The third Sunday of Easter: Revelation 5:11-14 and John 21:15-19
The heavenly scene described in Revelation 4 is focused on one sitting on a throne – surrounded by the heavenly hosts, spirits, and animals. The scene is fantastic. Verse 4 says, “Round the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clad in white garments, with golden crowns upon their heads.” Verses 6-7 say, “And round the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth a flying eagle.” And verse 11 says they were singing “Worthy are you, Our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you did create all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” It is a fantastic scene of power and glory and endless worship.
Chapter 5 introduces something else. Verse 1 says “And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.” Many scholars have interpreted this scroll to contain the fulfillment of God’s plan for creation. Breaking the seal would initiate its culmination. And then there is this in verse 4, “and I wept much that no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it.” All of a sudden this scene of glory and honor and power is overcast by a sense of helplessness. What will happen next?
In verse 6 it says that a lamb appeared. And suddenly they were singing a new song in that heavenly realm. It is addressed to the Lamb and goes like this, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and tongue its seals, for you were slain and by your blood did ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and has made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on earth.”
After that is where our second reading begins. Myriad of myriads, thousands of thousands are saying “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And now you know who that mysterious lamb is. It is Christ the lamb who was slain. Each Easter season we sing, “worthy is Christ the lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free to be people of God. Power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, blessing, and glory are his.” Seven things, just as in the song in the Book of Revelation.
The image of the lamb was rich in meaning for the people of Israel. For generations they had offered sacrifices of a lamb for their sins. At the time of the exodus, they were instructed to take a lamb without spot or blemish and put its blood on the door posts and lintel of their home so that the angel of death would “pass over” them when the tenth and final plague hit Egypt. The blood of the lamb offered them protection and life. When the people of Israel entered the promised land and King David had conquered Jerusalem a temple was built on Mount Zion by King Solomon, and there they would sacrifice a lamb without spot or blemish as an offering to God. Deuteronomy 15 & 16 tell of how this lamb must be pure and perfect. Deuteronomy 15:21 says of the lamb, “But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind, or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.” And so they had observed the Passover for generations, right up to the time of the New Testament.
Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is that pure and holy one, whose blood was not on the upright doorposts and cross beam lintel of a home on the night of the Passover, but was on the upright beam on Mount Calvary and on the horizontal beam that made it a cross. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God whom we worship these fifty days of Easter for the sacrifice he made for the sins of the world, and not just for the sins of the world, but for the sins that you and I have committed this very week. Along with the hosts of heaven we join in the song of Revelation 5:13 “….To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!” And then there is a resounding “Amen!”
One thing we should remember as we read of some of these fantastic visions of the Lamb in the glory of heaven: this lamb is worthy because he was slain. This Christ is honored for the sacrifice he made for others. This Jesus is exalted because he went to the cross. There is no Easter without Good Friday. And there is no place for us in heaven if not for the hellish scene on Golgotha where the spotless Lamb of God was slain.
Some days after the resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples by the Sea of Galilee early in the morning. They had been fishing all night and caught nothing. They were tired and frustrated. Jesus was on the shore tending charcoal fire and preparing a Galilean breakfast of fish and bread. After breakfast, Jesus looked at Peter and asked, “Peter, son of John, do you love me?” And Peter replied, “yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus then said, “feed my lambs.” Three times Jesus asked this question, and three times Peter answered that he loved the Lord, and Jesus said, “feed my lambs” or “tend my sheep” or “feed my sheep.”
Here we have another use of the word “lamb.” In this case it refers to those who have come to the Good Shepherd for salvation. By that I mean, they have come to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, been baptized in the name of the Triune God, and desire to follow in what he said and did and taught. In other words, in the context here of John 21, the phrase “lamb of God” might refer to us, who are people with plenty of spots and blemishes, some of us lame and others of us blind to what is the right thing to do, but nevertheless forgiven, redeemed, and saved by the blood of Jesus.
Those whom Peter is told to feed are those who say in Psalm 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Those whom Peter is told to feed are those who say in Psalm 95 “For [the Lord] is our God and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” Those whom Peter is told to feed are those who identify with the story of the lost sheep and the shepherd in Luke 15 where Jesus asked, “what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of the, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he find it?” And again, in John 10:14 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
So Peter is told to feed those lambs and tend those sheep for whom Jesus laid down his life. And what that means he is to care for them tenderly, watch over them faithfully, and be of service to them humbly. So Jesus said back in the year 33 A.D. in words we should heed today.
Last month in the year of our Lord 2013 the whole world watched the election of a man who the Church of Rome says is the 266th successor to St. Peter. Let us set aside the debates about the truth of that claim for a moment. Let’s set all that aside, for I think something very important was said on the day of his inauguration that we should heed today.
But first let us set the scene. It was a bright sunny day in Rome, as beautiful as you will ever see. The setting is fantastic: St. Peter’s Basilica, some of the greatest art work in the world, the glory of the Renaissance world. And reports were of 150,000 people filling the plaza in front of the basilica. Talk about your myriads of myriads and the thousands of thousands.
I have to confess that I got up early that morning and watched this event live on TV. And I listened carefully to the sermon as one who preaches sermons himself. The sermon that morning hit just the right note of humble service that is at the core of Christ’s charge to all his people including the bishop of Rome. Again, think what you may of the claims about the relationship of Pope Francis to St. Peter, of the papacy to Lutherans such as us, and listen to the point being made here.
"Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!" [quoted from official text issued by the Vatican]
If there is one phrase that stands out it is this: “authentic power is service.” The Lamb who sits upon the throne has authentic power because of his service. Those who are given the charge “feed my lambs” find spiritual power in service to mankind. That is certainly what Jesus meant when he says to those who love him, “feed my lambs.” AMEN.
Now let us sing a hymn by Twila Paris "Lamb of God" (ELW#336) that in the first verse says, "Your only Son no sin to hide, but you have sent him from your side to walk upon this guilty sod and to be called the Lamb of God." and in the final verse says, "I was so lost I should have died but you have brought me to your side to be led by your staff and rod and to be called a lamb of God."
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