The Transformed Life

A sermon preached by the Rev. Terence L. Elsberry, Rector, at St. Matthew's Church, Bedford, New York, on the Third Sunday of Easter, Year C, April 25, 2004.

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I

When I smell the smoke of an outdoor grill, I think of today's Gospel story: Jesus cooking fish on the beach for His friends.

When I picture the disciples in the boat fishing and catching nothing and not recognizing the man who stands on the shore shouting, “Throw your nets on the other side,” I'm reminded that Jesus can appear when you least expect Him. In ways you'd never imagine.

It was true for the disciples that morning of the most notable cookout in history, when the resurrected Jesus cooked breakfast for His buddies.

It was true for Paul, fresh from persecuting Christians, when the resurrected Jesus got Paul's attention by knocking him to the ground, blinding him, and calling him to be His great apostle.

It's true for you and me in all the ways Jesus comes into our lives.

It's so true for us, in fact, that you and I need to be as Emily Dickinson said: “The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.”

Is your soul ajar this morning? Are you ready to welcome the ecstatic experience, the intrusion of the living God into your daily life?

II

Now Jesus can make His divine intrusion whether we are open to it or not. He came into Paul's life, and no one could have been less ready. Paul had been an accomplice in the murder of Jesus' first deacon. Jesus can make Himself known to us when we least expect it or least want Him on the scene.

But when you study the Bible, it seems that more often He comes into our lives when, like Emily Dickinson suggests, we open the door of our lives to Him.

This week I was re-reading the Old Testament Book of Second Chronicles. There's a telling line here. The author introduces the reign of a new king of Judah and he writes: “The new king, Josiah, began to search for the god of his ancestor David.

And God tells the prophet Jeremiah, “Seek me with all your heart,” says the Lord, “and I will be found by you.”

A year ago, an old friend from another church called and made an appointment to see me. He was devastated. His wife had died suddenly of an aneurism. Her children by a previous marriage, whom he loved, were rejecting him. The wife's family was disputing financial claims that were legally his.

My friend is a man of deep faith in Jesus Christ. He exemplifies the soul ajar, always open to an experience of the Lord. More that that, he has actively sought the presence of God in his life. And now this. It was as if suddenly everything was turned against him. We talked. I prayed for him. He left my office and I couldn't help thinking, “How hard life can be, even for a man who so profoundly loves God.”

But low though my friend was, he left re-committed to trusting God in the midst of this horrible desert experience.

The disciples were in a desert experience after the crucifixion.

Paul was in a desert experience and didn't even know it, because he was hating Jesus and trying to destroy his followers.

But then Jesus laid hold of Paul, and Paul was transformed by the experience.

Jesus appeared to the disciples on the seashore, at the Holy Spirit cookout, and they were transformed.

Transformed means “to change markedly, the form or appearance of … to change the nature, function or condition of.”

One experience of the risen Lord, and Paul went from being a Jesus-hater to the Great Apostle.

The apostles went from broken, frightened men to fired-up apostles for the Lord.

You can't be in the presence of the risen Lord and stay the same.

And if we seek the Lord actively, if we ask Him to make Himself real to us, He will.

It was four years after I was ordained. I was happy in the church I was in. Then some things in my personal life made me wonder if I could continue as a minister.

They were problems over which I had no control. Miserable and afraid, I flew home to visit my parents and lick my wounds.

While there, I visited some old friends in their new house. As I was leaving, they said, “Wait a minute. We want you to see the rest of the house. Who knows when you'll be back?”

I walked into the next room, and there I noticed a Bible verse worked in needlepoint or some kind of handwork. The verse went like this, from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah:

“For I know that plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “Plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”

Call it coincidence. To me, it was one of Emily Dickinson's “ecstatic experiences.” It was a resurrection appearance. It was an Easter moment. In that moment I was transformed. God had given me a promise. And for fear, faith; for despair, hope.

III

My friend who lost his wife so unexpectedly and tragically came to see me last week. He said the most amazing thing had happened. He met a lovely woman at an Episcopal retreat center upstate. They've fallen in love. They plan to be married in the fall. My friend is 72 years old. Telling me the story of his joyous new beginning, he looked years younger. Transformed.

I swear I can smell charcoal.

Is anyone grilling fish?