Acts 9: 1–20 / Psalm 30 / Revelation 5: 11–14 / John 21: 1–19
This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday May 4, 2025, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“TURN AROUND!”
(Homily texts: Acts 9: 1–20 & John
21: 1–19)
A good many years ago, when I was a
member of the U. S. Army Chorus (which is part of the U. S. Army Band in
Washington, DC), we were scheduled to sing for a high-level military event.
Because it was a very high-level event, there were many General officers in
attendance.
For events like this, the usual
practice was for there to be a break in the events following the evening’s dinner
and whatever items there were to discuss. Then, after the break, the Chorus
would perform.
On that particular evening, the
Sergeant Major of the Chorus lined us up in the hallway as it was getting to be
time for us to sing. Mind you, many of these Generals were walking right past
where we’d lined up, down the hallway. The Sergeant Major then realized that
he’d lined us up backwards, and that we would have to reverse our position. Two
options then presented themselves: We could either march our way around to the
correct orientation, or we could simply, each one of us, turn around. Since
there were so many people making their way down the hall, Option One wasn’t
feasible. For some reason, the Sergeant Major couldn’t remember the order to
turn us around. That should have been “Chorus, About Face”. Instead, he said, “Chorus, turn around”. He
couldn’t see the many Generals who were walking past him as he said this very
un-military command, but we could. We were slightly embarrassed. (Fortunately,
there were no repercussions from this incident, although many of us wondered
what those Generals who might have heard that very un-military order might have
thought of the Sergeant Major, or of us.)
“Turn Around!”
That’s the common thread which connects
our reading from the Book of Acts, and the last chapter in John’s Gospel
account. Both Saul (later to be known as Paul) and Simon Peter were in need of
a turn-around. Both were heading in the wrong direction.
Saul (Paul) was dedicated to destroying
this new movement of the followers of Jesus, known in those early days as The
Way. He was on his way to the city of Damascus to find anyone who belonged to
this new movement, and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.
On his way, a bright light shown from heaven, and a voice is heard, saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” The voice, of course, is that of Jesus.[1]
Now, the Lord begins to put together a
plan to get Saul (Paul) going in the right direction. He informs a disciple
named Ananias to find Saul (Paul), to lay hands on him and to restore his
sight, and to baptize him.
It seems clear that the Lord looked
down on Saul (Paul) and may have concluded that the spread of the Good News
(Gospel) needed someone with the gifts that Saul (Paul) possessed. Those gifts
were many: He was thoroughly familiar with the Law of Moses, and of the Old
Testament Scriptures. He had studied with Gamaliel, one of the most prominent
rabbis of the day. He was a Roman citizen, one who knew Greek, Hebrew, and,
perhaps, also Aramaic and Latin. He was possessed of an enormous intellect.
Moreover, the determination he had shown in pursuing the members of this new
movement, The Way, would serve him well as he went out into the Gentile,
non-Jewish world, carrying with him the Good News of what God had done in
sending Jesus Christ. The Lord predicted the challenges that Saul (Paul) would
face in carrying out God’s plan for spreading the Good News…when Ananias was
told to find Saul (Paul), he objected, knowing his reputation. But the Lord
told him, “Go, for he is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Gentiles,
for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name,” (Acts 9: 15–16)
Saul (Paul) did, indeed, turn around.
We, today, are all the beneficiaries of his work and his faithfulness.
Now, let’s turn to Simon Peter’s
circumstances.
Recall that Simon Peter had denied the
Lord three times as Jesus had been arrested and was standing before Caiaphas,
the High Priest. (The three denials take place around a charcoal fire.)
Peter and the other disciples are
eyewitnesses of the Lord’s resurrection. But in today’s reading, we discover
that Peter told some of the other disciples that he was going fishing. (We
might wonder why he’d made that decision – and it’s important to note that
Scripture doesn’t tell us the reasons – perhaps he was going fishing until some
new developments had taken place, or perhaps because he thought that this new
movement didn’t have a future.)
Whatever the motivation or reasoning,
Peter and some of the other disciples are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. All
night, they catch nothing. Then, a man on the shore tells them to cast their
nets on the other side of the boat. When the resulting large haul of fish
begins to break the nets, it is the disciple whom Jesus loved (traditionally,
this would be John) who recognized Jesus, saying, “It is the Lord!”.
Then, Peter’s turnaround takes place
after breakfast, and around another charcoal fire. The Lord asks Peter three
times, “Do you love me?” The three questions mirror the three denials, and
these three questions mark Peter’s restoration. They also mark Peter’s charge
from the Lord to go in a new direction, putting away the uncertainties, the
denials, and the bumbling ways that marked Peter’s relationship with the Lord
prior to the resurrection, prior to these three penetrating questions, and
prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you”,
Peter answers.
Each of the three questions, “Do you
love me” are followed by an instruction: 1. “Feed my lambs”; 2. Tend my sheep”;
and 3. “Feed my sheep”.
Peter, like Saul (Paul) has work to do,
work in the Lord’s kingdom, serving and following the Lord in a new direction.
We, today, are all the beneficiaries of
Peter’s faithfulness and work.
These two mighty saints, whom we know
today as St. Paul and St. Peter, stand as examples of the process that is an
essential part of our walk with God.
The process is two-fold: 1. They each
received a call from the Lord; and 2. They obeyed that call, with the Holy
Spirit’s enlightenment and strength.
That process comes to each of us,
believers in the Lord’s resurrection, in the new life that that rising to new
life guarantees to all who come to faith, and who seek to heed the Lord’s call,
turning in a new direction in response to the Lord’s prompting.
Come, Lord Jesus, that we may hear and
heed your call to go in a direction that you would have us go. Come, Holy
Spirit, strengthen us and guide us into the paths the Lord would have us go.
AMEN.
[1] Apparently, Saul’s (Paul’s) conversion was important enough to the early Church that the account we read this morning from Acts, chapter nine, is repeated again in chapter twenty-six.
