Revelation 5:11-14
Third Sunday of Easter, Youth Confirmation
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, May 4, 2025
“Spiritual Sight Produces Perpetual Praise”
Anna and Leah, this is a unique service for you. We saved you a spot right in front. We’re even going to invite you further up front to share some things that you have learned with us. For perhaps the only time in your whole life, you get to hear a sermon that was written especially for just the two of you. It sounds like this morning, or maybe all day today, is all about you, doesn’t it?
Maybe today is not ALL about you, but it is about you. You do get a little more of the spotlight than you would on most Sundays. There is something special going on today for the two of you.
Today is about you in a way very similar to how it is about Saul and about Peter and about John. Each of our readings from the Bible had one of those men as a primary character. We learned something about their lives and their experiences.
In the case of Saul, we heard about his journey to keep on persecuting the church. We heard how Jesus appeared to him and changed everything. Saul went from a man who was actively trying to kill the church by trying to arrest and even kill people in the church to a man who was trying to spread the church and share the good news with as many people as possible. We usually think of Saul by his more Roman or Gentile-sounding name, Paul. He’s the apostle, a man whom God used as a missionary and the writer of many books of the New Testament. I know at some point you could recite all the titles of the books of the New Testament in order. Without much trouble, you could probably pick out the ones that God had Paul write. In between the persecuting and the apostle-ing, Jesus caused Paul to go blind, and then he restored his sight. That was part of what we read today.
Peter didn’t go blind, but he was on a boat looking at a man onshore, and in a way, he might have well been blind. He didn’t realize who it was when it was Jesus standing there. He learned quickly. He and his fellow fishermen had a miraculous catch of fish when they did as the man told them to do. And it was almost as sudden as it was for Saul: it was like something fell off of Peter’s eyes and he could see who that man was on the shore. It was Jesus. Peter had experienced something like that before. And he reacted with joy and excitement, jumping into the water and swimming to shore before the fish and boat could make it in.
Have you ever considered how much you have in common with Peter and Saul? Maybe not. You probably can’t remember a time when you were an enemy of God and his church. And I don’t mean that you were persecuting the church the way Saul was, but you were born an enemy of God and therefore also an enemy of his church. You were blind to spiritual matters. You couldn’t understand your sin or God’s love and mercy.
But God did something dramatic in your life. He didn’t come to you in a bright light along the road. He came to you in water and his Word. Anna will tell us a bit more about that later. Saul went from blind to seeing when he was baptized. You went from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight. God gave you the gift of faith. He brought you to trust in Jesus.
But at times, you’re still like Peter. You should know who Jesus is. You should recognize his voice, but you don’t. You don’t always realize it when he reminds you that he is alive. You don’t always listen to the direction he gives you: to honor your parents and others in authority, to take everyone’s words and actions in the kindest possible way. We could review any of the commandments and think of more ways that you still fail to keep them.
Jesus comes to you at times like that, too. He comes in his Word. He comes in the sacrament of Holy Communion. Leah will say more about that in her essay. He comes with the forgiveness of sins. He comes with life and salvation.