Claimed, gathered and sent

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel sent out to the members and friends of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. Gospel: John 21:1-19 1 After [he appeared to his followers in Jerusalem,] Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.   4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple...

This is the sermon I preached on Easter Sunday, April 21 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Luke 24:1-12.   The women in today’s gospel, were going to Jesus’ tomb to prepare his body with spices. They fully expected to find a physical, dead body. The women did not connect the dots, despite the numerous times Jesus taught his followers that he would rise from the dead. After all, it was commonly believed then and now that the dead are supposed to stay dead, aren’t they? The gospels contain no account of a resurrection per se. What we have is a story of an empty tomb and of remembering what we have already been told would happen. We do not find Jesus; we only find evidence of the resurrection. After all, we cannot find Jesus, but the living Jesus does find us. Just what did the women see at the tomb? First of all, Jesus’ tomb was open and empty. The stone it had been sealed with was rolled away and these are humongous bolder-like stones. There was no body to be se...