3rd Sun Easter, C, Triple Confession

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John 21: 1-19 (3rd Sunday of Easter, C, Veneta, OR, Confession of Jesus Christ)

Focus: Confession of Jesus Christ before Others, Creation, and God.

Function: To reminder hearers to confess their belief in Jesus Christ before others, creation, and God.

  1. Confession

Have you confessed recently? I am not referring to our employment of the worthwhile Sacrament of Confession, but confession of our belief in Jesus Christ before others, creation, and God.

  1. Confession Before Others
  2. In today’s reading from the Acts of Apostles, these early Christians confessed their belief in Jesus Christ before others. As Christians, we also confess our belief in the Son of God before others. We confess our belief publicly by our lives of service and sacrifice. Our demonstrative confession of service and sacrifice is less about words (although we do confess verbally (vocally and textually) our belief in the Savior when the opportunity presents itself) and more about expressing our belief in concrete actions on the behalf of others, especially the most marginalized, vulnerable, and helpless. During His earthy life, Jesus exemplified (confessed) this type of service and sacrifice for all, but especially on the behalf of women, foreigners, and the poor. As Christians, we confess our belief in the One who rose from the dead and showed us a new way to rise from the death of indifference, intolerance, and complacency to the resurrection of an active, engaged, and meaningful life—a Christian life that confesses Jesus Christ in word, action and deed.

  1. Do we confess our belief in Jesus Christ before others in word, action, and deed?
  2. Confession Before Creation
  3. In today’s reading from the Book of Revelation, John says: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out.” As we look at all that God has created—at least all that we are able to sense, perceive, and ponder—it cries out majestically, speaks powerfully, and proclaims boldly the goodness of God. We too are beloved creatures of God, temporary inhabitants of this planet, and adopted sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ—God-made-flesh, the First Born of all creation. We have an earthly life and a heavenly destiny. So during our terrestrial life, we are called to confess our belief in the Creator (transcendent and immanent, seemingly distant but very near) by our stewardship of what God has entrusted to us for the season—our lives, our relationships, our material possessions, and the rest of creation. We confess our belief in Jesus Christ before creation by how we respect what has been shared with us for a season. From this respect, we confess our belief in Jesus Christ by our words, actions, and deeds that flow from this appreciation to God for creation.
  4. Do we confess our belief in Jesus Christ before creation in word, action, and deed?
  5. Confession Before God
      1. In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Peter confessed his love for Jesus three times. This thrice asking and thrice confessing is ours too. Jesus Christ asks us if we love Him. We confess our love for Him by our willingness to care for those that the Lord puts into our lives. Like Peter, we confess our love for Jesus by feeding His lambs, tending His sheep, by feeding his goats. We confess before God Incarnate, Jesus Christ, that we are His disciples in three ways: in words, actions, and deeds. We confess our belief in God-made-flesh by tending the needy, feeding the hungry, satiating the thirsty, advocating for the voiceless, creating a different world; that is, by working for justice. As Christians, our words, actions, and deeds are meant to authentically confess our belief in a God who came to dwell among us in the person of Jesus Christ.

      1. Do we confess our belief in Jesus Christ before God in word, action, and deed?
  1. Conclusion

Yes. Confession is asking for God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession—a valuable, worthy, and highly recommended spiritual resource. Yet, in the context of today’s readings, confession means to proclaim to others, to all creation, and to God of all creation that we believe in and choose to follow Jesus Christ in word, action, and deed—in words that proclaim, in actions that redeem, and in deeds that heal. Do we confess?