John 21:1-19; Acts 9:1-6; Revelations 5:11-14

9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Today we celebrate the third Sunday of Easter. Two Sundays ago, we were here celebrating that our Lord and Savior was alive, the tomb could not hold him, was empty and death did not have power over him. Easter Sunday was a day of rejoicing. The One, who was dead, is alive, and for the next 40 days he appeared to his disciples every first day of the week: the same day of his resurrection. Jesus’ disciples and all those who loved Jesus and thought they would not see him again were happy and glad… That happiness, that rejoicing is the center of Easter celebration. In today’s gospel, Peter was so happy to know that Jesus was standing waiting at the beach that he jumped to the water to meet his master, his friend, his Savior. When the rest of the disciples met them, they found breakfast ready, and Jesus shared a meal with them as He did in the last supper.

All the disciples – and us, also have reasons to be happy- but we must be careful that in the midst of this happiness; in the midst of this celebration, we can miss another important message also implicit in Easter. The message the risen Christ commanded his disciples in statements like, “do not be afraid, go, tell my brothers…” Matthew 28:10; “Go and tell my disciples…” Mark 16:7 and “I have seen the Lord…” John 20:18. Easter season is a season of rejoicing and telling. The women could not keep quiet and told the disciples about the empty tomb; the disciples could not keep quiet, and they proclaimed all over Jerusalem and beyond, that Jesus the One who was crucified was alive, and many believed to their message and as a result their lives were transformed.

Resurrection is an invitation to share with others the Good News. The Good News that Jesus is alive, and if he is alive, he still can love, heal, and forgive. And that is the power of the resurrection’s message, it is not only that Jesus is alive, but he can still do -through to us- what he did when he was physically in Galilee. His message of love and mercy did not end on the cross, it is alive in his church, and it is available for everyone, everywhere and anytime.

Sometimes I imagine those paralytic who were touched by Jesus and were able to walk again, I imagine those whose bodies cover by leprosy and were cleansed by the healing touch of Jesus, I imagine those condemned as sinners and impure by society just because who they were telling others who were in the same condition before they had the personal encounter with Jesus, I imagine telling them, do not lose hope, he is still here and he will do for you what he did for us. His love and his mercy; his compassion, grace and acceptance are still here, take heart, he can and will change your life for good.

What Jesus expects from those who believe and celebrate resurrection is for them to share the message with those who have not heard it yet. What Jesus expects from those who believe and celebrate resurrection is to do what the women did, to do what the disciples did, pass it on. What Jesus expects is represented in Paul’s conversion. Paul was a good Jew, he served the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac. When he heard about this new sect, he was committed to destroy it, to keep them away from entering God’s people, because they were not Jews; because they did not think or act as he did, and by doing so, he thought he was serving God. But, going to Damascus something happened: he had an encounter with the risen Christ, and his life was not the same anymore. Verses 19 and 20 of Acts 9 say, “and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Paul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.” Paul as the rest of the Early Church could not keep for themselves what they saw and heard; they shared their experience. Paul went to the synagogues; he went to people like him with the expectation that God would do in their lives, what He did in his.

To share the news of the risen Christ was part of the Early Church culture. In our church language today, we can say that they were an evangelistic church. What is an evangelistic church? Its a church that gives emphasis to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, personal conversion experiences, Scripture as the sole basis for faith, and active evangelism. Evangelistic churches are made by evangelistic Christians. What is an evangelistic Christian? is just a Christian who believes it is important to tell others the good news about how Jesus can save us from our sins.

This sharing of the gospel is not only something that the disciples did, no, Jesus did it first during his ministry on earth. Listen to Matthew 9:35 “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” To share the gospel with others has been a part of Jesus’ follower’s DNA. “Go, tell my brothers…”, “Go and tell my disciples…”  and “I have seen the Lord…” must be statements that propel the daily life of an obedient follower of Jesus. The obedience to “go, tell my brothers…”, or “Go and tell my disciples…”  and “I have seen the Lord…” was and will always be the force behind the growth of the church.

How can I become an evangelistic Christian? How can we become an evangelistic Church? From today’s scripture we can learn a couple things.

First, we must have desire to be with our Lord. John 21:7 says, “When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.” With this action Peter demonstrated his desire to be close to the Lord. To become an evangelistic Christian, an evangelistic Church, that must be our first desire too, to be close to our Lord. Once again Peter did, what he did when Jesus called him at the beginning of his ministry by the Lake of Galilee: he left his boat and his nets behind.

Second, to be an evangelistic church, we have to take care of one another. When Jesus asked Peter, three times “do you love me” and Peter said, “yes”, Jesus asked him to “feed my lambs”, “tend my sheep” and “feed my sheep.” In other words, take care of one another. If you know that someone is sick, either at home or the hospital, go, pay a visit. If you know that someone is in need, go and help. Or at least offer yourself. When Jesus asked Peter to feed and tend his sheep, he was not talking about feeding and tending his follower or disciples only, in John 10:16, Jesus said, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” The care Jesus is asking Peter to practice must be extended to others out of our physical Church. Those who as the lost sheep are wandering faraway from Jesus.

And third, we must be Obedient to Jesus’ voice, even if it is under some kind of risk. If we read the whole chapter 2 of Acts we will see that Ananias received Jesus’ commandment to go and pray for Paul. He was reluctant because he knew what Paul was capable of doing. He knew Paul had already killed many Christian and he had orders to bring any Christian before the authorities. But he took the risk and went. As a good evangelistic Christian, Ananias showed desire to be close to Jesus when he did what he was asked; As a good evangelistic Christian, Ananias cared for Paul when he went to pray for him. And, as a good evangelistic Church, the church where Ananias was member fed Paul with the gospel during all the time, he was with them, and as result Paul became a great evangelistic preacher.

Let’s keep celebrating Jesus’ resurrection by sharing with others who Jesus is, and what he has done in our lives; let’s us celebrate Jesus’ resurrection by being close to our Lord, by caring for others and by being obedient to Jesus’ voice. God bless you all.