A congregation of the United Church of Canada
Yr C ~ Epiphany 5 ~ Luke 5:1-11
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry according to the Gospel of Luke, and we’ve learned that Jesus began his ministry by laying out a very high-minded and spirit-filled agenda of turning the ways of the world on their head and ushering in what he’ll eventually call the kingdom of God. And we also learned that while people were impressed by his teaching there was also a significant amount of pushback once they realized that they too would need to personally undergo a transformation in order to live this God-plan out. After Jesus got run out of his hometown he continued to preach in the Galilee region and continued to gain attention and notoriety, but there’s no mention that anyone had signed up to join his movement yet.
Now we get to chapter 5, and Jesus calls his first disciples. It’s a great story! It begins like this:
Luke 5:1-3 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret (aka the Sea of Galilee), and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He 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.
So he’s standing at the lakeshore, and the crowd is pressing in on him. Can you picture it?
They’re hungry and thirsty to hear more of what he has to say.
They’re yearning to hear his take on spirituality.
He sees a couple of fishing boats that were empty because their owners were busy washing their nets after they’d just worked the night shift. Jesus gets into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asks him to push out so Jesus can teach from the water – creating a little natural amphitheatre where his voice will carry better over the water.
But wait a second. Where’d this Simon guy come from?
Well, if you track back to the scene between last week’s reading and this week’s reading you’d meet Simon (who will become Peter) for the first time.
But even that’s a weird story.
Luke 4:38 says, After leaving the synagogue (in Capernaum) Jesus entered Simon’s house.
There was no previous mention. He just seems to go in.
Maybe they met at the synagogue?
Maybe Simon was a regular at Jesus’ impromptu teaching sessions?
Maybe they’re old hockey buddies?
We just don’t know.
But Jesus enters Simon’s house, heals his mother-in-law’s fever, and then heals pretty much everyone in town apparently in Simon’s front yard. I would imagine all that might leave an impression on our friend Simon!
Now Jesus is at the lakeshore, and he jumps into Simon’s boat and he teaches.
The story continues, Luke 5:4-5 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
I really feel for Simon. He’s had the experience of Jesus at his house, and now he’s literally had a ringside seat for another teaching session, and then Jesus asks him to do something crazy.
I mean really, who does Jesus think he is?
He’s a carpenter for crying out loud!
And here he is telling these professional fishers how to do their job. Like he knows better!
“We’ve worked all night and got nothing, but hey, ok buddy, if you say so…”
And out they go, and of course they catch so many fish that it will break their nets and sink their boats.
That’s pretty simple to interpret. If you listen to Jesus then super-abundance happens.
Well, between the healings at his house and this fishing phenomenon Simon was undone.
Verse 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
Imagine what would happen if I had a thousand watt flashlight and shone it in your eyes. What would you do?
You’d shield your face, and probably instinctively put your hand up and bow your head, right? That’s what it’s like to encounter pure holiness.
In that moment the holy light shines into all your dark corners and you realize that you are not happy with what you see.
To say you’re sinful is just to say that you acknowledge that there’s a gap, that you’re not perfect, that God’s holiness stands in stark contrast to where you may be.
That doesn’t mean you’re hopeless, or evil, or a bad person – it just means you acknowledge there is room for improvement holiness-wise!
In that moment, Simon Peter understood the depth of what that meant.
It’s humbling, and sobering, and convicting, and strangely beautiful – especially when you realize that same holiness that on the one hand exposes your short-comings also invites you into relationship! I’ll say more about that in a minute.
So to say that Simon Peter is blown away by his spiritual experience is an understatement.
But it wasn’t just him. There were others in the boats!
Luke 5:9-11 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are partners with Simon.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”
When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
That, is conviction!
Can you imagine how powerful that experience must have been to inspire or compel those people to leave everything behind and go?
Taken at face value, it gives the impression that they just up and walked away from the greatest catch of fish in their lives.
We say, “unlikely, unbelievable” because we probably can’t imagine ourselves doing it.
The Greek words literally translate as “amazement/astonishment/awe had laid hold of Simon and those with him.”
Has spiritual amazement, astonishment, and awe ever laid hold of you? When it does, it’s powerful!
Of all the disciples’ call stories – and there’s one in all four of the gospels – the story in Luke is the most experiential. In the others – Mark 1, Matthew 4, and John 1 – Jesus calls them with a few words out of the blue.
But in Luke he calls them through an immersion in spiritual presence and experience.
I love that there are four different versions of the calls in the gospels. That makes perfect sense to me.
There’s a variety of call experiences and ways to tell the story because we all have different ways in.
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to being called to follow Jesus. Everyone’s call story is as unique as they are.
One of the things you get to do when you’re a candidate for ministry is to share the story of how you felt called to ministry and why you’re pursuing it. And you get to tell it over, and over, and over. But it’s not just us clergy-types who are called to ministry – who are called to follow Jesus. Every single person in this room is called to do that.
So YOU have a call story!
Everybody turn to the person beside you and for the next 15 minutes share your call stories with each other!
No?
Why not? It would be incredibly powerful if every person here could tell their own call story.
It would be off the charts inspiring.
But I get that that’s a scary prospect for many of us, because it means taking a risk.
I mentioned near the start that it’s interesting that in all of Jesus’ touring around in his early ministry that he apparently didn’t have any followers yet. I doubt it was because he didn’t call.
I suspect it was because none had yet dared answer.
All are called – not all will answer.
Remember, there was a whole, great, big crowd pressing in on Jesus wanting to hear him preach and talk spirituality – but none of the crowd stayed and followed.
So what was different for these fishers?
Well, for one, they had a profound spiritual experience of the presence of the Holy.
And second, it wasn’t just good religious words and a challenging ethical worldview they were being invited into.
You don’t need religion to live an ethical life.
You can be a good person entirely on your own.
What those fishers were being invited into was a relationship!
Jesus didn’t just say “Here’s the plan, and here are your marching orders for good living. Go to it!”
He said, “I’m doing this great thing, come join me.”
He said, “I’m heading into the deep water. There’s great potential out there that you can’t get to if you stay here in the shallow end. I’m not really all that interested in fish – I’m interested in catching people.
I’m interested in captivating their imaginations, and revealing God’s Holy Presence to them because they’re already swimming in it as sure as these fish are swimming in this lake.
And I’m interested in walking with them as they journey ever deeper into this transformational Way of understanding and being in the world. God’s Way.
That’s what I’m all about. That’s what I’m doing. Come join me!”
Jesus invites us into a relationship.
The crowd was there but it was too impersonal for them to really understand.
But those fishers, with an experience of super-abundance overwhelming their senses, heard the call, and followed.
You don’t leave everything behind because something sounds good on paper. But you might do it by direct, relational invitation, if your Spirit has been sufficiently moved.
It’s scary stuff though, even as it’s spiritually compelling. And don’t expect it to make a lot of sense.
Our usual calculus for determining things tends to go out the window when faced with God’s call into deeper relationship. And it’s really hard to answer yes, because that means to let go.
Leave everything behind and follow. What does that even mean?
For people who are called to a formal ministry like the one I get to do yes, there’s a literal letting go of your former job and going down a new career path. But not everyone is called to this expression of ministry. This is just the most obvious one.
In fact, it’s the easy one.
I think it’s harder to figure out how to answer God’s call where you are, in your own context, among the people with whom you live and work. Sure, it’s dramatic to walk away from your fishing boats, but that doesn’t make it necessary.
What’s necessary is the letting go part.
What would you need to let go of, or leave behind, to answer more fully Jesus’ call to “catch” people and lead them into a deeper relationship with God?
What do we fear about letting go?
What would you have a hard time leaving behind?
What if it doesn’t mean to let go of your job, or house, or city, but to let go of your fear – your fear of being laughed at, or ignored, or failing?
What if it means to let go of your ego! – the constant need to be right, or in control, or have it all together?
What if following Jesus more fully simply requires us to set aside and leave behind all the nay-saying, and what-ifs, and yeah-buts, and who-me’s, and not-nows, and just go anyway?
My boat’s docked; go anyway.
We fished all night and didn’t catch anything; fish anyway.
I’m a sinful man; pray anyway.
I don’t really understand it all yet; worship anyway.
None of my friends go to church; go anyway.
I’m tired by the weekend; go anyway.
My little contribution doesn’t matter; contribute anyway.
My colleagues at work think I’m nuts; share anyway.
I wouldn’t have as nice stuff as the neighbours; simplify anyway.
People might laugh at me; speak anyway.
People might take advantage of me; help anyway.
People might not get it; love anyway.
I’m not smart enough, go anyway.
I’m not strong enough, go anyway.
I’m not sure where this is all leading, go anyway.
I’m not ready……….go anyway.
Go anyway.
When the Spirit moves we may not understand it – we probably won’t understand it – go anyway. Trust and follow.
And remember, you are not being sent out on your own on some solitary mission.
You are being invited into a relationship.
Jesus says, “I’m doing this great thing, come join me.”
“I’m heading into the deep water. There’s great potential out there that you can’t get to if you stay here in the shallow end. I’m not really all that interested in fish – I’m interested in catching people.
I’m interested in captivating their imaginations, and revealing God’s Holy Presence to them because they’re already swimming in it as sure as these fish are swimming in this lake.
And I’m interested in walking with them as they journey ever deeper into this transformational Way of understanding and being in the world. God’s Way.
That’s what I’m all about. That’s what I’m doing. Come join me!”
That sounds pretty risky and hard.
And Jesus says, “Do not be afraid. Go anyway!”
Amen.
