Date: April 28th and May 1st
Preacher: Pastor Ashley Rosa-Ruggieri
First Reading: Acts 9:1-20
Psalmody: Psalm 30
Second Reading: Revelation 5:11-14
Gospel: John 21:1-19
This may surprise you, but I was not a child who misbehaved often growing up. I usually tried to follow the rules and listen to the adults in my life, but of course there were some occasional times when that was not the case. Luckily, I pretty much always knew that I had done something wrong because instead of calling me by a term of endearment or just my first name, I would get my first and middle name used to address me. When I heard “Ashley Nichole,” I knew that I had done something that I should not have done. Remembering this and hearing similar stories from others over time has led me to believe that there is almost a gut reaction when hearing our full name. Almost a special way of grabbing your attention more than whatever you normally go by and letting you know that this conversation is important. It is as if the level of intimacy has gone up by just using that full name. Though a great example, getting in trouble is not the only time in our lives where we have an understanding that naming is important. Put another way, saying someone’s full name is not always a bad thing, just an indication for a greater attention. A full name is declared at a baptism, a graduation ceremony, an ordination, or a marriage. In all of these cases, using someone’s full name recognizes the fullness of that person and all that they are in that moment of sacredness.
For this week’s readings I want start by focusing in on the interaction between Jesus and Peter that occurs. This conversation reminds me of the importance of names because Jesus addresses Peter as Simon in his questions. Peter has been given this nickname because he is called the “Rock of the church” by Jesus. “Rock” in Greek is petros, thus Peter’s nickname is literally the rock. But, there are times in our scripture where we recognize that this was not his given name at birth, his name originally was Simon. When he was called as a disciple, he was still Simon, and so that name holds a special significance for him. Not only that, but he addresses Peter as, Simon, son of John. There is power in naming someone and their heritage. Jesus in these questions is naming Peter and where he has come from to ground him in his own identity.
We are grounded in our identity as “child of God” whenever we see a baptism or affirm our baptism or even do a thanksgiving for baptism. We are grounded in the reminder of those promises we affirm in the waters of baptism. Not only are we proclaimed as a child of God, but we are reminded of Jesus’s saving actions that freely gift us grace and redemption. Jesus’s conversation with Peter in this passage is a baptism of sorts. After swimming from the boat to the shore, being immersed in the water, Peter talks with Jesus. In this conversation Jesus offers three opportunities for Peter to be reminded of who he is, even after he has done wrong and abandoned the Lord. Peter was adamant before Jesus’s death that even if everyone else deserted the Lord, he would not. But instead, he denied being a follower of Jesus three times in the midst of Jesus’s trial and crucifixion. On this beach, Jesus offers three new moments for Peter to claim what is truly on his heart, which is his love for the Lord. He proclaims his love for the Lord again and again and again, and with each proclamation, Jesus directs him to feed and tend the Lord’s sheep. In other words, Jesus responds to Peter’s honest statements of love with a commandment to care for God’s people.
We also have another story today, this one from the book of Acts, and it is about the person we know as Paul. But here he is not yet Paul, he is Saul. And Saul had done terrible things to Christ followers. He persecuted, imprisoned, and killed disciples of the Lord. One might say that he was beyond redemption. But no one is beyond redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. And so, we hear about Saul’s conversion experience in this story in Acts, and in the end, he is baptized. Saul, once a persecutor of all who dared to follow Christ, now a baptized Christ follower himself. Saul, child of God, not irredeemable because of his own actions, but redeemed only by the gift of grace realized for us through Jesus.
These two stories from our Bible passages today remind us of God’s promise that we are children of God, named as such by the one who has saved us even when we were dead in sin. We are alive together with Christ and called to share this Good News with all of God’s people, just as Jesus told Peter to do, and just as Paul did at the end of his story today. Paul proclaimed Jesus as Son of God in the synagogues, Peter followed Jesus’s commission to feed and tend the flock. We too are called by name to share the Good News that Christ has died and risen, defeating death and proclaiming God’s love for all children of God forevermore. Whenever we wonder if we have done something too bad, something that excludes us from the grace of God, may we remember Saul and the redemption given to him. When we feel as if we have abandoned our faith in a time of trial, may we remember Simon, son of John, who repeated his love for the Lord in Jesus’s presence and became a rock for the building of the church. And whenever we remember either of these men named as Paul or Peter, our ancestors in the faith, may we remember that we too are always called by name as a child of God. Alleluia, thanks be to God!