credits because, sometimes, there is more to the story, an epilogue.
And that is what we heard today, what’s often called the epilogue to the Gospel of John.
Picking up right where we left off last week, the story of Jesus and his friends continues.
So, Peter and the other disciples have seen the Risen Lord a couple of times.
They know the best news of all time.
They know that love and life defeat hate and death.
So, what do they do next?
Well, just like us, they live their lives.
Peter and at least some of the others were fishermen, so they go fishing!
Now, you’ll be shocked to learn that I don’t know anything about fishing, but I suppose fishing is a good metaphor for life.
Sometimes things will go great and other times we will fall short or fail or things just won’t go our way and, yes, sometimes terrible things will happen.
We all know this.
But, no matter what, Jesus is with us, calling us to keep going, inviting us to maybe try doing things a little differently – like, how about casting the net on the right side of the boat?
Jesus calls us to go deeper – calls us to trust that God’s abundance – God’s good gifts of love and peace and courage will be given to us.
With his three questions to Peter, “Do you love me?” Jesus offers his friend forgiveness for denying him three times and Jesus provides Peter with a new mission to feed the lambs, to lead the church.
And just like Peter long ago, when we mess up, as we all do, Jesus offers us forgiveness, redemption, and a new start, too.
The story of Jesus and his friends - the story of Jesus and us - continues.
The story of Jesus and us continues here today with one of Jesus’ newest friends, the already much-loved Ellett Andrews Worthington, who I will have the joy and privilege of baptizing in just a few minutes.
In the water of baptism, the story of Jesus and us continues.
In the water of baptism, God makes an indissoluble bond with us.
God will not let go of us. No matter what.
God’s bond with us is indissoluble, unbreakable – sort of like the net in today’s gospel lesson.
And that indissoluble bond, God’s unbreakable net, allows us to receive and share God’s good gifts, gifts way more abundant than even 153 large fish.
At our Vestry Retreat yesterday, I kept thinking about the image of God’s unbreakable net.
This year, rather than bringing in a guest speaker or an outside facilitator, we invited leaders of our many ministries and various initiatives to join us, asking them to tell us what they’re doing, what challenges they face, how the church can better support their work, what are their hopes for the future, and what would it look like to dream big?
All I can say is, here at St. Thomas’, God’s unbreakable net is full of so much abundance.
First, just the fact that about 25 wonderful and often very busy people generously gave up much of a beautiful Saturday in May to do this work is truly amazing and very telling.
And all morning we heard about so much great ministry, from Acolytes to Zoom Bible Study, so much creativity, so much passion and determination, some challenges and disappointments, yes, of course, but also so many big dreams for the future – dreams of offering even more service to God and God’s people.
In a time when, out in the world, there is so much fear, despair, hate, and cruelty, here at St. Thomas’, it’s different – here the story of Jesus and us continues.
So, Ellett’s baptism will be our third baptism in three weeks.
And that is a wonderful blessing for her and for all of us.
Because in the water of Baptism, God makes an indissoluble bond with us.
God will not let go of us, no matter what.
God provides us with an unbreakable net, a net that allows us to receive and share God’s abundant good gifts.
The story of Jesus and us continues.
So, whatever you do, don’t leave the theater, because the greatest story of them all continues for Ellett and for all of us.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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