Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: John 21,1-14. Quasimodogeniti

John 21,1-14 2621

Quasimodogeniti 036

Antipas, the faithful witness at Pergamum, Revelation 2,13

Mikael Agricola, Bishop of Turku, Finland, Reformer, ✠ 1557

11. April 2021

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank You, that of Your ineffable grace, for the sake of Your Son, You have given us the holy gospel, and have instituted the holy Sacraments, so that through the same we may have comfort and forgiveness of sin: We beseech You, grant us Your Holy Spirit, so that we may heartily believe Your Word; and through the holy Sacraments day by day establish our faith, until we at last obtain salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Veit Dietrich)

2. »Jesus said to them: „Come and have breakfast.“ Now none of the disciples dared ask Him: „Who are you?“ They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.«

3. John tells us in the 21. chapter of his gospel that the 3. appearance of Jesus to His disciples occurred at the Sea of Tiberius, that is, the Sea of Galilee. The 11 apostles, being from Galilee, return to Galilee. The 1. appearance to His disciples was on Easter evening, and the 2. was a week later with Thomas present and this appearance to the 7 is the next appearance. It’s possible that since Peter, James and John are among these 7, and that they had a fishing business in Capernaum, that this is where they were fishing when Jesus appeared to them.

4. This fishing expedition is similar to an earlier one 3 years prior when Jesus began His ministry (Luke 5,1-11). At that time Peter, James and John toiled all night and got nothing. Jesus told them to cast the nets again, and doing so they caught a large number of fish. Jesus told Peter that he will now be catching men. The similarity to the earlier fishing encounter with Jesus 3 years prior surely was apparent to Peter, James and John, including that at that time Jesus had called them to be His first disciples. Three years later that same call to discipleship and proclamation is foremost in their minds.

5. On His prior appearance, recorded in John 20, Jesus showed Himself alive to the apostles and then He ordained them into the office of the ministry. He says 1. »Peace be with you« to show that He wants to give them the true peace of heart – as well as give them the order for the office of reconciliation (Gerhard 366). He says 2. »Just as a Father has sent Me, so I send you.« where He ordained them to preach and teach the gospel (Gerhard 367). The apostles likewise ordained pastors to continue this office of reconciliation, preaching and teaching. As Jesus promised them in Luke 5, they will be catching men and women. He promises that this catch of people will be great. 2000 years later the number of Christians around the world is at around 2.6 billion (out of 7.9 billion: 33% of the Earth’s population)– a huge catch indeed!

6. The gospel preached by the apostles and pastors is well grounded in historical testimony. Faith in Jesus’ resurrection is based on the testimony of the Holy Scripture. Historical evidence, furthermore, supports the Biblical and apostolic claims of Jesus’ resurrection. The Biblical and historic testimonies account for more information surviving about Jesus Christ than almost any other person who has lived. In fact, if somehow the entire Bible was lost or destroyed we could replicate every verse in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation using other books in any given library.

7. There are several historians who record Jesus, His death and resurrection. Flavius Josephus (ad 37-97), a 1. century court historian for Emperor Vespasian wrote: „Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works – a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the Divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day“ (Josephus 480 §§ 63-64). Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian in the early 2. century ad, writes: „Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular“ (Annals 15,44).

8. Over 39 extra-biblical sources attest to more than 100 facts regarding the life and teachings of Jesus (reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2011/04/evidence-for-the-resurrection-in-a-nutshell). There are numerous 1. and 2. century extra-biblical writings that witness to the fact that Christians believed that Christ did extraordinary things, died on a cross and rose from the grave, including: Josephus, Clement, Papias, the Didache, Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, (reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2011/04/evidence-for-the-resurrection-in-a-nutshell) the Talmud, Plinius Secoundus, Gaius Seutonius Tranquillas, and Lucian. Even the earliest Jewish arguments against Christianity admit the empty tomb. The Toledoth Yeshu, a 5. century compilation of early Jewish writings, acknowledges this historical fact and posits the theory that the gardener took the body of Jesus from His tomb and buried it somewhere else in the cemetery garden (Toledoth Yeshu ¶ 24). The Gospel according to Matthew records another Jewish theory: The Jewish elders told their temple guards who had watched over Jesus’ tomb to tell people that His disciples had stolen the body from the tomb while they slept (Mathew 28,11-15). The Jewish and Roman sources admit that Jesus’ tomb was empty.

9. Our Lord’s resurrection created faith in James the brother of Jesus and Paul of Tarsus, both enemies of Jesus and the gospel before Jesus appeared to them. James became the first Bishop of Jerusalem, wrote the New Testament epistle that bears his name and he was later martyred at Jerusalem in ad 62. Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles, was an evangelical missionary who traversed the Roman Empire 4 times, was a prolific writer who penned 13 of the 27 New Testament books of the Bible and his traveling companion Luke wrote the Gospel that bears his name and the Book of Acts. In ad 68 Paul was beheaded at Rome by Emperor Nero’s order.

10. Peter was an apostle to the Jews, the author of 2 New Testament epistles. He eventually preached in Rome, and Mark the Evangelist wrote the Gospel that bears his name based on Peter’s sermons. In ad 68 Peter was also crucified by Emperor Nero’s order. Andrew was severely whipped and tied by ropes on an X-shaped cross where he hung 2 days to expire in Edessa or Patras, Greece, in the mid to late 1. century. James bar-Zebedee was the first apostle to be martyred when King Herod ordered him beheaded with a sword at Jerusalem in ad 44 (Acts 12,1-2). Philip was crucified at Hierapolis, Turkey in ad 80. Nathanael/Bartholomew was beaten, flayed and crucified head down in Albania, Armenia, India or Persia in the 1. century. Thomas, who first did not believe but a week later did believe that Jesus rose from the tomb, preached the gospel in southern India. Indian Christians from the west coast Kerala area claim they were evangelized by Thomas. Later he was speared to death near Madras, India on the east coast in ad 72. Matthew wrote the Gospel that bears his name; he was later axed to death with a halberd in Nadabah, Ethiopia in ad 60. James Alphaeus was thrown down from the temple and clubbed to death with a fullers club at age 94 at Jerusalem in ad 66. Jude/Thaddaeus was crucified in Edessa, Greece or Persia in ad 72. Simon the Cananaean was crucified in Brittainnia, Europe. Matthias was stoned and then beheaded at Jerusalem in ad 80.

11. John bar-Zebedee wrote the Gospel that bears his name, the book of Revelation and three New Testament epistles. He miraculously survived being boiled with oil before the Latin Gate at Rome in ad 95 and was summarily exiled to the Turkish island of Patmos for a couple of years. He died of natural causes in Ephesus, Turkey in ad 98 or 100; he was the last of the apostles to enter Paradise. Important Early Church disciples of John the Apostle are Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Turkey (Martyr 108), Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Turkey (Martyr 155) and Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, France (Martyr 202); Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp.

12. The apostles and the historical records attest to Jesus’ crucifixion and the empty tomb. The apostles proclaimed that the tomb is empty because Jesus rose from the dead. They all saw the risen Jesus. Thomas beheld the nail marks and His side. Several women saw Jesus on Easter morning (Matthew 28,9), and Mary Magdalene is mentioned by name in all 4 Gospel accounts of Easter and she even held the risen Jesus (John 20, 17). Paul lists others who saw Jesus during the 40 days before His ascension: »For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and that He appeared to Peter, then to the apostles. Then He appeared to more than five hundred Christians at one time. Then he appeared to James, the brother of Jesus, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me, Paul« (1. Corinthians 15,3-8). Jesus has given us this rich and detailed eyewitness testimony of His resurrection so that although we have not seen Him, we hear the proclamation of those who did see Him, and we believe. Amen.

13. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You have done great things; bless the preaching of Your Resurrection, so that we are rejoice, have faith created and faith strengthened this day and every day. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)/Book_15#44. Translation based on Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb (1876).

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

John 21,1-14. Quasimodogeniti

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