A MESSAGE FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

Prayer of the Day:

Most holy God, the earth is filled with your glory, and before you angels and saints stand in awe.  Enlarge our vision to see your power at work in the world, and by your grace make us heralds of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.  Amen.

Luke 5:1-11

5 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ²he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵Simon answered, “Master, we have work ed all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

All of us have our own story about how we came to be a person of faith.  It may have been a gradual, continuous journey of grace from childhood to now.  For some it involved a moment, a dramatic turn into the light of grace.  Both can be powerful stories of the grace and mercy of God.  Sometimes, the dramatic stories seem to outweigh and rise above the gradual journeys.  And yet, both paths lead into a life of discipleship.  No one’s story is superior, no one’s story is better than. 

In the passage this morning we have a dramatic story of the call of the first four apostles.  And, even though the story is dramatic, we know the drama did not make these apostles more faithful, more resilient.  That was certainly true with Simon Peter who would deny Jesus in the end.

The passage begins with Jesus on the shores of the lake of Gennesaret, another name for the Sea of Galilee.  This was the body of water that was central to the earthly ministry of Jesus.  It was the body of water where the first apostles, all fishermen, plied their trade. 

We know that, by now, Jesus’ reputation had been spreading throughout the synagogues of Galilee, including Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.  This was the reason that the crowds were already becoming a problem, always around Jesus, making it hard to even maneuver.  They wanted to hear Jesus’ teaching of the word of God and it was teaching that he wanted to do.  How to manage?

Jesus saw two boats on the shore.  We know from the context that this story occurred in the morning.  The fishing on the lake was best at night.  The morning found the fishermen cleaning their nets and calling it a day.

Jesus made himself at home on one of the boats and asked Simon Peter to put out from the shore a bit so he could have some distance and could teach the crowds.  It is clear that Simon Peter obliged this traveling rabbi.  We know Jesus did teach because we are told that he sat down, the traditional posture of a teacher in the synagogue.

When he completed his teaching, he said to Simon Peter:

“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

Remember when and where we are.  The boats had been brought to the shore.  The nets had been cleaned.  They were done for the day.  And here was this carpenter telling them to give it another go.  Acting as a floating pulpit was one thing.  This was very much another.

Simon Peter’s response is one of those sections where tone of voice is interesting to play with.  It is possible that it was said in the tone of willing obedience and respect.  But perhaps not.  What if it was said more in the tone of exhaustion and slight frustration?

“Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.  Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”

They had worked all night long.  They had caught nothing.  Nothing!  (This was their livelihood.  And the night had been a failure. And the fishing during the day was worse!)  But if you say so!  Fine!  We will do it!

And so they did.  Simon Peter may have prepared an “I told you so” for Jesus when they again caught nothing.  But something else happened.  They caught a lot.  A lot!  They caught so many fish that the nets started to break.  They signalled their partners, who we learn later were James and John, to come and help with the huge catch.  And even at that, both boats began to sink under the load of fish.  They clearly had the wrong equipment for this miracle.

All of this was too much for Simon Peter.  The First Lesson for this Sunday was the calling of Isaiah.  This portion of Isaiah is an important counterpoint to Simon Peter’s reaction.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ²Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” ⁴The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.

⁵And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” ⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” ⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”  (Isaiah 6:1-8)

When Isaiah was in the Holy of Holies and encountered the presence of God with the seraphim flying round and singing of the holiness of God, Isaiah was cut to the quick and reacted with guilt and grief.  “Woe is me! I am lost”  God then sent a seraph to the altar and the seraph took a hot coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips.  God then declared Isaiah free of guilt and sin.  Only then could Isaiah answer God’s call.

When Simon Peter was faced with this miraculous catch of fish, a clear sign of Jesus’ power and authority, he reacted in a similar way.  He fell down at Jesus’ knees (Jesus was apparently kneeling in the boat so Simon Peter fell at his knees rather than his feet) and said: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

Again, the reaction was one of guilt and grief.  All Simon Peter could think of was to get some distance between Jesus and his own unworthiness.  But there was no coal from the altar.  There was no burning away of sin.  Jesus’ response to Simon Peter’s plea was:

“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”

Jesus knew who Simon Peter was and what kind of person he was.  He knew all of those he called apostles this way.  And he called them all.  They would travel with him, spend their days with him, see what he did, hear what he said.  Their redemptions would be in the living with Jesus.

And the result of this day was that they retuned to the shore and “they left everything and followed him.”  Everything.  That included this amazing catch of fish.  They did not wait to gather them up and take them to market.  They did not take the time to clean the nets…again.  They left it all and followed Jesus.

Dramatic, right?  We might say to ourselves that if we had this kind of experience we would never doubt again, never let our focus shift from Jesus.  And yet that was not their experience.  Likely it would not be ours either.  We are, first and foremost, people.  We are frail and at times we are easily swayed and blown off course.  And, when we look to ourselves and our guilt and grief, Jesus is there to say “Do not be afraid.”

However, you have come to be a disciple of Jesus, it is a journey.  It is not a moment, but a life lived in the presence of Jesus.  And Jesus knows us completely and fully and loves us completely and fully.  And Jesus calls us, each and every day, to set aside fear and follow him.

Amen.

Be safe.  Be well.  God bless you all.

Pastor Greg