Today's Devotion

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 (Presentation of the Augsburg Confession) - John 21:1-25

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

On this date in 1530, Lutherans (so-called) presented a confession to the emperor explaining the reforms that they had implemented in their churches, cutting through the clutter, correcting misunderstandings, and refuting the slanderous charges that had been made against them. Upon hearing it read in his palace, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Augsburg said, “It is the pure truth. We cannot deny it.” In 1976, a German theology professor named Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, expressed hope that the Roman Catholic Church would declare the Augsburg Confession to be a “Catholic document.” In 2005, he became Pope Benedict XVI. Although the Augsburg Confession was not embraced by Rome, it remains a significant historic expression of the faith that continues to clarify, confess, and cut through the clutter today.

All Christians confess Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 1:23). We all confess that He is risen (Matt 28:6). We all confess with St. John that “there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” For the Gospel of Jesus is not limited to biographical data of a man – even an extraordinary man – who walked the earth for 33 years. Rather, the Gospel of Jesus is eternal (Rev 14:6) even as Jesus is eternal (John 1:1). The “things that Jesus did” includes everything in history that has ever happened, and everything that will happen. He is “the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev 1:8). His atonement is for all, and thus the story of every person intersects with Jesus (Rom 6:10), whether or not he believes this, or even knows this. But John and the other evangelists write “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

John concludes his Gospel with the resurrected Jesus being cheeky with His apostles. He is on the shore, unrecognizable to them. Peter and the disciples have gone fishing. Jesus reprises the miracle by which he hooked Simon Peter three years earlier, making him a fisher of men. For once again, there is an inexplicable multiplication of fish at the word of Jesus (Luke 5:5) after a night of catching nothing. Jesus and Peter have a beautiful conversation in which Jesus forgives Peter thrice for denying Him thrice, reconverting him (Luke 22:32) and restoring his ministry: “Feed My sheep.” Jesus gives Peter a hint that he would indeed die for Jesus, just as he had earlier promised, but failed to do at that time (Matt 26:35).

John also addresses Jesus’ words concerning himself, which were misunderstood by many Christians, believing that John would never die. But John corrects the record, even as he is “bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.”

All Christians are called to confess: to believe and proclaim the Holy Trinity, the incarnation of Jesus, the atonement of the blood of Christ, and the Gospel: the Good News that God has come in mercy to save, not to condemn (John 3:16-17). This is our confession. This is most certainly true. “It is the pure truth. We cannot deny it.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.