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Pastor Tom Steers on May 4, 2025

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THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

MAY 4 , 2025

Pastor Tom Steers

Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church

Divine Service III – Pages 184-202

OUR OPENING HYMN is 818 “In Thee Is Gladness”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-bHmiis0M

The Invocation Page 184

Pastor: Halleluiah, Christ is risen!

Congregation: He is risen indeed. Halleluiah!

Confession and Absolution Page 184

The Introit

Psalm 145: 4-10

4One generation shall commend your works to another,

and shall declare your mighty acts.

5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,

and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,

and I will declare your greatness.

7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness

and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 The LORD is good to all,

and his mercy is over all that he has made. 10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD,

and all your saints shall bless you!

Pastor: Halleluiah, Christ is risen!

Congregation: He is risen indeed. Halleluiah!

Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy)

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Gloria in Excelsis (Glory to God in the Highest) Page 187

Collect Prayer:

O God, through the humiliation of Your Son You raised up the fallen world. Grant to Your faithful people, rescued from the peril of everlasting death, unending gladness and eternal joys; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Our First Reading Acts 9: 1-22 Psalm 30

Epistle Reading Revelation 5: 1-14

Our Gospel Reading John 21: 1-19

The Nicene Creed Page 191

HYMN OF THE DAY: 839 “O Christ, Our True and Only Light"

Pastor: Halleluiah, Christ is risen!

Congregation: He is risen indeed. Halleluiah!

THE SERMON – ‘Restored Through Christ’

Have you ever felt that something you did removed you from God’s love and grace?

Like a child separated from a parent, even for a short time, we can feel lost, alone, uncertain.

How do we restore things?

Can we be forgiven?

And as Christians, how does this feeling affect our ability to serve those around us and witness to Christ?

If you’ve ever had these questions, you’re not alone.

The Apostles Peter and Paul were once in the same situation, only theirs was worse.

As we read the Biblical resurrection account in these Sundays after Easter, we see events through the words of John.

The Apostles are waiting, in sadness, in frustration.

Peter, always a man of action, says he’s going fishing, and six other disciples join him.

They worked at night, which fishermen did in those days.

They placed torches over the boat, and the fish would be attracted to the light.

Peter is still struggling with his denial of Jesus.

The other disciples are also trying to deal with recent events.

Including their own failure to stand by their Lord when he was arrested and executed.

Christ has appeared to them twice in a locked room, but they’ve been told again to wait for Him.

To wait for the Holy Spirit, to have faith, to trust God, and be empowered.

And so, while waiting they go off on a fishing trip, but come back the next morning empty handed -- they’ve caught nothing.

Someone is waiting for them though.

Someone who loves and knows them, who’s never really left them.

We know it’s Jesus.

And He has a breakfast ready as well as a question and request for Peter, for the other disciples, for us today.

First there’s a miraculous catch of fish.

Christ tells them where the fish are on the other side from where they’ve been casting.

Then, so many fish are caught they can hardly haul in the net.

John realizes who the stranger is, and tells Peter.

The Apostle misses his Lord so much he doesn’t wait for the boat to reach land.

Peter puts his clothes on and swims to Jesus.

Then Christ feeds them.

We’re reminded of other miracles.

Such as Matthew’s account of the feeding of the 5,000 from a young boy’s lunch.

And the feeding of 4,000 from a few loaves and fish in Mark, Chapter 8.

In today’s verses, Christ comes back to the disciples and prepares a meal.

He provides for a catch they could never accomplish on their own -- even though they were fisherman.

Then, one of the most emotionally touching and spiritually meaningful conversations recorded in the Bible takes place between Jesus and Peter.

Between God in human flesh and a fallen descendent of Adam, as we all are.

Between the Saviour and the saved.

The conversation could, as well, be between Jesus and us.

The question Jesus asks is, “Do you love me?”

Notice it’s a question, not a condemnation.

Notice that Jesus is talking to Peter, not yelling at him in anger or bitterness.

It’s touching in its simplicity and gentle in its power –Do you love me?

Peter’s answer is yes.

The immediate response is, “Feed my lambs.”

The question is asked again, the response the same, and a request from Jesus is repeated.

Then Jesus asks the questions a third time, and Peter is overcome with emotion.

Christ has asked three times whether Peter loves Him, and the significance would not have been lost on the disciple.

He had denied Jesus three times.

And in Matthew, Chapter 26, verse 75, it tells us Peter wept bitterly afterwards.

Peter says to Jesus, Lord you know everything, you know I love you.

What Jesus is saying to Peter, the disciples, to every Christian believer is: you are forgiven.

Live in that salvation joy, and feed my sheep.

Spread the Good News of salvation.

Be my hands and feet.

Speak my words to the lost sheep of humanity.

I loved you when I went to the cross to save you.

And you are saved by faith.

Now, go and tell.

Will it cost Peter, and the other disciples, even us today?

Yes.

So, Jesus follows His request to the disciple by saying when you’re old Peter you’ll stretch out your hands and be taken where you do not want to go.

The Church theologian and historian Origen tells us Peter was crucified by Rome.

In fact, at his own request, crucified upside down because he didn’t feel worthy to be crucified in the same way as Christ.

The other disciples with the exception of John would also die as martyrs, and John would be imprisoned on the island of Patmos as an elderly man.

Discipleship, then and now, means giving up something.

What does sacrifice look like for us now?

Today, here in North America, it may mean just giving up some of our time, to reach out to others.

In the same way that others gave of their time in our lives to reach out to us with God’s Word.

And it doesn’t matter if we wonder if we’re worthy.

Human beings are not perfect.

Yet we have a loving, forgiving, Saviour, who asks not whether we’re perfect, but do we love Him, and if we do, to tell others what Jesus has done for all of us.

Not for our salvation, Christ’s death on the cross made complete satisfaction for our sins.

But out of love for God, and love for those around us.

John, in this part of his Gospel, is explaining that to be a citizen of the resurrection kingdom is to be in a kingdom of second chances.

A kingdom in which the lost are found, restored, and re-equipped.

And this is a message of hope.

We truly are the body of believers, as Christ tells us.

We are connected to Him through faith.

Through our Baptism.

And through the Sacraments of Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper.

In Absolution, we are forgiven and restored by Jesus Himself, just as He promised.

In the Lord’s Supper we receive His true body and blood, just as He told us, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

And to stay connected to Him and one another.

And this is a vital meal for Christians who undergo trial and difficulties, because the temptation is to think God has forgotten, or is angry at us.

Today, Christ is saying from the shore of the eternal kingdom to His followers who may feel we’ve gone through a dark night and come up empty handed – come to me.

I will feed you.

You’re loved and forgiven.

Help me, now, feed others, remembering that paradise awaits you.

Fishermen on the sea of Galilee fished at night with torches so the light would attract fish.

We fish at night in the spiritual darkness of this world.

The bait, the spiritual food we use, is the Word of God and His Sacraments.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Amen.

THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH

SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194

Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) Page 195

The Lord’s Prayer Page 196